Impessionism with a new twist
By Judit Trunkos
City Art’s new show Perceptual Painters: The Collective features oil paintings by a group of artists who have put a new spin on Impressionism. Artists Dave Campbell, Matt Klos, John Lee, Aaron Lubrick, Scott Noel, Brian Rego, and Andrew Patterson-Tutschka are all connected through their affiliation with the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts represent a new direction in Impressionism.
Impressionism is an easily recognizable style, typified by visible brush strokes, open compositions, emphasis on changing light or movement, ordinary subject matters and unusual visual angles. Capturing ordinary moments in the changing light has been the focus of painters since the birth of the style in the late 18th Century. Moving the canvas outdoors and painting without the stable light conditions of an indoor studio has also inspired this style; a style in which the details and immitation of the subject matter was no longer the ultimate goal.
While the old masters such as Monet, Manet, and Pissaro used lighter colors and allowed the paintings to blur up close, the more contemporary painters of this style, such as the artists participating in this show, tend to paint clearer images and use darker colors if necessary.The subject matters are contemporary and more ordinary as well. During Impressionism’s prime, the masters were inclined to focus on magical moments such as sunsets. By contrast, members of Perceptual Painters: The Collective choose less magistic moments to capture: a dark room in an apartment or someone’s messy and dirty basement can easily be the subject of the paintings.
Andrew Patterson-Tutschka’s Between our Neighbourhood illustrates the new direction in this mood-based painting style, captured by simply driving on the highway towards Columbia and capturing the tallest downtown buildings. It is not a complicated painting, does not need years of studies in art history. It is merely a mood that the driver was in one day, while he was driving to Columbia. And that is the most fascinating about these paintings. Looking at them, the artist provides a visual aid to a mood or feeling or sometimes just describes a second in our fast lives.
The exhibit will continue through June 27, 2009.
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