Columbia City Paper

By Judit Trunkos

City Art Gallery is proud to present Kathy Casey’s new solo exhibit entitled, “Hot . . . a passion for painting.” Gallery goers who have been faithfully visiting City Art for while will likely know Casey’s work very well. Her colorful new non-figurative pieces, dedicated to Harry Greenberg, can be seen through August 14.

Joe Cocker’s song “Summer in the City” would provide the perfect mood for this show. These spontaneous abstract pieces are flooded with warm colors; angles and lines melting jutting an intriguing texture that seem to radiate with both the unbearable heat of summer and Casey’s own observations of life in a hot urban city.

“The paintings that I love have a life of their own,” Casey says. “I have a quote by Jackson Pollock hanging on my studio wall: ‘Every good painter paints what he is’.”

Like most artists, Casey has changed and developed her style over years. The active lines and engrossing colors that fill Casey’s current canvases show a strong influence of abstract expressionism.

This exhibition features more rectangular shapes and less curves. Mostly inspired by the parallel lines and structure of a city, Casey depicts the smoldering buildings of summer. The straight lines of streets and skyscrapers painted in red, oranges and pinks producing the heat Casey desires to express.

Suggesting a subject for a canvas is not the same as actually having a clear title or an object in mind. In fact, Casey avoids objective painting; her inspiration comes from abstract ideas such as feelings and moods. To explain her approach in more depth, Casey says that “surface quality and texture are often inspired by the corrosion and dissipation I see in old buildings … cracked stucco, worn wood, the patina of rusting iron.”

Looking at the thick paint often shaped by a pallet knife one can’t help but wonder at the texture of the pieces.

“I search for beauty in the seemingly imperfect,” she says, “unearthing and embracing subtle details that beckon the viewer to linger and look more closely.”

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