All Of This Is True: Opening Reception

and behind the scenes notes...

My show, All Of This Is True, just opened yesterday at the Bridgette Mayer Gallery and I’m really excited to see everyone this Friday, April 5th, at the opening reception. If you’re in the city, stop by between 5-7:30pm to see the show, say hi and chat a bit. If you can’t make it to the opening, the exhibition will be on view until May 18th. BMG is located at 709 Walnut Street, just across from Washington Square Park in downtown Philadelphia. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm.

More information about the show:

Press release

Exhibition preview

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Studio shot of new paintings before being wrapped for delivery

I was in the gallery last Saturday helping out with a part of the installation and it was so amazing to see all of the work that I’ve been working on over the past year and-a-half up in a space that was not my studio. Hats off to gallery preparator, Mark Knobelsdorf for his excellent hanging of the work and my thanks and gratitude to Bridgette Mayer for her continued support of my work over the years. This is my sixth solo exhibition with the gallery.

For the past few months, most of the larger paintings had been stacked against a wall with me taking one or two out during studio visits to show, but there was never a time when I could look at more than three or four paintings at once. I was also busy making more work. Now that they are all installed, I’ve had a chance to see the works in relation to each other and it’s a very different and gratifying experience, as can be expected. It made me appreciate all of the times that I was tired and “painting blind” (that experience where you can’t really “see” the work and evaluate it).

I feel like I’ll be spending a good amount of time during the run of the show just looking and thinking about the work and making notes about what I want to do next. I have another show lined up for the fall and I’m already looking into what may come based on some of the work I’ve made for this show.

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Walk With Me

Walk With Me, 2023, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 50 x 50 inches

Walk With Me is one one of the new paintings that’s a part of All Of This Is True. It can take some time to come up with titles for paintings and this one was no exception. I think I spent a few days coming up with titles for most of the paintings in the show once I felt like I was done making any more changes and absolutely had to move on to other exhibition-related tasks.

Even before it was complete, Walk With Me felt like an out of body experience every time I looked at it. There were many associations I made with the image, most of them having to do with a reality that was beyond what I could perceive in the moment. It has a kind of untethered feeling for me that brings to mind dreams and other kinds of mystical experiences. It also makes me think of any number of scenes from science fiction that I’ve read or seen in movies that describe mind-bending encounters with unknown worlds and astronomical phenomena that seem incomprehensible. That, and the trope of a character standing in for the audience in movies where they are at the start of some pivotal moment in their journey.

“Walk With Me” also felt perfect for this painting because it aroused a sense of curiosity about the unknown in me that grounds almost every aspect of my art-making. I’m not necessarily searching for anything in particular with my work, but rather on a continuing trek, carving paths to unknown places that I’m trying to bring into being.

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Behind the scenes: online show promotion

In the months leading up to the show, I thought it might be interesting to make some “teaser'“ promo graphics to post on my social media channels in an effort to possibly spur interest in the then upcoming show. For most of the past year, I’d been keeping most of the new work off of social media. As always, It was important that I allow the paintings to develop outside of the scope of the constant grind and ever changing social media algorithmic machine. These days, I usually only show detail views of works in progress if I feel I need something to post on a particular day.

It was a basic idea to show only a portion of finished paintings while the rest of it was blocked by a colored field with the title overlaid several times in one area, while announcing “coming soon” along the lower edge. The images above are all graphics that I used online. I’d never tried anything like this in the past, but I know how things like this work on me, depending on how well they’re executed and used. I thought about the best teasers for film previews, as well as other types of ads that draw you in and leave you wanting to know more about the film, product or event.

I don’t pay close attention to social media numbers, however, it seems that my graphic experiments did a nice job of getting people interested in what I’ve been doing, at least based on the “likes” and comments they got. Not a huge number for any of them, but comments indicated that people were into what I was doing. No matter, I’m always grateful for everyone following along and engaging with my work online.

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Exit

Recent self portrait in the studio

While “All Of This Is True” is on display, I’m planning on sharing more about various works in the show on my studio blog, Art & Life Stirred Vigorously, so go subscribe to it if you want more frequent missives about my art and life in general. I usually post to it once, sometimes twice a week, whereas the newsletter you’re reading now is posted several times a year, usually monthly, but sometimes less. Both my newsletter and blog are free to subscribe to and read.

One last note for now:

On the east coast of the U.S., we’re in the midst of spring renewal and I’m here for it. Although it’s been raining like crazy over the past few days, I’m looking forward to the kick of green and other colors that we’re about to experience from all of the trees, plants and flowers soon.

Wherever you are, I hope that you’re doing all you can to take care of yourself, those you love and sharing something positive with anyone you can. We can use a little more brightness among all of us.

See you soon and thanks for reading!

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