Burbs Burp Something Superb: Abstraction at the Paterson Museum – By Helen Levin

New York artists who run group shows in out of the way places have their reasons – great lighting, space, sometimes ambiance – but they do so at a cost.

Burbs Burp Something Superb: Abstraction at the Paterson Museum

By Helen Levin

 

 

 

 

New York artists who run group shows in out of the way places have their reasons – great lighting, space, sometimes ambiance – but they do so at a cost. Such is the case of the exhibition at the newly renovated Hannah Gallery of the Paterson Museum. Located at the remote end of both the town’s historic district and a downtown area characterized by largely new immigrant shops and stores, the energy produced by the show could easily run the locomotive (it’s the site of the original assembling plant for the early Rogers locomotive) in the courtyard. It hit me like a ton of steel after my long stroll down to the end of Market Street where I finally found it.

"Interacting Expressions" is a group show of longtime abstractionists (called "mid career," meaning older). "It was formed by a bunch of us after the demise of Studio 4 West in Piermont, New York," says Doris Wyman, artist and co-founder of that group. Her own work, Dancing Above the Sea, has a startling presence.

There is a nice bravado here. Enter this high ceiling space, and you are greeted with America Revisited, three quirky shaped canvases attached with self consciously sculptural elements. I was amazed that modest sized paintings could contain as much punch as Patricia Gutierrez’s painted surfaces, with their surprising patches of sensuous color (Sediments of Time).

Unlike his counterparts, Barry Ball hails from New Zealand (everyone else is from New York City and environs). Like Minded Meetings creates an alchemy of color excitement. It could generate marriage proposals from color aficionados like me—certainly a coffee date.

If you imagine two huge swaths of raw, beautifully textured, unprimed canvas pinned to the wall with small paintings peeking out from under the folds, then you have just envisioned G. Bobby Jones’ two Untitled entries. The Jones piece fits nicely into the show. Some cut out collage works, such as Cross Current by Johanna Gillman also complement the exhibition nicely. It seems that everyone is enamored with color, paint, and the private and personal experience that still holds a place in the silent privacy of our not-totally-media-invaded brains.