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Triumph by Kristy Gordon.[/caption]
By Dawn Watson
At her gallery, owner Laura Grenning makes treasure hunting very easy during the holiday season.
Every year around this time her walls are decked, not with boughs of holly, but with paintings. Lots and lots of paintings. But the artwork doesn’t stay hung for long during her annual “Gems Show,” a cash-and-carry exhibit meant to showcase smaller works from her stable of artists.
This year’s “Gems Show”—the 18th annual—is packed with exceptional finds, says Ms. Grenning. During a tour of her Washington Street gallery last week, she pointed out a few of her favorites.
She starts with a series of trompe l'oeil studies painted by John Morfis. His selection of horse tack and fishing lures, painted from life, trick the eye into believing they are sculptural pieces.
“There’s a dimensionality there that’s very simple yet so deceptive,” says Ms. Grenning. “They are enticing and very poetic.”
Moving around the room, she arrives at the work of Maryann Lucas—a Sag Harbor resident who has gone from “painting on the side” to “painting in the central,” says the gallery owner. The artist’s still lifes of fruits and flowers “really show her soul singing,” she adds.
Christian White’s work is next. The reputed painter’s landscapes, many of them made in Sag Harbor, are abstract representations of local scenes. A descendent of famed architect Stanford White, his “sense of color and design is really top-notch,” says Ms. Grenning.
Then there’s the work of up-and-comer Matthew Weigle. His elegant still life paintings are “very observing of nature,” the gallery owner says, adding that she “can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.”
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The Chase by Edwina Lucas.[/caption]
Around the corner, adjacent to the gallery’s office, hangs the work of Edwina Lucas. Though she’s early in her career, the young painter’s work is quite promising, reports the gallerist. The daughter of Maryann Lucas, who is also a former Grenning Gallery intern and currently the assistant the to renowned painter John Alexander, creates “beautifully composed paintings from nature that are playful and delight in the color,” says Ms. Grenning.
Next up are Sarah Lamb’s works in oil, which are rich and captivating, and Edward Minoff’s realistic and compelling wave paintings in oil. The two artists trained together, according to the gallery owner. Their art, painted from direct contact with nature, is mature, skilled and instantly recognizable as the product of extremely accomplished painters, she says.
Above, hanging from the ceiling is the lone sculpture in this year’s show. The mobile by Geoff Kuzara is a whimsical departure from the paintings that dominate the gallery.
Another one-off—at least for this group exhibition—is a giant realistic portrait of a shark by classical realist Anthony Ackrill, which nearly takes up the entire main back wall. Named “$hark,” it’s shows the painter’s quick intellect and talent with the brush.
“The Gems are typically really important small works,” says Ms. Grenning. “But occasionally I’ll whip out a big painting for the show.”
Looming large in stature and tucked away near the office hang some of the gallery’s most accomplished work. Painted by Chinese realist Yin Yong Chun, the “major works,” by the masterful artist marry classical and modern and are both beautiful and ironic, says Ms. Grenning.
Winding her way back to the gallery’s entrance, she points out the paintings of Ben Fenske, whose contemporary impressionist works have become beloved and highly prized staples for collectors.
“He’s very hot right now,” she says of Mr. Fenske. “I believe that he is among some of the biggest painters of this generation.
As the tour winds down, Ms. Grenning steps outside and beckons. Gesturing to the front window, she points out two images that, for her, are “Gems” in the truest sense. The figurative works—a man curled into himself into an almost fetal-like position and a woman vaulting forward and stretched into a powerful pose—by Kristy Gordon are mystical and magical, without being heavy-handed or preachy. This type of mystical realism, done exceeding well, is the wave of the future, reports the gallery owner, who adds that she counts the pieces among her personal favorites.
“It’s as if she is saying, ‘now that I have the language, this is what I want to show you,’” explains Ms. Grenning of Ms. Gordon’s mastery of the technique. “Not only are they, and the works in the gallery, part of what I think is the middle of another Renaissance, I think they represent the song of the millennial generation.”
The 18th annual “Gems Show” will remain on view through January 3, 2016. For additional information, visit www.grenninggallery.com.
gavinmenu on Dec 20, 2015