The Flinn Gallery presents GLOW, featuring four abstract artists: Ryan Crotty, Susan Meyer, Linda Kamille Schmidt, and Audrey Stone. These 2D and 3D artworks intersect with themes of color, transparency, process, and materiality. Ambient light plays upon color illuminating artworks that appear to glow, pulsate, and float in space.
Curated by Ellen Hawley, GLOW invites visitors to lean in and examine the close relationship between colors — the subtle gradations of one shade, and the way hues and material can be deceptive. Color is not static and as mid-century artist Josef Albers said, “Color deceives continuously.”
GLOW opens Thursday, February 9, from 6-8pm, with a reception open to the public. During the six-week exhibit, programming includes: GLOW Artist Talk with ANE’s Rita A. Fucillo available online February 16; Fritz Horstman of the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation will discuss Josef Albers, Interaction of Color while making connections with the artworks in GLOW, Feb. 23 at 7pm; Additionally in early March, the Flinn Art Lounge will be open from 5-6:45, prior to the 7 pm showing of the documentary film: Beyond Visible: Hilma af Klint.
Visit www.flinngallery.com for details.
Linda Kamille Schmidt flexes her visual-spatial intelligence as she masterfully composes colorful textiles in single, double, and triple layers of opaque and translucent panes. Created for GLOW, these approximately 8’ hanging works are shown alongside framed pieces. Schmidt lives in Brooklyn, NY and is from Kansas. She received an MA in drawing and an MFA in painting from the University of Iowa. Solo and group shows have included: Garvey|Simon Gallery, NY; DeDee Shattuck Gallery, MA; Main Window Dumbo, NY; and State of the Arts Gallery, Hong Kong, among others. She is represented by private and public collections around the world including the Art in Embassies Exhibition for Palau.
The geometric sculptures by Susan Meyer are constructed of wood, acrylic, paint, and mixed media. Ambient light catches the colorful panes of acrylic in “Plinth,” an impressive 5’ 5″h x 9’ 5″w sculpture that includes smaller pieces reminiscent of scholars’ rocks. Also on view are geodesic orbs composed of acrylic and wood polygons. Meyer lives in Hudson, NY and received her MFA from the Boston Museum School/Tufts University, and a BS from Skidmore College. She has exhibited her work at multiple venues in New York, including The Tang Museum; Fridman Gallery; LabSpace; The Hyde Collection; and The Korean Cultural Center among others.
Audrey Stone’s acrylic paintings defy their two-dimensions when viewers gaze closely. Her paintings are smart and meticulous with lines of subtle gradient of color that seem to pulse. She is intrigued by “the way the eye and brain process adjacent hues, generating visual vibrations that are simultaneously exciting and calming.” Stone lives in Brooklyn, NY, and received her MFA from Hunter College, NY and her BFA from Pratt Institute, both in painting. Her work has been exhibited widely across the United States, as well as in Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, England, France, and Japan. She is represented by Morgan Lehman Gallery, NY, and Kenise Barnes Gallery in Kent, CT.
Ryan Crotty’s color field paintings glow and inspire. The viewer experiences “material deception” as if neon tubes are illuminated through the high gloss frames. Crotty achieves this magic by adding, removing, and mixing layers of translucent gel paint with a squeegee, highlighting visual evidence of the canvas support structure, surface imperfections and material composition. Crotty says, “The canvas acts as a support for pigment and binding medium that allows color and light to coalesce. Primary colors blend to create secondary and tertiary minimalist color field paintings.” Crotty lives in Nebraska. He received his MFA in painting from Syracuse University, and a BFA in painting from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has exhibited in New York, Montreal; Washington, D.C.; and Lincoln, NE. He is represented by Jared Linge at High Noon Gallery, NYC.
According to curator Ellen Hawley, “the Flinn Gallery is in its 94-year and has exhibited the greats from Picasso to Pollack, Matisse to Motherwell, yet through the decades, has maintained a focus on showing affordable art. In the 1960’s and 70’s, the Gallery (then known as the Hurlbutt Gallery) curated a series called Mr. & Mrs. Hirshhorn Select: Art for the Young Collector where renowned artists priced their works from $25-$500. The artist list is over 100 names long and includes: Josef & Anni Albers, Jean Dubuffet, Al Held, David Hockney, Alex Katz, Louise Nevelson, Ad Reinhardt, Edward Ruscha, George Segal, Frank Stella, to name several. We are so fortunate to be in a stunning space designed by Cesar Pelli in a state-of-the-art library which hosts related programming.”
The Flinn Gallery is funded and sponsored by the Friends of Greenwich Library. We are located on the second floor at 101 West Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT, 06830. The Gallery is open daily Monday to Saturday, 10-5, Thursday until 8pm, and Sunday 1-5pm.
For more information, please visit www.flinngallery.com or email info@flinngallery.com, or phone: 203-622-7947.
