REBECCA ALLAN LIGHT YEAR

Transcription

1 REBECCA ALLAN LIGHT YEAR

2 Design: Rita Lascaro Photography: Jean Vong Printing: Colonial Printing

3 REBECCA ALLAN LIGHT YEAR January 6 through February 24, 2012 Longboat Key Center for the Arts/Ringling College of Art + Design

4 2 Little Dream of Norway I, acrylic on paper, 5 x 7 inches, 2012

5 FROM THE DIRECTOR Longboat Key Center for the Arts/Ringling College of Art + Design is pleased to present the work of Rebecca Allan. This exhibition of vibrant and challenging paintings, inspired by the artist s exploration of the Florida Gulf Coast and other sites, also marks an exciting firsttime collaboration with The Hermitage Artist Retreat on Manasota Key. As a 2011 artist-in-residence at The Hermitage, Allan created a series of paintings that were incorporated into Horizon Lines (a multidisciplinary work for oboe, bassoon, piano, and digital film) in collaboration with composer Laura Kaminsky and filmmaker John Feldman. Commissioned by the Seattle Chamber Music Society, Horizon Lines was performed at LKCA on January 6, 2012, to celebrate the opening of this special exhibition. I met Rebecca Allan in 1998, when she was teaching art history and serving as chair of the Design Department at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. Her work has always celebrated the beauty and majesty of the watershed landscape. I vividly remember her artistic investigation of the varied landscapes of the Pacific Northwest a dedication that has continued and evolved as, many years later, she now interprets the blue environs of the Gulf of Mexico. It is my personal pleasure to experience anew Rebecca Allan s romance with painting and the visual poetry of her work. Jane Buckman, Director Longboat Key Center for the Arts/ Ringling College of Art + Design 3

6 4 Blue Lapidary Water, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 60 inches, 2012

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8 6 Conversations with Veronese, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 60 inches, 2012

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10 8 Bumblebee s Flight Path, 40 x 60 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2012

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12 10 Icon in the River (St. Petersburg), acrylic on canvas, 40 x 60 inches, 2012

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14 12 Equator Songs, 40 x 60 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2012

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16 14 In My Light Year, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 60 inches, 2012

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18 IN MY LIGHT YEAR Painting is one of the most demanding, sacred, and worthy forms of work that I can imagine performing. This endeavor is motivated by my contemplation of the history of art, my study of the nature of the observed world, and, finally, my desire to turn everything on its head and make something entirely new. The light year a measure of distance also metaphorically suggests the difficulty of creation (just imagine, infinity!) as well as a new period of illumination in my work. The works in this exhibition evolved over a long period of seeing and thinking about specific places, but they ultimately reflect an engagement with painting itself as an investigative and contemplative journey. Places and things gave rise to these paintings: the lacework pattern of icy whites against the greenish blacks of Norway s fjords viewed from the sky; the churning movement of Wappinger Creek as it courses through the Hudson Valley; an unlikely bumblebee circling lavender plants on our 19th-floor apartment terrace; a Russian icon; the iridescent reflections on sunset water off Manasota Key. Even when it is grounded in the visible world, a painting is a sensual invention that conflates real and conjured experiences. Recollected experiences are transmuted into form, color, and light, so that each work contains a visual narrative that is revealed through the alchemical qualities of paint. Conversations, imagined and real, with artist predecessors (Veronese, Fairfield Porter, Joan Mitchell, Charles Burchfield) and friends also influence the working process. 16 Rebecca Allan The Hermitage Artist Retreat January 2012

19 Tangerine/Wine Journée, 2011, acrylic on paper, 5 x 7 inches 17

20 18 Little Dream of Norway II, acrylic on paper, 5 x 7 inches, 2012

21 Russet Tide, acrylic on paper, 5 x 7 inches,

22 20 Evening Forms/Manasota Key, acrylic on paper, 5 x 7 inches, 2012

23 Thinking of Homer, acrylic on paper, 5 x 7 inches, 2012 Coral Mint Landscape, acrylic on paper, 5 x 7 inches,

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