A new exhibition, titled An Awakening, at RJD Gallery in Bridgehampton, New York, brings to light the idea that “the eyes are the windows to the soul.” Through artwork featuring figures and wildlife, the five artists in the show—Kris Lewis, Jorge Santos, Geoffrey Laurence, Margo Selski and Tyler Vouros—delve deep into the inner psyche of their subjects to present something beyond the surface.
Kris Lewis, Under the Rose (Sub Rosa), oil on canvas, 30 x 30"
Mago, the gallery curator, elaborates, “Eyes always reveal a temporary glimpse into the soul, and through their artworks, each of these artists shares a peek into their sensitivity and inner world. These paintings utilize varied media, and yet all share supremely assured, luscious brushwork and vibrant, unimaginably deep patina and unique hues. They bring to us their transcendent, engaging presence, as though the subjects might wish to speak to our own minds, and imaginations, with their vast emotional range.”
Santos’ painting Gatherer is part of a series of portraits of African women. The paintings are inspired by “memories of my formative years traveling all over Angola,” he says, adding they are nostalgic in nature.
Jorge Santos, Gatherer, oil and acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24"
On a Leash, by Selski, depicts a young woman holding a leash with a rabbit on the other end, but the dominant character is left for to the viewer to decide. “While both characters are tethered to each other, it is uncertain who is in charge of whom,” she describes. “Is it the young socialite wearing a gown of watchful eyes and full-length protective gloves or the enormous, regal and hopefully domesticated rabbit? Sometimes not knowing is the only answer. This painting is about agreeing to discover rather than knowing, excepting the connection while relaxing the leash and letting life show the way.”
Geoffrey Laurence, Interior, After Degas, oil on canvas, 32 x 44"
Vouros’ drawing Bubo Scandiacus (Snowy Owl) shows the majestic creature in an up close and personal view with a rather traditional landscape in the background. Explaining the piece, the artist says, “This particular bird projected an elegant bearing that demanded representation on an immersive scale. The magnitude of this piece allows full exploration in constructing tactile illusions describing each perceptible surface. With the overall brightness of the white snowy owl, I was challenged by how much to reveal in the interplay of texture and pattern of the feather structure with the addition of dramatic lighting cascading across the plumage. The owl is surround by sections of Old Master landscape, which felt like the perfect complement to such a magnificent creature. Instead of just a fleeting glimpse of this bird, in the natural environment, their majesty is poised, frozen in time.”
Margo Selski, On a Leash, oil on wood, 20 x 16"
Laurence painted Interior, After Degas after a work by the French artist that is in the collection of Philadelphia Museum of Art. Degas’ piece, titled Interior, features a sensitive subject matter with a woman in a bedroom partially undressed and a man dressed standing in the doorway—it is also has been known by the title The Rape.
Tyler Vouros, Bubo Scandiacus (Snowy Owl), charcoal and water mounted on paper, 68 x 42"
Laurence says, “I started this piece a year before the movement of #MeToo suddenly exploded with its subsequent outing in the media of the long-suffered abuse of women by powerful men and the focus on the inequality that women face every day in what is still a male-dominated world… In my painting, just as in his, we are keenly aware of an event having taken place in a bedroom, possibly sexual, and that both the woman and the man are trapped in their very differing conceptions of what has just passed between them emotionally. We are not sure whether abuse or disappointment has occurred toward either; it’s up to the viewer to decide.”
An Awakening will be on view March 21 through April 17.
RJD Gallery
2385 Main Street • Bridgehampton, NY 11932
(631) 725-1161 • www.rjdgallery.com
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