Oceans Galleries | 8/5-9/5 | Stone Harbor, New Jersey

From the City to the Sea

Artist Josef Kote shows new light-filled works that combine elements of realism and expressionism in a solo show at Oceans Galleries in New Jersey.

Whether it’s choppy skies over a cityscape, the softness of seafoam and the spray of waves along the shoreline, or a pensive portrait, the art of Josef Kote has a distinctive style all its own. His work, while representational, also contains many characteristics of abstraction. One can see the highlighted geometry in the tumble of blocks that comprise a jetty in Light on Light and how the edges of his subjects sometimes bleed into a nebulous background. His paintings are also alive with movement, especially the broad, thick, palette-knife strokes that often splash across his skies with the feel of a frenzied state of creative inspiration. Light on Light, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 60"

Serenely, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 30"

“They dance instead of fight,” says the artist about blending expressionism and realism on a single canvas. Visitors to Ocean Galleries in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, will get to take in this impressive dance during a solo show of Kote’s latest work from August 5 to September 5. Transcended will feature 18 new, large-format paintings as well as works on paper.Rising Tide, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 60"

Utmost Splendor, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 48"

True to form, his newest work revels in the tension between divergent yet complementary styles of the abstract and realistic while respectfully maintaining a traditional painterliness. Whether rendering picture-perfect urban scenes like Sunset in Philadelphia, the ocean in all states of calm and fury, or a portrait such as the one of his daughter pictured here, Kote’s obsession with elusive, ever-changing light can be seen in every brush stroke. The quest to catch it begins again with each new work and, from the paintings he’s created so far, it looks as if Kote will never tire of it. Sunset in Philadelphia, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 48"“All I want to do is express myself, my point of view, how I see it and feel it,” Kote says. “Then it’s yours to experience and take away from it what you will.’’ —