A new exhibition at Abend Gallery explores the works of contemporary artists inspired by the storytelling and chiaroscuro mastery of Caravaggio. Curator Jeremy Caniglia says, “Caravaggio understood the immediacy of the human condition.” The forthcoming exhibition, titled A Matter of Light and Death,will feature painters, printmakers and draftspersons who are all continuing the traditions of Caravaggio through intense, highly-contrasted works of art. “This exhibition features the next generation of realist painters who are not afraid to push subject matter and storytelling into the darkest and most beautiful areas of timeless pathos,” Caniglia continues.
Allen Williams, Contrition, oil on clayboard, 10 x 10"
Louis Carr, Self Portrait, oil on linen, 30 x 44"More than three dozen artists—working in mediums like ink, oil, graphite, charcoal, chalk, watercolor and more—will be featured in the show.
Subject matter in the exhibition is quietly haunting, from themes that overtly capture the idea of death, to more subdued but equally ominous imagery. In Allen Williams’ Contrition, a skeletal figure curls and contracts itself into a spherical shape. “Contritionis a piece that both communicates my fascination with the underlying structures of mortality and the humbling realizations associated with the ideas of deconstruction and impermanence that are inevitable,” says Williams. “It is both about death bowing its head to life, and in the end, life bowing its head to death.”
Luke Hillestad, Martyr's Lover, oil on linen, 28 x 28"
Self-Portrait Age 21 was the first self-portrait Hunter Parry ever painted while living in Florence, Italy. The piece is dark and moody, and feels as though you’re being transported back to the 1900s. “What started out as a routine project in the academy training, ended up being a major turning point in my life as a painter,” says Parry. “Inspired by Sorolla’s self-portrait in his studio, and Sargent’s portrait of Carolus-Duran, I wanted to portray myself as a painter in the early 20th century, inviting you into my studio. Confronting myself in the mirror for hours every day, I came to a better understanding of who I am, and who I want to be as an artist. This painting has helped guide the direction of my work in the following years.”
Hunter Parry, Self-Portrait Age 21, oil on linen, 30 x 20"
Evan Kitson, Skull Study, charcoal and graphite on paper, 9 x 12"
Robert Armetta says his painting Young Woman (Julie) had a surprising and unusual beginning. “Most of my paintings start in the form of an initial idea that swims around in my mind for a while. After this, I usually begin planning out the painting with a series of broad sketches, followed by numerous studies, which eventually lead me to begin working on the final painting itself. But that’s not what happened here.” He continues, “Prior to starting this painting, I had been working on another painting of the model, Julie, titled Magdalene.
Jura Bedic, Vanitas, oil on panel, 12 x 15"
One day, Julie arrived in my studio to work for me and sat down on the model stand to catch her breath, as she had been rushing through the streets of NYC to make it on time. As she sat there resting, I was busy preparing my palette. When I looked up, I was immediately struck by the beauty of the pose she had assumed quite unintentionally. I asked her to hold the pose she was in, grabbed some paper and pencils and began to draw, working out the composition of what would soon be the finished painting Young Woman (Julie).”
A Matter of Light and Deathwill hang from February 3 to 24 at Abend Gallery in Denver, Colorado.
Robert Armetta, Young-Woman (Julie), oil on linen, 30 x 24"
“These [artists] create narratives that transcend time and place,” says Caniglia. “They live in the eternal sunsets of sentimentalism and are the final thread in the fabric of the human condition. Open your mind and drift with them in worlds that live between light and death.” —
Abend Gallery 1261 Delaware Street, Suite 2 • Denver, CO 80204 • (303) 355-0950 • www.abendgallery.com
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