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January 28 – May 8, 2005Della Penna Gallery, New Hope The Contemporary Eye featured the work of twelve Bucks County artists working in a variety of styles and media. From abstract to realist, in paintings, sculpture, and collage, these artists offered an exciting survey of the local arts scene today. Doylestown artist Judith Heep's work combines the abstract with the seemingly real, such as animals or people with fields of color, in a mixed-media format. She begins by casting her own paper from molds, achieving a different texture and color each time, and creating unique 'prints' embellished with painting, drawing, stitching, and collage. In his acrylic paintings, Robert Ranieri of Kintersville suggests both the density of architecture and open areas, which are at times flooded with warm or cool light. From his training as a classical singer, he imparts to his canvases shapes and organization of color that intentionally mimic sound, especially that of the human voice. Artist Images — click to enlarge              Ricardo Barros, Autin Wright, 1997, carbon pigment digital print on paper, Valeriy Belenikin, Mirror, 2003, oil on canvas, David Ellsworth, Black Pot, Dawn, 2000, burned and burnished ash, Marilyn Gordley, Portrait, acrylic, Judith Heep, Eight Dogs, 2000, cyanotype and oil stick on handmade paper, Alan Lachman, Man with a Broken Thumb, ca. 1987, oil on canvas, Ann Lovett, Untitled, 1995, toned gelatin silver print, Robert Ranieri, Palisades II, 1987-88, mixed media, Charlotte Schatz, Water Tower Combine #2, 2002, acrylic on paper on wood panel, Mavis Smith, Sink or Swim, 2004, egg tempura, Susan Twardus, This Old Man, charcoal on paper, Valerie Von Betzen, View from Phillipsburg, New Jersey, 2004, oil on canvas, Solebury artist Mavis Smith uses a painting process of semi-transparent layers of egg tempera to gracefully hint at narratives that are never fully explained. Her figures at first glance appear ordinary - until, upon closer inspection, we see bizarre elements such as gills on a human face, or a devotional frame surrounding a nude woman, that cause us to reconsider. Mixed-media artist Marilyn Gordley of Pipersville works in a semi-abstract style. Her paintings often tell the story of her life, including her unusual portraits in which the faces sometimes protrude from the canvas in a bas relief fashion. Viewers find a personal connection to her subjects, and often impose their own stories onto the scenes. A powerful portrayal of our society's disenfranchised infuses Trenton-based Susan Twardus' works both charcoal drawings and paper sculptures with a noble sadness. Her figures, in their genteel shabbiness, evoke empathy rather than judgment. Of special interest are the sculptures in which figures rise from a stack of New York Times newspapers that form the pedestal. A Moscow native now living in Lambertville, NJ, Valeriy Belenikin is an academy-trained draftsman. His humorous, sometimes biting observations of the human condition peer behind the elaborate facades people construct to hide their weaknesses. The hyper realistic oil paintings include elaborate compositions of objects and people, as well as finely drawn portraits. After undergoing a series of medical tests, photographer Ann Lovett became interested in the "luminous beauty" revealed by x-rays and other imaging systems. A former Bucks County resident now based in New Paltz, New York, her series The Book of the Body explores the interior and exterior worlds of the human body. It consists of enlarged x-ray images juxtaposed with dramatic close-ups of the body's surfaces. When painter Charlotte Schatz moved her studio to the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia, she became fascinated with the many abandoned buildings nearby. These deserted factories, with their twisted pipes and powerful abstract forms, became the subject matter for a series of paintings that investigates the geometry and architecture of the urban landscape. New Hope painter Al Lachman is known in Bucks County for his colorful, evocative images of houses and buildings. In the late 1980s he was moved by the homeless persons he met on the streets of New York, and made a series of paintings and works on paper depicting some of these desperate lives. Morrisville-based artist Ricardo Barros' photographs are featured in the monograph Facing Sculpture, a collection of portraits of contemporary sculptors. His images for this project often include visual references to the artists' works or their inspirational sources. His probing photographs suggest how each artist uniquely transforms materials and reinvents space. Valerie Von Betzen's twilight and evening scenes of river towns along the Delaware River from Easton, Pennsylvania to Lambertville, New Jersey explore the variety of light sources emanating from the shops, taverns, automobiles, and bridge guardhouses unique to these towns. Von Betzen is inspired by the haunting beauty and quiet, lonely qualities of life in small river communities. Woodworker David Ellsworth of Quakertown developed a process called hollow turning, which resulted in the creation of thin hollow wooden vessels that are considered both craft objects and formal sculpture. Inspired by his prior experience of working in clay, his love of wood, and Native American ceramic and basketry forms, Ellsworth's creations express the spirit and pulse of his raw materials. The exhibition was sponsored by Jane M. Yeuroukis, Inc. and Kelchner's Horseradish Products, with additional support from N. T. Callaway Real Estate Broker, LLC and Sally French - The Market of Fine Art. ALSO SEE
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