Federation of Modern Painters & Sculptors annual members' exhibition

 I have 4 artworks in the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors' annual members' exhibition at the Prince Street Gallery, 547 West 27th Street, 5th Fl., Suite 504, NYC.  July 9 - July 27, 2024.  Tues. - Sat., 11am - 6pm.  There will be a second, closing reception on July 27, 4pm - 6pm.  I will be there, as will the other participating artists.  So, come on by!  Have a bite to eat and catch a fantastic show before it closes.

If you can't make it to the show at all, here are images of my 4 pieces and an accompanying explanation: 

The urban landscape of New York is my primary subject: I try to convey the wonder and awe of a city as large and grand as New York and, on the flipside, the sense of anonymity and aloneness one sometimes feels, despite the crowds.  As a life-long New Yorker, I have seen how socio-economic changes have transformed whole sections of the city.  Consequently, memory often informs my work, imbuing it with an element of nostalgia.  I also appreciate the narrative aspect that my paintings have, and the "story" I have to tell is about the mutability of the city.  It is a story I know well from firsthand observation.  

 Most of my artworks feature recognizable landmarks, they serve as counterpoints to the surrounding flux of the city.  My subject, though, is really the larger context in which they exist.  It takes several forms:  In Greenwich Village Morning (18" x 24," watercolor & gouache), the imposing Jefferson Market library is front and center; but it is surrounded by a mix of contemporaneous buildings and ones of a newer vintage.  Additionally, cast shadows and reflections on a window hint at a greater reality beyond the picture plane.  However, sometimes a landmark is both the epitome of permanence and change.  That is the case with the Chelsea landmark of Limelight (18" x 24," acrylic on canvas):  It was originally an Episcopalian church built to serve an affluent community in the mid-nineteenth century, but a century later there was no longer a local congregation to sustain it.  Then, in the 1970's the church was deconsecrated and turned into a drug rehab center; a decade later it was transformed again, this time into the notorious nightclub:  The Limelight.  Since then, the area, like most of the city has become gentrified.  The onetime church, reflecting the changing demographics, has since housed a mall and a gym, amongst other things.

While most of my work features exterior views of New York:  Street scenes, building facades, and the like.  I have expanded my repertoire to include interiors, which seems appropriate for a painter of urban settings given how much of city life is spent indoors and the important function of interior public spaces.  The 2 drawings I have in the show are of two different areas of that grand cultural repository:  The Metropolitan Museum.  One, Petrie Court (11" x 14"), is of the skylit, sculpture filled classical French-garden style courtyard of that name; where one can wander around and admire the sculpture or take in a view of Cleopatra's Needle in the distance.  The other, Period Room (11" x 14"), is a dioramic recreation of an intimate eighteenth-century Bordeaux hotel room, which alas one cannot enter.  However, the setup and stagecraft that went into it, can be admired up close.  

My Artist's Statement for the Philadelphia Open Studio Tour 2023

 Thanks to the generosity of a friend and local artist, who is lending me a wall, I am participating in this year's Philadelphia Open Studios Tour.  10/14 & 10/15, noon - 6 pm.  Spring Garden Street, Studio 303, Phila, PA.  I will be on hand both days to talk about my paintings and take questions, as will my host, Kathleen Catanese, who will also have artwork on view.  I thought that perhaps my artist's statement might pique your interest, so here it is:

Artist's Statement:

I grew up in New York and I draw my inspiration from the city's urban landscape, choosing that as my primary subject matter.  Most of my paintings are done in studio, but I always try to do some preliminary studies on site because it is important to me to have had some firsthand experience of my subject.  I also try to convey the wonder and awe of being in a city this vast and grand; and on the flipside, the sense of anonymity and aloneness one often experiences as well.  I have observed many of the transformations the city has undergone over the decades.  Therefore, memory often informs my work, imbuing it with an element of nostalgia.

I am also a Realist painter, so the limitations and illusory aspect of perception is of particular interest, and I try to convey that in my work.  Specifically, the ambiguity of how light and shadow defines form.  While I am a representational painter, I consider my paintings to be abstractions of reality.  And, though I avoid illustration, I appreciate the narrative aspect that all representational painting unavoidably has, and the "story" I have to tell is about the continuous reconfiguration of New York.  I know from firsthand observation how dramatically a city's neighborhoods can change socially, culturally and economically; undergoing structural changes as well as demographic shifts.  Landmarks such as the Guggenheim Museum and Jefferson Market Library offer counterpoints to the surrounding flux, which is one reason such structures often serve as the focal point of my cityscapes, but my subject is really the greater context in which they exist.  That context takes several forms:  In my paintings the play of light and shadow defines the buildings and their relation to their environs.  The white facade of the Guggenheim is particularly sensitive to changing light as can be seen in my painting Summer Evening in New York, where the colors range from buttery yellow to greyish violet; and shadows and reflections from across the street appear on the museum exterior, hinting at the physical reality beyond.  Likewise, in my painting Jefferson Market Library the city beyond the picture plane can be glimpsed, reflected in the windows of the foreground building.

                                            Summer Evening in New York, 16" x 20,' acrylic

                                            on canvas.  All right s reserved to the artist.

                                            Jefferson Market Library IV, 14' x 20," watercolor

                                            and gouache on illustration board.  All rights reserved.

However, some of the city's landmarks neither offer a contrast to the city's flux nor embody it, instead they stand apart from it.  That is the certainly the case with City College's Shepard Hall.  The building is featured in East Harlem Campus and the setting seems more pastural than urban-----at least when there aren't any students around.  I first saw the campus last year with the plein air group Urban Sketchers; I was surprised and taken by how separate the place looks from the usual crowded, structurally haphazard aspect of so much of the city.  In East Harlem Campus I wanted to capture the tranquil and idyll quality of the place.

                                            East Harlem Campus, 14" x 18," oil on canvas.  All

                                             Rights reserved to the artist.

In addition to paintings of New York, I have done some of Philadelphia.  I lived in Philly only briefly decades ago, but in recent years I have had more than a few occasions to visit, thanks to the generosity of a local friend.  I have taken advantage of those visits to sketch, paint and photograph various sites in and around the city.  My paintings of South 9th Street, the Italian Market's main drag, are my most successful efforts to date to capture the essence of one of Philadelphia's neighborhoods.

                                             Early Morning in South Philly, 14" x 14," acrylic

                                             on canvas.  All rights reserved.

I like the historic status and distinct character of the neighborhood:  It looks impervious to the development that is so prevalent in much of the city these days.  Although, one senses that eventually this area too will give way to new construction.  Perhaps some of the empty storefronts, such as those that can be glimpsed in Early Morning in South Philly are a harbinger of things to come.

                           

My Painting, The View from the El, Featured at the First Street Gallery's Exhibition: Nocturne.

The View from the El, 22" x 30," watercolor and gouache on paper.

 

My painting The View from the El is featured in the national juried exhibition Nocturne:  First Street Gallery, 547 West 27th Street, Suite 514, NYC.  July 28 - August 26, 2023.  Hours: Wednesday - Saturday, 11am - 6 pm.  I am thrilled to be a part of this fascinating show:  The theme is a perfect fit for me as I have painted many nocturnal scenes of New York over the years.  I hope you get to see it before it closes! 

         My nocturnal scenes of New York are evocative of everything I most associate with the city:  A sense of anonymity, or aloneness; the insignificance of the individual in the midst of a place this huge, this densely populated.  In my painting, The View from the El, the sole 24-hour business is a lonely beacon in a sea of darkness, which is meant to be a metaphor for urban isolation-----a Hopperesque "lonely city."  Despite the angst, there is something magical about the way nighttime transforms the urban landscape:  The darkness obscures the massiveness of the architecture, while electric lights create an illusory and ethereal environment.  When it is very dark out, much of the solid structure of the city disappears, leaving it to be defined instead by the illumination and ambient light from the street, storefronts and neon signs.

        Like many of my nightscapes, The View from the El is painted with watercolor.  The medium    is particularly suited for what I want to convey:  such as the ethereal quality even the blackest night sky has; the diffusion of light against the darkness; and the limitations and illusory aspect of perception.  Before I began painting, though, I mapped out the composition in pencil.  Then, I began the painting process with layers of translucent watercolor:  The multiple layers create a sense of insubstantiality and depth more readily than a single opaque layer could.  Special attention was paid to the tone and value as multiple washes were applied.  I left the paper unpainted where the finished work is white, or only lightly tinted.  I then added white gouache to those areas that I wanted to have a heightened luminosity.

        I studied with Paul Ching-Bor at the Art Students League (as well as others).  It is from Ching-Bor that I learnt the technique of using a combination of translucent and opaque watercolors.  The technique has made it possible for me to create more varied surfaces and heightened contrasts of value and luminosity.  Which has allowed me to create more powerfully evocative and expressive paintings than could be achieved with a more traditional approach to watercolor.

        Go see my painting in person!  You will not be disappointed!

 

I'm Participating in New and Upcoming Holiday Exhibitions

3 Tangerines, 2018, 14" x 11," oil on canvas.
(c) 2018.

I Have 5 oil paintings, an acrylic one plus an ink drawing in current or upcoming exhibitions.

Currently:
I'm participating in a group show & sale at the Plastic Club Art Gallery, 247 Camac Street, Philadelphia, PA.  My acrylic painting "3 Tulips in a Blue Pitcher" is in the exhibition "reconfiguration," which features mostly abstract work.  So, my painting stands out a bit; however, I consider the transformation of three-dimensional objects into two-dimensional paintings to be a form of abstraction.

The show & sale ends December 27.  The hours are 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm.  If you find yourself in Philly over the next two weeks, check it out!  It is a great opportunity to find that special something for someone!

Next up:
My painting "3 Tangerines" will be on view at the Art Students League of New York's annual holiday show and sale.  If you're looking for a unique but not too expensive gift, I suggest you check it out.

When: Tomorrow until December 21. Where:  Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery, Art Students League, 215 West 57th Street, NYC.  Hours are 9 am to 8 pm, Monday through Friday; and 9 to 4 pm on weekends.

Third up:

I'm participating in a group pop up exhibition and sale in Chelsea.  I have 4 oil paintings on view, all for sale!  My painting "Cosmos and Strawberries" is one of them; "2 Eggs in a Glass Bowl," another.

Cosmos and Strawberries, 2018, 14" x 14," oil on canvas
(c) 2018.

2 Eggs in a Glass Bowl, 2017 12" x 12," oil on canvas.
(c) 2017.

The opening is this Thursday, December 13, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm.  I'd love it if you could make it (I will definitely arrive by 6:00, and I will stay until at least 7:30). The address is 144 10th Avenue, NYC. If you can't make the opening, you will still be able to catch the show.  It will stay up until the 19th.  Hours are noon - 7:00 pm.

Lastly:

I'm also participating in "Postcards from the Edge." It is an annual benefit for Visual AIDS.  The organization raises money for AIDS awareness and prevention, and supports HIV positive artists.  I'm not at liberty to show an image of my artwork, but I will have a "postcard" on view and for sale!.  The event takes place February 22 -24, 2019 at Bortolami, 39 Walker Street, NYC.

Happy holidays Everyone!

A Coney Island Nightscapes Series: Cyclone, & More.

Cyclone, Coney Island, 2017, 26"x 38," watercolor, gouache & pencil on paper.  (c) 2017.

I'm thrilled to announce my participation in a summer invitational at the George Billis Gallery. 525 West 26th Street, Ground Floor, NYC.  The show will be up until August 18. &, everyone is invited!  My painting in the show (shown above) is one of many nightscapes I've painted over the last 4 years and part of a Coney Island series I started last summer.

Urban nightscapes have long been a source of fascination to me.  In particular, I love the way a combination of darkness and electric light can transform massive steel and concrete structures into twinkling, ethereal apparitions:  Perceptions are as affected by light and its absence during the day, as well.  But, the affect is most obvious after nightfall when darkness obscures most physical phenomena and all that can be glimpsed is what little is illuminated by electric lights.

Most of us experience the world visually:  As a continuum of visual impressions and images.  The unreliability of that visual data is of unending fascination to me.  I think Plato's allegory of the cave is the best metaphor to describe the phenomena.  And, my nightscapes are meant, on one level, to be metaphors for the limitations of human perception.  In Plato's allegory the inhabitants of a cave only see shadows cast on its walls; thus, they only partially glimpse reality, but never perceive it in its entirety.  Likewise, after nightfall physical phenomena can only be partially glimpsed.  The rest is guessed or imperfectly remembered from earlier experience and observation.

Parachute Drop & Carousel, Coney Island, 2017, 26"x 38," watercolor, gouache & pencil on paper.  (c) 2017.

I guess I'm partially drawn to Coney Island by the sheer strangeness of the place:  There is certainly nowhere else like it!  There is no practical purpose or utility to it.  Unlike other amusement parks, no unifying theme.  Instead, Coney Island is a consortium of competing amusement ride operators.  Its most prominent structures----its roller coasters and other rides----have no other purpose than to serve up ersatz experience:  Instead of real danger, the rides provide a simulation of it.  And, what a whirlwind of sensory perceptions!  The neon and other illumination all about presents a dizzying array of visuals.  All of which makes Coney Island the perfect subject for a nightscape painter like myself.

Nightscapes of New York City, My Newest Series.

Nocturnal Street Scene, 2015, 22"x30," watercolor, gouache & pencil
on paper.

A View of the Chrysler Building, 2015,
26 1/2"x21,"watercolor, gouache
& pencil on paper.

I love the way New York City looks at night; there is something magical about the place:  The darkness obscures the massiveness of the architecture, while the dazzling lights create an illusory and ethereal environment.   When it’s very dark out, buildings disappear above the level of the illumination from streetlights, traffic lights, storefronts and signs; pretty much everything above the second or third floor fades into darkness.  Those lights that shine out from upper story windows are rarely strong enough to define anything outside.  Instead they often look like twinkling little stars in the night sky

 When I walk around the city at night I sometimes feel as if I’m wandering through a gargantuan interactive light sculpture.  But one that is more interesting and mysterious to me precisely because the effect is not the consequence of a grand design, but of something more haphazard and random:  The aggregate of many individual efforts, mostly independent of each other, which coincidently, or not, adds up to a spectacular whole.

Reflections on a Corner, 57th & 7th, 2015, 20"x30,"
watercolor, gouache & pencil on paper.

So, not surprisingly, I decided to do a series of New York City nightscapes.  I started a couple of years ago.  However, progress has been slow.  I’ve discovered that it is challenging to capture the hallucinatory quality that very bright lights have in the dark, but it has been rewarding too.  To me, the nightscapes are evocative of everything I most associate with the city:  A sense of anonymity, or aloneness despite the crowds; extreme commercialism; and, more than anything, the insignificance of the individual in the midst of a place this huge, this densely populated.

To date, I don’t have enough paintings in my nightscape series for a solo show.  However, I have completed a few that I am pleased enough with to have had included in an occasional group show.  One such takes place July 9 - August 25, 2015 at the Manhattan Borough President’s Office, 1 Centre Street, 19th Floor.  I gather viewing is by invitation only, though.  Apparently security won’t let anyone into the building unless they have their name listed-----and then only with a photo ID.  If you are interested in seeing the exhibition, contact me at margaretmontgomeryartwork@gmail.com and I’ll see what I can do.  You could also try contacting the Art Students League of New York, since it is their show:  All the participating artists are either students or members of the League.  Or, you could wait until I have my solo nightscape show----but you’ll have to wait at least another year for that!

All copyrights are reserved to the artist (c) 2015.

I'm Thrilled to Announce My Upcoming Solo Exhibition: Close Calls: 10 Floral Paintings.

All copyrights reserved to the artist (c) 2014.

Well folks, the opening date (August 4) for my second solo exhibition of the summer is fast approaching!  I can't tell you how giddy I am with excitement!  This is only my third solo ever; so putting an exhibit together still feels new to me----although I can't imagine having a show will ever seem old hat.  Before I go on about my new show,  I want to briefly say some things about the last one ("Wildlife," May 27 - June 28).  First, I was pleased to receive compliments regarding the individual paintings, and the show as a whole too.  The creative process can be very subjective, so it's nice to hear other people respond positively to the end product.  (It's very reassuring, too!)  Next, I'd like to mention that I made one sale.  While one sale is better than none, I have to admit I would dearly have liked to have sold more.  I hope to do better next time!  Lastly, I want to mention that I got quite the surprise when an old friend of mine who now lives in LA showed up unannounced:  The conceit was that she had come to New York for my reception!

Copyrights are reserved.

As for my upcoming show, "Close Calls," let me tell you a bit about the paintings.  They feature flora of one sort or another, with the occasional fauna or telephone; it is the florals, though, that give the show its unifying motif.  These paintings, like most of my still lifes (and some of my cityscapes, too), reflect a Realist world view combined with Magical Realist flourishes----I know not everyone considers floral paintings to be "still Lifes" since flowers are not dead or inanimate, and as anyone who has ever painted them can attest, they can be anything but still!  However, I use the term very loosely----But I digress!

In my floral paintings, the central flower motif is paired with incongruous elements throughout:  Goldfish appear to sail through the sky next to waterlilies; venomous spiders and/or ominously displaced telephone receivers are next to decorative floral arrangements; a jack rabbit’s shadow appears next to cacti, although there is no rabbit in sight.  The pairings have a dissonance that suggests the accidental----purely chance----aspect of life.  Leaving the viewer to wonder if they are looking at the aftermath of an incident, or not.

I hope I have managed to pique your interest enough to entice you to come to my show!  By the by, anyone who would like to come to my reception (Tuesday, August 12) is more than welcome to!  Don't hesitate to drop by anytime during the show's run, either.  The "gallery" area of the Berlitz language Center is entirely accessible to the public.  No entrance fee, nor appointment is necessary.

Close Calls:  10 Floral Paintings.  Watercolors by Margaret Montgomery.  Show runs:  August 4 - 29.  Monday - Saturday.  Presented at Berlitz Language Center/Rockefeller Center, 40 West 51st Street, NYC.