The Grenning Gallery is pleased to announce the new exhibit featuring the work of Viktor Butko, Kelly Carmodyand Maryann Lucas. These artists keep with the Grenning Gallery classical tenets, painting only from life and the paintings hum with their experience of direct observation.
Viktor Butko (b.1978, Moscow)was born into a long line of artists and has been painting since childhood. Butko is at the forefront of contemporary Russian Impressionism. Older Russian brothers and famed impressionist artists, Alexei and Sergei Tkachev, claim Butko's work is the.... 'next generation of greatness'. Luckily, Butko recently decided to make the US his home, and with that, he brings three generations of painting experience with his fresh eye on our landscapes. This show displays Butko's natural ability to observe nature honestly and without bias. In Afternoon Shadows, Butko pays homage to the carefully manicured landscape surrounding the Customs House in Sag Harbor. The iconic red doored and cedar shake home rests just beyond the towering oakbeyond the sprawling front lawn.
Butko's patience and dexterirty shines through in Shelter Island Summer. Tender, early summer leaves are baptized by regenerative sunlight. Dappled light through the canopy of leaves reflects in the pond. Wild Irisesrejoice and reach towards the sunlight in the foreground. Butko captures Shelter Island and Sag Harbor landscapes near and dear to our hearts, with a fresh outsider perspective.
Especially interesting this season are his twilight paintings by the South Ferry "Going Home, South Ferry" and "Evening Silence", as well as his precise depiction of the "Sag Harbor Village Marina" in front of Barons Cove. In the prior Butko examines the symphony of cool tones at the summer's twilight hour, and he adds in hints of the warm sunset hues which transport us the that North Haven beachhead where the ferry docks. In the latter, we feel the crispness of mid-day light revealing the sandy bottom of the bay up close, and the clear atmosphere afar.
Kelly Carmody (b. 1977, Massachusetts) returns to the Grenning Gallery this autumn after a fruitful summer travelling in Europe! Carmody is an award winning, classically trained painter with works in some of the top classical-realist galleries along the East Coast. Her work is usually filled with soft hues, depicting wholesome subjects, and leave the viewer completely at ease.
Carmody was drawn to paint the Sag Harbor Historical Society in the springtime this year, once she saw the yard filled with unique, funny-looking flowers called Alliums. The finished product reveals a composition dominated by these sunlit flowers, Annie Cooper Boyd's rustic style house, and an American flag posted on the front porch. An impressive portrayal of Sag Harbor from an outsider. She also painted for weeks on Main Street yielding a special painting of the sidewalk in front of the Conca Dora building and Sylvester's.
Maryann Lucas (1959), Sag Harbor's own delivers a series of great locally painted works from her studio, with several break through paintings in this show. "Glow Up" is a poetic take on a subject she painted in a larger format years ago. Lucas really zeroes-in on her subject, her full attention deciphers the many hues needed to portray reality. The elegant observations of the light in and around the flowers, and the equal attention to the negative space make this a true gem of a painting. Also, in "Set in the Sun", we follow Lucas out of doors to capitalize on the vibrant local light, mid-day in the back yard as she delights in bounty from a farm stand. This loosely painted accurate feeling painting is a hint of great things to come.
And finally, in "Lilac Bouquet" we see a much more subtle look at a classic composition, where the vibrant purple blooms fiercely grab the viewers attention, and then twist away into the shadows. One of the most intriguing aspects is the transparency of the vase. The ends of the lilacs stems simply appear in the most gentle way, resting peacefully in water, grounding the structure of the subject. The negative space around the subject is a delightful abstraction of today's hip greys.
