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Ahlsted and Bernard at Gross McCleaf
This pairing is a wonderful display of opposites. David Ahlsted's oils are all clean lines and bright flat colors. The sense conveyed is one of reverie.
It's so real that it starts to seem unreal. The series of oblong landscapes painted in the Pine Barrens and keyed to the seasons of the year are almost like frozen music. The large studies of figures grouped along shorelines convey an eerie stillness. All motion is arrested and the universe seems to be holding its breath.
Ruth Bernard is Ahlsted's polar opposite. "My art offers a passionate interpretation," she declares flatly, "rather than a replication of what I see." She is very much a latter-day Expressionist.
Floating Fruit is an exemplary example of expressionistic portraiture. Her style brings a new sense of excitement and urgency to that most placid of genres: the still life.
Bernard's work shows— the paint, the brushstrokes, the texture of the canvas are all there for the viewer to see. Her work lacks the smoothness, the sense of finished perfection that one finds in some other artists (Ahlsted, for instance).
But at the same time, Bernard's work is passionate and irksome. She forces you to deal with her vision. You can't just nod your head, say "very nice" and move on. Whereas Ahlsted's work invites you to indulge yourself in dreamy reveries, Bernard's work meets you head on and says, "Let's talk."
It's so real that it starts to seem unreal. The series of oblong landscapes painted in the Pine Barrens and keyed to the seasons of the year are almost like frozen music. The large studies of figures grouped along shorelines convey an eerie stillness. All motion is arrested and the universe seems to be holding its breath.
Ruth Bernard is Ahlsted's polar opposite. "My art offers a passionate interpretation," she declares flatly, "rather than a replication of what I see." She is very much a latter-day Expressionist.
Floating Fruit is an exemplary example of expressionistic portraiture. Her style brings a new sense of excitement and urgency to that most placid of genres: the still life.
Bernard's work shows— the paint, the brushstrokes, the texture of the canvas are all there for the viewer to see. Her work lacks the smoothness, the sense of finished perfection that one finds in some other artists (Ahlsted, for instance).
But at the same time, Bernard's work is passionate and irksome. She forces you to deal with her vision. You can't just nod your head, say "very nice" and move on. Whereas Ahlsted's work invites you to indulge yourself in dreamy reveries, Bernard's work meets you head on and says, "Let's talk."
What, When, Where
David Ahlsted, "The Shore, the River, the Barrens and Home," and Ruth Bernard "In and Out." Through May 19, 2010 at Gross McCleaf Gallery, 127 South 16th St. (215) 665-8138 or www.grossmccleaf.com.
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