“Glow”

July 18 – August 13 2023

It’s summertime and the living is easy at Chroma Fine Art Gallery through August 13! The current exhibition, Glow, features four artists whose work collectively feels as bright, fresh, and radiant as a beach house vacation! Step into the cool gallery space, and let the evocative glow of the artwork wash over you.

Kathleeen Carlson paints large-scale canvases that envelope the viewer in soft, atmospheric washes of color. Viewing them feels like being caressed by an abstract seascape. Using a palette reminiscent of sea shells, sea glass and the interplay of light on sand and water, Carlson’s work is guided by a principle best expressed by the Swiss painter Johannes Itten: “The deepest and truest secrets of color effect are…invisible to the eye, and are beheld by the heart alone.”

In her 25+ years as a fine artist, nature has always been Corinne Lapin-Cohen’s muse. For the bulk of her early career, Lapin-Cohen painted traditional botanical watercolors. Now, using a variety of mediums and techniques, her subject matter balances the line between pure abstraction and identifiable subject matter. “Experiences, sensations, and stored memories inspire me to give visual voice to the beauty, fragility, and ephemeral nature of our world. These works are open-ended improvisations, allowing me to be spontaneous as I move, make marks, and dance my way over the surface.”

Vanessa Pineda Fox’s mixed-media pieces included in this exhibition demonstrate a closely observed quality of natural cycles. Her subtly textured canvases feel akin to waves sliding across a tide pool, leaving behind marks made by small sea creatures, natural materials, and the ebb and flow of water. She plays with textures by mixing metallics, mattes, and resins in a soft palette of pearlized cream, crisp white, and touches of sun-kissed gold. Working with reflective, refractive, or light-absorbing materials she lures viewers to look closer and make new personal associations.

Sculptor Terrence Mahon brings a crisp, three-dimensional aesthetic to complement the paintings on the wall. He works with plywood, acrylic, cement, plaster 24k gold, and silver leaf to create sculptures that reference sand dunes, sea-worn stones, fragrant beach roses, and repetitive marks left on the sand by waves. “Beauty, order, and meaning have been the core output to my design philosophy and process. My works are influenced by naturally occurring elements of light, wind, water, stone, and trees. The surfaces I create represent the beauty in the end state of what the natural elements have left behind.”

Step into Chroma Fine Arts Gallery this summer for a breath of fresh air! Breezy abstracts of rolling waves, luminous summer sunsets, and relaxed beachy tones will feel like a trip to the seashore.

Artists:
Kathleen Carlson
Corinne Lapin-Cohen
Vanessa Pineda Fox
Terrence Mahon