Painted Cities

Hudson locals and New York City natives will find common ground at Carrie Haddad Gallery this January, as it hosts a trove of familiar sights in its upcoming exhibition Painted Cities, which will include works by Dan Rupe, Darshan Russell, Edward Avedisian, Patty Neal, Richard Britell, Robert Goldstrom, and Scott Nelson Foster. Featuring everything from paintings of the Empire State Building and Hudson Library to corner laundromats and takeout restaurants, this exhibition forms a compelling human portrait without calling upon the human figure. Crafted in an array of styles, from a Fauvist inspiration to hyperrealism, each cityscape captures a city’s character with an intense precision and sensitivity to the world people build for themselves.

Meanwhile, the human presence lies in the artistry of each painter’s brush. Richard Britell captures vignettes of classical-style architecture unique to New York City in a hyperrealist depiction. Cityscape painter, Patty Neal, also uses Manhattan as her muse but rather focuses on the juxtaposition of nature’s persistent force within the developed world. After residing in Brooklyn for many years, local landmarks like the Dime Saving Bank and the skyline on the East River became mainstays in Robert Goldstrom’s work. While the artist continues to examine these subjects at various times of day, each is brought into a new context with changes in light and perspective.

Part of the exhibit will shift its focus closer to home to upstate cities like Hudson, Albany, and Poughkeepsie. Dan Rupe transports us into his world of expressionistic color with scenes from the artist’s studio that capture the streets of Hudson with Fauvist style brushwork. Following a monumental shift from painting eye-popping Color Field paintings of grand scale in the 1960s, Edward Avedisian retained an affinity for flat shapes and bright color in Livingston Avenue, a 24 x 30 inch winter scene set on the slushy sidewalks of an offbeat neighborhood in downtown Albany circ. late 1990s. Scott Nelson Foster’s delicately detailed grayscale watercolors of empty storefronts and townhouses share a nostalgic narrative and examine the artist’s definition of beauty found in “absence and loss, not presence”. Monochromatic city vignettes devoid of human activity call to mind the dwindling presence of small town, USA. Self-taught artist, Darshan Russell, paints scenes from the Poughkeepsie Journal in her signature naïve style. Familiar city scenes are enlivened with her bold use of opaque color, applied to the canvas straight from the tube.