THE COLOR OF LIGHT – A JURIED EXHIBITION

Edgewater Gallery is hosting our first juried art exhibition and competition, which will be on display for the month of June 2017. It was an extremely competitive field, with over 200 remarkable works submitted from oil, acrylic, watercolor, and pastel artists from all over the northeast. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please join us for the Opening Reception on Friday, June 9th from 5-7pm to celebrate all of the finalists. At the reception our jurors, Andrea Rosen and Claudia Fiks, will be announcing the Best in Show, Second Place, and Third Place winners.

Scroll down for the perspective statements from the jurors.

FINALISTS

(click on any painting’s thumbnail to view a larger, full image) 

ANDREA ROSEN:
How does one whittle 215 beautiful and interesting paintings down to a select 30? Though one could interpret the term broadly, I found myself using the title and prompt “The Color of Light” to make such difficult choices, focusing on works that directly expressed this idea in some way. Of course, this could be quite clear in the case of the abundant and varied landscape paintings to choose from: who had captured, in some way that rang true to life, the color of light as it reflected off of mountains, water, trees, buildings, and objects natural and manmade? This was a skill that I myself found elusive in my days of studying painting, and so it was all the more impressive to see it done well in many different ways. But then, abstraction of various kinds was not to be discounted. How does an artist capture the color of light in an abstract or metaphorical way? It was these questions – along with skillful painting technique, eye-catching palettes, and compositional strength – that determined my selections.

CLAUDIA FIKS:
Life presents us with daily surprises, challenges and undeniably gray moments. Then, there is art that plunges us into new dimensions. I commend the organizers of this open call for the theme selected. The evocative powers of color and light have been the focus of so many great artists throughout history, who spent their lives experimenting with techniques to master both effects. I extend my congratulations to all of the artists who submitted outstanding work for this show. The 215 images that I had the pleasure and privilege to observe for so long definitely enhanced my senses of visual power and appreciation for pictorial complexities. As I tried to catch detailed nuances of every work, logic and emotions guided me during my selection process, and this is how I respond to art. The final artworks bring an interesting investigation of light and atmosphere, depicted in abstract and representational styles. The viewer will be invited to enjoy a sensory opportunity to see, which will encourage contemplation of the subtleties of lights and forms. I believe that the collective body of work forms a color chart portrait of narratives expressed by genuine responses of the artists to this timeless inspiring enigma, the color of light.