Light of Day
The Language of Landscape

Curated by Karen Wilkin

Westbeth Gallery, 55 Bethune St, New York, NY 10014
April 25 – May 10, 2020
Opening Reception: April, 25, 3 – 6 pm

Light of Day: The Language of Landscape is an exhibition of twelve contemporary artists exploring the possibilities of landscape painting today.

The show includes Lois Dodd, Albert Kresch, Stanley Lewis, Temma Bell, William Christine, Diane Drescher, Howard Gladstone, John Goodrich, Elizabeth Higgins, Elizabeth O’Reilly, Tony Serio and Kamilla Talbot.

Ms. Wilkin will present a talk, “What Meets the Eye,” at the gallery at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, April 29.

Curated by the distinguished writer and curator Karen Wilkin, Light of Day originated in brainstorming sessions amongst several NYC-based painters in 2017. The group soon expanded to include such renowned artists as Lois Dodd, Albert Kresch and Stanley Lewis. Light of Day artists include Temma Bell, William Christine, Diane Drescher, Howard Gladstone, John Goodrich, Elizabeth Higgins, Elizabeth O’Reilly, Tony Serio and Kamilla Talbot.

The long, rich history of western landscape painting is graced by the extraordinary works by such artists as Claude Lorrain, Camille Corot, Paul Cézanne and Edward Hopper. These masters reveled in the light and spaces of the natural world.

We inhabit a different era today, in which the aspiring painter may question not simply representational painting but the very value of earnest expression itself.

While cognizant of postmodernist thinking, the artists in Light of Day seek to re-engage our visual environment. They hope to embrace the contradictory forces that have historically animated painting up through the modernist era: the vital gestures of the observed world, and the innate energies of lines on a surface and colors on a palette.

The twelve artists have divergent backgrounds and pursue various styles, from brushy expressionism to resolute, geometric realism. But they share the goal of confirming how, even in the twenty-first century, landscape painting remains vital, just as long as land can be made to press against sky—and trees to rise, and clouds to loom—with a power and eloquence unique to painting. The challenges daunt, but the love of nature compels and traditions of painting inspire.

The opening reception will be 3-6 pm on Saturday, April 25.
The show will be open for preview on April 24.
There will be a closing reception 3-6 pm, on Saturday May 9.

A full-color catalog with essay by Karen Wilkin accompanies the exhibition.

Gallery hours are 1-6pm, Wednesday through Sunday.

For more information, please visit light-of-day.com or contact Diane Drescher at (917) 660-0684 or dresch900@gmail.com

New York-based independent curator and art critic Karen Wilkin is the Contributing Editor for Art for The Hudson Review and a regular contributor to The New Criterion, Art in America and The Wall Street Journal.