Curated by Amanda Hawkins
Following Traditions is an exhibition 400+ years in the making. As its name suggests, Following Traditions connects the past to the present, the historic to the contemporary, the way things were to where they are. The exhibition features five local artists and considers their work within the context of Cape Ann’s significant artistic lineage. Participating artists are Nicholas Anthony Mancini, Jon Bolles, Amanda Hawkins, Will Suglia and Joe LoVasco, all of whom have deep personal or professional ties to the locale of the North Shore.
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The diversity of process, material and outcome across the work serves as a reminder of the artistic voices and muses that once found inspiration here in the nation’s oldest art colony.
Nicholas Anthony Mancini uses paint to create a space that is simultaneously referent to and removed from reality. His constructed spaces are not unlike those of Stuart Davis, in their play between surface and depth, offering glimpses of namable objects amongst painterly abstractions. Both artists find ways to play with and push the inherent flatness of painting, thereby creating a portal into another world.
Jon Bolles situates his viewer in a very specific place and time. His visual notations of light are akin to Edward Hopper’s architectural paintings, where it may be argued that light is the true subject of the work. Bolles’ sensitivity to color and mark dramatize the highlights and shadows of his selected built environments, inviting the viewer to be immersed in a fleeting moment in time.
Amanda Hawkins’ plein air practice demands quick and bold brushwork, like that of Nell Bliane. Each brushstroke is alive, both referring to and diverging from its subject, but always working in unison to create form and depth. Hawkins, like Blaine, embraces the inherent abstraction of paint and sees it as a self-referent media.
Will Suglia’s work entwines symbol and place. His visual narratives explore vignettes of people, places and objects transformed through material manipulation. This transformation from subject to consequent object is reminiscent of Marsden Hartley. Suglia, like Hartley, allows the artistic process to be seen, embedding a narrative into the final work.
The driving motivation for Joe LoVasco’s work is a thorough investigation of form. LoVasco, like Milton Avery, has the rare ability to coalesce and harmonize wide-ranging shapes and forms. Whether looking at his two- or three-dimensional work, the viewer may find similar questions as when looking at an Avery painting: How did these shapes come to be?
Jon Bolles, 46 Pond Street; Amanda Hawkins, Plein Air at Ravenswood Park; Nicholas Mancini, Book Assise; Will Suglia, Wall 1
Opening Reception
Sunday, August 27, 4–6 pm
Making Connections: The Historic and Contemporary Artists of Rocky Neck Art Colony
Sunday August 27th, 3:30pm