simple/complex

Vestment Series #2
30" x 22"     watercolor     2011
Grace Degennaro

This afternoon, I saw Grace DeGennaro’s exhibition at the Aucocisco Gallery in Portland, Maine. I think her work is extremely beautiful and has the profound quality of being both simple and complex at the same time. That quality reflects a basic truth found in life and nature, and (in my opinion) is also a fundamental property of great art, whether abstract or figurative.

Giotto, Memling, Botticelli, Rembrandt, Gauguin, Degas, Mondrian, Pollock and Motherwell painted in totally different ways, in different times and places, yet their amazing paintings all have this important property of being simultaneously simple and complex. Without that property, a painting can still be charming or well-made, pleasing to look at, but to my way of thinking, it will not have the timeless depth that's a commonality to all great paintings. 

Grace’s exhibition runs until May 4th and is highly recommended.

Here’s a link to her web-site: 
http://www.gracedegennaro.com/

To the Aucocisco Galleries:

http://www.aucocisco.com/