Summer Members' Show: As Expected

The Copley Society is pleased to present its Summer Members’ Show, As Expected, on display until August 19^th in the upper gallery.  As a juried show, any member artist had the opportunity to submit work for this exhibition, and our guest jurors, Richard Baino and Stephanie Bond of Child’s Gallery, chose the 34 pieces of art on display.

First Love, by Copley Artist Susan Dragoo Lembo, depicts a brilliant red bathing suit accompanying a weathered wooden boating oar. With her playful use of color, she embodies the whimsical spirit of a summer by the sea.

First Love, Susan Dragoo-Lambo, 36" x 24"

Suzanne Crocker’s Boogie Board Dance also portrays a spirited view of summer life through dramatic and bold hues. Against an incandescent carroty-colored background, a young girl gazes at an unused boogie board laying at her feet.

Boogie Board Dance, Suzanne Crocker, 36" x 36"

The Lightship Nantucket remains true to its name, illustrating the last serving lightship in its current resting place, the Boston harbor. In his oil painting, Brian Dubina artfully captures the nighttime dockside scene.

The Lightship Nantucket, Brian Dubina, 22" x 26"

Come in and see what else you would expect – or not expect – as a part of The Copley Society’s Summer Members’ Show. The gallery is open to the public Tuesday – Saturday from 11:00AM to 6:00PM and on Sunday from noon to 5:00pm.

Co|So Exhibitions :: New Members’ Show 2015

The Copley Society is proud to present the 18 newly accepted members into the gallery in the New Members' Show. Representing a great diversity of styles, media and techniques, the newest artist members span from locals working in Boston and Cambridge, to as far away as Ireland and Canada.  This year’s exhibition was featured as the cover story in the January/February 2015 edition of Artscope Magazine titled Mystical, Meditative, Mirthful and can be previewed online.

 

Kate Taylor, Weeping Willow Sunset, 24 x 24,acrylic and resin on panel.

Described by Artscope as “luminous and lovely, filled with color and energy,” Kate Taylor is Co|So’s first artist member working in resin. In Weeping Willow Sunset a palette knife was used to create luscious painted leaves that drip down the panel into a vibrant orange and pink sunset. The highly reflective coating of resin enhances and animates the colors, giving the flattened composition a greater sense of depth. 

David Palmquist, Green Ranch House, 37 1/4 x 37 1/4, oil on canvas.

Green Ranch House by David Palmquist pits the viewer in motion, sitting in a car or train watching as the outside world blurs past. He does not just paint an accurate landscape, but captures the moment in transition, a point between two places forever frozen in place.

Nicole Alger, Talking Stick, 31 1/2 x 37 1/2, oil on canvas.

Nicole Alger’s Talking Stick places a hyper realist woman in a beautifully abstracted background, creating the perfect conjunction of the traditional and contemporary. The powerful strokes of orange paint emanating from the stick give voice to the quiet power of the woman, a visual representation of her strength.

The exhibit is on display in the gallery through February 23, 2015.

Co|So Exhibitions :: Beauty of Burma by Doug Adams

The Copley Society is proud to present Beauty of Burma, a collection of photographs by Doug Adams at Boston Private Bank in the Prudential Center. Doug’s work takes the viewer on an international journey, exploring the incredible architecture of Southeast Asia’s Myanmar.  His photographs capture the meditative beauty and peaceful serenity of Bagan temples at their most spectacular moments. 

Doug Adams, Temples at Sunrise (Burma), 28 x 18, photograph.

The exhibition provides insight into the area’s history and the magnificence of modern day Myanmar.  Over 4,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed across the ancient Pagan Empire’s capital city, Bagan, between the 11^th and 13^th centuries.  Today, roughly half of these structures still stand, making the city a world-renowned pilgrimage and spiritual tourism destination.

Doug Adams, Burma Sunset, 29 x 22 1/2, photograph.

Doug’s Burma Sunset offers a look into the challenges of building in Bagan, which is located in the “dry zone” of Burma: a desert-like area characterized by high temperatures, little rainfall and high winds.  Over time, these winds have eroded the elaborate stucco and wood designs that once adorned the region’s religious relics.  The image artfully captures the aridity of Bagan, punctuated with the spiritual oasis of temple architecture. 

Doug Adams, Bagan Sunrise, 26 x 36, photograph.

The stunning piece Bagan Sunrise displays the majesty and ethereal qualities of Burma.  The sun illuminates the misty morning fog, creating a cloud-like tapestry through which holy temples and bonsai trees emerge to greet the new day.  Adding to the spectacle, hot air balloons metaphorically mirror the viewer’s enlightening experience as they float through the air.

Come join us in the Prudential Center and allow yourself to experience the spiritual and architectural beauty of Myanmar. The exhibit will run through November 1, 2014, and can be viewed online here. We look forward to seeing you in the gallery soon!

Co|So Exhibitions:: GRIT: The Urban Landscape

The Copley Society of Art is proud to present Grit: The Urban Landscape, juried by the renowned Director of MIT’s List Visual Arts Center, Dr. Paul Ha.  This nationally influenced show unveils the raw fabric of the cityscape as seen through the eyes of both Copley and non-Copley members alike.

Ben Holiday, Elevated, 38 x 50, oil and enamel on acrylic.

Dr. Ha’s curatorial vision for Grit embraces the minimalist view of the city and urban life.  In his words, “though the urban area that surrounds, overwhelms, and confronts us daily can be the grit in our lives, we can also find moments of unparalleled beauty and solace from that same exact environment.”  The design of the exhibit creates a microcosm of the urban environment, with the varied blend of mediums and artistic ethos serving as a perfect metaphor for the melting pot that is urban life.  From the dusty pavement beneath our feet to lofty skyscrapers, Grit displays the full range of the metropolitan experience.

Julian Cherubini, Back Back Bay, 23 x 30, archival pigment print (photograph).

One of the show’s most notable pieces, an oil and enamel painting on acrylic by Ben Holiday titled Elevated, captures the simple and often overlooked beauty of naturally repeating and overlapping patterns that exist in an urban environment.  Awarded "First Place," Back Back Bay, an archival ink photograph on paper by Julian Cherubini, uses contrasting black and white to transcend the modern world and detailed brickwork to spark a sensory experience of Back Bay rooftops.

Sean Flood, Clarendon Alley at Midnight, 36 x 42, oil on panel.

Another feature of the exhibit, Sean Flood’s Clarendon Alley at Midnight, exemplifies Grit and the artist’s aim of unveiling all aspects of the city. Sean states: “my approach to painting urban scenes and structures simulates and celebrates the energy of the city and the construction process. The paintings reveal the process from foundation to structure to completed form.”

The exhibit will run thru November 1, 2014. We look forward to seeing you in the gallery soon!

Co|So Exhibtions: Continuum by David Kasman

The Copley Society of Art is proud to present Continuum, a solo show of monumental sculpture by David Kasman. Based in Boston, Kasman earned a Bachelor's degree from Cornell University in Mechanical Engineering before focusing on painting and sculpture. The artist is best known for both his bronze sculptures and landscape oil paintings.  His work is featured in many prominent collections including that of The Bush Family, Jamie Wyeth and Jack Connors Jr.  While this is David’s first solo exhibition at Co|So, he has been featured in many juried shows since his acceptance into the Society in 2002. 

David Kasman, Counterbalance, 102 x 33 x 33, bronze.

Kasman’s sculptures in Continuum explore the fine line between realism and abstraction, while focusing on the shapes that form the base of each subject.  Dimension is added to the work through the play of proportion, as monumental figures and miniature dinosaurs skew expectations of size.  This allows the viewer to understand the fundamental forms in a new way. He has said about his art: “I work to achieve sculptural compositions of mass and line that are strong, balanced and beautiful.  My art does not have a deliberate narrative agenda; I simply try to make objects that are as direct, honest, and as visually satisfying as possible.”

David Kasman, Counterbalance, 102 x 33 x 33, bronze.

A highlight of the exhibit, Counterbalance, a monumental 8.5 foot tall sculpture, embodies the grace and beauty of the female form without delineating delicate features. The figure in Counterbalance poses in such a way that displays the human body’s ability to internally attain equilibrium despite appearing outwardly asymmetrical. While neither the figure’s left and right limbs, nor front and back sides mirror each other, Kasman sculpted her to have a visual stability that transcends symmetry. The figure’s head is thrown back, her face covered with her forearms, this weight is offset by the way Kasman thrusts her chest out in the opposite direction. In her lower body, the equilibrium of mass continues as her bent left leg stretches behind her to visually compliment and structurally support her rear, shoulders, and head. In this way her title of Counterbalance is extremely fitting.

David Kasman, Predator, 27 x 10 x 8 , bronze.

Upon walking into the upper gallery, Kasman’s Counterbalance is the first piece to draw the viewer’s eye. Its curvilinear lines and elegant but risky relationship with gravity sets the tone for the rest of his work in Continuum. The show’s smaller, more linear, pieces mimic the playfulness between visual and structural balance in his larger figural works. In Predator, the dinosaur is shrunk and composed of basic geometric forms to relate the animal in a new and understandable way. The sculpture reads as dangerous and dynamic, the captured essence of the dinosaur. In short, Kasman has accomplished his goal of creating “direct, honest, and visually satisfying” sculptures.

The exhibit will run thru June 26, 2014, and can be viewed online here. We look forward to seeing you in the gallery soon!