Jane Deering Gallery
19 Pleasant Street (next to Cape Ann Museum)
Gloucester MA 01930
Details:
September 7 – October 6, 2024
Opening reception: Saturday, September 7, 4-6pm
Closing reception: Sunday, October 6, 4-6pm
Gallery hours: Friday and Saturday, 1-5pm, Sunday, 1-4pm, and by appointment
“Intimate Infinities delves into transcendence through the lens of contemporary art,” said Jane Deering, founder of the Jane Deering Gallery. “This exhibition juxtaposes the radiant minimalism of Mary Bucci McCoy with the intricately layered compositions of Deborah Barlow. Together these artists navigate the delicate boundary between the material and the ethereal, offering a timely and thought-provoking exploration of the sublime.”
Intimate Infinities
Show description
Gerhard Richter described art making as a means of “grasping the inherent elusiveness of phenomenal reality.” That provocative liminality between what is perceivable and what is concealed has informed the work of two seasoned artists, Deborah Barlow and Mary Bucci McCoy.
Barlow and Bucci McCoy have both been recognized for their distinctive ways of working and the unique methodologies they have developed. Bucci McCoy brings her iridescent paintings to life alla prima—in one concentrated session—to evoke gestures, motion, and an almost oceanic sensibility. She develops each painting experimentally through engagement with fluid acrylic paint and mediums, water, iridescent pigment and geological materials such as marble dust and sand. Holding the panels horizontally in her hands, she manipulates these materials with subtle movements as she works in concert with processes and forces such as viscosity, fluidity, sedimentation, gravity. As the paintings dry their final form is revealed, with experience of each painting subject to shifting conditions of light and the viewer’s perspective. She credits her formal training as a ceramic sculptor rather than as a painter for her approach to the materiality and process of painting.
Deeply aligned with the universality of forms that can be seen in both micro and macro imaging, Barlow assembles her paintings through a process of layering that is conducted over an extended period of time. Translucent and semi-transparent veils consisting of paint, powered pigments, metallics and organic materials are applied one at a time, resulting in forms and mark making that appear to float within a subtly sculptural, 3-dimensional picture plane. This method of working is similar to the centuries old painting technique called glazing, one that has long been used by artists to create a sense of luminosity and to alter the source of light in a work.
Both Barlow and Bucci McCoy have recently directed their focus to creating pieces that are intended for close, human-scale interaction. The works included in this exhibit speak to that mutual intentionality—providing viewers with a private and personal glimpse into what feels limitless and transcendent.
The artists would like to thank Cathleen Daley, a Boston based artist, curator and friend, for suggesting this pairing. Cathleen was the first to envision the rich conversation that could take place in bringing these two very different—and yet deeply symbiotic—bodies of work together.
