Color Quest
Paintings by Christopher Engel, Ralph Stout, Abel Ramirez, Jack Walls, David Dew Bruner and sculpture by Leon Smith
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 7th, 5-7 pm
March 4, 2020 through June 7, 2020

Carrie Haddad Gallery is pleased to present “Color Quest”, a group exhibit highlighting the exploration of color through mixed media abstraction. The show, on view March 4th - June 7th, will feature paintings by Ralph Stout, Christopher Engel, and Jack Walls, with collage and graphite drawings by David Dew Bruner and small sculpture by Leon Smith. The artists’ reception will be held on Saturday, March 7th, 5-7pm. All are welcome to attend.
Ralph Stout creates paintings, drawings, digital collages, black and white photographs, and other objects in a small studio in East Hampton, NY. His approach is counterintuitive. He often reworks pieces again and again and, then — even after declaring them finished — pulls them off the rack for yet another go-round. His term for this improbable approach is “incremental adventurism.” Stout earned a degree in mathematics from Bucknell University in 1960 and spent nearly 40 years toiling in the computer industry before becoming a full-time artist.
Chicago born artist, Jack Walls, will exhibit a selection of paintings from two series that he completed in Hudson, NY between 2016 - 2019. Negatives is a series of abstracted black and white portraits painted on hand-stitched cotton canvas. The knobby, stitched seams interplay with dynamic black line work to comprise primitive renderings of faces with names like “Sampson”, “Asop” and “Romulus”. While the underlying “patchwork” foundation of the latest paintings in the series Poems remains the same, Walls’ complete departure from representation gives the new work a voice all its own. As an ode to his other creative passion, poetry, Walls pairs illustrative titles with each piece, lending a story to the compositions of bold color blocks.
Abstract paintings by Christopher Engel highlight expressionistic gestures of saturated color. Made between a four-year period, these paintings show the evolution of Engel’s examination of space and form. With canvases over 4ft tall, broad arcs and linear applications of paint propel Engel’s foreground against a subdued background, where the artist achieves a mindful spatial perception. “Space is something ever present”, he states, “even in total darkness we are conscious of space around us. I try to achieve this feeling with color, texture, overlapping shapes and scale.” The Hudson Valley artist has exhibited nationwide and recently relocated to Virginia.
As an exciting new addition to his creative repertoire, David Dew Bruner will introduce a series of mixed media collages inspired by found images of black and white shells from a vintage picture book. Imposing in scale, the artist led the images into surreal territory by floating them upside down on an undefined, abstract background, lending them a cocoon or alien-like quality. The graphic shells are juxtaposed with pops of painted color, black cut outs, and marbled orbs on a tightly knit grid pattern. The artist explains “by taking them out of their natural aquatic landscapes…they become sculptures, alien objects, or flying vessels…reinventing our understanding and relationship to them.”
It is always a pleasure to revisit the quirky tabletop sculptures by the late artist, Leon Smith. An Australian native, his early career in dentistry sparked an interest in carvings and moldings. He later moved to America, with his wife, Elaine, and settled in the scenic town of Ancramdale. Never was an artist so full of passion, ambition and curiosity. His extensive oeuvre of abstract sculpture, many with kinetic qualities and playful titles, all uniquely reflect his sharp sense of humor. Small sculptures made of wood or various metals were oftentimes prototypes for larger than life outdoor models, many of which are installed on his 22-acre property, “Smith Hill”, or local public buildings, such as the Columbia Memorial Hospital and Roe Jan Community Library. Our beloved Leon passed away in October of 2019, but his spirit lives on in his inventive designs.