Place as Memory
Richard Britell, Sue Bryan, Shawn Dulaney, Susan Hope Fogel, Ricardo Mulero, Linda Newman Boughton, Leigh Palmer, and photographs by Eric Lindbloom
December 2, 2020 through January 31, 2021

Carrie Haddad Gallery is pleased to present “Place as Memory”, a group exhibit exploring the interpretation of landscape through memory. As place is reinterpreted by the mind, details are altered, and characteristics become imbued with an artist’s personal style or emotional outlook. Featured artists, Richard Britell, Sue Bryan, Shawn Dulaney, Susan Hope Fogel, Eric Lindbloom, Ricardo Mulero, Linda Newman Boughton and Leigh Palmer highlight this process with ethereal landscapes, abstracted by the mind’s eye as if from a distant memory. The show will be on view December 1 – January 31. We are unable to host an opening reception at this time, but we are open to the public with easy protocols in place to keep you safe during your visit!
Richard Britell of Pittsfield, MA, is known for photo-realist paintings of historic building facades throughout Manhattan. In this exhibit, he reveals another side of artistic talent with a series of abstracted landscapes that he has developed for over ten years. Rural scenes, depicted with bold monochromatic palettes, are devoid of specific detail as if seen through a world of mist, fog, or even tears. One could liken them to dreamscapes rather than landscapes as they seek an emotional response, “opposed to the analytical”, suggests the artist. Britell studied at Pratt Institute and went on to show with the Staempfli Gallery in NYC, where his first show was sold out. He now exhibits throughout the Berkshire & the Hudson Valley region.
Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, the gallery will feature a selection of paintings on Venetian plaster by Shawn Dulaney. Part of what we find so alluring about her compositions, painted with a signature handmade acrylic paint, is their ability to activate both a cognitive and emotional experience using color, texture, and scale. Softly whipped, cloud-like billows of translucent color explode in a voluminous expanse, referencing a marvel that could only be felt in nature; an early morning sunrise, the incoming tide, a sudden change in barometric pressure. Each work immerses you in a time and place that is at once familiar and mystical. Doug McClemont of ARTnews Magazine writes that Dulaney’s paintings “concern the earth, and the unyielding hand of nature.” Also featured are select monoprints that celebrate Dulaney’s luscious color stories on a smaller scale. A working artist for over four decades, Dulaney’s paintings have been exhibited widely and can be found in extensive public and private collections including the Hunterdon Museum of Art in New Jersey. Her work has been reviewed in ArtNews, and The New York Times, and featured in Parabola Magazine and New American Paintings.
Ricardo Mulero was born in Puerto Rico and went on to live in Manhattan & Fire Island before moving to Hudson, NY. Growing up in the Caribbean, he witnessed how people and nature could exist in harmony, a principle which reveals itself in his contemporary cityscapes and landscapes. Utilitarian structures like barns, water towers, or skyscrapers are often complemented with natural elements such as rolling mountains or luminous casts of light made possible by his process of applying subtle layers of paint with Venetian plaster. Abstract geometric motifs also find a way into compositions by way of his design background. Mulero rekindled his passion for painting after taking a course at Parsons, where he was teaching interior design at the time. Since then, he has gone on to show in solo and group exhibits in Puerto Rico, NYC, and Fire Island.
Linda Newman Boughton’s third exhibit with the gallery will feature her Baroque inspired landscape drawings made entirely with blue ball point pens. To create the intricate depictions of untouched forests, the artist uses her favorite brand of “Rite in the Rain” waterproof pens and employs a variation of pen strokes. Loose, gestural lines serve as the drawing’s foundation, while certain sections are built up with tight strokes to develop finer details. Near completion, Boughton applies more kinetic linework to the detailed areas to keep them from feeling tight, also to embody the energy of the forest plants themselves. This technique abstracts the landscape just enough for the viewer to realize the scene is not derived from life but rather from an imaginative realm. Boughton’s passion for the arts began early, as she acted, made art, and designed theatrical sets throughout her youth. She went on to study fashion illustration at Florida State University before transferring to F.I.T in New York City. Experience in the fashion world and her love for theatre soon landed her jobs in Hollywood, painting sets and murals for feature films such as Nightmare on Elm Street VII, Fight Club, among many others. The artist now lives in Ghent, NY with her husband where she continues to make art and write and create show ideas for television.
For Irish born artist, Sue Bryan, the landscapes of her homeland remain a major influence on her detailed drawings made with charcoal and carbon pencil. This exhibit will feature a new series “Vestigial Landscape” inspired by a road trip from Kerry to Dublin, when the artist was struck by the irony of seeing bucolic stretches of Frederic Church-like scenery alongside endless rows of cars on the highway. While the landscape speeds by, one is unable to fully appreciate its beauty, so with these drawings the artist attempts to share the indescribable with the viewer, to capture the fleeting beauty of the roadside drama. Inspired by Turner’s watercolors, Bryan has also begun using blended watercolor washes as backdrops to her mini-charcoal drawings, “evoking the glowing warmth of the landscape as [she] sees it.” Her work has been selected for several juried and invitational exhibits in the US. She is the recipient of many awards, including an Award of Distinction at the 5th Annual Drawing Discourse, an international exhibit of contemporary drawing. Bryan lives and works in New York City.
Susan Hope Fogel painted exclusively in a traditional realist manner before working with Deconstructionist artist, Paul Ching-Bro, who taught her new forms of expression in watercolor. Fogel now blends her academically trained eye with the intuitive nature of expressionism to create otherworldly landscapes and abstracted cityscapes in monochromatic palettes. Figures and buildings are built up in layers of splattered watercolor, giving the forms a subtle transition from transparent to opaque as if dissolving into rain or mist. Fogel studied at The New York Academy of Art, The Art Student’s League, The National Academy of Design, and landscape painting at The Ridgewood Art Institute. The artist lives and works in Warwick, NY.
Leigh Palmer remains devoted to the countryside that serves as a source of meditation and challenge for the past 30 years. Of the thousands of visual references, one cannot choose what will linger in the memory and what will fade; the shape of a sloping field, a broken fence, or quite simply, a mood. Back in the studio, Palmer recalls those memories, however detailed or vague. But what is worth keeping? Palmer admits this part of creating never gets easier as you gain more experience or insight; it only becomes more challenging to have your voice remain relevant. A new series of small encaustic paintings suggest that we are not a part of the landscape, rather we are a peaceful witness to nature that will transcend our own existence and change with the seasons long after we’ve passed. We are romanced by Palmer’s unique ability to pare down and find the true essence of place, gently veiled through his own soul. We are proud to have exhibited his work since the inception of Carrie Haddad Gallery.
Landscape photographer Eric Lindbloom’s elegant portrayal of nature’s rhythm is fueled by a meditative approach that allows visual metaphors to reveal themselves in time. Born in 1934 in Detroit, Lindbloom and graduated from the University of Michigan. He studied photography with Paul Caponigro and was one of the founding members of the Center for Photography in Woodstock. He’s had over thirty solo exhibitions of his photographs and published four books of his work. His photographs are in public collections, including The New York Public Library, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Alinari Museum in Florence, and the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. Sadly, the artist passed away this year. We are very proud to feature a selection of photographs to remember the man behind the lens.