Painted Cities

Bill Artim, Margaret Crenson, Jessica Hess, James Rossant, Lynn Woods, Dan Rupe, Seth Nadel, James Gurney

Reception: Friday December 23 from 6 to 8pm

December 22, 2005 through January 29, 2006

Carrie Haddad Gallery is proud to present the annual PAINTED CITIES exhibition. As implied by the name, all artists will be exhibiting paintings of scenes from cities both large and small. Artists exhibiting include Bill Artim, Margaret Crenson, James Gurney, Seth Nadel, James Rossant, Dan Rupe and Lynn Woods. PAINTED CITIES opens December 22 and will run through January 29 2006. An opening reception will be held on Friday December 23 from 6 to 8pm. All are welcome to attend.

Bill Artim’s paintings represent rest stops of a person’s daily lineage. Of his work Artim states, “I've always held a fascination for the road; the asphalt and concrete paths that connect this country. Frequent trips to my parent's hometown, first over two lane roads and later over the interstate highway system, fueled my fascination with moving and the infinite array of images being reeled in over the hood or taken in with a turn of the head. They are snapshots in time of a world where speed and motion is omnipotent.”

Margaret Crenson’s paintings deal almost entirely with the familiar and visible aspects of life; trees, cars, airplanes, animals, food, appliances, buildings, and occasionally people. She works from her imagination, sketches, snapshots, life, or a combination of these. Her paintings are like endearing postcards of the places she has visited. Crenson paints with a palette knife, wedging shapes of facades and rooflines into smaller canvasses, applying thick slabs of paint across the skies and sides of buildings to create a picture where even the mundane can be lifted to the level of the aesthetic.

Viewers will know James Gurney better as the illustrator of the popular children’s book Dinotopia, but he is actually dedicated to painting contemporary landscapes in the margin: 0in 0in 0pt">

As a student at the Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture in New York City, Seth Nadel studied with Bernard Phriem, Paul Resika, Wolf Kahn, and Douglas Craft. He developed a love of nature through a formal classical art education. His work depicts both the urban and rural landscape of the Hudson Valley and the beautiful Catskill region. He has exhibited in many group and solo exhibitions across the country and has received numerous awards. Seth Nadel currently resides in Highland, New York.

James Rossant is an internationally known artist, architect and town planner. He is best known as the planner and architect for Reston, Virginia, a new town near Washington D.C. and its first village, Lake Anne, the design of Dodoma, the new capital of Tanzania, Myriad Gardens Crystal Bridge in Oklahoma City, and the Lower Manhattan Plan in New York City. Rossant’s many drawings and paintings of cities are widely known and he has won numerous awards for his designs. James Rossant lives in Columbia County, New York.

Dan Rupe grew up in the Midwest and later lived in Chicago, Provincetown and Los Angeles. In each city Rupe has painted his surroundings, documenting his life there. He paints the nitty gritty of a town flavoring his canvases with the billboards, liquor stores, and tattered flags from the seedier side of the city. What makes Rupe’s canvases truly come alive is his use of brilliant color. In Rupe’s world skies can be green, shadows can be pink, and splashes of color give highlight to every form. Since he moved to Hudson, Dan Rupe has been busy capturing his favorite local scenes on Warren Street and beyond.

Lynn Woods lives and paints in Kingston, New York. Her inspiration is the city’s streets and buildings, its storefronts and signs lost in time. Her romance with the neglected urban environment was forged during many years of living in pre-gentrified Hoboken and New York City. She is inspired by those elements in the urban landscape that are usually considered banal but are intrinsically dynamic, such as pavement corners, lamp posts and streets receding into the distance. Black and white appeals to her because of the power and poetry of pure tonalities; color would seem to be a distraction.

Carrie Haddad Gallery is located at 622 Warren Street in Hudson, New York. Gallery hours are Thursday through Monday from 11 to 5pm. For more information please contact the gallery at 518.828.1915 or go to carriehaddadgallery.com.