Gold/Smith Gallery is featuring painting about dancing, jazz dancing - the kind of stuff that makes you want to move - by John Vander, resident artist, husband and owner of the gallery. The core of this exhibit are six large paintings from a series that was shown in March through May 2017 at Museo Marino Marini in Pistoia, Italy.

John Vander thinks that ‘a parallel tone,’ as defined by Duke Ellington, is the best metaphor for his work and, looking at it, we can understand why. While John’s pictorial images are not realistic, they still have figurative associations: They are in fact a metaphor of reality, a parallel reality filtered by his eye, part of his experiences and his emotions. The formal synthesis of his work ensures that a volumetric rendering is not essential, while the two dimensional amply describes John’s sensations; his links with the moment are often described with broad black brush strokes, whereas movement is rendered by the distorted and improbable anatomical  dynamism of the dancers. Filtered reality, as seen by John, resembles a synthetic photograph and is as acute as a sax solo, as primitive and devoid of superstructures that it recalls state-of-the-art rock graffiti.

One has the feeling that the artist eager to capture a moment, fragments and feeling and memories, almost as though he was using a camera, but taking many photos to do so. John simply manages to capture and report these precious and sublime moments on paper. Moments that we would love to be able to capture ourselves and keep forever with us, because they are beautiful, though also as fleeting and direct as the fluttering of wings.

The comparison with jazz music that John uses to describe this style of painting seems highly appropriate; the artist does not break away from the codified artistic techniques or yield to pure abstraction, but, by blending a formal rigor with instinctive improvisation, he manages to arrive at an aesthetic result that integrates 
time and space, thus capturing and crystallizing the atmosphere and a unique, emotional and unrepeatable moment in every painting.” Ambra Tuci,Commissione Mostre Fondazione Marino Marini.  

The exhibit is accompanied by 15 small collages of dancers doing what they do best under the tutelage of John’s brush.

The Gold/Smith Gallery proudly invites everyone to join them at the gallery at 8 McKown St., Boothbay Harbor, Saturday, Sept. 8 from 4-7 p.m. for the opening reception for John Vander and to celebrate his amazing gift he brings us.

For more information the gallery can be reached at 633-6252, goldsmithgallerybbh@gmail.com or www.goldsmithgallery.net.