NYAB Event - John Moore "Portals"

John Moore "Portals"

Hirschl & Adler

This event has ended.

The artist’s 13th solo show with the gallery in the 30 years that we have represented him is comprised of 12 new oil paintings, including several large-scale works ranging in size from 70 x 60 inches to 60 x 90 inches. Also included are large charcoal drawings 47 x 45 inches. This exhibition and its 24-page illustrated catalogue also present a suite of five original poems by author, poet, and critic Vincent Katz. Inspired by specific works in the exhibition, Katz’s poems offer fresh interpretations of the paintings and encourage us to view Moore’s work through a different lens.

Moore makes his studio in Globe Dye Works, a former textile plant in the heart of Philadelphia’s bygone manufacturing district. Reminiscent of the working-class environment of his youth in St. Louis, the location has proven to be fertile ground for the artist, allowing for deeper exploration of personal history and closer observation of the urban landscape that informs his work. Though formal elements and geometric qualities of industrial architecture may seem paramount, the paintings are about more than what meets the eye.Moore’s paintings are “portals” into worlds where elements are carefully placed not only for their visual impact, but for their suggestive power as well. Poured-glass blocks, crumbling bricks, peeling paint, imposing gates, rusty fences, details directly observed, are juxtaposed with things remembered or imagined to reveal multiple layers of time, space, and experience.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1941, John Moore studied at Washington University, St. Louis, and received his B.F.A. in 1966. He received his M.F.A in 1968 from Yale University. Moore has held teaching positions at Tyler School of Art, Temple University, and Boston University. A member of the Board of Governors at the National Academy of Design, New York, Moore served as the Chair of the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania from 1999-2009. His work is held in numerous private collections and corporate collections and more than twenty museums.

[Image: John Moore "Turnstile" (2012) oil on canvas 70 x 68 in.]