“Visual Philosophy” Exhibition

Anita Shapolsky Gallery

[Image: Michiko Itatani "Tree House Encounter" painting from Cosmic Theater TH-3, 2014, Oil on Canvas, 34 x 42 in.]

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The Anita Shapolsky Gallery presents “Visual Philosophy”, an exhibition featuring the transcendental, mystical and philosophical works of Michiko Itatani, Buffie Johnson, William Manning and Jeanne Miles.

Many galleries and museums have become trendy and offer amusement over the appreciation of art to their patrons. Art requires more than superficial perusal to truly experience the meaning of the work, both cerebrally and emotionally. There must be an entwinement of personal vision and cultural dynamics.

The artists in this exhibition, though very different, have subtle interactions. Michiko Itatani’s paintings from her series “Starry Night Encounter” with crusty surfaces makes you feel you are surrounded by celestial zones. They are utopian landscapes that send you to another level of existence. Her paintings are surrounded by smaller paintings of the same series. This is an exciting installation. Michiko is a professor at The Art Institute of Chicago. She is in numerous national and international public collections.

Buffie Johnson passed away in 2006 at age 94. She was an existential painter who believed in the cycle of life and over the years changed her style but not her vocabulary. She was relentless in finding the means to visualize extended consciousness. She was one of the few to have contributed to the development of two of the key post-war art movements; abstract expressionism and feminist art. Her paintings transmit a profound conception of the interconnectedness of human civilization.

William Manning portrays his paintings as physical objects (as does Jeanne Miles). His work is inspired by the natural landscape of Maine. The viewer is allowed multiple ways to visually unfold his work, coming off the wall and on the floor. He considers them to be three dimensional paintings. His paintings embody the wedding of organic and geometric elements. He uses abstract and color planes which convey depth, contemplation, spirituality and gestural movements which display spontaneity, movement and action in all of the media in which he works.

Jeanne Miles was a follower of Theosophy who called herself a purist. Circles, squares and triangles appeared in her work after her studies with Ouspensky. At times she used gold and platinum leaves in her paintings to achieve high mystical expression and richness to her geometric forms. She was in a Betty Parsons exhibition, one of the few women, and the male artists took their paintings out of the show in the early 50’s.