Karen Marston "Storm Watch" & Kerry Law " 'nite"

Storefront Ten Eyck

poster for Karen Marston "Storm Watch" & Kerry Law " 'nite"

This event has ended.

In a nod to summer, Storefront Bushwick presents the work of two artists who paint from nature as part of their artistic practice. The landscapes of Karen Marston and the cityscapes of Kerry Law give us the opportunity to contemplate our relationship to natural and man-made surroundings.

In her recent landscapes, Karen Marston channels the post-9/11 zeitgeist, a mood fueled by our fear of sudden, unpredictable episodes of destruction. The growing litany of disasters consuming the world provide fertile visual and narrative material for Marston, who sees these events as part of the continuum of our experience of the natural environment. Her recent paintings focus on tornadoes and forest fires and their mesmerizing power and elemental threat.

Another aspect of Martson's practice centers on plein air painting. Exploring the subtle movements of light and sky and the color, shape and emotional tenor of a particular place has informed and deepened her studio work. Dark shadows in the woods and the formation of clouds on the horizon hint at Nature's destructive powers. The artist is influenced by an engagement with the sublime in 19th century landscape painting, from the storrms of J. M. W. Turner to the icebergs of Frederic Edwin Church. To Marston, violent images streaming from our daily news feed and direct dialog with natural forms anchor her artistic practice.

For Kerry Law, the Empire State Building is an icon of continual fascination and mystery. For years he painted the image during the daytime, often with a view through trees. He traveled throughout the boroughs looking for interesting vantage points. From his present aerie in Ridgewood, just over the Bushwick border, he has finally arrived at the perfect vantage point from which to survey and paint his subject.

He writes, "I have been working on this series for the last couple of years. Each painting is made in one evening from direct observation alla prima. I love the fact that I can paint the same thing every night, and every night it is different. Every night is the same, every night is different. The colors of the building lights change frequently. In addition, the weather and the color of night are never the same. In fact, they are constantly changing. I look for opportunities to take subtle formal variations. I am interested in how the simple yet, infinite formal variations create a dialogue with non-objective painting. Lately, I have been photographing the finished painting and posting it instantly on Facebook, sharing my experience of this New York icon in real time with friends around the globe."

Karen Marston is a painter living and working in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Her work has been seen in several solo exhibitions in NYC: Breathing Room at Dam Stuhltrager Gallery in Williamsburg, Where You'll Find Me at the Cheryl McGinnis Gallery on Madison Avenue, and Respirations, at Taller Boricua, in East Harlem. Recent selected group exhibitions include: Montrose, at the Front Room in Williamsburg, New Year, New Work, New Faces at Storefront Gallery in Bushwick, Paperazzi at Janet Kurnatowski Gallery in Greenpoint, and Beauty's Burden at the Educational Alliance Gallery on the Lower East Side and Beautiful Dreamer at Cleveland's SPACES, both curated by David Gibson, as well as Reconstruction, curated by Station Independent Projects at Chashama in NYC. Marston also serves as the President of the Board of Trustees of NURTUREart Non-Profit where she was instrumental in the opening of the NURTUREart Gallery in Brooklyn, and hosts Muse Fuse, an informal monthly art salon with many notable guest speakers. Originally from California, she earned her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and participated in the A.I.C.A. New York Studio Program.

Kerry Law is an artist and art teacher who lives in Ridgewood, Queens, and maintains a studio at the Pencil Factory in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. He has had solo shows in the
United States and Korea. Recent solo shows in New York include Empire States at
Camel Arts Project Space in Williamsburg. Recent group shows include "Fresh Paint
from Bushwick," curated by Deborah Brown at StandPipe Gallery in Chelsea, and "Many Conversations," curated by Peter Gynd Medley at Present Company in Williamsburg. His work has also been shown in the Gift Shop at Valentine Gallery in Ridgewood. Born in Westchester, New York, he received his BFA in painting from Binghamton University, SUNY, with Highest Honors and his MFA from Purchase College, SUNY.

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Schedule

from August 10, 2012 to September 16, 2012

Opening Reception on 2012-08-10 from 18:00 to 21:00

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