How these Fountain Street artists explore the meaning of FORM & EMPTINESS

Shown here (from left to right): 

(1st row) Denise Driscoll’s Interaction 7 (detail), Kay Hartung’s Undercurrents 1 (detail), Melissa Shaak’s Soliloquy, Tatiana Flis’ Polar Abyss; (2nd row) Christopher Plunkett’s Rusty Pines, Robert Sullivan’s Vanitatum, Joseph Fontinha’s Summer of 42; (3rd row) Alexandra Rozenman’s Helping Mark Rothko to Move His Furniture, Steven Sangapore’s Sensorium, Denise Driscoll’s Interaction 6 (detail), Mary Marley’s Three Times As Much.

By Nilou Moochhala, Assistant Curator

I’ve been walking around the gallery, taking in all the well-curated pieces by Miller Opie, and am captivated by the colors and compositions that jump out at me from different surfaces. The FS core members in this show that work in oils, acrylics, and encaustics have pieces that successfully play with the transitions between hues, shapes, and textures.

Denise Driscoll’s modular acrylic paintings ‘interact’ fluidly – one’s eye is shifted continuously through her strong and definitive use of spacial dynamics between saturations and shapes. Tatiana Flis’ large panel work lures the viewer into other dimensions through the overlapping layers, creating connections across boundaries of time and space. Dalvin Byron uses his canvases to create voids that symbolize the unconscious mind – an “empty” place from which one can call forth memory and meaning.

In Joseph Fontina’s paintings, words are used to bring alive the thematic content, but simultaneously also challenge us to view each letterform’s legibility - and its relationship to the larger word and canvas. Similarly, Mary Marley’s abstract layered shapes and patterns intertwine seamlessly in her mixed media piece as she tries to seek to “avoid the comfort of predictability.” Christopher Plunkett thematically expresses the idea of emptiness with the abstracted version of an abandoned and rusty turquoise Ford, which through natural degradation mimics the forms of the countryside it was left in. 

Frantz Lexy and Alexandra Rozenman use vivid visual references to create specific environments in their canvases. For Frantz, the two works included are so different in stroke and texture – one is heavily influenced by a tight composition and narrative; the other more open to allow us to “breathe.”  Rozenman creates scenes in her paintings that bring alive references to famous artists she has studied and her own take on how they are situated.

Steve Sangapore brings his insatiable curiosity to the oil paintings he has created – both include mirrors within their composition. When you approach these pieces, you are forced to view yourself as part of it, and weave one’s personal story in. In this instance, part of the ‘form’ is occupied by the viewer themselves. In Rob Sullivan’s canvas, we must step closer to admire and enjoy the detailed effort of his representational realism, which even as we accept it, is disrupted through the shifts in composition and color.

Melissa Shaak’s two very different pieces in this Core Members show – one still and the other video – prompt us to interpret that which is ‘manifested’ or not. I enjoyed following the movements in Kay Hartung’s encaustic works – the continuous lines and forms flow from one side to another, sometimes interrupted by smaller shapes. The subtle colors create an illusion of ‘infinite depth’ and make us feel like we are on an exploratory journey. 

As a first-time assistant curator and new core member, I am so amazed and inspired by the variety of work in this exhibit, and the different ways in which each artist has explored the overarching theme of Form and Emptiness.