Oil and Wax: Sunday opening at Kehler Liddell Gallery

Kehler Liddell Gallery
873 Whalley Ave., New Haven, (203) 389-9555
Joseph Adolphe: New Paintings
Rod Cook: New Work
May 19—June 19, 2011.
Opening reception: Sun., May 22, 3—6 p.m. Artist talk at 3:30 p.m.

Press release

Kehler Liddell Gallery is pleased to present new paintings by Joseph Adolphe that measure the speed, agility and muscularity of two stoic beasts: the horse and the bull. For his third show, Adolphe works in a classic Expressionist style, building exaggerated palettes and movements with his brush and palette knife that relate his unique vision and emotional response to these creatures. At 5 x 5 feet, the paintings make profound impacts on the viewer and reward those who linger long enough to reflect on the freedom and vitality of nature operating at full force.

The new work relates to Adolphe's interest in making paintings that measure the relationship between movement and stillness-- between solid forms and transient, ephemeral forms. A curiosity of "what is real!—or more specifically, how one can pursue the unreal through the real drives his practice.

Adolphe was born in Calgary, Alberta Canada in 1968. He moved to NYC in 1992 to attend the School of Visual arts, where he received an MFA in 1994. His work is in several corporate collections, but mostly in the homes of some very good people. He currently teaches drawing and painting in the Department of Fine Arts at St. John's University in New York, and lives with his wife and six children in the Westville section of New Haven.

Kehler Liddell Gallery is pleased to present new photographs by Rod Cook that convey the subtle role of the pose, jest and gaze in full body portraiture. With references to Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Pre-Raphaelite Renaissance painting, the Classic Pinup, Studio Fashion and Pictorialist Photography, Cookʼs female nudes, draped in rich, exotic fabrics stretch across his compositions in dramatic, choreographed positions that idealize the feminine form. Ranging in size from an intimate 8 x 16 inches to a life sized 36 x 70 inches, his models communicate diverse personas, from the commanding blue-eyed femme fatale to the gentle portrait of a seated woman.

Cook uses his photographs as source material. His inventive process involves applying layers of wax to the surface of each photograph, encasing the image in a soft balm that he hand dyes to highlight specific areas. The use of carefully appointed color references early hand-painted photographs, and acts as a metaphor for the aesthetic preparation of his models.

Cook worked in commercial and fashion photography in New York for the first twenty-five years of his career. He has had one person shows at galleries in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Petaluma, Houston, New Orleans, Aspen, Woodstock, Norwalk, and New Haven. His work is represented in the Graham Nash, University of Chicago, and the Cherye R. and James F. Pierce Collections. He has been published in BXW Magazine, 21st, The Journal of Contemporary Photography, Photo Design Magazine, Popular Photography Annual, Photo District News and In Celebration of Light. He currently lives and works in Bridgeport, CT.