Friday evening opening at Giampietro Gallery—Works of Art in New Haven

Giampietro Gallery — Works of Art
315 Peck St., New Haven, (203) 777-7760
Stephen Grossman: Recent Work
Blurring Boundaries: American Folk Art
July 8—Aug. 12, 2011.
Opening reception: Fri., July 8, 5—8 p.m.

Press release

Giampietro Gallery—Works of Art presents two shows, Stephen Grossman: Recent Work and Blurring Boundaries: American Folk Art, opening this Friday.

Stephen Grossman (Web) artist statement:

In my paintings things appear to be out of focus. The paintings address problems of perception, recollection and longing. The depicted objects embody ones recollections and all the cloudy, tainted misalignment that occurs between ones memory and the actual objects.


I have recently been trying to find a language that is based in my earlier studies of objects and documentary images but is separate from the documentary content. Some of the recent work is based in recollection of experiences, such as driving on the highway at dawn, feeling the sunshine and sea air in Truro, MA, or listening to the news about the oil spill in New Orleans. In these cases the emphasis shifts from the problem of perception to that of translation. These paintings convey the acts of measurement, evaluation, balance, and perhaps calibration—the longing for objects is replaced by the desire to construct, (or reconstruct) an experience.

Blurring Boundaries in American Folk Art walks that precarious line that separates fine art and self-taught/utilitarian works. The pieces in this show all share the relationship of having been created with an innate, artistic eye. That eye, however, probably never intended for these objects to be considered or viewed as works of art.


The artwork in this show will share commonalities with fine art that cause these works to resonate with the viewer from a fine art perspective. Directness of image, spontaneity, ambiguity, subconscious meaning and purpose transport these works to a level that blurs that line.