CHESTERTOWN — Freezing temperatures, snow and ice, burst pipes, collapsing trees, stalled frame deliveries, angst and illness … and still “Fierce Flowers” bloom.
“It has been a rough winter,” said Carla Massoni of MassoniArt. “Our artists are juggling more than their share of challenges, but the show must go on. ‘Fierce Flowers’ is rolling out this month.”
An opening reception, which will offer champagne and mimosas, will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, March 14 at the gallery at 113 S. Cross St. in downtown Chestertown.
While Joe Karlik, Kathryn O’Grady and guest artist Rebecca Saylor Sack ground the show in its theme, the exhibit also features work by Susan Goldman, Stu Cawley, Janis Goodman, Catherine Kernan, Deborah Weiss, Grace Mitchell, Blake Conroy and Elizabeth Casqueiro.
“In a recent interview I suggested paying attention to work that captures one’s imagination and produces a response — even an uncomfortable one. ‘Fierce Flowers’ explores this sense of unease present in our current reality,” Massoni said.
O’Grady is especially interested in the places where people’s plans for the landscape collide with the riot of life that is there to begin with. The conflict is beautiful and strange. Plants have an agenda of their own. O’Grady is drawn to the frailty, the vanity of the human marks to explore the interleaving of time frames, scale and purpose.
For Karlik, natural structures hold a quiet wisdom. They are both fragile and resilient, shaped by care, instinct and time. He finds reflections of his own emotional landscape in their growth, decay and renewal. His paintings exist between representation and abstraction, where drips, smudges and textures are not mistakes but vital expressions — traces of emotion and process.
Sack expresses the essence of this exhibition succinctly in her artist statement: “I mine anxieties of the corporeal body with the liquidity of paint. I am deeply fascinated by the ever-changing processes of growth, decay and consumption visible in our environment — and the way our bodies and landscapes alike are consumed and remade.”
“‘Flowers’ may be our theme but there is nothing fragile in this exhibit,” Massoni said. “The artists invite us to stretch our imaginations, be present with dis-equilibrium, and deepen our relationship to the world we inhabit. May our response be equally fierce.”
Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays; and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays.
Private appointments may be scheduled by contacting Carla Massoni at 410-708-4512 or Kate Ballantine at 410-310-0796 in advance.
