Ardrea Harris at Homey Gallery

An exhibition of wonderful new nature paintings by Andrea Harris will open tomorrow at Homey Gallery, located at 3656 N. Lincoln Avenue in Chicago. I dropped by the gallery last week to get a preview of Harris' new work but most of the pieces had not yet been delivered. There was—however—a few of her new works to review. I was impressed. Harris' technique has matured and the presentation of the mystical environments elevates the imagery to a new level of wonderful. The exhibition—featuring oil and cold wax paintings—will continue through October 26th. Tomorrow's reception will include a book signing of "In the Forest and Beyond" which features Harris' imagery. Harris will be funding the planting of a tree with the purchase of each book... and a grove of trees for each painting sold. The reception for Harris will be from 6-9pm—tomorrow—Saturday, October 3rd. If you have the opportunity to see this exhibition, it will be worth your while.

Image: Andrea Harris, "Surreal Forest", oil and cold wax on canvas, 60x60"

Suzanne Stryk

I recently received a proposal for a solo exhibition, that I found intriguing. The proposal was from Virginia Artist, Suzanne Stryk. A brochure, titled "Keeping An Eye On Things", produced by East Tennessee State University for the Artist's current exhibition, was included in the materials. I reviewed the brochure, beginning to explore Stryk's world. Her imagery includes beautiful studies and seemingly scientific drawings of birds, feathers, insects, eggs and nest branches. These subjects are combined to create symbolic compositions, at times painted or drawn in a style reminiscent of the intricate scribbling of a da Vinci sketchbook. The paintings—less drawn and more finished—have the glow of brilliance. The content made me want to learn more about the work of this artist.

I spent the next twenty minutes on Stryk's web site where the Artist Statement presents a wonderful narrative explaining the genesis of the works. It's worth a quick read. If the above image, "Survey (Varied Thrush)", 2004, is at all interesting to you, review the paintings on the web site... they're truly wonderful. I hope to present the work of Susanne Stryk in a future exhibition at Gallery 180.