Cool colors are in!

Tue, 05/31/2016 - 11:15am

Story Location:
10 Mathias Drive
Trevett, ME 04571
United States

At Mathias Fine Art an exhibition of works created in cool colors — shades of blue, green, pale yellows and grays — is enchanting viewers and collectors. Paintings, original prints, photographs and even sculptures are included in this color-keyed show.

The bluest of skies forms the background of Chris Alexander’s large whimsical cloudscape, perhaps made all the more intense by the unexpected heavy gold frame that encloses it. Juxtaposed with it on the gallery wall is Genetta McLean’s sophisticated and meticulously executed still life of a wren contemplating a bowl of green apples.

Mike Culver’s brilliantly hued color-field paintings are in direct contrast to his photographs: landscapes enveloped in mists that soften the clear forms of river and banks. Contrast is provided by Paul Feyling’s waterfront studies that have the sonorities we have come to expect in this expert photographer’s work.

For aficionados of hard edge abstraction, there is a large yellow and green lithographic print by Mark Halter, hanging beside a soft, mysterious small color-field work by Culver. In lighter vein, Phyllis Rees’ silkscreen print, a close-up of runner bean flowers, has an enchanting optimism and lightness. A feeling that also, in some way, characterizes the two small sculptures by John Lorence: the one a schematized male figure and the other a portrait head fragment, both of which have attractive and unusual light gray-green patinas.

It seems that few group shows at Mathias would be complete without the inclusion of work by Bettinson. A veteran painter, she has chosen to show four works of varying size that she completed some 25 years ago, forming part of her Barter’s Island Suite. The largest, executed almost entirely in blue, gray and white is a maritime still life; the smallest, entitled Summer Session is in the form of a small rectangular open box that encloses a painting of a beached dinghy.

Cool colors runs through June 25. Gallery hours are Wednesday-Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., and by appointment Additional information is on the gallery website www.mathiasfineart.com or call 207-633-7404.