Sara Nightingale Gallery is pleased to present Reinventing the Helm, June 6th - Aug. 3rd.
The artists in this invitational group exhibition examine the genres of traditional maritime and marine art using ship portraiture, seascapes, novels, folklore and ancient myths about the sea as inspiration. The obvious and straightforward have been mostly, but not altogether, thwarted here in deference to an updated and contemporary view of all things nautical. One painting by Perry Burns, whose swerving lines suggest the surface of the sea, was literally turned on its side and renamed “Waterfall” - a good metaphor for what one can expect from the exhibition.
While not specifically divided into categories, the works address several themes such as “lost souls”, meteorological events, marine life, nautical terminology and even edible “fruits of the sea”.
Seagull sculptures by Rossa Cole, fabricated from the plastic six-pack holders that endanger marine life, hover over a large scale sculpture of a wooden boat’s ribs by Simone Douglas. Peter Buchman’s rubbings/ stencils of manhole covers juxtapose one from New Orleans with one from Santa Monica, implicitly reminding us of the potential impact of too much or too little water. Dalton Portella’s White Water super-imposes images of multiple storms in one composite photograph, yielding a surreal depiction of waves, clouds and sunlight which, according to one viewer, “looks almost biblical”. A lighthouse made of reclaimed lumber by David McQueen aims its beacon through a gallery window toward the ocean, its light a guide for someone trying to return.
The list of artists includes those with international representation and museum exhibition history, as well as emerging artists from Brooklyn, Wynwood, the West Coast and Ireland. One can expect a plethora of boats, ships, sharks, clouds and even a cake, as well as characters who may or may not be schooled in the art of helmsmanship.
Reinventing the Helm opens on Saturday, June 6th from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. and runs through Aug. 3rd.
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