Land View, oil on canvas, 30x40, $1800
The new show in our main gallery has opened this week featuring a selection of fifteen new works from painter Jim McManus. We will be hosting an Artist Reception on Friday, September 24th from 6p-8p. We hope you can join us!
Summer Dance, oil on canvas, 30x40, $1800
ARTIST STATEMENT
My paintings are complex, improvisational compositions of color, motion, and texture meant to convey feelings related to people, places or events, from recent memories and the distant past. The paintings are physical representations of moods and rhythms, expressing drama or subtlety, excitement or calm, joy or sadness in a multilayered visual experience that, when successful, evokes the original inspiration with unexpected richness and depth.
The works in this show are a mix of purely abstract pieces based on a particular state of mind and semi-abstracted works reflecting a more recent interest in evoking a sense of place — a rainy Maine road, a snowy Massachusetts field, Walden Pond in spring. During the process of painting, the specifics of place are both hidden and revealed.
These newer paintings also reflect an increased interest in a looser, more fluid surface to allow for spontaneous mark-making, more nuanced layering and a lighter, defter touch with the paint itself. Additionally, I have found myself working at extremes of scale, creating very large canvases that encourage the viewer to be absorbed by and look deeply into the work as well as smaller works that offer a more intimate glimpse into a moment or place.
Ultimately, all of this work is about creating a strong visual and emotional connection to an experience that is deeply personal and potentially universal.
Darkness Falls, oil on canvas, 60x48, $3800
Beyond the Sea, oil on panel, 18x24, $1400
Jim grew up in Texas and moved to New England to study at Wesleyan University. Before settling down in Concord, he lived in Boston, Singapore, Portland, Maine and New York City. In addition to pursuing painting over the years, he has worked as a designer, art director, creative director and consultant for several of the world’s leading publications and corporations, including the New York Times, Newsweek and Fortune magazines.
His work has been exhibited locally and nationally and is held in private collections around the country.
He lives and paints at his home near Walden Pond with his wife, the artist and writer Holly Harrison, and his budding artist daughter, Mira.
The show runs through November 13, 2010
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