nightshade: the world in the evening at oakland university art gallery
Curated by Dick Goody
“This exhibition explores the artistic interpretations of dusk, twilight, and night, emphasizing the shift in perception and the emergence of sublimity as daylight fades. The transition from day to night acts as a catalyst for introspection, vulnerability, and a heightened awareness. Darkness offers a space for encountering the sublime, a concept that challenges our understanding of the world and exposes us to feelings of awe, mystery, and even fear. The ambiguity inherent in dimly lit scenes invites the viewer to actively participate in constructing meaning, blurring the lines between reality and imagination. Many works engage with personal narratives, memories, and historical events, highlighting their resonance within the context of nightfall. “
Capturing the last vestiges of the sun’s rays in transparent layers of yellows, ochres and a touch of orange, camouflaged figures read pages illuminated by the rising moon. An indeterminate grid lies directly center contrasting with the organic line work defining trees and lingering clouds.
Delving into the creepy narrative often associated with the hours after sundown, Gribbon’s subject isn’t objecting to her cloaked hairdresser combining erotic with haunting. Representational execution devolves into slapdash strokes toward the bottom relieving the realism.
This cleanly painted somber winterscape appears to be collapsing and sliding into frigid water, trees and all. Spot on perspective and bottom-weighted composition accelerate the sensation neighborhood detritus is tumbling forward.
Some revel in the onset of nightfall’s mysterious disposition. Prager snapped a one-in-a-million shot where figure, hat, lasso and braid are in jubilant synch. The coordinated coloration of subject and earth pop in mild complement against a cloudless ultramarine sky.
Eventide is that magical in-between where clarity gives way to otherworldly vision. Dreamy and mercurial, as the sun’s blaze tempers into softer oranges, reds and pink, we’re given a daily reminder of the always available beauty and possibility if we choose to embrace it.
On view through March 30th at Oakland University Art Gallery 208 Wilson Hall, Rochester. Full list of participating artists on the website
*images are mine. Apologies for glare on the oil paintings. One of these visits I’ll see if the gallery will turn the lights out long enough to get a better image.
direct quote from gallery materials
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