Figurative and still life collages are on display
Register-Star: Arts - May 6, 2005
And exhibition of figurative and still life collages by the distinguished American artist Hank Virgona is on display through June 6 at Weber Fine Art in Chatham. A reception with Virgona will take place 3 to 5 p.m. May 14, to which the public is invited.
While Virgona will not give a formal talk, he will answer questions and discuss his work, as well as his long, successful career as an artist.
The solo exhibition comprises more than 50 recent works on paper by Virgona, in a range of mixed media that incorporates watercolor, graphite, charcoal, acrylic, gouache, ink, and collage. The work is displayed in three groups, beginning with a series of colorful figures drawn from the streets and subways of New York City and its surrounding boroughs.
Like a colorful quilt of ethnic diversity, the figurative collages contain an urban complexity that shifts between strength and subtlety. There is a sense of a noise and graffiti in the city, as seen in the word fragments floating like debris. But there is also a sense of serenity in the harmonic colors and patches of open space, as in "Park Writer," where Virgona portrays an intimate moment of silence and reveals an inner life.
A second group of mixed media collages is inspired by the ordinary matchbox. Like a found object placed in an elevated context, the matches are seen in a new light that engages the imagination and invites a smile. One of the larger works, rendered in shades of blue, "Surreal matchbox on Platform with Moon in Window," epitomizes the fanciful spirit of the series. Indeed, it is as if the works were torn from the pages of a fairy tale, the clock striking midnight and all the matchbooks in the world waking up to play.
The third group consists of still life paintings and collages, primarily of bottles, jugs or fruit on a table top. Breathing life into the inanimate and commonplace is a talent Virgona is renowned for and the still lifes are as vital and dramatic as any group of actors on a stage.
As with all his work, the tension between figure and ground infuses the paintings with a dynamic dimension as complex as any human relationship. From the pathos of a tall, thin bottle shaded with weariness, to the seductive curve of a ripening pear, the artist creatively conveys his "sense" of the world and shares the metaphorical musings of life.
Virgona exhibits his work nationally and is represented in major museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institute, the Butler Institute of American Art and the New Orleans Museum of Art. He has been the subject of many articles throughout the year and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the NYFA Canter-Plaunt Grant, and , most recently, the Perennial Wisdom Medal.