Paradise City Marlborough, November 2021 • Special Exhibit

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Linda Post, Founding Director
Paradise City Inc.
163A Northampton Street
Easthampton, MA 01027
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PRESS RELEASE: For Immediate Release

PARADISE CITY ARTS FESTIVAL • MARLBOROUGH, MA

Event Date: November 19, 20 & 21, 2021

Abstract Thoughts

Looking deeply at abstract art can take you down a rabbit hole. What image did the painter or sculptor have in their head when they started? How did they get from there to here?

There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.

– Pablo Picasso

If you delve into its linguistic roots, the term abstraction means “something pulled or drawn away”. Abstract art, therefore, is art that has moved away from the representation of physical objects or places to show something beyond that. Abstract art dares our visual system to interpret an image that is fundamentally different from the kind of images our brain has evolved to recognize. The Tate Museum in London defines abstract art as “art that does not attempt to represent an accurate depiction of a visual reality but instead uses shapes, colours, forms and gestural marks to achieve its effect.”

Modern times, with fast-paced inventions, global upheavals, and constant change, challenges artists to view the world in a way that is outside of time and place. This fall you will find many of our artists taking the leap into abstraction in painting, photography, and sculpture. Abstract design in furniture, home furnishings, wearable art and jewelry also draws inspiration from the same aesthetic well, resulting in remarkably playful works that in the hands of Paradise City’s makers achieve both sophistication and beauty.

As you wander the show, appreciating the painterly landscapes, the portraits and cityscapes, the faces and figures that populate the aesthetic landscape around you, let yourself get distracted by abstraction…. and see what treasures you can find!

Abstract art is uniquely modern. It is a fundamentally romantic response to modern life – rebellious, individualistic, unconventional, sensitive, irritable. – Robert Motherwell

Ed Branson's blown glass pieces capture the beauty, color, and form of the medium, as well as some of what he considers to be the magic of glassblowing. His work explores the innate relationship between the nature of glass and the organic forms and colors of the environment. "Fossil", hot glass sculpted and pressed on hand made custom stand. Aaron T. Brown has been drawing abstract shapes since he was a child. He is known for his exterior sculpture: enlivening outdoor sculpture and indoor sculpture that transforms landscape: public and private. While any of Aaron’s large sculptures are suited for exterior/interior courtyards, patios, etc., most designs can be scaled-down for interior applications.

Outdoor sculpture is a wonderful thing. In Whitmore Boogaerts' hands, it can reach for the sky at ten to twenty feet and may incorporate kinetic movement. Boogaerts takes the inner strength of steel and often combines it with the delicacy of fused glass of varying colors. Debra Abrams' new pendant series is inspired by cars and guitars! Using parts and pieces from old cars and musical instruments, she creates one-of-a-kind jewelry that is colorful, jazzy and sleek as a muscle car! "Fordite Pendant", sterling silver, 1980's jeep fordite, upcycled guitar strings. Pat Littlefield has seen her work grow and change over the years. Originally she worked with handmade paper pulp, creating abstract compositions embellished with found objects. When she took up photograpphy, she layered it with the paper art, for a 3-D, contrasting effect. Now she has progressed to abstract painting, hence the title of this work: "Progressions". 18'x24"

Images from top left to lower right: Aaron Macsai, Jewelry • Ann Brauer, Art Quilt • Rob Greene, Jewelry • Deana Blanchard & Chuck Young, Sculpture • James Guggina, Ceramics • Sheilagh Flynn, Ceramics • Barabra Poole,Wearable Art • Whitmore Boogaerts, Sculpture • Lori Austill, Painting • Ed Branson, Glass • Debra Adams, Jewelry • Aaron Brown, Sculpture • Patricia Littlefield, Mixed Media

Special Exhibit: Abstract Thoughts

Paradise City Marlborough, November 2021 • Special Exhibit

PRESS RELEASE: For Immediate Release

PARADISE CITY ARTS FESTIVAL • MARLBOROUGH, MA

Abstract Thoughts