The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) announced today that the first in a series of art exhibitions, entitled PAINT. NOW. , will be held in GREEN SPACE, a new visual arts exhibition space at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, starting on January 25, 2012.
PAINT. NOW. is the inaugural exhibition at GREEN SPACE, a gallery at T. F. Green Airport presenting contemporary art by artists working in Rhode Island. The exhibition will be on view January 25 – April 30, 2012. It features large and small-scale paintings by Ruth Dealy, Shawn Gilheeney and Sue McNally. All three artists paint in a vibrant, contemporary language that pushes forward our ideas of what painting can be. Each of the artists has a distinct vocabulary and approach, emphasizing the broad and divergent nature of painting at this moment.
Ruth Dealy paints primarily landscapes and self-portraits, responding to never ending changes in light, time and season. Her paintings convey what she sees while the looseness of line and the vibrancy of color offer a world that feels both familiar and magically distant.
Shawn Gilheeney explores the diametric relationship between the built environment and the nature world. His paintings depict structures in varying stages on ruin, and the works themselves are made with ruinous elements including acid and fire. These techniques, in combination with paint and ink, result in pictures whose subject and medium are inherently joined.
Sue McNally paints large-scale landscapes based on places she has visited or lives near. She spends a lot of time in the locations she paints, exploring the terrain, experiencing the weather and examining the natural beauty that is unique to each location. Her paintings translate the chaos and systems inherent in nature into a visceral language of forms, colors, and patterns.
The artists were selected for exhibition by an accomplished group of panelists: Sarah Ganz Blythe, RISD Museum of Art; Amy Horschak, The Museum of Modern Art; Tony Johnson, Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, RISD and Will Reeves, Artist.
GREEN SPACE, a partnership between the Rhode Island Council on the Arts and the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, promotes outstanding work by artists living and working in Rhode Island. The gallery will present art to an ever-changing audience of local, national and international travelers. GREEN SPACE is located in the airport terminal where the skywalk meets the main building. Art is exhibited on both levels of the terminal.
About the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts is a state agency supported by appropriations from the Rhode Island General Assembly and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. RISCA provides grants, technical assistance and staff support to arts organizations and artists, schools, community centers, social service organizations and local governments to bring the arts into the lives of Rhode Islanders.
About the Rhode Island Airport Corporation The Rhode Island Airport Corporation operates T.F. Green Airport and the five general aviation airports in Rhode Island. A long-time supporter of public art in Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Airport Corporation has worked with the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts on a number of public art commissions for T. F. Green Airport.