Minimally Charged | Drawings and Paintings by Jackie Hoysted

Jackie Hoysted at Box Heart Gallery

I stopped in BoxHeart Gallery last week to see their recent exhibit Minimally Charged: Drawings and Paintings by Jackie Hoysted. It is a striking show of contemporary portraiture. The works are invariably of figures on fields of solid color, and the majority are works on paper.

An intense portrait, Lucretia (pictured below), is hung prominently in the front of the gallery. It is one of the larger paintings in the exhibit. The background is a rich red, with the figure and the ground interplay throughout. The work is stark, combining gestural line, brushstroke and a flat expanse of ground. Minimally charged, indeed. Although it is somewhat a misnomer since in fact there is a considerable amount of intensity within this portrait as well as the others.

Definitely not a restful exhibit, the works have a frenetic quality in the figure that is discordant. The simplicity of the grounds really showcase this in a way that a traditional drawing on white paper does not, increasing the tension in the works.

Jackie Hoysted

From Box Heart's site:

Artist Jackie Hoysted has a fascination with the form and how to best represent it. She is drawn to the restful starkness and simplicity offered by minimalism, but she finds more self-truth and identity in expressionism. Her artwork aims to marry these two styles by severely limiting the palette, by confining mark-making only to essential form, and by using a high key and garnish palette to suggest mood and contemplation. Read more

The exhibit continues through next week, including the holiday weekend. If you have a chance to stop by between your family celebrations, it is well worth the trip.


October 30 - November 24, 2012
Minimally Charged
Drawings and Paintings by Jackie Hoysted
Box Heart Gallery

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SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY: Saturday, November 24, 2012
As an aside, Box Heart Gallery is participating in Small Business Saturday, offering a $25. on custom framing projects. And there is plenty to choose from in the gallery that you can have framed for your special gifting needs.

Seeking Higher Ground: Works by Steve Ehret

 

 Unblurred always has some great shows, and ModernFormations Gallery consistently brings the best out in the artists that exhibit there. In Seeking Higher Ground, Steve Ehret's paintings and mixed media work is a high point for September's offerings along the Penn Ave arts corridor. 

As a whole, the show is sensual, with the works presented in gilded frames along the dusty, deep purple walls of the back gallery. Mr. Ehret's monochromatic works would, at first glance, seem to lean towards the austere. But on closer examination, there is a sense of whimsy in the subjects. 

 His self-imposed limitations on his palette place the emphasis on the details and characters in these small works. Close examination of the paintings reveals tiny figures and delicate convolutions in the landscapes. The mixed medium show a sense of exploration, with a loose gestural quality. Strictly from the cheap seats, and since I am a big fan of webgames, I got a sense of that aesthetic from these works. There is something in the works that heralds pop culture. That is more than likely something that I am bringing to the work, I am guilty of being purely subjective in my enjoyment of art. 

The exhibit is in place through September 28. 

Seeking Higher Ground: Works by Steve Ehret 

Through September 28, 2012 

ModernFormations 

4919 Penn Avenue. 

412.362.0274 

Gallery Hours 

*Thursdays 7pm - 9pm 

*Saturdays 1pm - 4pm 

*Private appointments are available by request