Gallery reception for my show...

As mentioned here on Simplistic before, my solo painting show titled 'A Show of Faces' opened on Friday last at the Gourgaud gallery over at Cranbury, NJ. The opening was good, the reception went off well and I noticed quite some animated dialogue between people who had come by for the reception. The show runs for three weeks from now and I hope we get more people to come by and look over the works presented.

Something that I tried to do different from regular exhibits was to have a little bit of blurb next to each painting that highlighted the motive and the social circumstance that I wanted to highlight using the face painting as a vehicle. Although gallery purists would shudder at the thought of any implied explanation, blurb or social context for a painting, it definitely worked well in this instance where the process of reading the blurb clarified the intent and social commentary that I have in mind during the creation of the painting.

The show runs for three weeks from now and closes on the last Sunday of October.

I heard the following quirky conversation snippet in connection with my painting 'Belgephor' as I was going around talking to the people during reception night...

Man to a lady next to him: You know: If you wanted to classify the seven vices, I would cull them into two groups of three each with one vice straddling the wall between.

Lady: Really? - I thought they were all bad - otherwise why call them the vices?

Man: Well, you see pride straddles the wall. It can either be a good thing or a bad thing. Pride being perceived as good or bad depends upon circumstance, perspective, and the dosage. Copious amounts can definitely bring downfall.

Lady: Hmmm, that is quite interesting. Well, knowing you, I am sure 'gluttony' is on your 'nice' vice list

Man: Yep, you got it Hon - I count gluttony, lust and sloth making the list of good vices. Who does not love to eat, enjoy the pleasures of the flesh and do nothing better but laze all day? They definitely are the good vices...

Lady: OK, OK, let’s not get into any details...

My father checking out the blurb