The subtitle, Expressionism, for this first portion of the multipart summer presentations is an oversimplification used to try and distinguish the artworks between two large categories of art generated by the gallery’s roster of artists. This first part focuses on artworks ranging from abstract compositions using gestural, textured, and painterly approaches of applying medium and pigment to a support, to then incorporating representational elements and figuration to convey emotional content as well as evoking cultural and social messaging. On either end of the spectrum, the artist’s hand and intent is front and center.

The Artworks in Part 1: Expressionism:

Part 1 of the summer series, Some like It Hot, not only references a well-known 1959 movie and 1985 song by The Power Station, but also how artists convey temperature, attitude, and commentary in visual art. Thus, the artworks range from using the formal properties of the warm end of the color spectrum, signifying heat, to the opposite end leveraging iconography and imagery that can be interpreted as flirty or evoking a range of emotions and attitudes around gender, ethnicity, nature and the environment.