To Top It All Off

 

                                    "Sanctuary" by Alan Singer, 2025, matte acrylic 

My latest painting "Sanctuary" is complete and it rounds out a year of experiments using geometry and the mathematics of cellular automata to create compositions which I carefully execute in paint; first drawing out a grid and then using my finest brushes to complete each segment of the work.

My guess is that it is a natural thing to look back over the year now to get a sense of what is happening. Now, I can reflect on the past and look forward to the future.  There are daily reminders of how everything can abruptly change!  I just read an obituary for an artist whose work I followed for many years - Janet Fish.  She took my call once when I asked her to come up from NYC to teach my graduate painting class at R.I.T. in 2004. Here is a photo taken by Sue Weisler in the painting studios at R.I.T. with Janet and myself.

   

                          

Janet Fish was one of many guest artists who I invited to come and speak to my students over the years when I was a Professor at R.I.T.  Often the artists would come and do one-on-one with the graduate painting students and then later they might go over to do a talk in the evening at The Memorial Art Gallery in town.

This was something I always looked forward to, and that was having the opportunity to bring great artists in to speak about their work and this was a kind of follow-thru since I had been enjoying their artwork for so many years!

Lucky me, I get requests and interest in my art from far away!  It is always a surprise how people find out about what I have been doing, and sometimes I even get to have an interview online.  Here is a link to an interview I gave with Renee Rose of Chicago.  She runs an enterprise called: "Explore Art".  Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnAzJxcaogU

The Print Club of Rochester

at work in 2003 at 

R.I.T.

This coming year I will be working on a new book project with The Print Club of Rochester to celebrate their 100th Anniversary!  I am doing my research now on their history - and I have a deep interest in printmaking, above is a photo made in the studios of R.I.T. with Liz Durand and me doing a proof of a Print Club presentation print by Gregory Amenoff.

Great Groups

 

"Nina"

Joscelyne Sarkis, painting at 

Rochester Contemporary

Annual Member Show

Very stimulating to see the participation of so many artists in the big group shows around Rochester this season.  Just now, we have two exhibitions that I want to write about for your consideration.

Rochester Contemporary ( RoCo ) on East Avenue opened the annual member show and it is a standout! So many different styles by over 500 artists - many of their names are new to me!  When you enter the gallery and check in you can pick up a little sticker to place near a work of art if it inspires you - it is a vote of support and interest for the artwork on view.

Great Groups

The Annual Members Exhibition

at RoCo

Great to see that there are so many different directions you can take your artwork, and this has impact.. Hopefully, there will be some decent sales; I know that the artists could use that support and also share that with RoCo.

Richard Margolis photographs from 1987

Interesting to see this photo of Aaron and Nathan taken by Richard Margolis, who I met very early on when I came to Rochester to teach at R.I.T.  in 1988.  At this  turning point in my life, I was happy to meet a whole bunch of folks including Lanna Pejovic and Carol Acquilano ( who I wrote about in my last post to this blog ) - and their work is represented in this show.  Another artist that I found in this big group exhibit is Bill Keyser who was working at R.I.T. as well.

Bill Keyser has a bright new collage at RoCo

There are so many different things to see in this show,  but each year I wonder why there isn't as much sculpture on view..is that because the pieces have to fit on a table top?  There also was a kind of  surreal work in ceramic by Gregory Lawson which  caught my eye.

Gregory Lawson's LYME LIGHT

I guess I will just have to come back to look over the rest of the exhibition.  My little abstraction I found along the Great Wall and was happy to see that it stood out, maybe because of the colors and details...  

Now it is time to go and visit the other group which I found out on Monroe Avenue at The Bird House.

"Put A Bird On It" is the show and it lines the back walls of this retail store dedicated to bird watchers and other nature lovers.  I was lucky to include in this show two paintings I made as illustrations for a Random House book titled "Birds Do The Strangest Things".

When I first moved up to Rochester with my family I got this contract to illustrate a 64 page book for young readers.  So my hummingbird composition was one piece in this book and hangs in the  current show along with a little painting I made of loons on a pond.

Now on at The Bird House on Monroe Avenue

Rochester , New York

Loons by Alan Singer

on view now at "The Bird House" thru December 27th

Painting by Phyllis Bryce Ely

at the

Annual Member Show, Rochester Contemporary

East Avenue, Rochester, NY

See Sea Painting

 

Carol Acquilano at Axom

Rochester, New York

It is great to see artwork in an environment like Axom, in the South Wedge.  Even in a new exhibition like this one, you get to see the paintings the way they may appear later in your own home!  Before I say something about this new show, let me back up and say something about the artist and how I met her....

When I left New York City in 1988, I would travel up to work at Rochester Institute of Technology where I was assigned to teach in the School of Art.  I brought some paintings with me from my studio in Brooklyn, but I needed to get them framed, and I found out through the Memorial Art Gallery that they would recommend I speak with Carol Acquilano.  I called her and made an appointment and it followed that Carol would construct my frames; she had the materials and she worked at her home.

Carol has the skills and much more, and because she is an artist, she cares about how things will look!

Now, as I am writing this - it is 37 years later, and Carol has her own artwork to consider, and a selection of her paintings are exhibited at Axom in the South Wedge.  I went right over to see what she is doing and really enjoyed the new works which have themes from nature.

Carol  Acquilano's "Leaf Season"

These are not your typical landscapes though, they border on pure abstraction as they engage your eye and mind.  The environment at Axom is comfortable- you can sit in an easy chair and thoughtfully look at Carol's show!

I keep thinking of the artist Arthur Dove ( 1880-1946 ) as I look at Carol's "Leaf Season" which is on your left when you walk into Axom's main room.  This painting has the autumn colors in it and also has a rhythm in the design of the leaf shapes and ground relationships.

Carol Acquilano paints with Acrylics in her "Sea Thing"

Some of Carol's recent paintings share the theme of  swimming underwater - maybe she was snorkeling in the Caribbean!  Her colors have an ocean vibe, and her images could very well have been reflections on a coral reef.

Now thru January-

Carol Acquilano paintings at Axom

Rochester, New York