Current & upcoming shows in Seattle

Welcome to 2022!

I’m pleased that The Impossibility of Knowing (12) was selected for Gallery 110’s annual juried show, from over 1,200 entries reviewed by Emily Zimmerman, Director and Curator of Seattle Jacob Lawrence Gallery. That show opens on Thursday 3 February and runs through the month. You can also view the show and purchase works online at gallery110.com.

“The Impossibility of Knowing” refers to the strength of memory and imagination, compared to what is “real” or “observed.” In these paintings, a solid shape, figure, or silhouette interacts with its mirrored outline, against a shadowed background.

I’ve just completed the 30th painting in my series of monochrome paintings, which I call MBTW for the only two pigments used: Mars Black and Titanium White. Each canvas is 36” square, large enough to make a difference in an interior space, and enigmatic enough to reward multiple interpretations. I’ll display 12-14 of these in my first solo show at Gallery 110 in Seattle (110 Third Ave. S., in Pioneer Square), 3 March – 2 April. The show is titled “Embracing Black and White – and the infinite shades in between.”

The show opens on Thursday 3 March – I’ll be there for the evening reception, 5 – 8 PM. I’ll also be in the gallery from noon to 5:00 each Saturday in March. The gallery is open 12-5 PM Thursday-Saturday. I hope you can come by – I’m eager for you to see these pieces “in person.” I’ve printed 11”x 17” publicity posters, which feature MBTW26 at 11”x 11”. I’ll be happy to sign one for you at the gallery!

MBTW

My goal for some compositions is to reduce or eliminate a distinction between “object” and “background.”  In those compositions I try to give black, gray, and white near-equal precedence, so that one does not appear to be painted “over” the other. 

Before working on the canvas, I sketch each composition – roughly at first, to develop the balance of forms and values that I want, and then in exact scale and value.  Each painting is thoroughly planned.  However, there is a “discovery” stage, when I study the finished painting in each of the four orientations afforded by the square canvas.  I select the final orientation based on its psychological and interpretive impact. 

I want to maximize the impact of each painting, but I don’t want to determine the nature of that impact.  That’s why I’ve given each painting a simple numerical title.  You’re welcome to develop your own, personal subtitle for each painting – I have!

Power to the viewer!

As a painter, I want to give you the power to see whatever images, symbols, or interactions you need to see in my compositions. 

This is why I decided to paint a set of 36” square canvases with a palette limited to black, white, and grays mixed from them.  Thus, the variables at play were value, shape, and the combination of shapes to form a composition.  From the beginning, I decided to limit my shapes to basic geometric forms:  square, rectangle, line (well, not true one-dimensional lines, which would be quite invisible), and circle.  This decision resulted from my 2020 reading and writing on Russian Suprematism as championed by Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935). 

But if we take away the color?

Despite my obvious love of color, I’ve started a new series of paintings that eschew color and representation, to focus on composition and implied meaning.  The MBTW series https://www.jwharrington.com/mbtw currently comprises thirteen 36”x 36” canvases painted using only Mars Black and Titanium White pigments.  By eliminating the associations of colors and their juxtapositions, I can emphasize the non-objective nature of the compositions.   Associations abound nonetheless, derived from the interweaving of positive and negative spaces.  Some have a range of shades from black to white, some are only black and white, some are dominated by dark shades, some by light or white.  I absolutely don’t have a favorite among these twelve, but here’s an example of what can happen despite such a limited palette: