A colored pencil drawing in John Wissemann’s Celebration series.
Gold/Smith Gallery in Boothbay Harbor is proud to present the newest works of John Wissemann from July 27 to Aug. 30. There will be an opening reception for Wissemann at the gallery from 4-7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 5 at which can meet the artist and enjoy this marvelous collection of creativity.
In his 70-plus-year career as an artist, Wissemann has explored many varied themes. “My subject is the history of art,” he said. But it is art history seen with a working artist’s eye, not the eye of an academic or a historian.
Wissemann’s latest work in colored pencil is informed by his lifelong study and deep knowledge of various traditions and cultures of art from cave paintings to the great classic modernists — Matisse, Kandinsky, de Kooning, and Stuart Davis – to Italian baroque sculpture, Japanese Ukiyo-e prints, Balinese puppets, Indian sculpture, and African carvings and fabrics. All of these find their way directly or obliquely into his work.
Wissemann’s new drawings are largely abstract, but use elements with strong natural reference. They are celebratory in feeling whether he is using floral shapes to evoke the exuberance of spring or leaf shapes to evoke an explosion of autumn color. In fact, “explosion” seems to be the right word for these drawings. A blast of shapes turns into a cascade of fluttering confetti that leave a scent and after-image of the experience.
Gold/Smith Gallery is at 8 McKown St., Boothbay Harbor. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, call 633-6252, email goldsmithgallerybbh@gmail.com, or go to goldsmithgallery.net.
