Peter Sculthorpe’s “Storm at Sunrise.”
Gleason Fine Art in Boothbay Harbor opened two new shows on Thursday, July 27: “Henry Isaacs: New Work” and “Peter Sculthorpe: An Eye for Monhegan.” The two shows run through Tuesday, Aug. 29.
Isaacs paints with energy, passion, and self-assurance. His style — broken brushwork, a liberal use of paint, and a sunny palette of blues, greens, pinks, and yellows — marks him as one of the most recognizable artists painting in Maine today. In person, Isaacs is as engaging an individual as one will ever meet.
Isaacs and his wife, Donna, divide their time between Portland, Vermont, and the tiny village of Islesford on Little Cranberry Island, located just next door to the much larger island of Mount Desert Island. Little Cranberry Island has seen dozens of artists over the years, including, most recently, Isaacs and his close friend, renowned children’s book author Ashley Bryan. Earlier artists included the late Dorothy Eisner, whose estate is handled by Gleason Fine Art, William Kienbusch, and John Heliker.
Sculthorpe’s painting style is meticulous and hard-edged. Through his masterful use of light and unsurpassed observational skills, Sculthorpe creates the feeling in the viewer of being on the cusp of a significant event, either one that has occurred or is about to occur. He captures the tension and beauty as the sun sets, the moon rises, or the wind blows, suspending the viewer in the moment to ponder the infinite.
Sculthorpe has traveled extensively in the Northeast and the maritime provinces to gather inspiration and subject matter for his paintings. However, it has been Monhegan Island that has really brought his imagination to the fore. In Sculthorpe’s magnificent “Morning Fog (Monhegan),” the little white cape house on Swim Beach that he pictures has been in dozens, if not hundreds, of paintings, but no one has ever seen it like this before. As is his genius, Sculthorpe sees something different and then paints it as he sees it. It’s skill, but it’s also a little bit of magic.
Sculthorpe creates works of great beauty, finding the transcendent in what to the casual observer may at first seem commonplace.
Summer gallery hours are Monday-Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For further information, call Gleason Fine Art at 633-6849 or email the gallery at info@gleasonfineart.com. View both shows, and the gallery’s entire inventory of contemporary and estate art, at gleasonfineart.com.
