Your meteo-sensitivity will be on alert when you come to Storefront Bushwick this weekend. Deborah Brown, curator and the owner of the gallery chose an interesting duo of classically trained painters: Karen Marston (in the main space) and Kerry Law (in the project room). Common to the work of both artists is the dense atmosphere created by the weather, whether it’s an apocalyptic gloominess of Karen’s tornados or foggy peacefulness of Kerry’s Empire State Building.
At Storefront you can see natural disasters and peaceful landscapes painted by Karen Marston, shown side by side. The striking moment provided by these diametrically different kinds of subject matter comes when you realize that they are actually not so different… Maybe antipoles of one. Karen’s work can lead to almost meditative realization that whether it’s a beautiful sunny day in a countryside or a destructive tornado, they are just two modes of one great nature, the all-creating force. In her paintings, Karen doesn’t evaluate; she won’t have you scared or pleased. Karen simply states: “There is a fire in the forest;” her statement is vivid but it lacks any assessing connotation.
To paint the natural disasters, Karen used photographs collected from newspapers and news feed. “I simply like how the tornados visually look.” Karen’s paintings don’t have narrative or documentary function. They are an homage to the beauty of nature in its purest form.
The project room has rarely felt more like a giant window to a quiet cold night than this month. The walls are filled with paintings of one object painted from the same angle over and over again. The Empire State Building on a black night background is what Kerry Law sees every night from his Ridgewood apartment. Kerry in fact makes a painting of his view almost every night. Depending on the weather and the illumination, the painting slightly differs every night. Sometimes it’s sharp with every detail visible, sometimes the structure is hidden under a thick layer of fog and you can see only a silent winking light from at the top. Kerry Law’s repetitive work is quiet but insistent. Just life itself. As Kerry finishes his painting and goes to sleep, another night flows by followed by another night. But two nights will never be the same, just like Kerry Law’s painting quietly reminds us…
To enjoy Karen Marston and Kerry Law, visit Storefront Bushwick for the final weekend on Saturday and Sunday 1-6pm. On Sunday, there will be a closing brunch with the artists.