James Hart, Yeat's Orchard 2007, 30" x 36", oil on panel
Albuquerque, NM - On Friday, November 9, from 6 - 9 p.m., Donkey Gallery is proud to present
UNSEEN: Paintings by James Hart.
After twenty years as a commercial photographer, James Hart first picked up a paintbrush three years ago and began his second career as a formal, abstract painter. Born with severe myopia, James Hart's unique vision has played an important role in his career as a painter and photographer. As a child, Hart preferred to imagine the world around him rather than seeing things clearly, and, as an adult, Hart continues to reject the idea of surgically correcting his eyesight for fear of losing his special visual condition Šthe ability to microscopically view close surfaces while experiencing a soft blending of everything far away.
In these few short years as abstractionist Hart has developed an intense, vibrant and very clear painting methodology. Using closely tuned adjustments of similarity and variation, Hart concocts dot compositions that combine rigid stasis and buzzing agitation. Stylistically the repetitious rose-petal-like brush strokes touch on ideas of pointillism, impressionism, Op art, and craft art flower painting techniques. Hart is not so much interested in rendering the likeness of the world as he is in the phenomena of painting itself. He shies away from the loaded notion of "self expression" and instead looks for ways to engage with a process of painting that allows an organic growth to occur. Hart's work is a clear, two-fisted treatise of painting's most important functions - the abstract operations of shape and color - executed with a sophistication and elegance that charms and beguiles.
James Hart has been a commercial photographer since 1989, and in 1999, established Phil Space, a contemporary art gallery in Santa Fe. In addition, Hart has also taught photography at Santa Fe Community College for the past sixteen years.
UNSEEN: Paintings by James Hart opens on Friday, November 9, 2007 from 6 - 9 p.m. There will be good food and music. Donkey Gallery hours are Saturdays and Sundays from 12 - 5 p.m. The gallery is located across from the Barelas Coffee House on 4th Street in Albuquerque.
