Fairfield, CT - The public is invited to attend a reception at the Bruce S. Kershner Gallery for “Poetic Expressions” on Thursday, December 9, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. It features the art of Richard Gene Barbera, Michael Patterson and Merrill Steiger. The artists will speak about their work at 6 pm. The show runs from December 4, 2021 to January 29, 2022.
Richard Gene Barbera did drawing and painting at the University of Southern Maine before finishing his degree in graphic design at the University of Hartford, He moved to Fairfield County after college, and designed large-scale branding identities for large international companies.
In his artwork, Gene draws most of his inspiration from recognizable images from the coastal images and especially the Portland, Maine area where he grew up. There, at the Portland School of Art, he learned to practice art under visiting artists.
Gene says, “As an Artist, I express my work through several platforms as an evolutionary but simplified process to what we all witness in nature and life experiences...I'm focusing on patterns and composition, always thinking to keep it simple and less. The more I study what I see, the more I am deeply committed to conveying its character without getting too complicated. One can paint and draw for a long time only to discover they know very little about it... I've learned to make things simple and leave out the static/ noise which makes your message almost iconic, The creative evolution of my work is sometimes as surprising to me as it is to others.”
Merrill Steiger is a mid-career artist living and working in Westport, Connecticut. Her work has been exhibited extensively in both solo and group exhibitions at museums, university galleries, art fairs, and in private collections and galleries nationwide.
She studied at the Art Student’s League in New York City and has a BFA in painting from Lehman College, City University of New York.
Merrill says, “My large scale paintings carry an aura of meditative energy and tap into channels of spiritual, theoretical and conceptual thought. My many passions such as travel, spiritual practice, and collage compositions are reflected in the themes I explore in my work. This act of making collages has informed my artistic process, becoming an important part of creating the compositions for my paintings.”
Michael Patterson was born in Hudson, NY in 1953 into a family of painters. Howard Ashman Patterson, his grandfather, was an established American painter. Michael graduated from SUNY Purchase with honors in painting, printmaking, and sculpture. He has been painting for thirty-five years or so, doing extensive traveling for inspiration. He lives and works in Roxbury, Connecticut.
Michael uses acrylics, oils, and watercolors, as well as carved stone and welded metal sculpture as his mediums of expression. His work is featured in many regional galleries and is in over 700 private and corporate collections in the United States and Europe.
Michael says, “My work has focus on several objectives; Light, reflected light and its color effects-figures, as well as the positive and negative shapes between them, and color relations are woven together to create the rhythm and energy of the piece.My oil and acrylic works are first drawn on canvas using drawings and watercolors done on location. I don't use photos for I like the abstraction that began in the original sketches. Through the years my work has gone in and out of several styles and series of subjects,,, most always includes the human figure wherever they may be- people are the most interesting part of creation.
