Duo Exhibition: JAMES ERIKSON – Quartet, TIMOTHY GIERSCHICK – Recent paintings

Posted on: Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013

James Erickson James Erickson | Scholar’s Stone, 2012 | Oil on canvas | 72” x 66”

James Erikson

Quartet

Timothy Gierschick Timothy Gierschick | One Corner of a Maze, 2012 | Latex and enamel on panel | 20” x 15”

Timothy Gierschick

Recent Paintings

January 25 – February 23, 2013

Artist Reception, January 26, 5 – 7 pm

First Friday, February 1, 6 – 8:30

LGTripp Gallery is pleased to present recent works by Philadelphia-based artists James Erikson and Timothy Gierschick in their first solo exhibitions at LGTG. Both artists were included in RSVP 2 in 2011.

At first glance, both of these abstract artists utilize color as one of their main tools of expression, but it is their ability to draw from the wider context of history and art that further compels Erikson and Gierschick’s work. Understanding that the modern artist is indebted to the work of the past as well as to the greater human narrative, Erikson and Gierschick embrace this reality and discover new and unique perspectives worth exploring.

James Erikson’s Quartet series has an architectural feel to it as he pulls from the world described in Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet. For Erikson, art is a conduit linking the contemporary to the past. Within Erikson’s paintings geometric forms overlap and jostle for space hinting to the alleyways and archways of an energetic and ancient city. A nod to the painting process and his love of color, brushstrokes of dense shapes overlap with subtle variations. Erikson writes, “My paintings aren’t about particular monuments or monoliths but I do want them to function on a similar, basic human level emotionally.” Within Quartet, new expanding and contracting emotional landscapes vibrate as colors contrast and compliment each other in dueling yet peaceful formations.

Erikson’s work has been included in exhibitions across the Northeast. Currently residing in Philadelphia, Erickson received his B.A from Messiah College, his MFA from State University of New York’s Purchase College and a MLS from City University of New York in Queens. Erikson previously taught at Immaculata University and SUNY Purchase.

Timothy Gierschick’s paintings on panel and paper explore connections that bridge dualities of time as well as nature and movement. Gierschick states, “Art now is almost always about connections: making them; breaking them; repairing them; looping them; pretending they exist; pretending they don’t. And despite the abstracted nature of my own work, the deliberative act of making connections is really the long, snaking backbone which – yes, connects – all the work I make.” There is a design element to his work that draws from folk art as much as it does from graphic design and modern art. The product of Gierschick’s controlled hand, geometric forms of flat color overlap in surprisingly complicated and visually appealing compositions.

Tim Gierschick is a Philadelphia based artist who has exhibited across Pennsylvania. He received his B.A. from Messiah College. Gierschick works at the Barnes Foundation, and is a founding member of the artist collaborative gallery Tiger Strikes Astroid as well as director at Second Space Arts in North Philadelphia.

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