ArtBeat: Fran Shalom @ John Davis Gallery

“I am a modernist abstract painter with a pop sensibility,” says Fran Shalom, whose exhibition opens in the main gallery at John Davis Gallery in Hudson on Thursday, September 17. “My works balance the formal with the playful, paring down shapes and ideas into their most basic forms. It is a search for clarity and humor, as is evidenced by the shapes and colors in my paintings: cartoony, bright, blobby and fun. But, like life itself, there is an undercurrent of conflict beneath the whimsy, as reflected in the tension and interaction between the shapes.

“Ultimately, it is important that the viewer becomes involved with the paintings, tempting them to stay long enough with the images to connect to a narrative that is at once ambiguous yet taps into the specifics and subtleties of their own lives.”

Also on view at John Davis will be sculpture by Douglas Culhane in the sculpture garden, in addition to an installation by Erin Walrath in the Carriage House atrium. Mixed media work by Grace Bakst Wapner and Erin Walrath, as well as paintings by Jeremy Hoffeld and porcelain sculpture by Barry Bartlett will also be on view on the upper floors of the Carriage House.

A reception for the artists takes place 6-8pm on Saturday, September 19. The exhibition continues through Sunday, October 11.