Past and Future:
Coombs/Savidge/Rush/Violette: Mar 2008
MCA at Daniel Kany Gallery: April/May 2008
Richard Remson-Glass: June 2008
Michael Heiko-photography: June 2008
Roy Germon-Paintings: July 2008
Eric Hopkins-glass drawings: August 2008

July 4 - 27, 2008

Roy Germon: Assembled Views

Yes, we are open for the First Friday Art Walk - July 4th - until 8pm!
Artist Reception: Friday, July 11, 5 - 8 PM
Exhibition: July 4 - 27, 2008

The greater part of Portland Maine painter Roy Germon's exhibition, Assembled Views, is made up of a body of 20 small works to which he refers as "place markers": post-card sized landscapes seen in person and usually undertaken on-site in coastal Maine. These small paintings on board are floated in mats and framed under glass. Germon paints in acrylic with a range of varnishes and mediums while starting – and often finishing the works – with charcoal and various types of pencils. In addition to the "place cards", the artist is showing four 16" x 20" panels and a series of 10 one-foot square works. While Germon has been a featured artist in three previous exhibitions at Daniel Kany Gallery, Assembled Views will be Germon's first featured solo exhibition at the gallery.

Roy Germon, Path #3, acrylic & mixed media on panle, 4" x 6"

Local artist Michael Boardman noted of one of Germon's "place card" seascapes: it "might seem to be a very simple tiny thing in a beautiful frame, but as the viewer scans the image, the apparent forms dissolve into brushwork or pencil marks – traces of the artist's process."

Germon says of this body of work: "I discovered Maine landscape painting before moving up here from New York – I had been living in New York City where I took a fine arts degree from the School of Visual Arts. I responded to John Marin's work from the moment I saw it – I like his New York City pieces, but I have always loved his Maine work."

Germon’s work thrives on the sense of scale: the small paintings pull the viewer in close where the brushwork and drawing takes on a large-scale role on intimate inspection. The effect of this movement serves to feature the abstract qualities of the work. However, Germon's graphic sensibilities include his skills as an illustrator instead of setting them aside for the physical presence of the painting. This might carry over to his predilection for framing either with a matt or a floating distance between the panel and frame: either way there is a margin in which the image is situated. Ultimately, the paintings stand on both feet: they display the artist's masterfully legible hand and present themselves as self-contained, exquisite objects.

"I grew up in New England with the mountains all around me," muses Germon: "Landscape was the most natural way for me to see the world. The notion of having my physical viewpoint dissolve into an abstract structure through the process of landscape painting often happens through mark-making. There is a great deal of expression of movement in making marks on the surface – the physical gestures themselves really are some kind of dynamic aspect to the compositions. They are the here and now of art – some kind of unmediated force between observation and the physical act of painting or drawing."

Roy Germon lives and works in Portland, Maine. In addition to painting, Roy has years of experience in painting restoration and framing. ("In some ways, my years working in galleries and then handling the major works of art that I did in the restoration studio taught me at least as much about making art as did art school.”) Since graduating with a BFA from New York City's School of Visual Arts in 1990, Roy has had numerous exhibitions in New York City as well as Maine – most recently at Flanagan Fine Arts, Whitney Art Works and the Daniel Kany Gallery.

Assembled Views will be on display at Daniel Kany Gallery through July 27, 2008.

For more information and publication-quality images, please contact Daniel Kany.