A Fine Line: Frederick Lynch and Elizabeth Mayor

McGowan Fine Art announces the opening “A Fine Line: Frederick Lynch and Elizabeth Mayor”. The show will run from February 21 to March 23, 2012, with a reception February 24, 5 – 7 PM. There is a snow date of March 2. The public is welcome.

Seemingly disparate visions- the rawness of Mayor’s work and the careful, precise style of Lynch- are brought together in “A Fine Line.” These two artists approach surface manipulation with a variety of techniques.

Mayor’s recent woodblock prints are unique pieces – combing variations, of pigment, chine colle, thread and manipulation. Some pieces are old prints that she has cut up and stitched back together with thread. “As a printmaker, you do multiples. I have so much work! I just started cutting up the old”, says Mayor. The result is intriguing – out of chaos and disorder, something truly unique and exciting is created through Mayor’s thoughtful piecing back together.                                              

Unlike her re-stitched prints, Mayor takes a methodical approach to “Playing with Sol”. Inspired by a wall drawing of Sol LeWitt, Mayor repeats a mathematical pattern sequentially. “More Lingo” expresses Mayor’s desire to create shapes that are totally abstract. Her approach – whether disorderly or methodical – elicits a body of work that is playful and exciting.

Elizabeth Mayor has been with McGowan Fine Art since the gallery opened over 30 years ago. She received an MFA from Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her work has been displayed extensively in solo and group exhibitions throughout the region, and can be found in the Hood Museum of Art and the Currier Museum of Art’s permanent collections.

Maine artist Frederick Lynch will have three dimensional work on display, working with oil, enamel, glass, and aluminum on MDF- a dense fiberboard. Lynch takes an analytical approach to working abstractly. “This current series, (Divisions) is based on an idea that repeated sectoring of a given area can produce infinite shape variations. The resulting visual effect is a systematic display of controlled chaos and random patterns”, says Lynch.

Lynch incises into the enamel surface creating intricate patterns. Oil paint wiped across these surfaces is caught in the incised lines giving them a quality of a printed image. Lynch’s work has an organic quality to them – the patterns are based on observations from nature, such as branching, or cracking. Some appear biological, reminiscent of cells under a microscope. The Division Series began as paintings. By working three-dimensionally, a real, rather than illusory presentment is suggested. “These pieces seem to stir memories of important monuments to daily life”, says Lynch.

Frederick Lynch has exhibited through the U.S., and his work is found in numerous collections, such as the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts, the Portland Museum of Art, and the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, ME.