What we see changes us.
- by Ben Fank Moss, image courtesy of Francine Seders Gallery, Seattle WA
Through the amazing fiery fall foliage, we drove last weekend to attend a solo show for Ben Frank Moss at the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. It was appropriately called "Immanence and Revelation", in reference to inner reflection as his source. We viewed about 70 paintings and drawings.
As Bruce Herman, painter, reflects,
...there is always a place for meditation on the beauty and significance of the natural world. In Moss's work, paint is a palpable metaphor for space, for light, for substance.
Ben's work illuminates for me, the way that inner light and memory informs the way we see. I also believe that what we see can transform us, if we allow it. So take a inquiring, meditative look at his work, here, at Francine Seders Gallery and at the Hood Museum in Hanover, New Hampshire!
In his essay in the catalogue, Joshua Chuang wrote:
For Moss, art-making is an endeavor that requires the courage to hold still enough to reflect on life's vicissitudes and the willingness to work on the edge of failure. Because of this, whether endowed with the deep lush tones of charcoal the luminous hues and sensuous texture of oil paint, his art caries the layered history of a palimpset and the distilled intensity of personal revelation. His most succesful pieces exhibit the startling immediacy of a "held dream... a poetic gateway to an inner experience."
I am interested in your response to both his work and to his philosophy of creating that bridges between the visible world and the invisible world within!
Wood shaped by spirit
Sometimes i find a kindred spirit in the most unexpected places!We came by a gallery exhibit in an open air studio in Chelsea last weekend! There were wooden sculptures that seemed to be shaped by the force of the breath within them. They were created by Thomas Beale, who was there to explain his technique. Capturing, forming and smoothing these forms is a "meditation" for him. It out that we had the same teacher, Ben Frank Moss, who taught Thomas drawing and painting at Dartmouth, and earlier taught me drawing when he was at the University of Iowa. On Long Island, there will be an opportunity to hear him speak about his work at a talk presented by the Long Island Craft Guild on Thursday evening at 7pm.
