John Whalley | Brushwork

Opening reception Thursday, June 7 from 5-7pm
Artists talk Saturday, June 23 at 1pm

Brushwork is John Whalley’s 8th solo exhibition at Greenhut Galleries. This exhibition of paintings and drawings continues Whalley’s exploration of  reclaiming discarded tools, seashells, and other objects and giving them new life. His beautifully rendered images seem to instill, or rather uncover, an inner light within his subjects.

About the show Whalley states, “This last year as I was preparing a body of work for this show, with the exception of two drawings, I found myself wanting to explore my subjects in color, with a collection of twenty oil and egg tempera paintings. Hence, the title “Brushwork”- which also gave a nod to the seven paintings that had as their subject some of the many old, oversized paintbrushes I’ve collected over the years. Each of these brushes holds a story of their long service that I wanted to pay tribute to.
My studio contains a vast array of “orphaned objects’ which my wife and I have collected over the years, and from these I selected the ones which, in a sense, passed their audition and found their places in each of my paintings. Care was taken to allow a little story to develop in each painting which remains open to the imagination and interpretation of each viewer. I find that the paintings often touch memories and emotions of each viewer, as they have my own. Objects from nature such as a lobster claw, mussel shells and fossils have fascinated me since childhood. Old tools, such as these two wrenches used by my grandfather in Brooklyn in the early 20th century, measuring strings, and putty knife speak of the dignity of common labor. An old pocket watch, compass and clouded bottles harken back to a time of the concern for beauty in the making of objects of everyday use. My love for the printed word, and the idea of story, account for my inclusion of these vintage volumes in the paintings.

My hope is that these works will comprise a collection of winsome scenes, as if from a play, that will bring pleasure with their simple telling.”