Irma Cerese and Michael Weymouth exhibit at Landing Gallery

Landing Gallery in Rockland is pleased to announce the opening of a two-person exhibition of new paintings by Irma Cerese and Michael Weymouth, which runs Aug. 6 through Sept. 15.

Cerese has always been fascinated with color, and her primary interest in painting is focused on color relationships. Her landscape paintings border on the abstract and are seen simultaneously as both representational landscape and abstraction.

In her own words: “I make paintings because the act of manipulating colored paint on a canvas is an intense, visceral process for me and I like to see what develops as I do this. Color itself has always fascinated me and has formed the basis of all my work, beginning with geometric abstractions. After awhile, it felt like something was missing in the abstractions and I turned to landscape both as a point of connection and departure. I don’t wish to tell a story, or accurately describe the observed world. Instead, I convert the primary elements of that world — trees, sky, ground, water, the occasional building — into an underlying geometric structure. The resulting images often border on the abstract, only loosely connected to the subject that attracted me in the first place, although I do seek to evoke the general atmosphere of that subject. I aim to produce work that is compelling in its own right and a celebration of visual experience.”

Weymouth was born and raised in Maine. He graduated from the New England School of Art in Boston in 1963. He is a painter (watercolor and oil), photographer, and author of several books. He spends summers painting and creating on Great Spruce Head Island in Penobscot Bay. “Painting is part of my DNA,” he says. His brushwork is filled with gesture, enthusiasm, and a facile energy. “Capturing the forces of nature with paint must come from the artist and the energy with which the scene is painted.”  The subject matter for his painting is focused around his summertime experiences in Maine and the beauty found in seaside locations.

I his own words: “My landscapes are of real places where I try to capture the moment I was there. Unlike the salon painters of Paris in the old days who did detail sketches of Italian scenes to be painted back in Paris, I shoot photos to be painted later. To me, the subjects I choose to photograph and how I frame the photos is a first creative step. I envision the painting through the viewfinder. Rarely is the finished painting a carbon copy of the photo; rather, I try to develop my own paint language, which embraces all the beautiful accidental happenings of watercolor and oil paint. It has proven to be a long and enjoyable journey”.

Landing Gallery is at 409 Main St. in Rockland. Summer hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Sunday. Closed on Tuesdays. For more information, call 207-239-1223, or email [email protected].