Kevin Beers Monhegan Town oil on canvas x
Kevin Beers, “Monhegan Town.”

Gleason Fine Art in Boothbay Harbor opens its 2025 season with a highly anticipated solo exhibition by Kevin Beers, titled “On My Own.” The show runs from June 19 to July 15, with receptions scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. July 4 and July 5. Beers will be present at the Saturday evening reception, offering visitors a chance to hear firsthand the stories and inspiration behind his work while enjoying a glass of wine in the welcoming gallery space.

Beers, a Maine resident for the past four years, brings a fresh collection of brushy oil paintings to this new exhibit — canvases filled with brilliant white buildings capped with red roofs, skies in an almost implausible blue, and harbors bustling with life. His distinctive palette and crisp realism dazzle his many admirers, and this show marks a meaningful chapter in his long journey as an artist.

While realism was never in vogue during his art school days, Beers remained faithful to his vision, despite professors urging him toward the abstraction that dominated the scene at the time. Rather than follow the footsteps of Jackson Pollock and other abstract expressionists, Beers looked to painters like Edward Hopper, George Bellows and Robert Henri, artists deeply inspired by the Maine coast and, in particular, Monhegan Island.

His connection to Maine came later, and not without difficulty. On his first trip to the coast, bad weather prevented him from reaching Monhegan. But when he returned two years later, everything changed. With sunlit skies and dramatic views unfolding before him like a Bellows painting, Beers fell in love with the rugged landscape, the crashing surf, and the clarity of light. He returned every summer for years, eventually quitting his job and selling his Brooklyn apartment to purchase a home on the Maine coast.

The exhibition also marks a triumphant return after a devastating loss. In the 2023 Port Clyde fires, Beers lost a significant number of his paintings. It took a year of healing, including a restorative stay on Monhegan and a visit with family in California, before he returned to the studio this winter with renewed vigor. The result is over two dozen new canvases that celebrate place, resilience and artistic independence.

Gleason Fine Art is at 31 Townsend Ave., Boothbay Harbor. Summer gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call Gleason Fine Art at 207-633-6849, email the gallery at info@gleasonfineart.com, or go to www.gleasonfineart.com.