SATELLITE
Melissa Dvozenja-Thomas, Executive Director, Arts Mid-Hudson
Have you ever found yourself staring at an image for a long time and with each passing gaze you uncover something different? A new line, pattern, or silhouette appears the longer you look. Artists often use objects or patterns they encounter to create a harmonious visual effect. Will Hutnick’s work currently on display at Geary Contemporary art gallery in Millerton, New York uses mesmerizing topography in the latest exhibition, SATELLITE which runs through April 7, 2024. This work dives into nature in new and interesting ways through contemporary patterns and bold colors.
Geary was founded in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 2013 by Jack Geary and Dolly Bross Geary. Geary opened a location in Millerton, NY in 2020 and moved permanently to Millerton in June of 2022. The gallery represents emerging and mid-career artists working in a variety of media, and seeks to raise artist profiles and exposure through placement in museum collections, exhibitions, and art fair presentations. Jack and Dolly curate and rotate the exhibits every couple of months, bringing new voices and themes to the space. The latest exhibition at Geary with Hutnick showcases art recreating parts of the natural world while using vibrant colors, patterns, and awkward shapes.
Hutnick is an artist based in Sharon, Connecticut and is currently the Director of Artistic Programming at the Wassaic Project, a nonprofit organization that uses art and art education to foster positive social change in Wassaic, New York. He received his M.F.A from Pratt Institute and his B.A. from Providence College. His work has been featured in The New York Times, New American Paintings and Hyperallergic, among many others.
Hutnick’s paintings are a bit hypnotic. He sources the shapes for his work from his immediate surroundings, such as plants and applies them to the canvas. At times the outline of the vessel he has chosen is apparent and other times, the shape itself lends further to the imagination.
“I want to create moments of disorientation and disruption, where the assumed logic, expectation, and assumption of space, slowly—or not so slowly—unravels. Or implodes. And explodes,” states Hutnick about his work.
Hideaway, 2023, a 40”x30” acrylic and wax pastel on canvas’ background has calming lines in the background which almost appear like a rake that has been drug through the sand. Hutnick adds bright hues of greens and blues to the browns. He then has layers of leaves stamped throughout the piece. Some of the leaves appear as disappearing shadows of their former life while others have taken on a new spirited existence in colors they may never be in nature.
Much of Hutnick’s work gives the ripple effect like you might see when you look at the sand through the ocean new life with dynamic colors. Viewers will leave having felt the captivating movement from each piece, while allowing for reflection on the relationships between natural and artificial patterns of our world.
If you go:
SATELLITE
Geary Contemporary
34 Main Street, Millerton, NY 12546
Open through April 7, 2024
Friday - Sunday, 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., and by appointment
info@geary.nyc
732-838-5411
www.geary.nyc
