I went down to the East Village. Poogy’s opening started at 7. I was a little early so I stopped and had an espresso on Thompkins Square Park (perfect). I was the only customer and the barista was playing Janis Joplin. I rocked out until 7 o’clock came. I walked over to The Phatory and a small bunch of people were there. I got to say Hi to Poogy and checkout the paintings. They were all about the same size approximately 9”x12” oil on board landscapes with a cream color shadow box frame. They all were soft focus images of trees and fields in a rural area with no evidence of human presence (a combination of Albert Pinkham Ryder, George Inniss and Gerhard Richter). The paint is applied thinly to enhance the surface texture of the under-painting( some what thickly applied). My favorite had an area of crackle.
The gallery is a small intimate store front. Poogy had painted the gallery walls with a green/ gray iridescent glaze which she had stenciled a pattern of 4” tall topiary trees( very soft and elegant). She arranged the paintings in small groupings, some horizontal, some over/ under.
For me the concept of putting the framed paintings of pastoral, rural visions on
walls with topiary trees seemed to suggest we are looking at the rural landscape from the point of view of the urban civilized garden.
I had some fun conversations with Poogy’s decorative artist friends (Poogy’s a
member of DC9 decorative painters) especially with Katie Kelmsley who helped Poogy stencil the walls ( along with Poogy’s husband John).
I went home feeling richer for my experience there, visually satisfied.
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