Land and Water: Exhibition
[/frame_left]Land and Water, A Lentan Exhibition
Presented by The Forum @ St. Ann’s
On view in the sanctuary through April 18
St. Ann & Holy Trinity is hosting an exhibition of oil paintings by Andrea Geller, on view in the church sanctuary through April 18. Titled Water and Land, this exhibition is the first in a series of visual art programs at the church in 2014. It is presented as part of The Forum @ St. Ann’s, which seeks to engage the community in conversation about the arts, ideas and civic life. All of the works on view are for sale. A portion of the proceeds will benefit future arts programming. Everyone is welcome.
Henry Weil, a parishioner and the organizer of the exhibition, commented on its relevance to Lent in the March 2 issue of The Good News, St. Ann’s newsletter:
This exhibition, simply titled Water and Land, is especially important as we are entering this Lenten season, a time when Christians across the world reflect on Christ’s wilderness experience leading to his death. Geller’s canvases are rich in color and gesture, carefully crafted vignettes of a world in continual state of flux. Within this uncertainty, “the presence and absence” of figures, the artist writes, “[is] a metaphor for movement through land and water, which is also fluid and constantly moving. The resulting images are a play between the real and the abstract, which is a direct correlation to duality in life.”
I wonder how we, in our own personal journeys through the wilderness, find comfort or a sense of safety? Is it really a matter of sink or swim, fight or flight? The author of the Letter to the Hebrews offers some guidance on this, as he considers the model of Christ’s triumph over temptation: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”
The paintings are from two series that Geller has been developing since 2007 that illustrate a world in a continuous state of flux. Figures, often isolated from one another or completely alone, find themselves looking into the abyss of an empty landscape or cast off into the depths of the water.
Geller studied painting at Cornell University and earned her BFA from Parsons School of Design. She earned her MFA in painting from William Paterson University. She exhibits her work nationally and is included in numerous collections. Her painting “Floating” was selected by the US Ambassador to Greece to hang in the US Embassy in Athens.
Image: “Solitary Man,” Andrea Geller