ON VIEW NOW
Michael Gallagher: Flock • Larry Francis: Hill Town Paintings
October 24 – November 29
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 1, 1–4 pm
Gallery Hours:
Fridays & Saturdays, 11 am – 4 pm, or by appointment.
215-665-8138 / Inquiries: info@grossmccleaf.com
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Flock 3, 10″ x 11.25″, Acrylic On Panel
Michael Gallagher: Flock
October 24 - November 29
Gross McCleaf Gallery is pleased to present Flock, a new exhibition of paintings by Michael Gallagher. In this series, Gallagher reduces recognizable motifs of birds into rhythmic arrangements of geometric shapes and earthen color, exploring how far the images can be pushed and patterned while retaining their recognition.
Rooted in earlier studio experiments, the new paintings widen a compact visual vocabulary into fields that feel both fluid and highly architectural. Shapes toggle between figure and ground. Whites behave as both positive forms and open intervals. Color blocks and crisp seams create repeatable units, readable like measures in a musical score. Gallagher describes the shifts in scale and spliced forms as: “...lend(ing) themselves to an ‘all-over’ strategy; they’re Pollock-like, where hierarchies are reduced if not eradicated completely. Pattern and repetition are in play, and the space is flattened.”
Ginkgo Tree, 12″ x 12″, Oil On Canvas
Larry Francis: Hill Town Paintings
October 24 - November 29
Gross McCleaf Gallery is pleased to present Hill Town Paintings, a new solo exhibition by Larry Francis. Recognized for his attentive cityscapes and neighborhood views painted in and around Philadelphia, Francis turns to the northwest neighborhoods of Roxborough and Manayunk, mapping their steep terrain with measured light, clear geometry, and the small choreographies of everyday life in this body of work.
Across these recent paintings, Francis constructs space with precision and care, guiding the eye through streets, storefronts, parks, and porches, familiar places animated by the particular tilt of sun and spatial architecture. He acknowledges the lineage that shapes his outlook, “Hopper and the Ashcan School painters of urban life have had a strong influence on me. I work on constructing the space of a painting, building it forward toward the viewer, and exploring the receding space of the painting. This effort gives me a sense of the sculptural dynamic of the painted area.” Figures, vehicles, and street furniture details serve as wayfinders, guiding viewers' eyes through light and shadow.
Explore our curated selection of available artworks from current and past exhibitions, including paintings, works on paper, and sculpture. All pieces listed here are available for direct purchase online.
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We have moved! We’re delighted to announce that Gross McCleaf Gallery has relocated to the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia, in The Mill Studios - just off Main Street at the Belmont exit from I-76.
This new location meets the moment in today’s shifting art market while benefiting GMG, our artists, and loyal clients. At its 3rd site in 55 years, Gross McCleaf will continue providing a comfortable, convenient setting to engage with your favorite art & artists and now includes free and easy parking!
I am excited for Gross McCleaf's new phase and look forward to seeing you soon in our new location!
Rebecca Segall
Owner & Director
Gross McCleaf Gallery
Elizabeth Johnson: Would you compare your careful arrangements of objects and people to Joseph Cornell's stage-like approach of organizing information poetically? I feel the meditative power of self-possessed people walking dogs or doing errands in paintings such as Going to Work, Morning Stroll, View from Fleming Street, and El Toro. What makes you decide in some cases to add more people and street furniture to pictures such as Washington Square, Terrace and Cotton, and Chloe's?
Larry Francis: The human presence is the start, perhaps made into a street ballet. I try to find figures which move through the space. And here chance plays a part. I collage from photos I have taken, both present and past, and from chance encounters with people who enter and, sometimes, reenter the space I am painting...As a painter you are, in the main, thinking of painting forms, making colors that work, arranging and measuring the intensity of light and shadow. I am always searching for what the city feels like. There can never be too much life in a painting. I am just scratching the surface.
Michael Gallagher: "I think what interests me most about the current work is just how far I can push the imagery away from a clear read regarding subject matter; in this case, reading birds, through reduction of form, and in some cases color combinations. Can the reference be found or arrived at with very little information available?...“Slippage” is still a useful term to locate an on-going interest of mine. I’m still "on the job," as it were; and yes, if I can stumble into multiple ways that slippage can occur, all the better. Stumble is a good way to describe what I think I do in the studio. Creative Stumbling? Creative Stumblebum? Yeah, that’s it. It makes me think of some of those figures in a Guston painting, the images that were most likely self-portraits. "Implied rectangular units" is spot-on since I traffic in implication, tethering me to "slippage." Creating and negating is another form of slippage, and I do often think of patterns as musical scores."
