“From the beginning, I’ve wanted to make something beautiful out of my experiences, something to share with other people. For many years this meant painting landscapes and depicting the nuances of light and color. But now, without realism, my paintings are free to become something new.”
-Kurt Moyer, January 2022
Gross McCleaf is delighted to present Impressions, the newest body of work by artist Kurt Moyer. Moyer’s paintings range in size from twelve to one hundred and eighty inches, showcasing an enchanting array of vertical patterns and spotted colors that gracefully dance and play across canvases. Without illustrative depictions, Moyer manifests visions of Arcadia’s rapturous glowing light, blanketing a viewer’s field with dreamy abstractions.
Moyer’s paintings blink into view, as if one were waking from a summer afternoon nap. Each work possesses a distinct palette and composition, with some providing glimpses into an intimate, lush world, while mural-sized canvases open planes and pathways that one could step into. Although detailed imagery is not plainly discernable, allusions to the natural world emerge. Pinks and peaches radiate around the edges of Magnolia And Vegetable, while light blues recede into the distance. Pond features subtly diagonal purples and browns spilling over a plane with lighter yellow-orange and blues, suggesting reflections of light from above.
The most complex compositions are the three-canvas painting, Apple Tree in Bloom, and the six-canvas painting, The Meadow And The Trout Stream. Both works offer panoramic horizontal proportions, with arcs of color flourishing towards the top of the canvas before descending to their lower reaches. These shapes can be interpreted in many ways, resembling mounds of sprouting vegetation or bell curves symbolizing natural cycles. As the viewer scans the surface of The Meadow And The Trout Stream, colors transition from bright yellow and blue on the left to pinks, then to green, brown, and orange, culminating in dark blue and deep greens on the right. There is a sense of time inherent in these transitions, guiding the viewer from morning on the left, along a wooded trail, to the end of the day when the last remnants of light twinkle out of existence, ushering the world into peaceful sleep.
Originally from Southeastern Pennsylvania, Kurt Moyer is currently based near Rochester, New York. He is a graduate of Kutztown University and paints full-time in addition to attending artist residencies and programs on a regular basis throughout the United States, Italy and beyond. He has had five solo shows with Gross McCleaf Gallery and has been featured in solo and group exhibitions at other galleries and museums in the region. His work is in both public and private collections.
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“I try to pay close attention to what I’m excited about. If I’m working in the studio and feeling engaged, I know that is a good thing… {I have} an impulse towards images that suggest things but aren’t descriptive, a preoccupation with framing devices and spaces within spaces, an interest in the numerous possibilities of color, and a focus on simple and direct means.”
- Clint Jukkala
Gross McCleaf Gallery is delighted to present a series of new paintings by Clint Jukkala in Tuning In. A longtime friend of the gallery, Jukkala previously participated in the 2018 group exhibition Looks alongside Aubrey Levinthal, Susan Moore, and Ashley Wick. While Jukkala has had an extensive exhibition record across the region, Tuning In marks his first solo exhibition with GMG.
In conjunction with his formal painting practice, Jukkala questions the source of subjective experience, the inherent contradictions within perception, and theories of consciousness. His work intertwines these interests in both process and presentation, providing viewers with rich surfaces of luscious colors, layered textures, and playful spatial incongruities. Tuning In encompasses a collection of 30 collaged paintings divided into three interconnected parts of Jukkala’s practice: small paintings showcasing a diversity of painted shapes and pictorial interpretations, medium-sized works featuring rounded head-like forms, and a variety of planar geometric abstractions. Despite their variations, the artworks share a similar style, hand, and humor, all while pursuing a visual exploration with philosophical underpinnings. His works are equal parts structure and intuition.
While form and size vary in these series, the works maintain consistency in terms of materials—oil and acrylic paint, along with collaged paper and fabric on canvas. For Jukkala, these collaged elements offer an opportunity to place painted marks from numerous separate studio sessions in dialogue with more recent paint applications. These juxtaposed collage components, containing painting and drawing scraps amassed from over many years of practice, highlight observable differences in mark-making. Each painted mark becomes an expression of physical action, inviting analysis of temperament, focus, and attitude. Some manifest as brisk brushy stains, while others are methodically constructed, forming thick, straight lines. Whether deliberately applied with measured precision or imbued with a casual spontaneity, each mark conveys a distinct life.
Engaging with Jukkala’s work through this sensitive lens is a journey through time, connecting viewers with the ephemeral. The curved head-like shapes, coupled with the interplay of colors, textures, and mark-making, beckon to a realm of emotions and thought patterns. In contrast, the geometric forms serve as windows into alternate worlds—an array of tables, televisions, and ambiguous tableaux that capture the fluid shifts in consciousness often triggered by interactions with the digital realm through screens. While these works are deeply felt, they remain open-ended for individual contemplation. There is an invitation to tune in and connect with an altered state of mind through material prompts, to adjust the dial to a desired visual frequency and transition into a vibrant domain of subjectivity.
Clint Jukkala is an artist and educator based in Philadelphia. He received his MFA from Yale University School of Art and his BFA from the University of Washington in Seattle. Jukkala has exhibited widely in New York and across the northeastern United States including solo and two-person exhibitions in New York, Philadelphia and New Haven, Connecticut. He attended the Yaddo Residency and the MacDowell Colony Residency. Jukkala has been a visiting artist and lecturer at institutions across the country and in Pont-Aven, France. He is currently the Dean of the School of Fine Arts at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.