Roman Fine Art in Sag Harbor presents “Superheavy Nights,” an exhibition of new paintings by painter and sculptor Jeff Muhs. Muhs’ first solo show at Roman Fine Art includes a selection of works from his ongoing Slipstream series.
Muhs’ abstract paintings are pictorial descriptions or interpretations of events and observations. Through his work, Muhs endeavors to examine, challenge and expand our understanding of beauty and our perception of it. “Superheavy Nights” opens Thursday, May 27 and will continue through Sunday, June 27.
A wine reception with natural wines purveyor, Nat Out East, will be held on Saturday, May 29, from 5 to 7 PM.
Like many of the Action and Gesture painters before him, Muhs uses a variety of painting techniques including, but not limited to, dripping, smearing, and pouring paint. The backgrounds are typically black paint that is moved around resembling the whiting out of windows during times of construction or closure. This technique is then over-painted by a dense and colorful mass that calls to mind landscape and Color Field elements. When combined, the push and pull of the eye, causes the viewer to slip between the two disparate yet synthesized elements.
The black and white swirling masses are grounded by the opaque denseness of the foreground elements. This oscillation between background and foreground allows the viewer to move in and out and through the matrix of paint. The paintings also afford areas where the eye can rest, areas of deep space to float around in, as well as rich islands of color to float upon the work’s surface.
“Over the last 25 years my work has undergone an evolution from its beginnings as literal depictions of the environment, through a journey of synthesis, simplification, and abstraction roughly paralleling the history of twentieth century art,” said Muhs. “The inspiration is the same, but the works are now contemplations and actualizations of creative and physical forces at work in our experience.”