SMALL is BIG: 30 Paintings by Catherine Kehoe, Tim Kennedy, Ken Kewley, Eve Mansdorf, and EM Saniga

Opening Reception: Friday, March 8, 2013 6-9pm Free Curatorial Talk, Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 3:00pm Small paintings that stand on their own - as a category distinct from painted studies - are capable of producing a powerful effect on viewers. Paintings done on small scale communicate intimacy. The viewer becomes intensely aware of his or her own space as well as the space in the painting. Viewing a small painting one can feel the contradictory sensations of nearness and distance experienced simultaneously. We see the artist's hand in the marks on the surface of the panel or canvas that magically transform themselves at the same instant into a house or a flower - and then back again. It is an endless circuit that produces the hypnotic illusion of stopped time. Veracity and sincerity are also qualities that paintings of modest scale convey exceptionally well. Painting on a small scale implies the role of witness on the part of the artist and the ability to truthfully record the perceived world - but it is truth honed with feeling. Small works permit the pleasure of touch. Small scale allows the artist to vicariously caress the things he or she paints. Small is Big is intended to celebrate the virtues of painting on a small scale through the work of five of its practitioners....more