September 2011
Elder Gallery in Charlotte, NC, Features Works by Willie Kohler
The Elder Gallery in Charlotte, NC, will present a solo exhibit of oil paintings by Chicago artist Willie Kohler, on view from Sept. 2 through Oct. 1, 2011. A reception will be held on Sept. 2, from 6-8pm.
Kohler’s dramatic landscape paintings are a direct result of the artist’s walking and communing with nature.
“I was immediately captured by the beauty, mystery, and obvious intellect of Willie’s paintings,” says gallery owner Larry Elder. “There is true artistic talent lying behind each painting that I selected for our exhibition.”
Kohler was born in 1962 in Boston and has been painting since he was thirteen years old. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania, earned a Bachelor of Art Degree from Maryland Institute College of Art, did a Yale Norfolk Summer Residency, and obtained a Master of Fine Arts Degree from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Kohler’s work has been enthusiastically exhibited in the United States and Europe.
“My paintings often have their genesis in a walk somewhere that resonates powerfully for me,” says Kohler. “This is usually nature, but could be urban and definitely includes visits to art museums. Walking in these magical places feels like a celebration of being alive, being in a body in this marvelous world of creation.”
Speaking of Kohler’s paintings, Stephanie Burke of Art Talk Chicago says, “the composition could easily belong to any number of great painters from 40 years ago, or 100, or 400, and the fact that it was painted in 2010 does nothing to detract from its classical qualities. The paint handling is decidedly Modern, having much in
common with Matisse as well as some of the more figurative works of Grace Hartigan, a second-generation abstract painter.”
The artist has agreed to conduct a one-hour discussion of his work at Elder Gallery on Friday, Sept. 2, beginning at noon. The public is invited to this session as well as the reception later that same day.
On Saturday, Sept. 3 from 11am - 1pm, Elder Gallery will host a coffee with Kohler who will walk throughout the exhibition to discuss his painting style and to answer questions about his artwork.
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