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University of Connecticut at Groton,CT,
Alexey Von Schlippe Gallery
June 13 - July 27, 2008.
Opening Reception: Friday, June 13, 6-8pm.
Mandell Jewish Community Center
33 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford
June
25 - August 17, 2008.
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 26, 4 - 7 pm
ArtNews Summer 2003
Felix Bronner
ARTWORKS Hartford, Connecticut
Felix Bronner's works are a studied homage to the Abstract Expressionists, evoking Adolph Gottlieb, William Baziotes, and Mark Rothko in particular. Even Bronner' stated interest in the workings of nature, perhaps an extension of his career as a scientist, and in "the mystery that surrounds us." as he explains in his statement, taps into Gottlieb's obsession with the primordial world. Despite Bronner's exploration of well-charted territory within abstraction, the 20 paintings and works on paper (all 2002-3) in this exhibition were still engaging, particularly for fans of formalism.
Bronner layers transparent shapes over expanses of softened colors, with the occasional opaque geometric forms dominating the canvas, as seen in the "Floating" series. In several works, the shapes interact as if they were collage elements thrown onto the surface. Each element is given a distinct texture-scratched, scribbled, thickly painted, or wiped nearly clean; however, his brushwork exhibits more restraint than that of the Action painters. In other paintings, the artist builds his shapes into a vague architecture, connecting his geometric forms with thin lines, like girders in an unfinished building.
Particularly notable was Talk to Me, a canvas in various hues of spring greens, with slick oil brushstrokes contrasting with thinner, bleeding expanses of color. Bronner placed subtle scribbles of an iridescent orange surrounding a simple geometric structure in paler greens that stands slightly off center. The large and none can read the text" (Tennyson) stood out at the other end of the gallery as an obvious nod to Rothko's early color-field canvases: here, a large lavender rectangle with stripes carved into the paint foals over a darker purple ground.
The works were well suited to the Artworks gallery space, a newly restored historic building enlivening the city's growing contemporary-art scene. -Jennifer Ball
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