"How The Light Gets In", an exhibit of paintings by Alison Rector and Janice Anthony

Courthouse Gallery Fine Art in Ellsworth Maine will feature the work of Alison Rector and Janice Anthony August 16 to September 9, 2017.

Rector and Anthony have both created a group of paintings exploring light,  how paintings depict light and how light creates a mood.

Alison Rector writes about her work for this show:

The late great Leonard Cohen, singer, songwriter and poet, wrote in his song Anthem:

 Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in

 How the light gets in, how paint creates the illusion of light, these are puzzles I spend my days exploring. Both painter Janice Anthony and I admire light.  In my work, I paint interiors, the light entering rooms and buildings. I’m drawn to the empty room, the overlooked quiet space. Time passes as the light moves across rooms through windows and doors.  How the light gets in establishes the mood and emotion of the image.

Cohen sang:

I choose the rooms I live in with care

The windows are small and the walls almost bare

There is only one bed and there’s only one prayer

I listen all night for your step on the stair.

 Light is an illusion. What a joy to be able to see!   We wouldn’t see without light. Light gives us an understanding of form, of temperature. A painter observes light then uses an opaque material (in my case oil paint) to create the illusion of light within a painting. It’s a trick of color, composition and paint texture to make a painting glow.

I think Cohen was speaking about more than the physical properties of light in Anthem. He was addressing life and political unrest and power. The sadness and wisdom of his words is mighty. Of course we are flawed. There is a crack in everything. The imperfections illuminate what’s truly meaningful in life.

"How the Light Gets In" opens on Wednesday August 16, 2017 at Courthouse Gallery, 6 Court Street in Ellsworth.  For more information, contact Courthouse Gallery at www.courthousegallery.com