An opening reception for “Painting the Figure,” an exhibition and sale of figure paintings by Jerry Weiss, will be held at The Cooley Gallery this afternoon, Wednesday, July 15, from 4 to 6 p.m. The public is welcome.
Weiss comes from a family of artists — his father was a celebrated cartoonist and his mother a painter. While Weiss often paints landscapes, he always returns to rendering the human figure. As a young artist and with his parents support he dedicated six years to the study of the human form.
Weiss explains, “My goal was to create a visual diary that would be a pictorial of family and friends. Then, as now, I am intrigued by the portrait as a most sacred subject.” Through rich paint application and both intuitive and intellectual editing, Weiss’s subjects pulse with vitality.
Capturing a moment or a mood with laser-like insight, Weiss’s subjects present themselves to the viewer with a singular clarity. He comments, “I work from life. I like to paint fairly large and rapidly.”
Though known to many as an accomplished painter of portraits, Weiss is also a published writer, wordsmith and teacher, admired for his clarity, insight and wit.
Weiss has had numerous solo exhibitions in museums and galleries. He teaches figure drawing and painting year-round at the Art Students League of New York and leads intensive workshops around the country. He was an instructor at Lyme Academy College for 15 years and is a Contributing Editor to The Artist’s Magazine, for which he writes features and the ‘Master Class’ column.
This exhibition of a dozen figure paintings and drawings will be on view at The Cooley Gallery, 25 Lyme St., through Aug. 15.
Weiss will also be teaching a class at Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts of the University of New Haven this summer. For more information, visit www.lymeacademy.edu.
Founded in 1981 and located in the heart of historic Old Lyme, the Cooley Gallery specializes in fine American paintings from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, including the Hudson River School, American Impressionism, and select contemporary artists. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call (860) 434-8807or email [email protected] f