Karin Clarke Gallery is pleased to present new work by prolific Eugene artist Adam Grosowsky, titled Adam Grosowsky: Confessions of an Eye. This latest series of oil paintings includes a variety of figurative pieces that showcase several of the artist's classic themes, such as outsized portraits, female nudes, and ballet dancers. His figures often inhabit semi-abstract interiors in which brightly lit areas compete with dark backgrounds. They may also take part in circus scenes and are frequently accompanied by birds or other animals. For this show, the artist has also given renewed attention to landscape. The paintings vary in size, with an emphasis on the grand-scale works he is known for, while diptychs make a first appearance.
Grosowsky's works all share a distinctive, bold, use of color and value contrast, coupled with loose, gestural brushstrokes, which together compel and guide the viewer's attention. In Road with Clouds, tonal contrast and broad, energetic brushstrokes create a tumultuous sky that looms above a flat land whose curving road and fields converge toward a single focal point.
In his portraits, immense and always arresting, the human subject is often paired with a bird, and the use of chiaroscuro lends both a dramatic intensity and a sense of mystery to the composition. A stark contrast between light and dark areas similarly structures his interior scenes and accentuates the abstract geometry of the represented space. Within such interiors, the female figure, often nude or semi-nude, is a recurrent theme. One variant portrays a woman at her toilette, also a long-running motif in European painting. Grosowsky chooses to represent her with her back to the viewer, not posing, but merely attending to her mundane task with the lack of self-consciousness of someone believing themselves unobserved.
Circus scenes are another subject matter which Grosowsky keeps being drawn to. With The Circus of Needs, he relies on what is for him a new format: a continuous diptych, with two horizontal canvases placed one above the other and forming a single unit. Set against a background of rectangular planes, the pattern of triangles formed by a step ladder, white bears, and human figures repeatedly evokes the shape of a circus tent. Once again, the juxtaposition of darks and whites creates a dynamic tension that offsets the overall symmetry of the composition. There is an element of playfulness: the female acrobat perched on top of the bear pyramid shelters under a wide umbrella, while the white bears seem to nudge one another, ready to tumble down their ladder.
Grosowsky, one of Oregon's most sought-after painters, has been exhibiting at Karin Clarke Gallery since 2005, and this show marks the 20th anniversary of the gallery representing him. His work has been extensively collected in the Northwest and across the US, both privately and publicly. He received his BA in Fine Arts from Evergreen College in 1981, and an MA (1984) and an MFA (1986) in Printmaking from the University of Iowa, where he studied under Mauricio Lasansky, one of the fathers of modern American printmaking. After moving to Eugene, Grosowsky switched to oil painting as his primary medium. A charismatic and popular teacher, he taught printmaking, drawing, and painting as a full-time faculty at Lane Community College from 1990 until his retirement in 2019.
There will be an opportunity to meet the artist during our opening reception on Friday, December 5th, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. At 6:00 pm, he will give remarks followed by a Q&A. Please join us!
-Sylvie Pederson
