Nick Bridge's "Crossroad" in “Bridge & Carlson" at the Quad City Arts Center -- through March 15.
Through Friday, March 15
Quad City Arts Center, 1715 Second Avenue, Rock Island IL
Works from two Midwestern artists who have each built a cohesive body of work of bold color and strong composition will be on display at Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center through March 15, with the gallery's latest exhibition Bridge & Carlson showcasing colorfully expansive oil paintings by Nick Bridge of Oak Park, Illinois, and John Carlson of Burlington, Iowa.
Nick Bridge’s work begins with collage: layers of photographic imagery, colored paper, and paint form a study, which Bridge then uses as a reference for his oil paintings. These compositions often pair scraps of urban and natural landscapes within the same piece. As Bridge says, “The intersection of the built environment and the natural world is a primary driver in the conception of my artwork.”
He continues, "The urban environment is a collage of varied textures, unlikely juxtapositions, monumentality, and often surprising beauty, always in the process of self reclamation. And that has led me to incorporate collage into my own painting practice. As a painter, I’ve enjoyed looking at Chicago and many other cities from different angles, including bird’s eye views, the moody turns of Chicago’s Lower Wacker Drive and areas of natural habitat surviving in the city. Initially, I used collage to stitch together visual elements taken from the built urban environment, partly as a response to the ever changing view through the windshields of our cars. It was faster than sketching.
"Collage," says Bridge, "enables me to incorporate multiple views, abstract shapes, pattern, and distortion. An added bonus for me is the opportunity to work with a variety of media including printed materials, ink, paint and colored paper. This is a process I have come to enjoy because it can brings into play mixed media and visual elements from a limitless supply of sources."
John Carlson is an abstract painter utilizing colorful, expressionistic forms and figurative references. He begins with a spontaneous sketch, which then turns into a bold composition with a sense of rhythm and movement. Each piece is a personal exploration for Carlson, and he says that his pieces are an “opportunity to be physically silent and shout at the same time.”
Describing his works on display at Quad City Arts, Carlson states, "The paintings that I have selected for this exhibit display the expansion of my inner being. In each painting I find the starting point for the next one and the ability to grow my ideas. Starting with spontaneous thumbnail drawings, I enlarge the roughs and add a liberal dose of color."
Bridge & Carlson will be on display at Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center through May 15, with regular gallery hours Mondays through Fridays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free, and more information is available by calling (309)793-1213 and visiting QuadCityArts.com.
