ART WALL

The Hunt Library Artwall features up to nine exhibits annually including solo and group shows.  It exists to showcase local professional and emerging artists living in the Northwest Connecticut community and further afield.  A portion of all art sales benefit the library.  For information, please inquire with the library staff.

In July and August, the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village will host artist Robert Cronin’s  exhibit, “Imaginary Paintings” featuring a selection of his still life oil paintings from 2006-2009, many of which have not been shown since their debut at Zabriskie Gallery, New York City in 2007.    A reception with refreshments for the artist will be held on Saturday, July 21 from 4pm to 6pm.  This event is free and open to the public.  The exhibit will be in on display through Saturday, August 11, 2018.

Working with oil on canvas, Robert Cronin has created imaginative still lifes that are buoyant arrangements of fictional objects.  Traditionally, a still life has an academic stasis because it is arranged expressly for the artist’s observation.  The term is a paradigm because it is easy: inanimate household objects make simpler subjects than buildings or people because they do not demand the artist leave the studio to deal with changing lighting or shifting expressions.  But Cronin has foregone these conveniences opting instead to just make the whole thing up.  The result is comic: where traditional still lifes are weighty and anchored, Cronin’s objects seem ready to drift away.  Where objects are usually familiar, Cronin gives us strange inventions and juxtapositions: a glowing booklight emanating from a fleshy green fruit; a stack of gooey pastries next to notes pierced on a spindle.   Along with a tiny man boating in a shallow pot, Cronin includes amorphous lumps and purely sculptural elements, testing what objects are allowed in a still life.  At bottom they are funny and engaging because of their whimsical and mysterious nature. There are a lot of empty boxes and one wonders if the objects came out of or are going into them.

Cronin often works exclusively on a subject or style and then takes a turn toward a new commitment influenced by the previous work whether in painting or sculpture. It’s a recurring cycle.  This concentration on imaginary still lifes followed a twelve-year commitment to narrative figure painting.  The still life paintings gave way to abstracts: circles, squares, and frames.  The artist said the changes are “like taking a vacation. To my surprise, toward the end the still lifes became more abstract, more about color, and flatter. In other words, I ended up with a new embrace of my many early years’ commitment to lyric abstraction in both painting and sculpture.”

Robert Cronin received his degrees at RISD and Cornell University and has taught at Bennington College and Brown University. His work is in the collections of many major museums including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the National Academy Museum, New York, the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Robert Cronin’s work can be seen at robertcroninart.com and on Facebook.

In August and September, the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village will host artist Sergei Fedorjaczenko’s exhibit, “Diamonds and Rust” featuring recent paintings in oil and watercolor and sculpture highlighting the beauty found in commonplace, ordinary things— rain, rust and water droplets; rivets, tools and gears—things made by nature and man-made things.  A reception with refreshments for the artist will be held on Saturday, August 18 from 4pm to 6pm.  The exhibit will be in on display through Saturday, September 15, 2018.  The artist’s work can be seen at sergeidesign.com.

Born in Heidelberg Germany, Sergei Fedorjaczenko came to the United States when he was four years old. His family lived in New York City until he was fourteen at which time they moved to Connecticut. Sergei served in the US Army as an Army photographer. Upon discharge he studied engineering, then switched and received a degree in Industrial Design. In his design career he created toys, interiors, appliances, guns, switches and cosmetics packaging and holds several design patents and trademarks.

Since retiring and moving to Falls Village, Connecticut, Sergei has concentrated on his art—painting and sculpture—and his life-long passion for mechanics and cars, restoring and racing vintage sports cars for over thirty-five years.  Describing his life in art, Mr. Fedorjaczenko said, “I struggle with the inner engineer in me.  My professional career was a compromise between engineering and art.  Now I look at my art in a different way.  My technical background and artistic sensitivity gave me an appreciation for the artistry found in built and manufactured things. As the musical group The Moody Blues put it in one of their songs “beauty to find in so many ways”.  In these new works, I was intrigued with the effects of patterns and light highlighting the beauty that can be found in commonplace, ordinary things that are often overlooked—the ordered patterns of manufactured objects and the random patterns of natural occurrences.”

Sergei has had solo shows before at the David M. Hunt Library and has been featured in group shows at the Tremaine Gallery at the Hotchkiss School and at the Hampden Gallery at the University of Massachusetts. He has exhibited with the Housatonic Valley Art League and Housatonic Camera Club. His works are in private collections in New York, California, Florida, Wisconsin Connecticut and Massachusetts.  His studio has been featured on the Northwest Arts Council Studio Tour and in the pages of Main Street Magazine.  He has been president of the Housatonic Camera Club, a past member of the Hunt Library Board of Directors and is member of the Housatonic Valley Art League.

Sergei Fedorjaczenko’s work can be seen at sergeidesign.com and on Facebook.