Michael Gellatly / David Crum

The paintings by David Crum and drawings by Michael Gellatly carry unique rhythms. Describing their works in rhythmic terms, the concept of “Skeins” emerges, akin to threads loosely coiled, knotted, or laid out. For instance, straightening the “skeins of her long hair” helps distinguish David’s striped paintings from his circular formations. Meanwhile, Gellatly’s portrayal of Canadian geese, wingless in this depiction, suggests they’re in mid-migration southward.

David explained, “My paintings begin as a general idea, not as a visualized end. The idea begins with the basic color, some thought about a structure, and I sometimes do general studies on paper. Thus, process plays an important part in determining the finished painting. A work intended to be generally blue may, through observation in process, become a red picture. Working through a process toward satisfaction is what I find most enjoyable about painting.”

When asked about his process, Michael Gellaty’s said, “As an image maker for most of my life, I continue to work among the plethora of studio practices and processes, allowing visual languages to freely build upon each other.”

He added, “It’s not essential to my practice to work with the agency of stability, but rather to employ the tools of uncertainty, the act of juxtaposition, and the artist’s Unknowing. Whether specific or not, the building blocks for chance narratives, for meaning, reveal themselves more as offerings than declarations.”

Michael Gellatly:

Images Images Images, it’s all about Images, whether drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, digital work, all image making, and it’s all that matters.The fuel source throughout has been a restless exploratory energy, curiosity, improvisation, ever-evolving style shifts, pursuits in varying processes and materials, imagination, and a trust in instinctive impulses. It’s not essential to my practice to work with the agency of stability, but rather to employ the tools of uncertainty, the act of juxtaposition, and the artist’s Unknowing. Whether specific or not, the building blocks for chance narratives, for meaning, reveal themselves more as offerings than declarations.

David Crum:

My paintings have always been intended to speak to the visual centers of the mind and emotions. I leave to others concept illustrations, political ideology, social exhortation, and language theory.

My interest in painting began in the late 1950s when I became aware of the work of Rothko, Pollock, DeKooning, Frankenthaler and others. I was amazed that pictures without narrative or representation could be so powerful. Meeting and spending time with some of these artists increased my understanding and respect for their work and moved me to begin painting.