- April 22, 2024
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When Hollingsworth Gallery Curator J.J. Graham selected Patricia Zalisko and Karlene McConnell as two artists to be showcased in February, he didn’t know they shared the same art studio in New Smyrna Beach.
“We’ve never had our art shown together,” Zalisko said at the opening Saturday, Feb. 12. “Now we know it works.”
To see more artwork from these artists, visit the gallery through the Palm Coast Observer.
Zalisko
Zalisko’s pieces, all of which were executed in the previous nine months, are in two categories. First, there are what she calls her “heads,” a series of abstract portraits, including “Emma,” which measures 60-by-48 inches. The heads are alike in their primitive power, resembling masks with obscured eyes denying the viewer a definitive view of what exists behind the paint.
Zalisko also has a collection of abstractions, including a series of three called “Expansion,” “Compression” and “Equipoise,” which are neutral gray, black and green acrylics with added graphite lines. The lines provide an articulate touch to the raw color and shape.
Zalisko was thrilled to be selected for the show. She said that when she met Graham, “I was instantly drawn to him. I sort of felt that if I had a son who turned into a curator, it would be him. He has a great space here, and he knows how to teach.”
She added that one of her art colleagues has shown great growth after working with Graham.
“It’s important that we let him succeed,” Zalisko said. “He’s giving a voice not only to contemporary art but those who don’t work in traditional ways.”
Within an hour or so, several works had been sold, Graham said at the opening.
“It’s affirming,” Zalisko said of the sales. “You put your art out there, and (the sales) mean people get it and they like it.”
One of Zalisko’s works is called “First.” She said it was a painting she had put in storage some time ago and then brought back out and worked on it again. When it was brought out again, she decided to hang it upside down. She saw a face and decided to then do her series of heads.
McConnell
While Zalisko’s works can be categorized into abstractions and heads, McConnell’s paintings are variations on a theme: trees.
In “Blue Breeze,” McConnell said she is playing with color, while trying to stay true to the landscape.
In that way, her paintings are less abstract than Zalisko’s neutral works. She calls her style more expressionistic.
“When I’m looking at the trees, I’m also looking at the space between the trees, the shadows,” McConnell said. “I’m trying to get a gesture of it.”
“I like to simplify and give the viewer just enough, and then let them get lost in the color.”
She said there is more of a reference than with pure abstract art.
The main goal, she said, is to engage the emotions of the viewer and not to try to make the viewer come up with a grand interpretation.
Graham
As the show came to a close, Graham indicated yet another painting of McConnell’s that was likely to be sold. He explained why he admired the work of these two artists.
“True art is searching for the sake of searching,” Graham said. “If you knew what it was, you’d write the word down and not have to paint it. It’s about the unspeakable.”
He recalled a quote from another artist, Joan Mitchell, who said, “I don’t paint nature. I paint what nature leaves me with.”
Graham said he sees that kind of searching and mystery in Zalisko and McConnell.
He likened art to fishing. A passionate fisherman reels in a fish and, in the thrill of the catch, makes a sort of connection with the fish and by extension, with the mystery of nature. The fish is not the goal; it’s the fishing that provides the thrill. The fisherman then releases the fish and tries again.
Similarly, artists such as Zalisko and McConnell are driven to continue searching for ways to relive what nature leaves them with.
The show will be up until March 1, at Hollingsworth Gallery, which is located in City Marketplace on the second story, just above the city of Palm Coast offices.
