springburst

New Abstractions by Friederike Oeser & John Vitale

Susan Eley Fine Art is delighted to present springburst, a two-person exhibition of paintings by Friederike Oeser and John Vitale to mark the start of the high cultural season in Hudson. As temperatures rise and the vestiges of snow melt we look to artwork that is fresh, with a vibrancy reflective of the new season, created by artists debuting with the gallery this spring. 

 

Friederike Oeser (b. 1959) is represented by 17 oil pastels on paper, ranging in size from 8 x 8 to 24 x 24 inches and created over the past two decades. The selection includes works from the “Monday” and “Farindola” series and a handful of additional drawings. Oeser lives in Munich, Germany and has exhibited widely across the US, Europe and Asia. In addition to the drawings on paper, she is known for her large-scale paintings, silkscreens and aluminum and plexiglass cut outs.

 

John Vitale (b. 1979) is a self-taught abstract painter, born in Rockford, IL, who currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. Vitale has created nine mixed media paintings on canvas for springburst. He has exhibited his work throughout the US and abroad, and has private and public collectors nationally and internationally.  

 

In our pairing of these two artists, we intend to highlight their differences—one American man, one European woman and each from a different generation. Oeser works from external imagery and stimuli—she has to see it to paint it; Vitale’s imagery and output come from internal thoughts and feelings—his muse comes from within. But we also wish to point to the similarities in their practices—bright color abstractions that employ, with equal devotion and passion, a linear geometric treatment with amorphous abstract forms.