I’ve got a disco song from 1976 stuck in my head, “More, More More,” by Andrea “True” Connection, who crooned “how do you like it, how do you like it?” The song was a huge hit back in the day.
By Margot Clark-Junkins
I’ve got a disco song from 1976 stuck in my head, “More, More More,” by Andrea “True” Connection, who crooned “how do you like it, how do you like it?” The song was a huge hit back in the day. I just saw the Flinn Gallery’s exhibit with the same name — “More More More” — and I can’t stop singing that song. I like it, True, I like it! The exhibit is a chart-topper, for sure.
Curators Tracy McKenna, Kirsten Pitts, and Joanne O’Neil have selected paintings, sculpture, and mixed media so vibrant, so wildly patterned and richly textured, that it immediately brings to mind the expression “more is more.” As in, more dessert could never be a bad thing. As in, gilding the lily. You get the idea. More is the perfect amount here at the Flinn.
The architect-designed gallery’s airy expanse is punctuated with pops of color by five artists.
Charles Clary’s stacks of cut paper look like crosscuts of a rainbow. Fun fact: he goes through 1,200 Exacto-knife blades annually.
Wayne Herpich’s oil paintings come in all colors and are pleasantly reminiscent of melted taffy that has been pulled this way and that. Jason Middlebrook has taken craggy-edged slices of wood and painstakingly painted them with complex geometric patterns.
David Ambrose has pierced thick handmade paper with a morass of swirling lines and organic, amoeba-like shapes, which he then daubs with brilliant dots of color. There is something so Aboriginal about these works, it is captivating.
Katherine Daniels weaves ribbons, beads, and thread onto netting to create what she considers to be a hybrid between sculpture and painting; her installation on the staircase leads visitors up to the gallery, which is on the second floor of the Greenwich Library.
Many of the works fall into the category of what I consider to be “affordable” art (under $3,000). Several pieces are so extraordinary, so visually arresting and large in scale, that they could still be deemed affordable, even though their price tags are higher (under $20,000). As statement pieces, they would be well worth the investment. Middlebrook, for example, has taken seven-feet lengths of maple planking (with rough bark edges intact), sanded them and then painted each with a different pattern. One is black-and-white and recalls the op-art movement of the 1960s; another board features a parquetry-like maze à la M.C. Escher. And don’t miss Ambrose’s largest work on paper; it is a stunner.
“More More More” is just as lively as the last show at the Flinn, “The Great American Landscape,” which was widely reviewed, attracted nearly 1,900 visitors, and may have set a gallery record for sales. Talk about local color…you’ll get your fill at the Flinn.
The exhibit runs through March 16. For gallery hours and more information, call 203-622-7947 or visit flinngallery.com.
