Frank Gasbarro
During the summer of 2008, in addition to its main show, Bert Gallery will present three “Pocket Shows” installed in the back exhibit space of the gallery. Each of the three shows will feature a different contemporary mid-career artist from Providence. Paula Martiesian, Frank Gasbarro, and Nick Paciorek, have uniquely personal styles and approaches to painting, ranging from fairly realistic cityscapes, to painterly landscapes, to entirely abstract images. Through these shows, we see a range of artistic expression.
The second Pocket Show in August features the paintings of Rhode Island artist Frank Gasbarro, a veteran thirty-year painter. After a five-year hiatus from studio painting, Gasbarro returns to the scene with bold new canvases. Some pieces reflect his older works with the inclusion of mechanical looking objects and floating geometric shapes, while others channel the more serene inspiration of the Russian American painter, Mark Rothko. Gasbarro’s work has always focused on the surrounding world and his position in it, using the canvas to relate to everyday shapes and structures in abstract form...
As a self-taught painter, Gasbarro is able to disregard the trappings of academic conventions and explore his personal vision, resulting in fresh interpretations on canvas. Gasbarro uses very little realistic imagery, but instead conveys his message through strong colors and shapes. Abstract images channel a thought process or state of mind experienced by the artist.
This Pocket Show has the most recent paintings of Frank Gasbarro, along with monotypes and photographs done during the past few years. The monotypes often depict the elements of an idea to be later translated onto oil canvases. The altered photographic images reflect his view that the world is “beautiful, familiar, but strangely extraordinary.” Gasbarro conveys his vision of and feelings toward the world in the process of making art, while encouraging the viewer to have a personal reaction to the resulting canvas produced. For Gasbarro, the ultimate success in painting is to provide the stimulus for a response, whether positive or negative.