Locks Gallery is pleased to present Allusion, an exhibition of new paintings by John Moore, on view from October 3rd through November 8, 2014 with a reception for the artist on October 3, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. A fully illustrated publication accompanies the exhibition with an essay by curator Marshall Price.
John Moore’s masterful paintings edge on acute realism but seldom reveal what is actually there. Collecting fleeting moments of ephemeral lighting, or taking disparate elements of different views to make one place, Moore weaves his observed perspectives into psychologically charged scenes. Through the work, he both examines and elevates his historic and post-industrial surroundings where his studio is located in Frankford, Philadelphia. Here, Moore offers a contemporary perspective in dialogue with the legacy of early 20th century American precisionist painting. Now a city deeply in flux, Moore embodies the current transformation of Philadelphia in his reimagined scenes that depict both urban ruin and a transcendent beauty.
Moore’s new paintings use architecture as a framework for optical surprises and spatial play, providing a maze for the viewers’ eyes between structures, textures, and frames within the painting’s frame. His vistas can prove to be subtle in their disorientation as they play between the inherent abstraction of surfaces and a broader perspective. These scenes are alluring in their stillness and all-encompassing in their nuanced sensory awareness. As Marshall Price remarks, “Moore’s mastery lies in his ability to create paintings that appear suspended between a state of crystallized reality and a vague oneiric familiarity.”
