I love this light that shows me
What it ‘is’
And captures me
To make me be.
-Mary McCreath
Locks Gallery is pleased to present Here and There, an exhibition of new paintings by John Moore (b. 1941), which will be on view from November 17 through December 23, 2021. A reception with the artist will be held on Wednesday, November 17, from 5 to 7 pm. This is the artist’s sixth solo show with the gallery since the mid-1990s and will feature works made during the past year.
Shaped by a deep sense of place, Here and There draws inspiration from a range of real and imagined locations from the coast of California to the coast of Maine. Moore’s new paintings include scenes of strange and familiar locales, some centered around his former Philadelphia studio (water towers in Kensington, the Globe Dye Works building) and settings in Maine (a bridge in Deer Isle, a lake in Lincolnville) but also snippets from sites across America. His highly detailed compositions juxtapose built structures and the natural environment, creating composite sites, where some remain true to their source and others depart considerably.
These new works have a focus on elements that relate to time - an evening prayer, a sundial, the sun sinking low in the horizon over water. Haunting and elegiac, Moore’s images of shadowy monuments and abandoned architecture give presence to a sense of loss and decay, an act of marking time against obsolescence. His pieced-together details form scenes that reimagine post-industrial America and the emotional effects of the built environment. Whether here or there, Moore’s ability to convey the transforming effects of light is key to his vision. His affinity for the golden light of late afternoon and the pink hues of sunset hours prevails across his moody landscapes, scenes which are often cropped and viewed through the architectural framework of a window, fence or doorway.
As curator Marshall N. Price notes in his 2014 essay for John Moore’s exhibition Allusion at Locks Gallery, by “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.”
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Moore received an MFA from Yale University before settling in Philadelphia where he worked for over four decades. His paintings are included in major collections such as the Art Institute of Chicago; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Yale University Art Gallery; and many others. Formerly the Gutman Professor and Chair of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania from 1999 to 2009, he previously taught at Boston University, the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, and the University of California, Berkeley. The Maine Center for Contemporary Art in Rockland featured a survey of his work in 2018. He currently lives and works in Belfast, Maine.
Here and There will be on view at Locks Gallery from November 17 through December 23, 2021. The gallery is open 10 am to 6 pm from Tuesday through Saturday, and by appointment. For more information please contact info@locksgallery.com or 215-629-1000.
