Journeys

new paintings by Inverna Lockpez

2006 Jun 30 - Aug 13

Opening Reception for the Artists Saturday, Jul 1, 5 - 7 p.m

In this vital exhibition, every canvas becomes an event, a theme of oppositions, as the road and the countryside are manifested in energetic brushwork and a confrontation between abstraction and representation. “Lockpez’s paintings embody the current circumstances in the Catskills in which the dynamic uncertainties of modern life penetrate an idyllic landscape.  The scenes evoke the tension that exists between the speed of change so characteristic of contemporary life and an enduring desire for stability.  The paintings hold these opposed values in equilibrium so that her latest work captures an exhilarating sense of space and movement within its affirmation of the timeless beauty of nature,” affirms Professor Hertha Schulze of Barnard University.

Inverna Lockpez, a native of Cuba and well-known painter/curator in New York City, built a studio in the Catskills in the 1980’s because the misty mountains with their many creeks and rivers reminded her of her native country. “Interestingly, however, I was so overwhelmed by the lusciousness of this land that for the first seven years I could only paint in black and white,” says the artist. With color came her highly acclaimed “Noble Barn” series, a tribute to the symbols of Catskill Mountain farm life, which first exhibited at the Roxbury Arts Group in 2002.

Ms. Lockpez’s accomplishments in the Catskill Mountain Region, as well as New York City, are numerous:  While living in Manhattan she won a major outdoor competition for a 25-foot sculpture under the auspices of The Municipal Art Society.  She received grants from The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Creative Artists Public Service (CAPS), CINTAS Foundation, and a CETA award.  By the nineties her paintings had already been part of more than 80 exhibits around the country and for her work she received two NYSCA Decentralization Grants administered by the Roxbury Arts Group.

Ms. Lockpez is currently the director of the Catskill Center’s Erpf Gallery, Arkville, and its Platte Clove residency, where her ecological and artistic concerns naturally meld.

“Inverna Lockpez is a painter who not only serves to honor the legendary beauty of these mountains, but will one day be a part of that legend. She is undeniably one of the most important painters in our region. This new body of work is brilliant,” maintains Chace-Randall Gallery owner/director Zoe Randall.

Please call 845.676.4901 or email zoe@chacerandallgallery.com for more information.