Yellowland
©Howard Skrill

June 22nd
to
July 22nd

2006

Reception:

Thursday June 22nd
6 to 8 PM

   Safe-T-Gallery jumps into summer with an exhibition of the work of Brooklyn-based painter Howard Skrill. The exhibition, “Thru Works, ” features Skrill’s most recent multi-leveled, acrylic-on-paper-on-wood metaphysical landscapes. The exhibit opens on June 22nd and runs through July 22nd in our blissfully air-conditioned gallery in the heart of Dumbo. There will be an opening reception for the artist on Thursday June 22nd from 6 to 8 PM.

   Skrill’s paintings are on one level abstract urban/industrial landscapes. Always seen at a distance, there are often highways and girders that seemingly present a fence between the viewer and an even further landscape beyond. But rather than a Pirenasian fascination with these enclosing elements, Skrill creates tension by drawing the viewer deeper into and beyond the fence and at the same time forcing the background out towards the viewer, sometimes with rather alarming force.

   There is also a more metaphysical aspect available in these paintings, where areas of chaos often resolve into surrounding areas of quiet - perhaps reflecting the artist’s studies of Buddhist teachings in India. As Skrill has commented, “There are so many wheels of fire in the world and so few people painting them.”

   Mr. Skrill is a recent graduate of the MFA program in Studio Arts at Queens College, CUNY and currently teaches at Bronx Community College.