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FISCHBACH GALLERY WILL PRESENT BRAD MARSHALL, MEG SHIELDS SEPT 6

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NEW YORK CITY — The Fischbach Gallery presents “Arc,” an exhibition of recent paintings by Brad Marshall, and Meg Shields’ “In Particular.” Both exhibits will be on view September 6–October 6.

The panoramic views in Brad Marshall’s paintings are more than just records of his travels. Similar to Nineteenth Century Hudson River School painters, Marshall is attracted to dramatic locations. His art work is a translation of the emotional response triggered when in the presence of sprawling nature and grandiose manufactured structures.

In “Arc,” Marshall presents a series of arch-themed paintings, with the intention in these works not to do an academic survey of arches but rather to create a series of landscape paintings that pay homage to these amazing structures. “Whether natural or manmade, arches are both strong and elegant. They are universal, yet remain among the most visually captivating objects we see,” Marshall said.

While Shields’ paintings are not symbolic, she frequently places isolated objects on flat fields of rhythmically patterned cloth, suggesting an intuitive sense of classically balanced composition. Working on this series intermittently since 2005, the paintings of “In Particular” incorporate an array of colorful objects.

In each piece, the placement and choice of these objects create relationships that are active and challenging. “In Particular” is an experiment in sustained attention; in the process of stating the exact things which were there to see the inevitable transformation. “I hope to capture in action the imagination as it invents reality,” she said.

Ultimately, Shields is not interested in naturalism, but, in her own words, “contrived compositions that have real things in them — like Marianne Moore’s description of poems as artificial gardens with real toads in them. I am moved by the actual, rather than the context in which the actual appears. The assumption that paintings is only about seeing the effect of colored arrangements on the eye is one I don’t accept. I am interested in seeing what I choose to place right in front of me.”

The Fischbach Gallery is between 24th and 25th Streets at 210 Eleventh Avenue. For information, 212-759-2345 or www.fischbachgallery.com.