‘Face To Face’ With Gerry Gersten

WESTON — It’s not Van Gogh and it isn’t the Philadelphia Museum of Art, but it is “Face To Face.” Weston Commission for the Arts is presenting a collection of caricatures by Gerry Gersten in Weston Library’s Community Room, at 58 Norfield Road, through December 10.

Mr Gersten says he has been influenced by the work of the great 19th Century artist and satirist Daumier. He feels “in order to be a good caricaturist one has to have a certain feeling of hostility that could be construed as anger. Balance, rhythm, flow might take care of themselves.

“Think of essentials, think of impact,” he continued. “Sometimes the opposite of comfort is something to strive for. Visual irritation is very compelling, very intriguing.”

Mr Gersten graduated from High School of Music and Art and then studied with Robert Gwathmey at Cooper Union, both in New York. His sharply crafted sketches have earned praise for their quick grasp of a character’s essential traits and attitudes.

Visitors to “Face To Face” will be able to get up close, eyeball-to-eyeball, with such luminaries as Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Ernest Hemingway, Toulouse-Lautrec, Napoleon and even Robert De Niro, all done in Mr Gersten’s signature style.

The library, at 56 Norfield Road, can be reached by calling 203/222-2656 for further information.