David Ridgway at WaterWorks Gallery, Friday Harbor, Washington

June 21, 2018

David Ridgway's oil painted landscapes reflect a joy, love and understanding for his environment. Whether painting plein aire or in his studio, his images of the hills, valleys, boats, and houses of the San Juan's and Skagit counties are an appreciative expression of the beauty of the Pacific Northwest.

David pares the landscape down to interlocking colored shapes and paints these shapes in bold colors. He expresses his love of form, in particular of the gable as seen in the barns, farmhouses and summer cottages of the Skagit Flats or the San Juan Islands.

Many of the paintings continue to investigate the relationship between man and the rural and sub rural landscape. Architectural and atmospheric elements are prominent.

David Ridgway "Islandia" 30x40 Oil on Canvas

David Ridgway "Big Yellow Barn" 30x 36 Oil on Canvas

David Ridgway "2 Boats Friday Harbor" 16 x 16 Oil on linen

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Simplified Forms David Ridgway - Paintings Pete Kuentzel - Ceramic Sculpture

This gallery show brings together painter David Ridgway and ceramicist Pete Kuentzel. While both artists use seemingly simple forms--a rectangle, a triangle or a circle-- they create lush, complex compositions on canvas or clay.

David has a unique approach with landscapes: he initially removes any signs of present day, like power lines or cell towers. Then, he simplifies the form and intensifies the color. His skies become heavy white rocks, gliding by a farm barnyard scene without the creatures that inhabit those spaces. Portrayed in rich velvety purples and reds, we now see a bunch of simplified forms that evoke a barnyard.

Pete's approach to his ships and tankers again use the simplified form of a rectangle, a triangle or a circle to create the form of a ship. A rectangle for the ships stack and a circle for a porthole and perhaps a rectangle for the cargo hold. Pete's color vocabulary is filled with sun drenched yellows, reds and blues.