Debbie Dickinson Gallery previews ‘Fresh Art Exhibition: The Light Period’ (Part 1)

Carving Out Where You’re At

On Thursday, May 4, 2023, Art Curator, Debbie Dickinson, held a special press day for her Debbie Dickinson Gallery and Carl Hansen & Son presentation of “Fresh Art Exhibition: The Light Period”, here in New York City’s SOHO, where Daniel Plus Lauren got a first-hand look at working Artists who arrived at that one given moment in their lives where the only thing present was darkness, but light soon came after, using paints, stones, wood, and symbolisms to make sure that we, the human being who is always at work in trying to understand the conflicts of our world, feel all ranges of emotion that the Artist felt when creating their work.

Jorge Vascano

The first artist we came across is Jorge Vascano, who’s work can only be best expressed with the use of marble and wood, like with the first image you see in this article, this marble sculpture with marble from Italy is called “Petrified”, catching a hard emotion you may feel at any given moment, no matter how impactful it is, marble was used because it captures how scared, terrified, or shocked this person was when experiencing this hard moment he encountered.

Jorge also uses wood that’s been laminated for two other pieces of work, one is “Gianna” where graphite captures not only the beauty that is this young woman, but “Gianna” at the happiest part of her life where she’s contempt, and comfortable with the person she’s become, Jorge also uses graphite on carved triangular circle sculpture with “Mary”, facing the world with with cautious optimism straight ahead, and “Jago”, this time using oil paint to convey “Jago” as concerned about the rough road that could be ahead, and trying to face it with no fear.

Bryan Leboeuf

Next up is Bryan Leboeuf, who’s work is often figurative, an open-ended narrative with the intention of being didactic, teaching you the meaning behind the painting, “Travel Log” is the first image you see of Bryan’s painting, a girl on a bike riding past the Louvre in Paris, but a follow-up to this oil painting continues this young girl’s ride along from East to West, where only the idea of the girl looking on remains constant, while the places are the only thing that change.

When talking with Bryan, the clear idea of the majority of his paintings are that the woman featured in the painting may be different, but they’re doing one thing the same like we all do, looking at what’s on the other side, where the top of each painting starts with a setting, but the space on the bottom is completely wide open, except in the middle where the female is set to look on at not only directly what’s in front of her, but getting an idea what could be behind what she sees.

Tom Krantz

Being in the moment are what is key when you’re an Artist of any medium, performing arts, or fine arts, that’s where Tom Krantz lands with his work, an emotion that you just need to express, where you were at that point and time, and what was going through your mind, Tom’s painting in the first image is “Katie”, an abstract expression of his wife dating back to April 2019, then fast forward to 2022 after still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic where Tom captures his wife with “Work At Home”, working on her laptop, coffee pot right behind her, and recreation of the previous work from a few years back, a more direct painting to suit the moment in time.

But in order for Tom to capture the emotion of his wife in all possible situations, you have to go back to the time that Tom and Katie met, with “Twin Cities”, it was when Tom and Katie were in Italy, and Tom had proposed to his wife, the right side of the painting expresses a woman falling down and blood coming out after she fell, capturing an explicit look at the surroundings while this woman was badly hurt, the left side takes us back to when Tom was seeing a woman standing in the bar, waiting for her date, which took over an hour for him to finally show up, clouds, piping, and stain glass purely convey the settings of where Tom was when he encountered these 2 emotions.

Bill Buchman

Art is more than just paintings, sculptures, and such, art is also music, no matter how you classify music, or what genre you love for your pleasure, you will indeed find expression, an art form at work, so Artist, Bill Buchman, with his years or working in music, and in the fine arts of course, trades in musical notes for colors, acrylics, and oil sticks on canvas for “Azure Te” (Paris Blues), where the composition of the song are expressed in colors, also catch the black oil sculptures where it’s shaped like musical notes.

With Jazz music, it’s the most liberating genre of music there is, but there’s also rules and structures you must follow to play Jazz, which leads Bill to send forth is message about the painting he’s created based on music, it’s all about finding harmony in this world; many say they’re facing the conflicts of the world on a daily basis, but that’s all they’re doing, passing and taking a detour to avoid dealing with a given problem, the simple answer is to not take a Pollyanna approach, but to create harmony by dealing with the conflict in front of you.

Geraldo Perez

There’s that one moment where you just want to capture what you like, in all its simplicity, and there’s nothing wrong with making simple into a poignant meaning, Geraldo Perez, who was born in the Dominican Republic, but raised here in New York City right in Hell’s Kitchen, captures moments from near and far, Geraldo’s first painting titled “Spazio Historico” captures the destination of Portugal, where it’s mixed media on canvas, consisting of a spot near the port where a red crane is seen lifting cargo onto a nearby ship, plus there’s Portugal’s history at play from modern history to ancient history.

If you remember “Wheels On The Bus”, then here’s a modern update of it, not in a song, but in Geraldo’s capturing of a passenger who’s doing what a typical Gen Z does, look at their phone, all confident, but all fearful, this could be any generation for that matter, confident they’ll get to their happiness faster but fearful they’ll miss out; “La GiGiGi” is Geraldo’s infinity to Cuba where trade embargo’s are responsible for no imports coming in, so Geraldo points out Cuba’s common practice of fixing up old cars, plus Cuban singer, La Lupe, who’s talent and personality were explosive, but met a tragic demise.

Prince Palace

In this world, we are born to achieve a destiny, assigned by the creator to go into a path where we do the most good for humanity, meet Prince Palace, who draws his artistic inspiration from the human body, Prince’s first paint titled “Jockey Race” that’s striking in itself because it’s the only artwork to be done on a completely white canvas, captures the human body, moving in all shapes, sizes, and directions to celebrate the incredible things a human athlete can do.

Prince Palace approaches all of his paintings in the exact same way, mixing colors and canvas to convey a specific idea, the final painting Prince Palace has with his own built wood frame are old spirits, they’re not scary, but they’re not cheerful either, somewhere in-between, Prince Palace starts his paintings one way, figuring out the concept, which is the hardest part, then takes a Sharpie to sketch out the figures, making it much easier to break down the concept, then colors are added to tell the story of each figure in the entire concept.

There’s only one way to go when you come face to face with a moment, and the experience you get from it, right through it, no matter how painful it is, how worrisome it may be, or the side effects such as isolation, loneliness, or depression that may come of it, there’s always one or more pockets of joy that we gain from it, whether it’s in the process, or at the end of the experience’s lifespan, it’ll only ready us for the next moment that arrives.

Fresh Art Exhibition: The Light Period, Curated by Debbie Dickinson, is open from now until June 4 at 150 Wooster Street, New York, New York 10012

For More Information, Contact E.D. Enterprises at (917) 622-8136, or email at edentpr@gmail.com.

Daniel Quintanilla