CONFLUX
LLOYD MARTIN + STEPHEN NICCOLLS
On view September 5 - December 2, 2023
Artist Reception:
Thursday October 12, 5:30 - 8:00 PM
Guest Curated by
JESSICA HAGEN FINE ART + DESIGN
Jessica Hagen’s new show CONFLUX; represents a guest curatorship with Providence’s Dryden Gallery. On exhibit are the non-representational paintings of Lloyd Martin and Stephen Niccolls. Martin is a RISD grad and Providence native; Niccolls hails from the Hudson Valley and was educated at the School of Fine Arts, Boston and received his MFA from U Mass Amherst. Both artists are masters of color and composition… it is an exciting pairing.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
LLOYD MARTIN
American artist Lloyd Martin, known internationally for his rhythmically constructed abstract painting, continues his engagement with color and line in this outstanding body of work. Critic John Goodman wrote that Martin's paintings "achieve a Mondrianesque climax of rhythm." And it is this sense of movement, of rhythm, of flow that delights the eye as it is drawn along the forms and juxtapositions of bright-hued lush colors that are characteristic of the artist's recent work. In critic Maureen Mullarkey's words, Martin's paintings "approach the character of music."
Writers often reference Mondrian and music when describing Martin's work. In these paintings, each note holds its own, yet there is a velocity of linear movement. Martin's work is characterized by a sensuous quality in the sometimes-brushy aggression of one vibrant color pushing against another. For the viewer there is a visual pleasure in editing details of the work, allowing the eye to settle on a square here a rectangle there and imagining paintings within paintings
Martin has for a long time explored the architectural environment around his studio and his paintings reveal a framework and structure that reference architecture. Although clearly abstract, Martin's paintings are still grounded in the real world. And this architectural structure gives the work a sense of gravity, giving weight to his flights of vibrant color.
The painter's gifted handling of paint and color and his visceral love for the medium are evidenced in the remarkable variety within a work. Martin has always sought a pictorial truth and his intense engagement with the challenge and problem solving of abstract work is palpable. There is a kind of joy in the result that is communicated to the viewer with an engaging immediacy.
Lloyd Martin is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. The art world press has often covered his work and he has been the recipient of many fellowships in painting as well as two in drawing, revealing his heightened awareness of line and form. That skill is evident in his Landfall Press series of prints in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
STEPHEN NICCOLLS
Stephen Niccolls is a painter based in New York’s Hudson valley region. Niccolls studied at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for his BFA and holds his MFA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He has exhibited extensively at museums and galleries throughout New York state and the northeast. Niccolls has had recent solo shows at Vassar College, John Davis Gallery (Hudson, NY) and the Woodstock Artists Association. His work has been included in recent group exhibitions at Lockwood Gallery (Kingston, NY), Front Space Gallery (New York, NY), and Jessica Hagen Fine Art + Design (Newport, RI) to name a few. He is the recipient of the Phelan Award, the Purchase Award from the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, and the Albany Mayor’s Prize.
Artist Statement
Every sensation I’ve known can potentially find its way into my paintings. The colors, shapes, and textures in them have qualities that I have perceived, or that I remember, even fleetingly. This happens whether I intend it or not. My work arises from a fascination with structure. Each painting establishes its own unique context, or world. It may have elements that evoke still-life, landscape, or portrait painting, or some combination of any of these, or perhaps something else entirely. I want to sum up the mood of being in a place and time, whether it is distant or close, whether it is in the past or now.
JESSICA HAGEN
GUEST CURATOR
Jessica Hagen is the owner and director of Jessica Hagen Fine Art + Design, located in beautiful Newport, RI. Ms. Hagen founded the gallery in 2005 and curates the gallery’s collection of painting, photography, ceramics and jewelry. Jessica Hagen Fine Art + Design features works of art created by American artists from throughout the northeast and beyond. Styles range from realism to abstraction, with a focus on quality, originality and beauty.
Jessica Hagen Fine Art + Design
9A Bridge Street, Newport Rhode Island 02840
401-835-7682