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21/9/2005

Roni Stretch

Gallery C, Hermosa Beach

Dichromatic Portraits

(Hermosa Beach, Calif.) Gallery C will present its first ever one man show, “Dichromatic Portraits” with an opening reception on Thursday, September 22, from 7 – 10 p.m., featuring critically acclaimed English born, Los Angeles based artist Roni Stretch. Stretch’s Dichromatic Series, named for the alternating layers of two different colors of paint on a linen canvas, inspires and captivates viewers. Gallery C has already felt the buzz from art enthusiasts and prominent collectors alike, touting Stretch as the next L.A. master painter. The exhibition will be on display and open to the public until November 5, 2005.

“My first response to Roni Stretch’s paintings was how extraordinarily exquisite and how original. I know of nothing quite like them in the history of modern, let alone traditional art – an ingenious, convincing integration of color field painting, Minimalist structure, and photorealist portraiture,” writes Donald Kuspit. Kuspit, New York-based art critic and author of numerous books, including the controversial “The End of Art,” also remarks that “Stretch’s paintings are subtle, eloquent masterpieces, carrying forward the tradition of pure painting while acknowledging the inevitability of human presence and vision.”

Stretch has pioneered the dichromatic process, exploring photorealistic underpaintings that emerge ghost-like from a void of color and variations of light, perspective and interaction give each piece a life unto itself. The subjects, including faces and figures, Shan Buddhas and Brandenberg horses, play against a sharply lined border — intended to ground each painting in the physical — and force a visual meditation. The image is not so much painted over as optically embedded within the multiple layers of alternating colors, making the subject a part of the abstract facture - abstract field and figurative image have been fused into a 'new third state' of painting. Stretch’s work is a lesson in contradictions: photorealism and abstraction, light and dark, reality and altered states, smooth and rough textures, truth and the enigmatic.

Stretch’s works are held in numerous public collections in the U.S. and Europe and over 200 paintings are in private collections worldwide. In 2005, following an inclusion in Kuspit’s monumental California New Old Masters at Gallery C, the Pasadena Museum of California Art selected Stretch’s Shannon to complete their peerless permanent collection of California art. He has also served as the official artist for the People’s Choice Awards (2001 and 2002) and the American Music Awards (2001).

Opening Reception: Thursday, September 22, 7-10pm

Image: Roni Stretch, “Claritza, Viridian Hue, Saratoga Springs”, Oil, Long Oil Alkyd Resin on Canvas, 54 x 80”.

Gallery C
1225 Hermosa Ave., Hermosa Beach, CA 90254
Hours, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 11am - 6pm; Thursday 11am - 8pm; Sunday 12pm – 5pm

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