Robert Henry

FROM THE BEGINNING

May 12, 2005 through June 11, 2005

OPENING RECEPTION

Saturday, May 21st 6:30 - 9:00 PM

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Hofmann's Yard (1955)
oil on panel
18" x 24"

Robert Henry was born in Brooklyn in 1933 and later received his BA at Brooklyn College while studying with Ad Reinhardt and Kurt Seligmann. In the early 1950's, he spent three years studying with Hans Hofmann in New York and Provincetown. The earliest paintings in the show were done more than fifty years ago, the most recent in 2002.

"It is very interesting for an artist to look back at his early work. In fact the earliest works, “Hofmann’s Yard” and “Kitchen in Provincetown” were done when I had just come under the influence of the legendary teacher and artist, Hans Hofmann.

I am quite pleased looking back at those paintings today. It is hard to believe that so much time has passed. They have a freshness that I attribute to my youth (I was twenty years old at the time), my enthusiasm, talent and innocence, as well as the stimulation that I received from my peers, and of course the encouragement and vision that I got from Hofmann. That beginning truth and innocence is in these paintings. They are done with a very direct technique, using a painting knife primarily, in one, and exclusively in the other.

Laurel Tracey and Jon Peters have selected highlights from my extensive and varied oeuvre. Some of the paintings from the 50’s and 60’s are abstract, although they often have a feeling of idyllic landscapes, sometimes with people. Some from each of the decades have recognizable images. Most of these are of landscapes or interiors and they range, in feeling from the serene to the energetic.

Along the way you can see experiments with mediums and different ways of seeing and representing reality. Of course after fifty years of working and looking I have developed a fluency with the medium that allows me to do pretty much whatever I want. The goal however, is to keep the innocence.”

Robert Henry