BEFORE & AFTER
KiMo Gallery show portrays Albuquerque with and without people
The KiMo Theatre Gallery is hosting “Albuquerque! Looking Both Ways,” an exhibition of architectural and landscape paintings by Chuck Gibbon and Dennis Liberty, through Jan. 27.
Gibbon is a retired engineer and lifelong artist who is now devoted to painting Albuquerquebased architecturalthemed paintings with hints from Charles Sheeler, a touch of Giorgio de Chirico’s metaphysics and a dollop of Edward Hooper’s dark view of urban life.
Although Gibbon is able to deliver workmanlike human figures on canvas as seen in a couple of paintings in the show, he prefers seemingly empty buildings, street corners and parked vehicles to imply the presence of human effort and its earthly impact without putting actual people in the scene.
His “Acropolis” is a borderline geometric abstraction with a realist veneer that leans toward Sheeler’s industrial view of the American landscape as well as giving an honorary nod to the Acropolis of Athens in ancient Greece.
A bit more organic life exists in Gibbon’s “Fifth Street Alley” with a growing, albeit potted plant and a handpainted sign, warning potential parkers to stay clear. Even in daylight Gibbon conveys the lonely emptiness found in Hopper’s 1942 “Nighthawks” as well as the nocturnal surrealism of de Chirico’s “The Melancholy and Mystery of the Street” painted in 1914.
As Gibbon celebrates Albuquerque’s built environment with a mere nod to the high mountainous desert in
which we live in works such as “View From Four Hills,” Liberty erases every power line, cellphone tower, tar paper shack, highway and footpath in order to create awe inspiring views of this land as it was before anybody trod on the sandy soil.
Liberty is an allpurpose artist who has worked in a variety of media, made a serious and successful study of the human figure and explored abstract painting for many years. For the past 20 or so years, Liberty has undertaken a long study of Albuquerque’s surroundings with his ambitious series titled “101 Views of the Sandias.”
Taking inspiration from Japanese artist Hokusai, who created 101 Views of Mount Fuji in paintings and woodblock prints, Liberty applies his sense of abstract design to painstakingly compose and execute a stunning body of landscapes. Now in his 70s with each picture taking up to a year to complete, Liberty may never reach the end of his series.
But with works such as “Dry-wash Waits for Rain” a marvelous rendition of earth and sky that holds its own with master artists like Eugene Delacroix, Wilson Hurley and others, Liberty already has a legacy.
And if a drop-dead gorgeous juxtaposition between dark and roiling storm-filled sky and bright sunlit desert bushes on low rolling hills is not quite enough, step away and view Liberty’s “Breathing Room,” a panorama that will have you searching for your socks somewhere across the gallery.
Liberty’s “Breathing Room” embodies the wow factor and will clear the scales from the most jaded eyes. Billowing gossamer clouds dominate the distant oxygenated blue sky dwarfing a far mountain range while playing backdrop to cloud-shadowed chamisa in the foreground. Add a few sunbathed patches to complete an as near to perfect landscape painting that I have seen in years.
Two thumbs up for the whole show.