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The David Findlay Galleries are pleased to announce the opening of Cynthia Kirkwood’s latest collection of paintings. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition at the gallery.
The exhibition opens Thursday, May 14 and remains on view through Saturday, June 6. A special evening opening reception to honor Miss Kirkwood will take place on Thursday, May 14 from 5 to 8 pm at the David Findlay Galleries at 984 Madison Avenue (at 77th Street). The artist will be present at this reception.
“My work is an homage to the whole of life. The heart of each painting is color. With the infinite world of color as my inspiration, I work to transform what life gives me and to give it back the best I can so that the painting is as simple and as complex as a fruit tree bearing fruit.”
-Cynthia Kirkwood
Each of Cynthia Kirkwood’s paintings is born through an image of color, a powerfully compelling awareness of color in a very specific combination. Color is a force as real and visceral for her as the sun and the rain – an elemental power that connects us to the earth and frees us to delight in its natural beauty. With these colors in mind, she begins her painting, letting them guide her as the painting progresses. She says: “When the colors are on the canvas, they may change or I may subtract. But even when they are as I imagined, they are still a surprise.” Part of the magic of her art is how seamlessly her choice of composition complements and balances her use of color. The effect that greets the viewer is an aura of simplicity and grace – a natural sense of wholeness and order that flows with immediacy and warmth from her love for the visual world.
Cynthia Kirkwood was born in Zurich, Switzerland of Canadian parents and from the age of 4 lived in Bermuda. She studied art at Middlebury College in Vermont and the New York Studio School. Much of her outlook and sensibility have been formed by European culture, particularly that of France and Italy, where the art of living has been so richly perfected. After college she studied at the New York Studio School. One of her teachers there, the artist and teacher Nicholas Carone, invited her to his art school in Umbria, Italy where she assisted him. Here she was able to paint extensively and found deep kinship with the Renaissance artist Piero della Francesca (1415-1492) and the modern Italian master, Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964). Henri Matisse (1869-1954) is another artist from whom she claims lasting inspiration. In addition to being represented by the David Findlay Galleries, she is shown at the South Wharf Gallery in Nantucket. Her work was part of the 2008 Bermuda Biennial. She now lives and works in Vermont.
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