Jenkins Johnson Gallery San Francisco is delighted to present, HERE AND NOW, an exhibition of new paintings by acclaimed Massachusetts painter Ben Aronson. The exhibition will run from Thursday, December 8, 2011 through Saturday, February 4, 2012, with an opening reception for the artist on Thursday, December 8th from 5:30 – 7:30pm featuring a wine tasting with Castello Poggiarello winery, Sienna, Italy. A closing party will be held on Saturday, February 4 from 3:00 – 5:00pm. For more information and to view the complete exhibition, please visit our website at www.jenkinsjohnsongallery.com. This will be Ben Aronson’s fourth solo exhibition with Jenkins Johnson Gallery.
HERE AND NOW will showcase Ben Aronson’s highly anticipated new series of dramatic cityscapes of San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, and Rome as well as continue his new and acclaimed investigation into the world of finance.
Aronson’s cityscapes not only depict spectacular vistas of some of our greatest cities, they exude an essence of the place that transcends the work from pictorial to poetic. Having studied with noted masters like Philip Guston and James Weeks; Aronson’s work stylistically references the Bay Area School and the New York action painters. His luscious, painterly brush strokes are both energized and free while strategically composed, blending into an alarmingly realistic portrayal. His cityscapes possess a mood that any city dweller can relate to which comes from Aronson’s innate ability to capture light which is truly the foundation of his work.
After painting New York City’s dynamic urban landscape for decades Aronson found it hard to ignore depicting a facet of the city which shapes such a profound aspect of its identity; the financial district. The energy that emanates from the financial community in Manhattan radiates throughout the streets, flows up the skyscrapers and out into neighboring boroughs and counties. Aronson captures this energy, the daunting mystique of this environment and the people within it “with one of the most energized and sophisticated brushes in the country. His high contrast tones, boldly thick paint and slashing marks perfectly mirror the fast-moving, high powered and high tech world," states by Daniel Kany of the Portland Press Herald. In times of economic and political controversy, Aronson casts an observant eye into everyday moments of this world. As Donald Kuspit describes the work, "Whatever social narrative is conveyed by Aronson's pictures, they are all exquisitely painted and emotionally haunting. ...most of all he is a psychological realist: he has captured the mood of money in our messy economic and social times. ...making them memento mori of our times, yet another reason his paintings will survive them.”
Ben Aronson is a member of the highly acclaimed National Academy, alongside Jasper Johns, Willem de Kooning and his mentor, Philip Guston. Awards include the National Academy of Arts and Letters in 2006, as well as the Pleissner Memorial Award for Painting at the National Academy of Design in 1992. Jenkins Johnson Gallery has represented him since 2001, and his work has been included in the permanent collections of many major corporations and museums, such as: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH; DeYoung Museum, San Francisco; the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art; Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI; The National Academy Museum, NY; New Orleans Museum of Art; and the Suzhou Museum in Jiansu Province, China. Aronson's work has been reviewed by ARTnews, The ARTNEWSLETTER, the Boston Globe, The New York Observer and The New York Sun. He holds a MFA and BFA in painting from Boston University. Ben Aronson lives and works in Massachusetts. In the last year, Aronson’s work was exhibited at the Naples Museum of Art and received a very positive review in ARTnews. Most recently his work was a part of "Aronson to Aronson: The Lineage of Expressionism," at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art.
Jenkins Johnson Gallery is a Member of San Francisco Art Dealers Association.