Friday March 1st – April 3rd, 2013

Cross Mackenzie Gallery is pleased to present “Through the Trees”, an exhibition of new paintings by VCU art professor Kurt Godwin, one of the DC area’s most accomplished artists. Art in America critic, J.W. Mahoney, describes Kurt Godwin’s previous body of work, “Philosophy of Nature” as follows; “These paintings intentionally marry three visual worlds: the plain representation of natural place and organic growth, the abstracting of conditions in physical reality according to scientific iconography, and various symbol systems that serve as analogies to the qualities and nature of a transcendent reality” 

In this new show,  “Through The Trees”, Godwin achieves that “transcendent reality” by returning to the representation and abstraction of natural place – he is painting the shimmering, hypnotic, mesmerizing light.  He has shed his complex layering of symbols and scientific imagery to concentrate on the pure powerful force of the radiant sun. Godwin is a magician with paint and he wields his brush skillfully, delivering lush surfaces, animated brushstrokes and dabs of singing color.  The viewer gets glimpses of a burning sunset, a reflection of a cloudless cerulean sky and a fractured, mid-day white haze. 

Leafless dark tree trunks in shadow act as filters for the light that bends around their silhouettes. One gets the sense that the light would be blinding without the vertical shields that protect one’s eye’s from the harsh rays behind – while at the same time that light beckons like a stained glass window.   For some, these woods are dark and threatening, the branches cage-like. For the artist and this viewer these paintings are beautiful, peaceful reminders of walks through the trees, away from the noise and danger of the world inspiring a feeling of awe in nature and sunlight  – a transcendent reality.