Photo by Will Horne

BU Art Galleries

Boston University Art Galleries Presents Summer 2024 Exhibitions

Rural sites come to life in Breehan James and Nancy Wissemann-Widrig’s works in “A Summer Place,” on view at Boston University’s Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery; 808 Gallery windows to feature Matt Murphy’s multi-canvas paintings

A Summer Place

Works by Breehan James and Nancy Wissemann-Widrig

On view at Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery • June 4 – August 10 

Equal parts portrait, landscape, and still life, Breehan James and Nancy Wissemann-Widrig’s paintings are a testament to their deep connection with seasonal, rustic, summer dwellings—Wissemann-Widrig’s on the coast in Maine and James’ in Northern Wisconsin. These acutely-observed rural sites come to life in carefully rendered works, which serve as both an archive of everyday things and a window to nature’s close embrace. Both artists meticulously paint from life, capturing the subtleties of their surroundings—depicting unfussy and intimate interiors adorned with the casual accumulations and keepsakes of annual gatherings. Brushstrokes describing the environmental textures of nearby shores and the towering northern forests crowded with fir, pine, and birch reveal a quiet but adventurous space.

The artists draw their color palettes directly from life, at times enhancing them to reflect the emotional essence of the place. Recurring hues, including maroon, burnt orange, avocado green, and deep mustard yellow, symbolize coziness and warmth and reinforce the passage of time. Similarly, the use of patterned blankets, curtains, and tablecloths speaks to the artists’ fascination with the language of paint. While initially representational, these patterns dip into abstraction, demonstrating the artists’ pleasure in color, light, and repetition of shape.

Conversations with painters from across time and place are present in the painters’ works. James’ depictions of the saturated and densely forested world just outside the cottage door are reminiscent of fanciful landscapes by Charles Burchfield and the layered, chromatic, and veil-like landscapes of Canadian painter Tom Thomson. In contrast, her depiction of yellow curtains echoes Vuillard’s painting of the same name. Wissemann-Widrig’s interior patterns pay homage to the French Nabis–Vuillard and Bonnard. Maine and Long Island painter Fairfield Porter inspired the inclusion of her backyard and family.

A persistence of vision is evident throughout the exhibition as the artists portray the poetic and cyclic nature of a summer place. The past is always present as the artists elevate the everyday, illustrating how objects hold memories and how it feels to live with and cherish ordinary things. The paintings are diaristic, offering insider information about what it feels like to return here year after year, to experience the place anew while looking back to bid farewell.

A Summer Place is curated by Emily Lanctot.

Quarrel

Works by Matt Murphy

On view at 808 Gallery windows • May 23 – August 1 

In his artwork, Matt Murphy plays with an interchange between sculpture and painting. Sculptures are real physical objects. Viewers also recognize objects in paintings as real physical objects even though the painting is simply a flat surface covered in paint. In this way, paintings craft an illusion of reality. Murphy is curious about works such as Spanish polychrome sculptures which mostly depict saints. A viewer first sees these sculptures as objects which are then secondarily enhanced by a painted surface that creates the illusion of light suggesting the transcendence of humanity. In his multi-canvas paintings such as Rabble and Quarrel, Murphy strives to disrupt the illusion of painting by inserting the wall in between elements, allowing viewers to see the artwork as a physical object before immersing themselves in the painted illusion.

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