Alla Prima and Sprezzatura: New Work by Barbara Able

Barbara Able’s exhibition, Alla Prima and Sprezzatura, will be on view June 4 through July 6, 2016. The artist will be available to visit with guests during the opening reception on Saturday, June 4, 2016, from 5 – 8 p.m. with an artist’s talk at 6:30 p.m.

Inspired by the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, Able paints dramatic scenes of large mountains. She employs the alla prima (wet-on-wet) technique to build up her surfaces, using a series of transparent layers and thrown paint. This requires a loose way of working, which gives her paintings a sense of spontaneity and freshness.

Able embraces the unpredictable results that cause her oils and watercolors to “bloom” in unpredictable ways. Years of studying classical life drawing and landscape painting have provided Able with the foundation to create large, expressive landscape paintings.

Along with the paintings, Able presents a series of collages that reveal a sprezzatura attitude toward mass media. Sprezzatura is an Italian word that means “a certain nonchalance making whatever one does appear to be without effort…” Figures seem to move around the page, leaping over and sliding under one another. Interference paint (transparent paint with mica chips) applied to the surface adds another element to the thought-provoking compositions.

This is Able’s second one-person show at Archway Gallery, where she has been a member for three years. She has a B.F.A. in studio art from the University of Texas.

Pictured above: “Firefall Yosemite.”