Join us on Sunday, May 3rd, from 3:00 – 5:00 pm for an opening reception for our Art Show of the Month- Dan Lukens: Small Wonder. All are welcome to attend! The show will be on display throughout the month of May.
“Small Wonder” is, for me, a kind of visual journal of the past year. Not originally intended as works for an exhibit per se, what I was trying to do was to relearn how to make art in the hope of finding a more expressive form.
Pursued with an almost obsessional ardor, I went about painting upwards of 4- 5 pieces a week. I was out plein air painting every day and or, working at home. This was in addition to my figure drawing, for which, I accounted for over 800 works for the period.
Mostly studies or so I intended, I was doing pieces much smaller than I had been and many of the works were painted on fiberboard or linen instead of canvas.
That was the plan anyway. Nonetheless, the things that we are passionate about have a way of bringing us around. And, indeed, in spite of our initial sense that they are too personal or too revealing, they become something we end up feeling compelled to share.
Ralf Emerson once wrote that: “The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.” In a world of social media, I think we’ve come to expect a spectacle perhaps more than a piece of wisdom. My passion is, however, for the wonder of ordinary things. Indeed, in a world made small by the reach of technology, we can find what matters in learning to better see what has been beside us all along.
Mostly my hope is that the library audience can find some ownership in these things that I have so enjoyed creating.
Biography: An avid plein air painter, Dan Lukens’ work is an ode to the familiar places characteristic of his home in the lower Hudson Valley.
A life-long Rockland native, Dan earned his BFA from Purchase College in 1979 though drawing and painting have been a passion since early childhood.
Artist’s statement: The beauty in the world and the good in it, are in the things we choose to see, appreciate and find value in. In exploring the often overlooked aspects of daily life, I find the points of reflection that are my inspiration.
Lukens exhibit credits include museums, art centers, galleries, and libraries in Rockland, Bergen and Westchester Counties.
For more information please call or text me at 914 393-6193.
Danlukens56@gmail.com