Exhibitions

BARBARA KASSEL
135 DUANE STREET: NEW PAINTINGS
October 4 - 29, 2005

As the title of this show suggests, 135 Duane Street is a detailed portrait of the environment in which Barbara Kassel now lives.
This, her ninth show at the Maxwell Davidson Gallery invites us into her private world and it allows us a glimpse of this world. We see her personal belongings and spiritual objects that guide her through her days. They tease us with the illusions of space, whether it be inside or out. The peaceful interiors play with us as we move from room to room, seeing a corner of a room or spying a reflection in a mirror, yet the paintings always thrust us back to the proximity of the buildings that become familiar as we see Kassel turn her palate from day to night.

The ever-present buildings on Duane Street are always changing, warming and sparkling at night as the lights appear on the Woolworth Building. They allow us to be voyeurs, to see into the rooms of the silent facades, and we become aware of the objects and reflected images across the street.

The seasons change as we look at the show. Forsythia and tulips anticipate spring, "Flowers in February", and lilies tell us summer has arrived "Venus Rising" and snow brings us intimately back to the cozy interior of Kassel's world, the goldfish swim in happy oblivion of the winter day, "Snow Day for Ping and Pong, and Kassel's two cats are silent sentinels to this world in "At Night". "Transition" has taken Barbara through a time of turmoil and change to this secure and peaceful place... and we are able to stand by her side as the days pass by.

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