Island artist Rez Williams, known for his paintings of the boats of New Bedford, has turned to exploring the woods and shorelines of Monhegan, Me., in his new show at the A Gallery.
Views From Another Island, made up of 16 oils on canvas, is an abstract show of a credentialed artist exploring and breaking down his style. The paintings feature bold, choppy strokes of color, playing starkly with shadows and light. Purples and blues in the shadows give the flat style a moody depth. The show runs through August 2.
Following the canvases from left to right, the show wanders from coastline through forest, pausing to examine a tree trunk cut by a beaver and one cut by a saw, side by side, before emerging back out onto the coastline.
“A lot of people coming in are blown away by how bold they are,” said gallery owner Tanya Augoustino. But she said anyone looking closely at Mr. William’s boat paintings would discover the beginnings of abstraction in the depictions of water and sky. The A Gallery has been showing Mr. Williams’s work since 2012.
In his Monhegan paintings, Mr. Williams captures rugged landscapes and milky skies using a limited palette that includes titanium white. In a printed statement at the show, he described the socialization of his paintings, moving from the boat pictures that have a clear center of focus to the more democratic landscapes.
“There was no tyranny of the image; the composition was now democratic and this has become almost socialistic in the Monhegan paintings,” he said.
A pair of women toured the gallery on a recent afternoon.
“I like these as much as the boat paintings, and I love the boat paintings,” one said to the other.
A Gallery is at 8 Uncas avenue in Oak Bluffs.
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