Phyllis Chillingworth
Looking Through Shads:Oil on Belgium linen
28” X 36”
Open Reception: Tuesday May 22, 5-8 pm
Painting around Montauk, Phyllis Chillingworth captures the energy felt amongst the indigenous Shadblow trees and windy meetings of sky and water. In her work the rhythmic layers of many washes and vigorous brush strokes express a new kind of force, not one of reality, but one of personal invention. Using the purity of color and spontaneous movement she liberates the viewer from all that is material. Describing the experience of painting on site, Chillingworth revealed: “Each time I go out to paint, the scene is not the same and I am not the same. I translate that dynamic process into a language which is alive, powerful and expansive”.
Phyllis Chillingworth lives in Montauk and New York City. She earned a B.S. from The Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, and a B.F.A./M.F.A. from The Yale School of Art and Architecture.
Open Reception: Tuesday May 22, 5-8 pm
Meera Thompson comments on the title: “In music capriccio is a piece that in performance is lively and free. And in the visual arts the term capriccio can be used to describe a picture that suggests an imaginary place. I call this group of paintings Capriccio because the word refers both to the way I paint and what I paint. I believe that when we scan the horizon we are searching for a sense of possibility. Our eyes play along lines that belong more to our desire to dream than to our ability to be objective. It is an experience that takes us beyond the boundaries of here and now. While the horizon might be tangible when it is framed in a picture, in essence it is the stuff of fantasy. When I paint I use the horizon as an avenue into abstraction.”
Meera Thompson studied at The Art Students League, graduated from Vassar College and earned an M.F.A from Boston University. She teaches at New York University.