“Out of Time: Memory Portraits”
3rd Eye Gallery in Hoosick Falls, New York will present “Out of Time: Memory Portraits,” featuring new work by Sarah Sutro and A.F. Cook, September 7–27, 2024. An opening reception will be held Saturday, September 7, from 6 to 9 p.m.
Sutro and Cook live and work in the Berkshires, at the Eclipse Mill in North Adams, Massachusetts. This two-person show offers contrasting visions loosely involving the portrait genre. Sutro’s paintings present encounters between people of different cultures and times, involved in urgent conversations.
Sculptured heads and masks are cast against vast landscape backgrounds suggesting aninfinite stage “out of time.” Theaters of memory and desire with luscious color and enigmatic content, the paintings aspire to heal lost connections between people and nature. Clusters of people ask questions, confront each other, collectively seek answers to soul-searching subjects. This is the first formal introduction of this body of painting to the public.
Cook’s “Family Memento” portrait series considers the strange nostalgia of family history, by turns charming, antic, or disquie ing. The artist also enjoys painting random hipsters and occasional self-portraits with a twist. Sarah Sutro, originally from Boston, graduated from Cornell University and Yale at Norfolk, with an MFA from The University of the Arts, London. Her work, in acrylic, watercolor, artist books and black-and- white and natural ink drawing, pushes the limits of abstract painting and figurative drawing. Paintings and drawings are in collections nationally and internationally, including the Franklin Furnace collection at the Museum of Modern Art; Harvard Art Museums; Chicago Art Institute and Johnson Art Museum. In early 2000’s she was awarded a Pollock-Krasner grant, as well as Taconic and MA Cultural Council grants, and has had shows in NYC, Boston, San Diego, Berkeley, Montenegro, Belgrade, Bangkok and Dhaka. In 2006 she was a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome. Her work can be seen at www.sarahsutro.com.
A.F. Cook was born on Martha’s Vineyard. Her focus on painting over other creative callings (writing, music) began at Bennington College with Pat Adams, an important early mentor. She is a graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where she studied with Sandi Slone, Joel Janowitz, and Domingo Barreres. The artist’s great-grandfather is Pennsylvania landscape painter John Folinsbee (johnfolinsbee.org). In addition to portraits, Cook paints landscapes, decorative still lifes, and conceptual work. Her work is in numerous private and institutional collections. While her art website won’t go live until late September, her work can be seen an online family gallery at instagram.com/piccolocook77.