Alice Denison: Pangloss/ Jane Paradise: Provincetown, From Dusk to Dawn
Alden Gallery Through September 16,2021
Reception: Friday, September 3, 7-9pm
RP 5, by Alice Denison, oil on maple board, 16 inches diameter
A graduate of MassArt’s former MFA program at the Fine Arts Work Center who has been with Alden Gallery since its inception, Alice Denison serves up work from her “Pangloss” series for this year’s show, the title of which is derived from the ridiculous optimism of Dr. Pangloss in Voltaire’s Candide, in the context of the 2016 election. In these new paintings, Denison writes, “my mille fleurs tapestry-inspired ‘Pangloss’ works are tangled up and less ordered than their predecessors, even while retaining both their references and their muse. Most of the new work in this show is round, which I chose for its spatial effect; these round pieces are layered and the resulting depth in the work led me to develop two rectangular ‘Panscapes,’ which bring the ‘Pangloss’ series into the landscape realm.”
Coming or Leaving, by Jane Paradise, archival pigment print, edition of 5, framed: 16 x 20 inches
Photographer Jane Paradise, after many years of traveling and exhibiting her work around the world, now calls Provincetown her home. She has been photographing the Dune Shacks for a decade. The series she is presenting at the Alden Gallery this year is titled “Provincetown, From Dusk till Dawn.” “The quietness of Provincetown really became evident during the last Covid year,” Paradise writes, “both in the physical manifestation of its streets and in my mental state. My photography became more subdued and contemplative, as my husband and I took daily walks after sunset to avoid people and, also, to avoid wearing masks. We wandered to the pier, to Herring Cove, and drove around. All of these photos were taken from May 2020 to, most recently, July 2021.”