Side-By-Each: Being There

Exhibition Curated by Kyle Butler

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​Curator's statement: 

Kyle Butler 

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​Being There verges on maximalism, with a wealth of work generous in its colors, textures, and marks.  Nicholas Delfino’s work stems from a tradition of thinking through painting, often working on-sight or re-hashing plein air sketches back at the studio.  Natural scenes occupy much of his work, with imagery of dense forest, distant out-buildings, occasional detritus, and a handful of natural wonders.  In other work, figures familiar to Delfino but anonymous to the viewer inhabit the scenes.  The work is relatable and unpretentious in its subjects and compositions, but wild in its construction.  Oil paint is layered, re-worked, and slathered on to build the images.  His watercolors lay on similarly thick, eschewing the medium’s standard feature of transparency for something more akin to gouache or dense acrylic.  In some works, the texture is such that it creates a screen of noise through which the image is filtered.  Sharon Lobello’s work shows its generosity primarily through diversions of color, substituting what might be more muted in an image for high-key saturation.  A rocky landscape with a few curious goats is rendered in pinks and blues alongside warm tans.  A man at the kitchen table with a cat perched on his lap is rendered in bright yellows, greens, reds and violets.  Lobello’s sociality is exemplified by her cheerful focus on figures and creatures.  While there are landscapes and still lives among her work, figures and animals occupy the lion’s share of it.  As engaging as her color is the way in which she renders her figures, contorted and skewed to become a tool of composition and style more than likeness.  Being There is a bold offering tempered by the familiarity and approachability of its subjects.

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Artist Statement: 

Nicholas Delfino-

“Being there” encompasses a body of my work spanning from 2022 till present. comprising of landscapes and portraits that have a deeply personal and poignant quality, akin to a journal entry. My attempt at slowing down time and understanding the ephemeral moment. For me the act of painting is to sit with one’s self and attempt to “see”, not only just to translate visual sensation into a physical object but convey something more emotive and experiential. A way to punctuate time and declare “I was here” 

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View more of Nicholas's work here.

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Sharon Lobello-

Sharon is a very social person who enjoys spending time with friends and going out exploring the community. She especially likes going to galleries and exhibitions, expressing that they give her ideas for artwork. Her love of people often appears in her visual work.  Her unique use of composition and color captures the personalities of the individuals she is drawing and painting. Sharon expresses that she loves to create and wants to try as many new things as possible.