Winston Wächter Fine Art is pleased to present Chromatic Fantasies, our sixth solo exhibition with painter Betsy Eby. Strains of Satie, Debussy, Bach and Mendelssohn can be seen in Eby’s newest paintings, where muted colors and forms rise and fall across the canvas like notes in a musical line. Drawing inspiration from the Night Music compositions of Béla Bartók, which sought to imitate the sounds of nature, Betsy Eby’s paintings use abstract forms to create a visual landscape for sounds as subtle as the rustling of a butterfly’s wings, or a field of flowers bowing in the wind.
Premiering in this exhibition is a new painting technique, similar to color field paintings in a dark palette. In this method, Eby brings a piece to maturity then completely covers the composition with dense layers of dark, pigmented wax. These middle ground layers are then painted over with a surface composition, leaving the viewer with a sense of nightfall. Titled, “Nocturnes,” these ghostly works are inspired by paintings of tonal masters such as Whistler, where the viewer senses objects emerging from darkness.
In contrast to these darker works, Eby has also produced several new paintings in brighter tones of oyster, soft yellows, greys, reds and blues combined with bursts of richer tones to form the distinct palette of her dreamlike paintings. The weightless and ethereal appearance of her work provides a thoughtful juxtaposition to the strenuous production behind them. With titles such as “Finlandia,” “Song of the Earth,” and “Poem of Ecstasy,” each of Eby’s paintings is a world of its own, replete with colors and melodies that dance across the compositions, leaving viewers suspended somewhere between nature and imagination.
For more information, contact the gallery at (206) 652 5855.
