According to Gongsun Long (Recent Paintings)
September 7–October 1, 2022
Kanthaka, Oil on canvas, 44 x 56 inches, 2021
Reception: Thursday, September 8, 6–8pm
Gongsun Long was a Chinese philosopher who lived from 320 to 250 BC during the Zhou dynasty. He was known for postulating paradoxes including his most famous: “White horses are not horses.” He believed that pure logic may lead to absurd conclusions. Hank Feeley believes that the world we currently live in and his paintings pretty much bear out the truth of Mr. Long.
This show includes some of Feeley’s typical non sequitur paradoxical works but it also includes some different work that came as the result of the isolation of the pandemic. To amuse himself during the pandemic he experimented with different styles, contents and mediums. Some of these finished works are in the show as well as some of the preliminary sketches and drawings leading to them. Also in the show are amusing collage portraits that he did, again, on a pandemic fueled whim.
All in all, it’s work like this that caused Billy Collins to write:
“If Hank Feeley were not so strikingly original, I would say that he stands at the intersection of Magritte and Marvel Comics, but as it is, he has his own way of disorienting the viewer so we can see again, now with our perception refreshed.”
