Opening Friday, Sept. 15 and running through Saturday, Oct. 21 is Frank Campion – Dichotomies. When gallery director Samantha Spalti saw Frank Campion’s work for the first time, her reaction was nothing less than visceral. “It was that powerful,” she says. “In front of me was this stunning abstract painting that had so much movement, such emotion that it took my breath away.”
The show includes works on both canvas and paper. About this show, the artist says, “The dictionary defines ‘dichotomy’ as ‘a division into two mutually exclusive, opposed, or contradictory groups – a dichotomy between thought and action.’It occurs to me that we tend to be naturally judgmental, making the world a binary proposition: good/bad, yes/no, on/off, right/wrong, hot/cold, rough/smooth, etc. So, this new work is about dichotomies.
One dichotomy involves the collision between the rational and the random. The rational is the simple geometric, intentional composition. The random is the occurrence of accidental painterly incidents. The other dichotomy has to do with the meeting of dominant colors that exist independently, but live adjacent to each other. This creates an emotional atmosphere or mood. as the work progresses.
Campion, who works out of his studio near Winston-Salem, was featured in Liza Roberts’ 2022 book The Art of the State, celebrating artists who are contributing to the North Carolina’s growing reputation in visual arts. He says, “As abstract as it may initially appear, my work is essentially derived from the tradition of landscape painting. the issues of space and atmosphere seem always to be with me as are the more formal issues about what constitutes an authentic painting – proportion, form, color, composition, and surface.”
After earning his bachelor’s degree in fine arts at Harvard, Campion taught design and drawing before showing his work in group shows at the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Danforth Museum, and the Boston Museum of Fine Art, which has one of his pieces in its permanent collection. He also enjoyed a number of critically successful solo shows during that time. A 30-year career in advertising brought him to North Carolina. When the time came to retire, he was ready to pick up where he left off.
Campion says, “In the fall of 2014, I saw the Matisse cut-outs exhibit at MoMA in NYC. I rediscovered a passion for color. This led me into the graph paper maquette/collages and got me thinking about color and larger scale.”
He built his own dream studio off the back of the house and that is where he is today. Frank Campion calls himself a “re-emerging artist.”
The opening reception is set for Friday, Sept. 15 from 5 – 7 p.m. This is an ideal opportunity for artists, students, and collectors to meet and speak with a forceful voice in North Carolina arts.
About Sunset River Gallery
Located in coastal Brunswick County, NC, Sunset River Gallery caters to both area visitors and a growing local community of full-time residents seeking fine art for their homes and businesses. Featuring works by over 100 fine regional artists including Betty Anglin Smith, Marcus McClanahan, Pat Puckett, and Angie Sinclair, among others, the gallery is well known in the area for its selection of oil paintings; watermedia; pastels; photography; hand-blown, stained, and fused glass; pottery and clay sculpture; turned and carved wood; unique home décor items; and artisan jewelry.
There are two onsite kilns and five wheels used by the gallery’s pottery students. The gallery also offers ongoing oil/acrylic and watercolor classes as well as workshops by nationally known instructors.
The gallery’s carefully curated selection of investment-grade 20th century fine art is the largest in the Carolinas. Current inventory can be found on Artsy and the gallery website’s 20th Century Artists section. It includes works by Wolf Kahn (1927-2020), Ed Mell (1942), Raimonds Staprans (1926), Angell Botello (1913-1986), Emile Gruppe (1896-1998), Rolph Scarlett (1889 – 1984), Vladimir Cora (1951), Hunt Slonam (1951), Ginny Crouch Stanford, a bronze sculpture by Glenna GoodAcre (1939 – 2020), two bronzes by Millton Hebald (1930 – 2010) and a life-size bronze by Edward McCartan (1879-1947).