Opening Reception for "Allan Gorman: Searching for Drama”

Friday, September 22, 2023 @ 6:00pm

The BrassWorks Gallery
105 Grove Street, Montclair, NJ 07042

Culver Line Rust, Oil on Panel, 30 x 30 inches. Photo Credit: Allan Gorman

 The BrassWorks Gallery presents "Allan Gorman: Searching for Drama” from September 22 through December 15, 2023. The show features over 30 recent paintings showing off Gorman’s distinct perspective and remarkable fusion of two distinctly unique artistic realms. There will be an Opening Reception on Friday, September 22 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.

Allan Gorman’s artwork takes the viewer on a journey into the drama created by light and shadow in spaces and on surfaces. With meticulous attention to detail and a fine-tuned design sense, his exciting compositions blur the lines between hyperrealism and abstraction.

Allan states: “I’m drawn to aesthetic surprises I find in real objects — particularly within the confines of industrial structures. Although my paintings are derived from photographs, the focus isn’t necessarily on just making a technically proficient rendering, but rather on sharing the plays of light and shadow, the dance between colors, shapes and contrasts, and overall composition. In this way, I think of my works as abstract paintings in the guise of realism, and I use this criterion to inform my choices of what to paint.”

He continues: “My influences were the NY artists of the early and mid 20th Century—the Ashcan school artists like George Bellows, Edward Hopper, and Reginald Marsh. And then, when photorealism and the west-coast artists first came on the scene in the mid-60s and early 70s, I was immediately drawn to the work of Richard Estes, Robert Cottingham, Wayne Thiebaud, Richard Diebenkorn, and others who could within the confines of a two-dimensional plane tell a compelling story about their time and society; things I seem to relate to. But, while acknowledging my predecessors, I’m certainly not trying to imitate them. Although their influence is sometimes noticeable in my work, I strive to create art that is unique and interesting enough to make its own statement.”

Gorman’s artworks have been exhibited in numerous museums, such as the Arnot Art Museum, Springfield Museum of Art, Lyman Allyn Art Museum, Albany Museum of Art, and The State Museum of New Jersey, and commercial galleries, including Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts, Howard Rehs Contemporary, Garvey|Simon NY, Nicole Longnecker Gallery and, CK Contemporary in San Francisco. A multi-venue museum exhibition traveling throughout the USA is on view through 2025. And some of his work is to be included in the Hyp’Art Project, a survey of hyperrealism from its beginnings as an American phenomenon through today’s worldwide movement, with an exhibition in Brussels in 2025. 

Allan is a two-time recipient of The New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship for Painting; resident fellowships at the Vermont Studio Center and ESKFF at Mana Contemporary; Architectural Artist of the Year from ADC’s Art Comes Alive!, the John Collins Award for Oil Painting and the Salmagundi Award from the American Artist’s Professional League, and the Pioneer of Realism award from the International Guild of Realism. He was also selected as one of the 100 Grandmasters of Realist Art by the Salon Des Beaux Arts. His work is in many permanent corporate and private collections. 

The BrassWorks Gallery is located at 105 Grove Street in Montclair, NJ. It is open to the public Monday through Friday, 7:00am – 7:00pm through December 15, 2023.