Saturday, September 18, 2021, at 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
The Norwalk Art Space
455 West Ave
Norwalk, CT 06850, USA
This exhibition will give audiences a peek into the famed, and sometimes secretive, space of the artist workshop. What are the things that are uniquely shared between artists, no matter age or status? What do painters talk about when they talk about painting? Exhibiting for the first time together, Robert Cottingham and Duvian Montoya: A Glossary of Painting will include approximately 25 artworks from each artist, spanning both their careers and the mediums of print, painting, and drawing. Montoya has had an intimate friendship and working relationship with Cottingham as a studio assistant since 2013. In that time, the two painters have developed their shared language of realist painting.
The exhibition invites comparisons between Cottingham and Montoya’s work on the basis of four key painting vernaculars: shadow and contrast; color; pattern and crop; and focus. An additional three groups of work will provide “behind-the-scenes” insights with never-before-seen printing plates; graphite and watercolor studies for large-scale paintings, and contrast/lighting studies in graphite. By displaying the artists’ respective works in these groupings, audiences are invited to see for themselves the formative power of mentorship at every stage.
Robert Cottingham and Duvian Montoya: A Glossary of Painting is organized by Nicole Sansone Ruiz, PhD, Policy and Curatorial Advisor. She says of the exhibition: “Robert and Duvian are two artists who are so technically skilled and sensitive to light and color that they have an awe-inspiring ability to make their canvases look like photographs. Maybe better! Because of this, we wanted to make sure there would be lots of space in the museum for close looking, drawing from observation, and quiet contemplation. Every artwork is a lesson.”