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Monroe artist Frederick Velardi, a specialist in color-field painting, presents a selection of recent paintings in his current exhibition continuing to October 13 at The Good News Café Gallery.
Describing himself as a “hard-edge, color-field painter,” Velardi observes that color and shape are his primary subject matter. His aim is to bring movement and depth to his work through the interaction of color and the juxtaposition of forms, he explains.
“This isn’t anything new,” he admits. “But when you study art history, it’s interesting to see how other artists have dealt with this problem and how it has been translated into individual styles and movements. I like to think, in my small way, I’m just carrying on the tradition.”
Velardi credits much of his interest in color-field painting to his art school course on color, which was taught by an assistant to the painter and teacher, Josef Albers.
“Because my undergraduate art school training was more academically focused, I tend to favor the more traditional approaches to art—painting, sculpture, drawing—as opposed to something such as performance art,” he notes. “However, I think that it is important that, no matter what form art takes, it should be a fundamental part of the world around us, and something that can be viewed and enjoyed no matter who or where we are.”
Velardi is a former art teacher and has been active in the arts community in Connecticut for many years. A graduate of Silvermine College of Art and the Hartford Art School, he has exhibited his works at many locations around the state, including shows in New Haven, Hartford, Branford, Guilford, and Norwalk. A series of 14 paintings titled, “Stations of the Cross,” made its public debut in an exhibition at the Yale Divinity School and is currently on display at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Huntington, CT.
The current exhibition includes 15 recent paintings in acrylic by Velardi, evocative of a diverse range of themes ranging from "Circus" and "China Sun" to "Glacier" and "Cascade." The show also presents two triptych works by the artist, titled "Sidereus Nuncius" and "Sunlight."
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