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Malcolm Bray brings space, form, color to Prallsville Mills

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Willem de Kooning once said that when one starts a painting, everyone they've ever known is in the studio with them; family, teachers, friends… but as the work progresses, they all gradually leave, and then even the artist leaves. There is a freedom in that. Inhibitions vanish, like a jazz musician, who is present and playing, but somehow free to wander around the music without worry.

Malcolm Bray clearly has found this form of bliss, abandoning conformity and strictures, while maintaining painterly conventions such as composition, line, balance (or sometimes an intentional imbalance), and wide variations in his color palette.

Consider the myriad of feelings and emotions for which there are no words. There is a moment in the present process of creating that conveys to the viewer that energy, that thought, those feelings. There is no necessity for an obvious or specific form. In Bray’s paintings, like in life, there is a certain logic within uncertainty. As with nature, there is beauty in what at first appears to be chaos. There are a range of emotions implicit in his work from tension to tranquility largely created by his use of both positive and negative space. I suspect this could be a curse for a lesser artist, but for Bray it is clearly a gift.

Born in England in that late ‘50s, and having come to America in the mid-’80s he’s embraced and recognizes many influences, some, like De Kooning, are quite evident in his work. There are, however, others which are not easily recognizable in his work; Vincent Van Gogh, for instance, and Howard Hodgkin, an English artist (1932-2017) who Bray admired for “freeing of the space.” Unlike the formalist or color field painters such as Jules Olitski, Walter Darby Bannard, Tim Lefens etc., Bray doesn’t conform to their stylistic tendencies. He’s not throwing a paint-soaked brush at the canvas.

All art, like science, mathematics etc., is cumulative; it builds on the work of others who have gone before throughout the centuries. It’s evident that one of Bray’s concerns is the spacial equation within a painting. He makes gestural paintings, with the possibility of slipping into the edge. These are not at all precise (who would want that?), rather they are loose, carefree, somewhat whimsical, yet quite serious upon reflection.

Often we are drawn to a work of art, acquire it, live with it, and yet never get to see anything new in it. This is not the case with Bray’s paintings. There is something new every time we view it.

Regarding the exhibit space at Prallsville Mills in Stockton, it is more conducive to smaller works of art, which is why credit is due to Joanie Ireland for making decisions on the installation, and essentially making this exhibition happen. The exhibit space was used to its maximum with plenty of space for the appreciative and supportive crowd in attendance for the opening. Unfortunately the show, which opened April 8, only runs through Monday April 17, so cancel your other plans and get there soon. Visit malcolmbray.com.

Bucks County resident Duncan LaPlante writes occasional columns on the arts and humanities.


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