Bella Perla
Gallery Presents
MITCHELL
FREIFELD
Artist
Statement
I paint cityscapes. Portland mostly, and
some Seattle. Our cities have a very rich history and
a lot of places in them are still intact from other times,
and these older spaces are still being used. Our Northwest
cities are endlessly changing with the seasons, the light
and night and day.
My interest is in the everyday places; the
places and paths that make up the fabric of our daily
lives. Not the overtly dramatic, but the routine and ordinary
that becomes lost to our curiosity through sheer familiarity.
I try to take these places and paths and depict them in
such a way that they might stir ones interest again; that
they become places where we might pause and wonder about
them again, maybe even loose ourselves in the contemplation
of what might have happened, what might happen and what’s
happening there right now.
Sometimes I’ll look at a place where
we know what happened. Sometimes a place where people
came together to work towards the betterment of the human
situation. I like the Places of the People. I have much
more interest in the corner lunch counter then in a monument
to a 19th or 20th century industrialist.
Often there will be some warehouses or a
row of frame houses that you passed everyday for years
but didn’t really notice. Then one day what you do
notice is a bulldozer in an empty lot and wonder what
was there before. I try to catch the change. Sometimes,
I miss it and only get the bulldozer phase. I’ve
painted several series depicting the new construction
and rapid changes taking place in our cities, but I try
not to infuse these canvases with value judgments. These
changes just happen and are part of the life of any city.
I employ a simple light; a light that can
bounce around between surfaces, collect where it wants
to, or fade and disburse where it wants to. I try not
to follow the physical ways of light. It’s more fun
to change it and keep it interesting. Same goes for perspective.
Night city scenes, especially in the rain,
(which we North Westerners know something about) are interesting
because they invite high drama. At night things loom up
and disappear taking on aspects they don’t have in
the daylight. At night there are light sources coming
from all directions, going in all directions! Light sources
of all intensities in all colors! Lights going every which
way that can do anything. Light at night really has no
rules.
EXHIBITION:
06/28/09– 07/31/09
RECEPTION: July 2, 6:30 – 8:30 pm
BELLA
PERLA GALLERY
327 N.W. 9th Ave.
Portland, Or. 97209
502-222-1862
www.bellaperlagallery.com
info@bellaperlagallery.com
