See Francis Klaess 'Redefining Forms' at Greenport Harbor Brewing Co.
Greenport Harbor Brewing Company will host an opening reception for Redefining Forms, a new exhibition of paintings and drawings by Rockville Centre native Francis Klaess, this Saturday, April 28 from 6–8 p.m.
Klaess’s colorful, textural abstractions comprise a variety of mediums and materials, often incorporating paint impasto and collage elements. The artist says his work takes inspiration from philosophy, art history and the world at large, including everything from “the natural forms of Upstate New York and the Atlantic Ocean to the everyday events occurring in our ever-escalating social and political climate.”
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Redefining Forms will feature a collection of Klaess’s abstract paintings, juxtaposed against his paintings inspired by the Atlantic Ocean and his drawings of insects, fully illustrating the artist’s exploration of the relationship between internal and the external, tangible and the ineffable. The works include nautical maps, cutout words and lines of text from books and other sources, along with expressive mark making with layers of paint.
For Klaess, it’s all about what he refers to as “controlled randomness,” or the act of creating on an instinctual, unconscious level in the same vein as the early Surrealists and Abstract Expressionists, such as the work of legendary Springs painter Jackson Pollock. “I’m just a conduit,” he explains. “It’s all chaos, and it’s up to us to make some sense of it.”
Klaess is a professor at SUNY Farmingdale College, a graphic designer, photographer, Creative Director at Formula4 Media and owner of Francis Klaess Design, a full service design studio specializing in graphic design, editorial content and marketing strategies.
His rich, textured paintings are an expressive departure from anything one might create in the digital realm.
The Redefining Forms exhibition and opening reception take place at Greenport Harbor Brewing Company’s Greenport location (234 Carpenter Street), which celebrated its seventh anniversary in 2016. The show is view until July 1.
Learn more at greenportharborbrewing.com or klaessforms.webflow.io.