Rockland, Maine - Carver Hill Gallery, 338 Main street in Rockland, Maine, is pleased to present DAVID ESTEY – Encore, our second solo exhibition of David’s current work on Yupo. The show will open on First Friday, June 7, with a reception from 5 - 8 PM. The artist will be present. The gallery will also host an artist's talk and Q & A session with David the following day, Saturday, at 1 PM. The show runs through July 2.
The first exhibit, "Improvisations on Yupo," represented 37 pieces completed in 14 months. This new series represents 28 more pieces of the now growing collection. It will also include two larger works.
Yupo is a synthetic paper originally manufactured in Japan. The surface is very smooth, with almost no tooth, holding super sharp edges while allowing paint to stay wet on the surface long enough for manipulation. It is durable, recyclable, and waterproof. David was intrigued when he heard about this interesting new material. He bought a few sheets, and began working with acrylic on it. Unlike painting on artist’s panels or stretched canvases (where David’s pieces were slow and deliberate due to the time and cost of assembling them), he put the paint down on this new surface quickly and spontaneously. He started out painting only in black, and soon realized he could work the paint with other tools, and wipe it off, as well. He was drawn to the freedom this medium afforded him, and started to add color.
In his words, “Working in acrylic on Yupo has enabled me to develop extraordinarily fresh, abstract
expressions without any preconceived notions. Sometimes narrative references emerge and remain, but they are totally integrated with and subordinate to the aesthetic whole, securely grounded in the elements and principles of good design. The results can be felt viscerally in the heart and soul, with or without a narrative context”.
David Estey is an incredibly dedicated painter, competent in many different styles. He is a marvelously talented realist, and continues to organize life drawing sessions with a group of local artists. Although he enjoys this departure immensely, he always seems to return to his abstract expressions.
* David Estey lives in Belfast, Maine. He holds degrees from Rhode Island School of Design and George Washington University. He has lived, worked, exhibited and taught art in Maine, the Mid-Atlantic States and North Carolina. His work can be found in public and private collections in much of the US and Canada, as well as Belarus, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, Vienna and undoubtedly many more places we have yet to discover. He has had solo exhibitions in museums, galleries, and several Universities over the past twenty years. In 2012 his work was acquired for many more public spaces, as well as the U.S. State Department’s Art Bank program. Maine Home and Design Magazine named him one of Maine’s most collectible artists.
