FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For further information, contact: FENN GALLERY ANNOUNCES “VIBRANT RHYTHMS”, WOODBURY, CT - Fenn Gallery announces “Vibrant Rhythms”, featuring modernist paintings by Howard Fussiner and Diran Deckmejian. The show runs from September 15th - October 23, 2005. The public is invited to the Artist Reception on Saturday, September 17th from 4-6 pm. This show features the mature style of two artists, one an abstract painter, the other representational, both of whom were students of first generation abstract expressionists. Although Diran Deckmejian and Howard Fussiner explore their muse in very different ways, their work shares an expressive energy and vibrant rhythm that is both primal and palpable. On exhibit will be paintings from Fussiner’s
Parade Series, a subject matter which lends itself perfectly to
the artist’s bold and gregarious painterly style. Fussiner
deliberately emphasizes the pictorial plane in his paintings, and
simplifies his subject matter for the sake of emotional expression,
finding a painting’s success to be derived from the union
of emotional intensity and formal principles. Using high key, saturated
colors, outlined shapes and stylized flattened figures, this series
completely captures the joy and simplicity of a small town holiday.
In writing about his Parade Series, Judy Birke of the New Haven
Register says “his brushstrokes burst forth with vivid color
that brings the picture surface to exuberant life...the canvases,
alive with costumed figures and prancing Fussiner studied with Hans Hofmann, one of the pioneers of pictorial modernism. He has a bachelor’s and master’s degree from N.Y.U. He is a retired Professor Emeritus from Southern CT State University, and is a member of the CT Academy of Arts & Sciences. The recipient of numerous awards and prizes, he is a published author on art history, and has had more than 75 solo exhibitions to date. Also on display are the abstract expressionist paintings of Diran Deckmejian which are resonant with a bold, unhesitating use of color, and strong metric beat. Deckmejian’s oeuvre explores the dynamic interplay between recognizable image and abstract shape, and between spontaneity and control. Using modulated brushwork and a basic visual language that humans share, crosses, lines, rectangles and circles, his soft edged compositions are atmospheric and mystical. Deckmejian creates palpable energy in his work through the juxtaposition of intensely colored calligraphic shapes against larger grainy, translucent fields. In “Odalisque” an undulating filmy orange
field surrounds an orb which glows above ruby and violet lines that
seem to gather and dance half in, half out of a cobalt rectangle.
The 5 x 6 foot canvas envelops the viewer in a joyful reverie. For
Deckmejian, “abstraction is a language to speak directly to
the human spirit. The paint, colors, images, application enter the
curtain of the mind and travel to the heart.” Deckmejian studied
under Theodoros Stamos, one of the first generation
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