elizabeth harris gallery
529 w20 st ny 10011
212 463 9666
press release
ron milewicz
a meaning made of trees
april 16 – may 28, 2022
opening: saturday, april 16, 12-6 pm
Elizabeth Harris Gallery is pleased to present A Meaning Made of Trees, an exhibition of new paintings by Ron Milewicz. This will be the artist’s sixth solo exhibition with the gallery. The artist will be present for an opening reception on Saturday, April 16, from 12 -6 pm.
The paintings in this exhibition are inspired by the Hudson Valley of upstate New York, where Milewicz makes graphite drawings on site of trees, meadows and ponds. The black-and-white tonal images are the basis for his similarly sized oil paintings completed in the studio. The modest size of the paintings allows both artist and viewer to have an intense experience of a private realm. Milewicz orchestrates rhythms of soft masses of color, delicately building an optically complex surface with fine layers of a restrained yet rich palette. The subtle, understated color and the subdued paint application distill a profound quiet while an intuitive geometry serves to secure radiant swirls of light as they weave through the verticals of tree trunks. These still and luminous visions retain the immediacy of their origins in concrete experience yet are imbued with an otherworldly calm. They conjure an ever-changing natural light and an unearthly illumination, calling forth the multiple and often contradictory meanings available in the experience of nature,
As critic Peter Malone has recently wrote, Milewicz’s works “nudge the viewer towards a place beyond the reach of words.” They bring to light the extraordinary value, both material and nonmaterial, present in his chosen bit of vulnerable nature. His venerable trees stand as silent witnesses to the vital forces that move through them and their ethereal settings.
Ron Milewicz was born in Brooklyn, New York. He received a BA from Cornell University in 1983 and a master’s degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture in 1986. He attended the New York Studio School from 1990 to 1994, where he later taught drawing and painting. Milewicz has exhibited nationally and internationally, has been widely reviewed, and is represented in numerous private and public collections. Milewicz divides his time between New York City and Gallatin, New York.
The Elizabeth Harris Gallery is located at 529 West 20th Street, 6th floor, and is open Tuesday – Saturday, 11-6.
For further information contact Miles Manning at 212-463-9666