During his time off, Hull considered opening a commercial gallery, but "nonprofit and school spaces are my thing," he says, walking around the FP3 space. "I love recruiting an audience, rewarding an audience, and stitching together a network of artists."
The Gallery at FP3 makes a delicious backdrop for art: The walls reach to two stories, and the environment, with accents of wood and stone, is more inviting than a white cube gallery. Hull inaugurates the space with a small exhibit of works by John Guthrie, a technical whiz and master colorist.
The show features three large paintings from 2003 and a handful of small unique prints made this year; I'd have preferred everything to be new. Still, Guthrie's paintings are something to marvel at.
Two vertical stripe paintings, " Hercules" and "Emperor," appear to be coolly laid out geometries of color - which, given Guthrie's color sense, would have been enough. He adds strands of blue amid clusters of earth tones, or pairs complementary colors that electrify the retina. In fact, each stream of color is a rivulet of diluted acrylic paint, coursing down the canvas. Look carefully and you'll see drops veer, ramping up the works' sensuality.
For the remarkable "Serpentine Fire," Guthrie taped off hundreds of shapes, like the scales of a snake's skin, creating a painted mosaic in which snakes slither. The red groove between the cells pulsates against their blue, red, and gray; stand close, and you may have to look away, the tonal throb is so eye-boggling.
For his small gray-scale prints made from ink drawings, such as "Fallout," Guthrie layers closed circuits of white, black, and gray. Even these toy with perception, with shadows appearing to crop up at intersections. These works invite contemplation, rather than ravishment, but they're no less intriguing.
Artists' sketches
