Charlie Nevad: Light & Dark

The Charles R. Nevad Foundation invites you to view the collection Charlie Nevad: Light & Dark on exhibit at the Thompson Gallery located on the campus of The Cambridge School of Weston, Weston MA.

 

Light & Dark surveys the mid 20th Century Modernist paintings of Charles Nevad (Perth Amboy, NJ 1921-1990). Light & Dark provides an overview of the last 3 decades of Nevad’s artistic production and examines his symbolism and the transformation of his painting technique—from his unique impressionist-inspired brushwork, to his experimentations with abstract expressionism and collage.

LIGHT & DARK: Charles R. Nevad

“All life is like light and shadow – a duality. It is only when one focuses on the unity of the surroundings that they can take on their true value – like the still life, the true value of light to shadow can only be seen true by focusing on the unity of the overall. So too with one’s values of living.”

Charlie Nevad: Light & Dark currently on exhibit at the Thompson Gallery located on the campus of The Cambridge School of Weston, Weston MA.

Sept. 10 – Nov. 30, 2016 M-F, 9-4:30 p.m. or by appointment (781) 398-8316 thompsongallery.csw.org

Gallery Talk – Saturday, October 22, 1- 2 pm 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charlie Nevad, Boy in Red, 1962 oil on canvas
24 x 16 inches
photo credit: Miguel Paglier

The Charles R. Nevad Foundation was created to preserve the collective works of the artist and provide public access to the collection through programing in the arts & humanities, education and research onto the intellectual content as a cultural works of art.

The exhibition will be on view at the Thompson Gallery, located inside the Garthwaite Center for Science and Art at the Cambridge School of Weston (September 9 through November 30, 2016). Read more at thompsongallery.csw.org.

Light & Dark: Charlie Nevad, a collection of twentieth century paintings is the life work of the unique mid 20th Century Modernist painter, Charles R. Nevad (Perth Amboy, NJ 1921-1990).  Light & Dark provides an overview of the last 3 decades of Nevad’s artistic production and examines his symbolism and the transformation of his painting technique—from his unique impressionist-inspired brushwork, to his experimentations with abstract expressionism and collage.

LIGHT & DARK: Charlie Nevad

“All life is like light and shadow – a duality.  It is only when one focuses on the unity of the surroundings that they can take on their true value – like the still life, the true value of light to shadow can only be seen true by focusing on the unity of the overall.  So too with one’s values of living.”

 

Thompson Gallery Surveys the Mid 20th Century Modernist Paintings of Charlie Nevad

October 5, 2016 (WESTON, MA) – Charlie Nevad—Light & Dark is the first exhibition in a series of three focusing on various interpretations of Light & Dark—Naturalism, Conceptual Art and Privilege. The exhibition Charlie Nevad—Light & Dark, initiates the series with a 30-year survey of the mid-20th Century Modernist paintings of Charlie Nevad (Perth Amboy, NJ 1921-1990). Charlie Nevad—Light & Dark is both the first retrospective of the artist’s work and the first solo exhibition of his paintings in Massachusetts. “Light & Dark” provides an overview of the last three decades of Nevad’s artistic production and examines his symbolism and the transformation of his painting technique— from his unique Impressionist-inspired brushwork, to his experimentations with Abstract Expressionism and collage.”

Charlie Nevad—Light & Dark “provides an opportunity to see Nevad’s pioneering painting technique and how he made creative leaps from one style to another at the end of his career,” says curator and Thompson Gallery director Todd Bartel, a former pupil of Nevad’s from 1976-1981 and a visual arts teacher at the Cambridge School of Weston.

 

Charlie Nevad, Untitled [Tree], c. 1962 oil on canvas
24 x 20 inches
photo credit: Miguel Pagliere

In his writings, Nevad describes the role of light and dark in his work in both physical and metaphysical terms:

The true values of light and shadow can only be seen when the relationship of the object to its surroundings is taken into account. It is the unity of all things in relationship to one another that can bring about the true value of any one thing. [artist’s statement, Light, c. 1976]

 

“Particularly prominent in Charlie Nevad’s early work, the theme of Light & Dark emerges by way of the artist’s strategy to blend all the elements within a painting into a single relationship ‘to establish oneness’,” explains Bartel. “Nevad achieves this unification through the observance of subtle shifts between light and shadow, leading the artist to relate and unite the object with its background surroundings—‘it’s all one thing’,” he said, quoting Nevad.

Charlie Nevad, Mother Love, 1984 collage
48 x 24 inches
photo credit: Miguel Paglier

Charlie Nevad’s paintings have been exhibited in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Maine. “Beginning in the early 1960s, Nevad achieved considerable acclaim for his teaching methods that explore the same concerns as his paintings. At his studio home at 102 North Washington Avenue, in Dunellen, New Jersey — where he lived until his death on February 7, 1990 — Nevad painted, taught painting and was a foster father. His work has attracted private and institutional collectors, including the Kahoe Corporation and the Virginia Museum of Art. The Thompson Gallery exhibition is the most extensive examination of the artist’s paintings to date.

Charlie Nevad, Einstein No. 5, 1984 oil on Masonite
16 x 20 inches
photo credit: Miguel Pagliere

“Charlie Nevad—Light & Dark was designed to loosely reference the 1913 Armory Show—which featured the work of avant-garde European and American artists and is considered one of the most controversial and influential art exhibitions ever held—and to examine his work in light of it,” Bartel noted. “As an artist deeply influenced by the Armory Show’s ‘New Spirit,’ but unlike so many young artists of his generation who replicated that ‘Spirit,’ the reverberations of European and American contemporary art of the day catalyzed Charlie to not only separate his voice from his predecessors, but to cultivate an interior message in his oeuvre with powerful political implications. Not outwardly evident, but inwardly present in all his work is a call for self-change,” he said.

The Thompson Gallery Light & Dark exhibition series will feature the work of Jack Massey (Barrington, RI) in the winter exhibition and Aboudia (Abidjan, Ivory Coast) in the spring of 2017. In addition, the spring show will also exhibit the work of Gonçalo Mabunda (Maputo, Mozambique), at the Red Wall Gallery, located in the atrium of the Mugar Center for the Performing Arts. “The topic of Light & Dark was voted on by our student body two years ago for the Thompson Gallery to develop into a series of three exhibitions,” Bartel explains. The “Light & Dark” exhibition series were designed to support the school’s pedagogical interest in providing platforms for discussion and learning regarding issues of social justice and critical thinking.”

The exhibition will be on view at the Thompson Gallery, located inside the Garthwaite Center for Science and Art at the Cambridge School of Weston (September 9 through November 30, 2016). Read more at thompsongallery.csw.org.

PHOTO CAPTIONS:

Charlie Nevad, Boy in Red, 1962 oil on canvas
24 x 16 inches
photo credit: Miguel Pagliere

Charlie Nevad, Untitled [Tree], c. 1962 oil on canvas
24 x 20 inches
photo credit: Miguel Pagliere

Charlie Nevad, Mother Love, 1984 collage
48 x 24 inches
photo credit: Miguel Paglier

Charlie Nevad, Einstein No. 5, 1984 oil on Masonite
16 x 20 inches
photo credit: Miguel Pagliere 

****