Moorestown artist Joseph McAleer’s acrylic painting, “In honor of Grace Hartigan,” is the main piece that he believes elevates his solo exhibit at Perkins Center for the Arts. Hartigan gained recognition for her large-scale, abstract paintings in 1950, according to the Museum of Modern Art.
Moorestown resident Joseph McAleer’s solo exhibition is on display at the Perkins Center for the Arts in Moorestown through Friday, Aug. 15. An artist’s reception will be held at Perkins on Saturday, July 19, from 5 to 8 p.m.
“Gather and Disperse: Works in Blue” features 14 of McAleer’s acrylic pieces, pieces that explore a fascinating concept. It involves pulling shapes together and then letting them disperse, McAleer said. All McAleer’s work includes design elements like balance, repetition, variety and movement. Emphasis, he said, is the center of interest. It’s something in the piece that pulls you towards it. But if you have too much variety, then the work flies apart.
“What you need is some repetition, some repetition of color, of shape … But if you have too much repetition and too much of the same, it becomes boring,” McAleer said. “You’re trying to get the balance of repetition and variety and all these things … And it’s so hard to define and you don’t even realize most of the time when you’re seeing the work, why does it even work?”
A lot of the time it works because it has that emphasis and there’s something in the work that’s standing out, McAleer said. Yet, it holds together because there’s enough of two things: repetition of either color or shape and variety where it creates that interest. While McAleer has a self-centered approach to painting – it’s all about whether he likes what he’s done – he’s also constantly fascinated by the creative process.
McAleer’s “A.I. Universe” is an acrylic on canvas.
“Half the journey of making an abstract painting is wondering …” McAleer explained. “You create something and then you break it down, and all of a sudden you mess up the painting and it doesn’t look good … Eventually through a series of mistakes, through discoveries, you get to where you’ve finished the painting either by saying, ‘I’ve had enough,’ or you’re fascinated by what you’ve accomplished.
“So many of the paintings that are in the (Perkins) show, if you could see the history of (one) painting, it would be remarkable.”
For McAleer, making art is also about seeing the various stages of completion. You start a painting, he said, and you’ll be looking at it, but half the time when you’re making a piece you’re trying to figure out where to go. The artist is free to act on their work, free to break it down and experiment. They can put a color, put a shape in, maybe one they thought about. That can open a door of possibilities but when the artist gets stuck, they can take a different route until they’re finished.
“When you’re done it’s a remarkable experience because you go, ‘Wow, look where this painting ended up and look where it started,’” McAleer noted. “As you’re going through this process, you’re sometimes saying to yourself, ‘I can’t paint. I don’t have talent. I don’t know how to paint.’ It’s part of being a creative person.”
