During the month of August, The Crowell Gallery at the Moore Free Library will be featuring an exhibit of recent large scale Ink drawings and small color paintings by Newfane artist Leonard Ragouzeos.
Prior to moving to Newfane in 2005, Leonard taught studio art for 31years as an Art Professor in Iowa and in Pennsylvania, while simultaneously maintaining an active studio life and exhibition presence. Leonard began working with India Ink on paper in a representational manner in the mid nineteen nineties, focusing on faces and single common objects like tools or fruit. Several of Leonard's newest Utility Pole series will be included in this exhibit. Also on display will be a series of small color abstractions in water media and oils.
MEDIA-The black ink drawings in this exhibit were made with waterproof India Ink on Yupo, an archival synthetic paper. Yupo has a smooth, non-absorbent, vellum-like surface. "I enjoy the physical nature of working on a large scale. The drawings are made on a wall, so I must move quickly to control the flowing ink, avoiding and directing the drips and accidents that occur." Brushes, pens, rollers and other tools are used to apply the ink. A hair dryer is always on hand ready to guide the ink and hasten the drying process, allowing Ragouzeos to build layers of grays into deep blacks with subtle or dramatic value shifts.
The purely abstract color paintings in the exhibit are the antithesis of the large black representational drawings. Color speaks in a language not shared by black, a language with emotions and feelings. Working small in color with gouache or oils is a slower, more intimate process and provides the artist with a counterpoint to the black work.
The Ragouzeos exhibit will hang through the month of August. An artist reception will be held on August 12, 4 pm - 6 pm in the gallery at 23 West Street, in the gallery off the Moore Free Library in Newfane.