Continuing through April 17, 2010
David Kroll paints with the touch of an Old Master. Refined layers of oil on canvas, linen and paper are applied to capture not only the exquisite light of a sunset in a background, but the highly detailed and intricate reflection of a ceramic bowl or vase, a bird perched on the rim, a drop of water, a pearl necklace placed in the foreground. The staging is sparse and often features woven nests, tiny bird eggs of multiple colors, a fragile spider's web, which taken together offer an ironic and contemporary perspective to the work. It is clear that Kroll revere's pre-modern nature painters, like those from the Hudson River School, and that he wants to provide viewers with a place of peace and solace to experience what is left of nature today. The objects in the foreground are often easily broken or destroyed, like the pearl necklace that has come unknotted and unstrung. This provides a moment of pause, inclining the viewer to consider the fragility of humanity and nature.
