‘Made fugitive with light’
“New Day”(oil on canvas), by Provincetown-based Cynthia Packard, in her show at Berta Walker Gallery, Provincetown.
The gallery says:
“A Cynthia Packard painting may start from a live model, flowers from her garden or a boat lulled by the waves. An overall textured canvas may at first sight appear purely abstract, only to reveal with further viewing, the movement of seagulls returning at dusk, or a figure emerging from the canvas. Light flows and brings alive the atmosphere around them. The works are bold, yet innocent, edgy, and deep. ‘The figures in her paintings routinely seem caught in the act of moving from one dimension to another, the body made fugitive with light,’ wrote poet Melanie Braverman. Art writer Deborah Carr writes that Packard’s paintings ‘explore paradox and contrast; consider moody interiors and verdant spaces. She juxtaposes graceful curves and sharp edges, dark contours and amorphous boundaries. The viewer of Cynthia Packard’s [painted] world realizes that remaining aloof from her powerful images is not an option.”’