Reimagining the Tropics February 15th 5-8:00

Reimagining Key West and the surrounding islands is like trying to grow the very best mangos, breed a canary that sings the sweetest song or create the most beautiful garden.  Yet, every day someone is working in their garden or studio doing just that.  This summer was wet and supplied the artist with new scenery and gardens bursting with color.  Artists can just use their imagination to create a more exquisite reality, to use creative license.

Long a devotee of Key West & Ballast Key, Peter Vey has taken a look at the post Irma Key West and the new David Wolkowsky Key with fresh eyes and a new palette.  “The days of Styrofoam fishing floats littering the beach are gone, mentions Peter.  The Nature Conservancy cleans all of the plastic waste daily, he continues.  And Irma and sea rise have left a new configuration to the east side where the beaches grew, a new cove exists.  And it is GREEN!  The summer rains left Key West and DWK verdant and exciting to paint.

How does Vey manage to evoke this sense of beauty and mystery in his work, regardless of the subject? Often, Gallery on Greene Director Nance Frank explains, by creating a tightly cropped composition that suggests more action is taking place outside the picture plane, as in Paradise Found, or by including people who are looking at something that is invisible to the viewer as in Women with Flamingo.

“I like to imagine the beautiful, stately homes of Southard and Eaton Streets before the high fences when children could run through back yards to school, before the iguanas appropriated the diner plate sized colorful hibiscus blooms and myriad orchids.” relates Peter.

This year Peter has painted grand homes on Caroline & Fleming, Cigarmaker’s tiny abodes in Gato Village and lots of his ethereal mangrove & coconut beachy linen canvases.  Caroline Color is a home without its fence practically unrecognizable.

For more information: 305-304-2323

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