Who would think that paintings of people with their backs to you could be so compelling?
When I first wrote about Atlanta based painter Karin Jurick back in 2006, one of the things I admired, in addition to her bright, fresh, painterly approach, was her series of paintings of art museum patrons, in situ, as it were, their backs to the viewer as they stood engrossed in the artwork before them.
This has turned out to be one of Jurick’s favored themes in the subsequent years, and she has recently published a collection of over 100 of those paintings in a book titled Museum Hours.
You can see a preview of the book on the Blurb site; be sure to use the controls below the image to view the preview in full screen mode, allowing you the pleasure of seeing Jurick’s work larger than it is usually reproduced on her site and blog.
The book has a nice feature in the form of an illustrated index of the paintings. In addition to the titles of her paintings, it lists the works being viewed by the patron, (of which Jurick has painted at least a partial interpretation), and the museums in which they are to be found.
Jurick’s work is part of a three-woman show, along with Karen Hollingsworth and Suzy Shultz, at the 16 Patton Gallery in Ashville, North Carolina that opens tomorrow, October 22, 2011. I don’t know how long it runs; the gallery’s website, such as it is, hasn’t been updated with show information and does a poor job of presenting the artists they represent. [Addendum: Jurick was kind enough to let me know the show runs until November 26, 2011. See also my recent post on Karen Hollingsworth.]
You can see a preview of Jurick’s pieces in the show on her website. She has chosen a theme of “New York Life” for her part of the show, and the selection includes some of her art patrons pieces, as well as other New York scenes (love the Flatiron Building).
