The Beaufort Gazette
The Charles Street Gallery
Architectural Accents
“This exhibition is composed of 33 paintings of various sizes, but all with an architectural theme. However, the majority of these (19 paintings) are part of an ongoing series I’ve been working on for 2-3 years. They are all relatively small with a 13” square painted image and are all bounded by a ¼” border, color-coded to the painting. Consequently, they work equally well individually or in various arrangements of two, three, four, or more.
All the paintings in this series share a focus on a fragment of the built environment, which has been enlarged to emphasize its design and detail, and removed from its surrounding context. They were carefully selected by me, as appropriate subjects for the series, from streetscapes wherever I happened to be with my digital camera. The series also is intended to provide an expanded appreciation of design and craftsmanship in man-made construction over the many years of architectural history. As such, the subjects represent skilled work in a wide variety of materials including stone carving, metal work, cast iron, terracotta, and various forms of woodworking, etc. Many were created by trades and skill sets no longer available. On the painting lists, I have indicated the city and state or country of origin for each image.
The other 14 paintings in this show involve close-ups or partial views of architectural interest to me for compositional purposes and their unique opportunities to render shade and shadow with the watercolor medium.”
Robert Steinmetz