Buster Levi Gallery is pleased to present New Paintings by Bill Kooistra at 121 Main Street in Cold Spring, New York. The exhibition will run from August 5 through August 28, 2016. The opening for the show will be on Friday August 5, 2016 from 6-8pm.

This exhibition consists of three different series all involved with light and shadow. The first series is based on small drawings made in sketchbooks while Kooistra travels. Some of the studies were developed into large black and white drawings executed in ink that severely edited shadows cast on walls or on the ground. The paintings developed from the drawings often substituting color interaction for value contrast.

The second series is an attempt to depict, with great liberties, cast shadows that fell from various trees on a lawn in Manchester, Vermont. The idea developed from walking around the grounds and finding a rhythm in the movement from shadow to shadow. Kooistra became interested in the abstract shapes found between the shadows, as well as the directions of the shadows themselves. Additionally, there would often be slight movements from the wind that he also found interesting.

The last and most recent series consists of multiple panel paintings, combining different interior shadows most of which were observed in Kooistra’s home, though not exclusively. He doesn’t always recall the source for each panel and since the images develop through the painting process, in his mind, it is not really important.

A few elements exist throughout each series of works. One is the attempt to convey the experience of light through value contrast and/or color interaction. The other is an interest in the shapes of shadows or light areas in between shadows. A third interest is the unpredictability of shadows as they fall in a given space. They are always moving, thus in composing the paintings; Kooistra tries to give a sense that the shapes you see are not permanent. For this reason he avoids symmetry and employs cropping.

Bill Kooistra received his BA in Fine Art from Ramapo College and his MA from Hunter College. He lives and works in Orange County, New York. He has shown his work in numerous galleries and museums in the region including the Paterson Museum in NJ, the Kresge and Pascal Galleries at Ramapo College, the Garrison Art Center and Buster Levi Gallery.

Buster Levi Gallery is open Friday through Sunday from 12-6 pm.

For more information: busterlevigallery.com