I was really glad that I caught a show of paintings by Maine artist Colin Page at the F.A.N. Gallery here in Philadelphia. Yesterday was the last day of the show and I managed to fit it into my schedule to drop by the gallery. It was evidently a successful show as all but two of the paintings were marked as sold. (Personally, I think his work was underpriced.)

Page lives in Maine, but apparently has some Philadelphia connection. In addition to being represented by a gallery here, a number of his paintings, particularly those in this show, are of Philadelphia scenes.

Page has a loose, open style with lots of juicy brushstrokes and rich splashes of color defining his forms. What is unfortunately difficult to see in the relatively small images posted on his site, and on the sites of the galleries in Maine and Philadelphia that represent him, are the textured brushstrokes and areas of rough blending and broken color that make the surface of his paintings richly textured. (The recent images on the F.A.N. gallery site are a bit larger.)

Though he occasionally paints landscapes, particularly of rocky coastal scenes in Maine, he more often paints cityscapes, townscapes and interiors, finding his compositions in the geometry of buildings and objects as well as in the negative spaces they define.

Page has a great talent for simplifying his compositions to just the right degree to leave them strongly graphic but visually rich. He leaves the surfaces of his subjects briefly noted, instead letting the application of the areas of paint provide visual as well as physical texture.

You’ll find a variety of his work on his own site and the three galleries listed below.

[Links and suggestion courtesy of Deirdre Tessmann and Elek Hendrickson]