Alden Gallery presents Mike Wright and Paul Kelly—July 17-30, 2020

Provincetown, MA: The Alden Gallery will present a two-person show of new work by Mike Wright and Paul Kelly, opening on Friday, July 17, 2020, at 423 Commercial St. As a result of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, there will be no opening reception. The show will be on view through July 30.

Mike Wright is a Provincetown artist who has for decades been creating sculpture made of painted wood she has found locally. This year she has created a series of small standing works that suggest figures. “The point of using found wood is that, as debris, it seems unpromising,” Wright says. “But that lack of promise is also its appeal—the peeling paint, the color scrubbed by salty waves, sand or human use. The main parameter is that the wood must be found in Provincetown. The second is not to paint that wood, because its patina is impossible to duplicate.” Wright has received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, an Artist’s Residency Award at the Vermont Studio Center, and has had solo shows of her work at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Cape Cod Museum of Art, and St. Botolph Club in Boston.

Provincetown artist Paul Kelly has been showing at the Alden Gallery since 2010. “My paintings have evolved over the years from townscapes, using a basic understanding of architectural forms from my professional background as an architect and city planner, to imaginary forms and locations using unidentified vantage points,” Kelly says. “I look for impossible perspectives on well-known images to trigger my curiosity and re-examine our built environment. My approach and preparation for creating oil paintings include my love for notebook pencil sketching, quick watercolor studies, and weekly access to figure drawing to keep my eye in check. The art of Hopper, Thibaud, Diebenkorn, and Nicholas De Stael are significant influences. 

The gallery is open daily, noon-5 p.m., through Labor Day, after which it will be open weekends through New Year’s Day, 2021. It is free and open to the public. During the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, masks must be worn within the gallery and only one party of up to two people will be admitted at one time. Appointments will be given priority. During gallery hours, call 508-487-4230; off-hours, call 646-483-8164.

Press contact: aldengallery@gmail.com or 646-483-8164.

The remainder of the 2020 season schedule for the Alden Gallery:

July 31 through August 12: Jim Broussard

August 13 through August 27: Joerg Dressler, Alice Denison, and Ed Christie

August 28 through September 10: Robert Morgan and Kevin Cyr

September 11 through September 24: Jane Paradise and Cathleen Daley