Alice Denison and Kevin Cyr—September 1-14, 2023
Provincetown, MA: The Alden Gallery will present a two-person show of new work by Alice Denison and Kevin Cyr, opening on Friday, September 1, 2023, at 423 Commercial St. The artists’ reception will be on opening day, Friday, September 1, from 7 to 9 p.m., with both artists attending. The show will be on view through September 14.
Alice Denison is a graduate of MassArt’s former MFA program at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and has been with Alden Gallery since its inception. She returns this year with a series of works called “Strange Meadow.” The title for the show “came from the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s song ‘Strange Meadowlark,’ on the Time Out album, purchased because it was in a discount bin and had a nice cover,” Denison says. “I listened to it over and over through college, loving it every time, and learned from it an important fact: that value is not indicated by price. This new group of paintings arose from my effort to infuse space in a previous series, ‘Pangloss,’ which featured works influenced by millefleurs tapestry. I am avoiding outright landscape in this new work while flirting with the natural world (if there still is such a thing). The title ‘Strange Meadow’ seemed just right.”
Like Denison, Kevin Cyr has been showing at the Alden Gallery since its opening in 2007. He was trained at MassArt and worked for several years in the studio of Kehinde Wiley. Cyr’s hyper-real oil paintings grew out of his ongoing fascination with the cars and trucks of his childhood in northeast Maine. “I have always been interested in painting vehicles and scenes that have defined the evolution of the American landscape,” he says. Common themes in his work include mobility, sustainability, mortality, and consumer culture. This year he focuses on trucks festooned with familiar brands that he has photographed over the years. He paints them on solid, brightly colored backgrounds, which he likens to a set-up for portraiture.
The Alden Gallery is open daily, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., and Wednesday through Saturday evenings, 6-9 p.m., through September 14, after which it will be open weekends through New Year’s Day, 2024. It is free and open to the public. During gallery hours, call 508-487-4230; off-hours, call 646-483-8164.
The future shows of the 2023 season:
Cathleen Daley and Jane Paradise: September 15 through September 28
Autumn group show: September 29 through January 1, 2024
Press contact: aldengallery@gmail.com or 646-483-8164.