The Knapp Gallery continues its tradition of First Friday openings and welcomes back Christopher Callahan in his current body of paintings Below See Level. Callahan, a Narberth, PA resident returns for his third solo exhibition with the Knapp Gallery.
Enjoying a unique history with the Barnes Foundation, Callahan is privileged to have handled the masterpieces making up what many consider the world's foremost French post impressionist collection housed in Philadelphia's Barnes Foundation. Callahan's unique opportunity with its historical influences has flavored a recipe that is decisively Callahan.
Reviewed for his last solo show by Victoria Skelly in the Broad Street Review , Callahan continues to gain attention for his unique adaptation to Barnesian teachings: "Callahan possesses the focus of a true artist - what I would call the quintessential Barnes Foundation insider. Through years of attending classes, working with Barnes's acolyte Violette de Mazia, and ultimately teaching in the Barnes docent program himself, Callahan absorbed the Barnes principles so that now he applies them subconsciously to his unique painting style."
A self-taught "outsider" artist, Callahan creates imagery from an authentic inner discipline. Relying on giftedness and innate yearnings, Callahan's vignettes depict slices of obscure reality; spiritual glimpses gleaned at a glance. There is an ensuing visual and colloquial language.
Callahan is about color, composition and complexity. His joyful and bright palette belies an intense, contemplative and sometimes dark persona. Callahan presents complex faire through simple marks, shapes and iconic imagery. Composition is uniquely gestalt. Simplicity of elements supports complex makeup of an organism as a whole. Overlaying abstraction with form and figure, a similar effect to overlaying transparencies, the observant viewer can detect a melding of genres. With keen sensitivity, Chris develops a definitive rhythm through this body of paintings. Below See level is heady, sophisticated and challenging like Callahan.