Work on Monday: “Early Morning Sunflower for Ron” by Bruce Lieberman
This week’s Work on Monday makes note of painter and East Hampton High School art teacher Bruce Lieberman, whose painting “Early Morning Sunflower for Ron” is currently on view among Recent Acquisitions at the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington.
Work on Monday is a weekly look at one piece of art related to the East End, usually by a Hamptons or North Fork artist, living or dead, created in any kind of media. Join the conversation by posting your thoughts in the comments below and email suggestions for a future Work on Monday here.
Early Morning Sunflower for Ron
Bruce Lieberman (b. 1958)
Oil on canvas
43.75 x31 inches, 2000
Lieberman’s painting, which he gave to the Heckscher, is a worthwhile addition to the museum’s permanent collection. “Early Morning Sunflower for Ron” demonstrates the artist’s loose but accurate representational style, which is quite clearly not from photographic reference.
This piece reveals a beautiful interplay between light and dark, yet never feels harsh or muddy in its painterly execution. Lieberman shows off multiple techniques within the medium-sized composition, mixing wet, smooth brushwork, dry paint application, drips and scratch-work in one easy-to-read image.
The sunflower, sky, trees and house are not abstracted, but the expressive, physical qualities of paint are never ignored. Despite the commonplace subject matter, nothing about this painting or Lieberman’s vision is simple or common. The artist’s world is vibrant, alive and tantalizing. Who wouldn’t want to live in it?
Check out Bruce Lieberman’s “Early Morning Sunflower for Ron” and other new additions to the Heckscher permanent collection in Recent Acquisitions, on view through November 24, 2013. Visit the Heckscher at 2 Prime Avenue in Huntington, or at heckscher.org.