Maryland, Virginia and District of Columbia
Art
by Ann Erskine
New Paintings by Mary Cate-Carroll at the
Montage Gallery
"To carry the finest art encompassing a mature visual language
and composition, comprised of images that will inspire people. Our artists,
a composition of established and mid-career emerging artists, create artwork
from abstract expressionism to surrealistic landscape. We strive to bring
contemporary fine art with an edge, philosophy and idea, message and sophistication.
Our interest is in knowing the artist, the intimacy of the artists' artwork
and understanding its evolution and the transfer of these private elements
to the patron d'art."
Thus reads the mission statement of the Montage Gallery
in the Federal Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. The owner, Mitch
Angel, moved the gallery here from Portland a year ago to settle in the
white washed walls and exposed brick interior of an old rowhouse. The exhibits
change monthly and showcase local, regional and international artists working
in watercolor, oil, even three-dimensional mixed media.
Mitch
recently curated a show of works by the artist Mary Cate-Carroll. The show
is entitled "Landscapes from the Edge" and features large oil
paintings of what Mary calls "metaphysical landscapes." These
include realistic scenes of fields and roads and cityscapes punctuated with
flaming skies, cracked earth surfaces, and strangely looming street signs
and billboards. The paintings' frames are covered with mixed media: plastic
miniature warriors, toy parts, dollhouse furniture, etc. The frames are
then painted with metallic colors and become part of the artwork. The centerpiece
of the exhibit is an antique door with a painting titled "Eroded Values"
(see below) filling the place in the door where a window might be.
The landscape in the painting features a city silhouetted on a horizon that's
aflame with sunset. Off-center in the foreground is a sheep standing between
cracks in the earth, symbolizing humanity. (left: Ponder,
oil and assemblage on wood, 45 x 45 inches)
Mary is a native of Baltimore and a graduate of the Maryland
Institute College of Art where she studied with 
Grace Hartigan. She took drawing and painting courses
at the Corcoran Museum in Washington, DC and did her undergraduate degree
at Mary Washington College in Virginia. She received her MFA in 1983 and
then taught for ten years. Now, she paints at her home in Finksburg, Maryland
where she lives with her husband, Charles Carroll. She's been doing art
for more than twenty years. Mary was initially influenced by Van Gogh and
the European post-impressionists but felt a need to detach herself and move
towards the American school. After studying the works of Joseph
Cornell, Robert Rauschenberg, Grant
Wood and Edward Hopper,
she became an assemblage artist in the early to mid 1980's with a series
of artwork entitled, "American Liberty." In the last three years,
she has expanded her visual vocabulary to include images such as telephone
poles as a symbol for religious crosses and sheep as a symbol for humanity.
(right: Mystery, oil and assemblage on canvas, 36 x 40 inches)
S
ocial
commentary has become a focal point of Mary's work. One of her best known
works is titled, "American Liberty Upside Down." This is a family
portrait with an outline for a missing child: she fiercely opposes abortion.
The end of the millenium doesn't frighten this artist a bit. She feels that
she has gone to the edge, looked beyond and brought back her own vision.
"The future is what we will make it. And we make the future now, depending
on how we deal with the problems we have now." (left: Eroded
Values, 1999, oil on wood, 30 x 80 inches)
"Landscapes from the Edge" is on display at the
Montage Gallery at 925 S. Charles Street in Baltimore.
Read more columns on Maryland, Virginia
and District of Columbia Art by Ann Erskine in Resource
Library Magazine
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Mitch
recently curated a show of works by the artist Mary Cate-Carroll. The show
is entitled "Landscapes from the Edge" and features large oil
paintings of what Mary calls "metaphysical landscapes." These
include realistic scenes of fields and roads and cityscapes punctuated with
flaming skies, cracked earth surfaces, and strangely looming street signs
and billboards. The paintings' frames are covered with mixed media: plastic
miniature warriors, toy parts, dollhouse furniture, etc. The frames are
then painted with metallic colors and become part of the artwork. The centerpiece
of the exhibit is an antique door with a painting titled "Eroded Values"
(see below) filling the place in the door where a window might be.
The landscape in the painting features a city silhouetted on a horizon that's
aflame with sunset. Off-center in the foreground is a sheep standing between
cracks in the earth, symbolizing humanity. (left: Ponder,
oil and assemblage on wood, 45 x 45 inches)
