Radius Gallery at Arc Stages presents new work by Jed Weissberg.
Jed Weissberg
On the Beach: New Paintings
March 2 through May 3, 2025
Radius Gallery at Arc Stages
147 Wheeler Ave., Pleasantville, NY
Opening Reception: Sunday, March 2, 1 – 4 pm
Radius Gallery, the exhibition space at Arc Stages in Pleasantville, New York, is pleased to present new work by artist Jed Weissberg. The exhibit will run from March 2, 2025, through May 3, 2025. An opening reception will be held
on Sunday, March 2, between 1 and 4 pm.
Weissberg was initially trained in the discipline of traditional 19th-century academic painting but eventually found those techniques no longer held “truth” for him. He began using watercolors/gouache when he realized the intensity
of pigments and the lightness of the material felt more contemporary to him. He started incorporating frames into his paintings because he grew tired of the standard modern rectangle seen in gallery after gallery. Similarly, Weissberg
often adds an open space within his compositions for the viewer to take a selfie because he believes a worthwhile purpose for contemporary art is as a beautiful backdrop.
The On The Beach series consists of two distinct suites. The first are small paintings made with these self-assigned constraints: 1) they must be completed in two hours or less, and 2) they must be based
on something Weissberg has seen in real life. Weissberg considers these rules to be a form of freedom. The paintings are of beachgoers, museum attendees, and people in the park and are quick records of things that have amused the
artist’s eye.
The suite of large paintings started as a homage to the Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals, whose works Weissberg admires for their painterliness and joy. Hals’ characters are in these paintings, but they are no longer the black-clothed
burghers of 17th-century Haarlem. Instead, they are shown as middle-aged, scantily clothed, contemporary beachgoers in the familiar search for pleasure.
These colorful and idiosyncratic works of art are like fun-house mirrors, reflecting a familiar yet unsettling image of contemporary life.
Jed Weissberg resides in Manhattan and works out of his studio in Jersey City.
About Radius Gallery
Now in its eighth year of partnership with Arc Stages, Radius Gallery is becoming known for its thoughtful, singular approach to exhibiting work from the art community in and around Westchester County and New York City.