‘Point, Counter-Point’ brings abstract art to Wilmington
The newest exhibit at the Delaware Art Museum, “Point, Counter-Point: Alan Soffer, Brian Dickerson, Moe Brooker” is an abstract celebration of three painters and friends with similar ideals and distinct, harmonious habits.
The museum bills the exhibit as “[bringing] together three painters - all attuned to the abstract idiom yet each with a unique vision - who explore the boundaries of what the mind can conjure and what the artist can visually portray.”
“Point, Counter-point is a good description of the work. The point is to make art, how you make the art is the counter-point. We have different approaches. It’s boring to walk into the same show and see the same work over and over again. The very point is difference,” said Moe Brooker, one of the three artists in the exhibition.
Brooker, 78, is a Korean War vet with a playfully vibrant style of art which draws heavy inspiration from a surprisingly colorful hearse he saw as a child. Through his loud, boisterous, graffiti-like paintings, he implores the viewer to listen with their eyes to his jazz-titled pieces.
“I used to go to the backside of the [Delaware] Art Museum just as the sun was coming down. Some of the most amazing colors that you will ever see exist in nature. I take my sketchbook and I go out and see the foliage and I will do draftings of those colors. Why? All my colors come from nature, I had never found a better palette than what you find in nature,” says Brooker.
“Each of these artists have had their aesthetics in some way shaped by the notion of death and mortality,” says John Thornton in his video “Exploring the Undiscovered Country, Brooker, Dickerson & Soffer at the Delaware Art Museum.”
Moe Brooker agrees, “There is a sense that something wonderful is going to happen, relative to death.”
More blatant with this theme is Alan Soffer, whose sobering works in encaustic (hot wax with pigment) have a drastically different mood. Soffer tends to work in color but was inspired by deep meditation to work in grayscale.
“Low and behold, I have to think about my death. I’m coming to the end of my life cycle here and I haven’t given any thought to this. Working in black and white seemed like an appropriate way to work for this particular concept,” says Soffer on his “Unconscious” series in the exhibit.
Soffer’s striking works provide dark conjurings under a philosophical lens. He aims to “paint the reality of the mind in wax, oil, and acrylic.”
“Hot wax in motion is actually my device of choice because I love to see what the paint can do on its own, with me at the controls, but rarely in total control,” says Soffer whose included “Lotus” series examines life, death, and the concept of consciousness.
The other featured artist is Brian Dickerson, whose somber, elusive style of extensive wood works pay homage to religious iconography through rustic symbols and grayscale color tones. With constructed paintings that “reveal a deeply felt process of exploration [of] what has been discovered and lost,” entrances viewers with their minimalist architecture but layers of meditation and memories.
"People associate color with Moe's work, but I would like to point out that, well, gray and black, they're also colors, they just don't get as much attention,” laughs Dickerson.
Dickerson creates physical noise by building upon his paintings like layers of sediment on the earth whilst exploring the idea of the seen world meeting the unseen one. He begins his process with birch wood from the lumber yard which he constructs into a flat panel.
“I may look at that panel for several days, weeks, maybe months and then start to build out the three-dimensional work. I don't do preparatory drawings, it's a process that evolves right until the very end. A lot of what happens includes pieces from previous works, it’s a continual process of recycling, destroying one part and resurrecting it into another. I never know how it's gonna end up." said Dickerson.
Dickerson, born and raised in Middleburgh, NY to two music teachers, taught at the Art Institute of Philadelphia for almost 30 years as well as adjunct teaching Drexel and Moore College of Art.
"I had an unconventional root in my art education, I was teaching drawing and art history at the Art Institute of Philadelphia but I didn't have a degree. I'm basically self-taught, I never had a traditional course in painting or drawing,” Dickerson told me.
His introduction to art was through his high school mentor, Charles Jenkhi, as well as some art history textbooks at his local public library. The turning point for him was when he visited the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Whilst studying Andrew Wyeth’s 1948 painting “Christina’s World,” he turned the corner and saw one of Ad Reinhardt’s minimalist works for the first time.
“That was like a revelation. I was responding emotionally the same with each work. I started painting traditional nocturnal landscapes but eventually took a break and that's when I started the wood constructions."
Aside from this exhibit, the Delaware Art Museum has more to offer the art enthusiast and visitor.
“We have wonderful collections of Victorian paintings and illustrations for turn-of the 20th-century book and magazines, both unique to Delaware,” says Dr. Mary F. Holahan, Curator of Illustration and the Outlooks Exhibition Series at the museum.
Founded in 1912, the museum boasts quite the selection of works by the late Delaware illustrator Howard Pyle, John Sloan, Howard Pyle, as well as an entire sculpture garden and rooms full of modern art.
“Though our comment book frequently includes some variant of ‘what a hidden gem’ - we know we’re a gem but we would like to be a lot less hidden. So, spread the word among your friends and colleagues!” says Holahan.
“Point, Counter-Point” is on view until April 29 at the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington. Tickets for student with ID is $6. Admission to the museum is free on Thursdays 4-8 p.m. and Sundays 10-4 p.m.
The exhibit brings together the abstract works of Alan Soffer, Brian Dickerson and Moe Brooker - all friends as well as retired educators. Brooker’s work (right) brings the vibrancy to the room whilst Soffer’s soft-spoken encaustics (left) give off smooth whispers to the viewer’s eyes. Photo by L. Benedict
The three artists present very unique takes on abstractions, yet are brought together through their ease of craft and symbolic interrelationships. Above, a patron observes Soffer’s works. Photo by L. Benedict
"Shortly before I came to Philadelphia, I asked my mentor, Mr. Jenkhi, 'Do you think I could be famous?' and he looked at me and said 'Son, just go do your work' which was the perfect answer. You need to be honest and evaluate your own work. Your work needs to come first, not where you're gonna show it or how are you going to sell it or how much attention you're going to get. Don't worry about the rest of it,” says Brian Dickerson. (Above: “Vromansland” by Brian Dickerson, 2014-17). Photo by L. Benedict
The Delaware Art Museum is open Thursdays 10-8 p.m. and Wednesday, Friday-Sunday 10-4 p.m. The exhibit “Point, Counter-Point” runs until April 29. Photo by L. Benedict
Video by L. Benedict