Thursday, September 20, 2007

Valley House Gallery and Sculpture Center presents Bob Stuth-Wade’s “Born by Water”

By Pegasus News wire

Photo provided by Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Center

Bob Stuth-Wade, Born By Water 2005 acrylic on linen

Valley House Gallery is pleased to present our 7th exhibition of paintings by Texas painter, Bob Stuth-Wade. Over the last three years, Stuth-Wade has expanded his plein-air painting sites to include the Bahamas, County Mayo, Ireland, and the Texas Gulf Coast (where he spent his childhood but has never painted.)

In explanation of this show, Born by Water, Stuth-Wade writes,

We spend our first nine months comfortably submerged, following mother-rhythms, sleeping to the liquid sound of breathing and heartbeat. The sea of origin is forever in us. These paintings of Nassau, Western Ireland, and Texas are a remembrance of that and of a childhood spent roaming the Corpus Christi beaches, breathing fish-scented air, and taking it all for granted.

At Nassau Harbor the water rivals the air for clarity. Ships of size float at ease. In dry dock are boats in different stages of repair with their hulls exposed, out of their element, beautiful in their arrested utility. Most are working boats, rough and marred by use and the elements. ‘Born By Water’ is the title of a series of paintings of one of these. It is a simple blue boat casting a long rich shadow on a sunny afternoon. It rests in unaccustomed stillness, an inadvertent monument to a broken spirit being repaired. A boat is functional because of its emptiness. A person is at their best when empty of self concern. "The mystic swims in the same water the psychotic drowns in" because life best supports those who are empty enough to float.

Stuth-Wade chooses his subjects according to his psychological response to certain places rather than a desire to photographically render what lies before him. His deep connection to his subjects has been evident in his work since his first exhibition at Valley House in 1991. Over 50 paintings and watercolors will be on view during this exhibition.

Source: Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Center

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