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West Gallery: September 27 – November 9, 2024
Opening Reception: Friday, September 27, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
In-person Artist Talk: Friday, October 25, 6:30 PM
Obscuration Series
What is sacrificed in ‘static’ description is that infinitely complex association among words and concepts without which we would lack any sense at all that we have understood anything of the infinite abundance of reality. * Werner Heisenberg
This Obscuration Series was conceived after a 2016 hike in “Dog Town”, Gloucester, Massachusetts where there are a group of boulders with words cut into them. Roger Babson hired out of work Scandinavian stonecutters in 1928 to carve into each, words and phrases he considered to be Yankee/American values. His choices were interesting to me, especially in lieu of this country’s political climate. In choosing ten of these “word values”, I began an examination of lost or obscured meaning and the possibility of expressing visually, the tensions between the static and the dynamic. What happens when words lose depth of meaning and the uses become careless and appropriated for destructive reasons?
In these paintings, the words are obscured by mark-making to various degrees. The color and materiality of the paint and brushwork convey their own language and participate in both covering up and responding to the graphic nature of the text. The color palettes and compositions provide a dynamism in relationship to the words and their lost vitality.
This project is beginning to include canvases with the words or phrases repeated as exemplified by, Obscuration: BE TRUE x 6. While, so far, the word choices are Roger Babson’s, there will be paintings that have words that diverge from his.
Susan Bogle Finnegan
September 2024
*William Egginton, Quantum Poetics: How Borges and Heisenberg converged on the notion that language both enables and interferes with our grasp of reality. (essay)
Susan Bogle Finnegan was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She received her B.A. from
Smith College and her MFA in Painting from Hartford Art School, University of Hartford
where she was awarded the Regent’s Award. Finnegan’s work has been exhibited
throughout New England, in Louisville, Kentucky and included in an international
exhibition, Mainz, Germany. She has been represented by LaMotta Fine Art, Hartford CT,
Zephyr Gallery, Louisville KY, and Barrett Fine Art, Fairfield CT. Reviews of Finnegan’s
work can be found in Art New England, The Hartford Courant, The Valley Press and The
Country and Abroad. She was awarded a residency at the Vermont Studio Center and has
been a visiting artist and professor at the University of Louisville, Kentucky and Trinity
College, Hartford Connecticut.. Now retired, Finnegan was an Adjunct Professor at the
Hartford Art School (2001- 2023) and a part-time Visiting Professor Trinity College
(2006 – 2022). Finnegan lives and works in West Hartford/Hartford and Little Compton,
Rhode Island.
In addition to being a painter, Finnegan has been writing poetry and participating in
poetry workshops for thirty-five years. She was the recipient of a Lila Wallace Voice
Award while living in Kentucky. Also, Finnegan founded and directed the RI Poetry
Conference in Little Compton, RI. Poems of hers are included in an anthology published
by Open Field Press, MA.
I paint because I must. Painting is my life; everything else is secondary. Process is the most important part of my painting. Through the process, you can see the art.
When painting, you have to be humble enough to respect your subconscious. The most sophisticated thing in the human brain is being humble to the unknown. When you start thinking rationally or reasoning you are further away from painting. Trust yourself and things will come to you at the right moment. An artist’s strength lies in respecting the mystery of creation. I believe the painting exists before I put paint to canvas. It’s my job to bring it to life.
Zbigniew Grzyb
zbigniewgrzyb@hotmail.com zgrzyb.com @zbigniewagrzyb
Born: 1943, Przemyśl, Poland
EDUCATION
1965-1971 Academy of Fine Art, Krakow, Poland
AWARDS/GRANTS
2008 New Boston Fund Individual Artist Fellowship
2001 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant
2001 Individual Artist Grant, Greater Hartford Arts Council
1984-85 Blanche E. Colman Grant, Boston, MA
SELECTED ONE-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2023 By the River, West Hartford Art League, CT
2018 A New Reality, Five Points Gallery, Torrington, CT
2016 Gateway Crossing, Barnes-Franklin Galler, Farmington, CT
2015 Zbigniew Grzyb : Recent Painting, Brick Walk Fine Art, West Hartford, CT
2014 The Italian Paintings. Brick Walk Fine Art, West Hartford, CT
2012 Zbigniew Grzyb. Immamura Gallery, Krakow, Poland.
2011 Zbigniew Grzyb : A Retrospective. Manchester Community College, CT
Branch/Sky Series. Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT
2010 The National Museum in Przemyśl, Poland
The Radiant Line, Brick Walk Fine Art, West Hartford, CT
2009 Paintings, The Landmark Gallery, Tarrytown, NY
2006 Art in the Heart of the City, New Britain City Hall, New Britain, CT
2004 Recent Work, Paesaggio Gallery, West Hartford, CT
2001 NEW/NOW, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT
1999 Works on Paper—A Ten Year Retrospective, Paesaggio Gallery, West Hartford, CT
1996 Recent Paintings, Paesaggio Gallery, Canton, CT
1995 Gateway Crossing: Black Paintings, CCSU, New Britain, CT
1991 Inaugural Exhibition, Paesaggio Gallery, Hartford, CT
1989 University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT
1986 The Art Guild, Farmington, CT
1983 New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 From the Vault: Post-War to Contemporary Art, New Britain Museum of American Art, CT
2017 Black & White, The Cooley Gallery, Old Lyme, CT
2015 Zbigniew Grzyb & Grant Frost. Reynolds Fine Art, New Haven, CT
2014 Wielka Wystawa Z.P.A.P. w Rzeszowie, BWA, Rzeszow, Poland
Pure Abstraction : The Work of Zbigniew Grzyb and Gregory West. Reynolds Fine Art, New Haven, CT
2009 Current Connecticut, Paper New England at ArtSpace, Hartford, CT
2008 Speak to Me: Connecticut Biennial, Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, CT
2004 10 Years at 100 Pearl, 100 Pearl Gallery, Hartford, CT
2001 Collecting at Paesaggio: A Tenth Anniversary Celebration, Paesaggio
Gallery, West Hartford, CT
1997 Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT (three-person exhibition)
1996 Notewell, ARTSPACE, New Haven, CT
1994 Zbigniew Grzyb & Tom Doyle, 100 Pearl Gallery, Hartford, CT
1992 Times 3, Aetna Gallery, Hartford, CT
1991 Ten for Ten, Paesaggio Gallery, Hartford, CT
1987 Inaugural Exhibition, Bayless Gallery, Norfolk, CT
1982 Paean to Spring, Saltbox Gallery, West Hartford, CT
1978-79 Ellsworth Gallery, Simsbury, CT
1974-78 Zarick Gallery, Farmington, CT
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Connecticut Artists Collection, Hartford, CT
New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT
The William Benton Museum of Art, Storrs, CT
Loomis Chaffee School, Windsor, CT
Charter Communications, Stamford, CT
Conning & Company, Hartford, CT
Northeast Savings Corporate Headquarters, Hartford, CT
Hoberman & Pollack, Hartford, CT
WFSB Channel 3, Hartford, CT
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Patricia Rosoff. “Innocent Eye: A Passionate Look at Art”, Tupelo Press, 2013
Catlin, Roger. “Two Abstract Shows at Real Art Ways”, The Hartford Courant, April 21,
2011
Steve Starger. “Physical Culture,”Art New England, December 2003 / January 2004
Owen McNally. “Triumph and Tragedy,” The Hartford Courant, September 17, 2001
Michael Rush. “Zbigniew Grzyb: Works on Paper,” Art New England. Oct/Nov, 1999
Steve Starger. “The DNA of Art, Gallery Celebrates Relationship with Artist,” Journal
Inquirer, July 23, 1999
BIBLIOGRAPHY continued
Matt Damsker. “Edgy Art Inhabits Foundry,” The Hartford Courant, February,1999
William Zimmer. “A Glimpse of Contemporary Taste,” The New York Times, February
25, 1996
Jude Schwendenwien. “The Fleeting Beauty of a Mandala,” The Hartford Courant,
February 4, 1996
Patricia Rosoff. Catalogue essay. Central Connecticut State University exhibition, 1995
William Zimmer. “Group Show That’s a ‘Bit of Incandescence,’” The New York Times,
June 28, 1992
Vivien Raynor. “A New Gallery in Hartford Offers Varied Works by 10 Artists,” The New York Times, August 11, 1991
