Local Art Seen--Jay Whitcomb's Demons & Angels: Moments of Clarity @ the PROVE

I missed the opening, but had an opportunity to check out Jay Whitcomb's Demons and Angels: Moments of Clarity during Friday's Downtown Artwalk.

Whitcomb is originally from Bristol, Connecticut,. His mother was did portraiture, watercolor and painting, so from an early age he was fairly immersed in art. He went on to study at the Pennsylvania Aacademy of the Fine Arts, focusing there on the human figure, drawing, painting and printmaking, as well as animal rendering, themes which continue to appear in his work.

This show features recent work created in response to "personal hardship, interior demons, and a journey to rock bottom and back." Many of the images are disturbing while beautifully rendered. In the accompanying statement about the show Whitcomb states, "There is ugliness found in beauty and a beauty that hides behind ugliness."

In some ways the work reminded me a Dali and of Francis Bacon, but only as echoes. It stands alone as the unique work of the craftsman Jay Whitcomb.

This show will be coming down this Friday, March 1.