"Canton Museum exhibits down to earth and out of this world," by Tom Wachunas
…. If da Vinci could have painted the subject matter we see in the work of Eileen McConkey, would he have invented Abstract Expressionism, or Color Field Painting?
"Looking Up: Paintings by Eileen McConkey," on view through March 23 (2008) in the museum's Education Gallery, is a show all about space - outer space. McConkey's acrylic paintings on raw canvas are based on pictures transmitted from deep space by NASA's Hubble telescope. There's a remarkable duality at work in her paintings. On one level they're successful exercises in pure abstraction. On another, they're skillful displays of spectacular, naturalistic realism.
Walking into the gallery, one could easily sense being a passenger on a space shuttle. The paintings might well be portholes through which the visual glories of the solar system are visible.
Several of her paintings here are ingenious constructions - one circle embedded in a larger, outer circle - to convey a moon against the background of a planet. All of the paintings demonstrate a deft orchestration of textures and dazzling, fluid colors that dance and pulse.
Music of the spheres indeed, while McConkey's visions are other-worldly, they are non-the-less every bit as monumental and haunting as the "Mona Lisa." These are portraits of the edge of infinity.
