BOARDWALK AND BEYOND | Artworks by GARY SCHWARTZ

Traverse your childlike wonder with Gary Schwartz through his repertoire of bright nostalgia and odes to pure fun. Inspired by the imagery of history and motivated by tutorials right from the archives of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Schwartz is vivid in his revival of realism. During his tenure at the Met, Schwartz mingled with records of artists’ past and mused on their works. As society blurs into what we used to recognize, we can find solace and even hope in the honesty of photo-realistic Coney Island as pictured by Schwartz. Let go of your ego as you revel in the solace of simplicity, which is anything but mundane. Striking colors and psychedelic shadow-play will remind you of safety and fate as possible through only the eyes of a child. With Coney Island as his canvas, Schwartz celebrates the resilience of art as a purpose. Be reminded of what your soul beckons to when the style of Schwartz washes over you at Beyond the Boardwalk.

Gary Schwartz is a native New Yorker, having been reared by the trill reality of an everyday theme park, which creates a return to realism we did not know we craved. This realism starkly contrasts from former depictions of simplicity through the landmark of color. A clear proximity to the divine is seen in the juxtaposition of carnivalesque monoliths with each subject in each painting. Inspired by the works of Richard Estes, Audrey Flack, Ralph Goings, and Chuck Close, Schwartz elaborates on what it means play through the lens of having lived. While the paintings do not present an obvious jadedness, imperfect beauty amalgamates in the ideal muse. The homage to Rembrandt echoes the spirit of drama in Spotlights. Subjects at the forefront of some paintings appear shaded in comparison to the prismatic wonders of Luna Park as if a family portrait is a finite hum-bug amongst a never-ending dream. Experiencing the artist’s reminiscence of his life and his person grows in universality to our own core memories.

We invite you to question the dialogue with senseless existence and ponder your essence in the glory of the ordinary and the camp. Attempt to absolve yourself of the pressure to be human by witnessing Schwartz’s recollection. Schwartz creates a callback to currency with his work through the attribute of liminality. Almost as if tricking the viewer, the works expand upon themselves when you summon your distancing from the works, both physically and emotionally. The choice of photo-realism in tango with Schwartz’s technique creates a symphony of medium which toys with the audience such that the audience exists in the kernel of play. Each piece is inherently cunning because you are not looking at a photograph, but a memory. It is simple to become a child again when succumbing to the trip of Beyond the Boardwalk.

Text by Gabriela Sartan, @gsartan