Portals

Portals debuted on the First Friday (including in-concert live performances) of December 2017 at the Ware Center Performing and Visual Arts location of Millersville University in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The paintings will be on exhibit throughout December 2017. Portals feature 12 abstract paintings, each titled to suggest a subject which will function as the inspiration and for a different performance while a large projected image of each painting will serve as the backdrop. Performers included dancers, singers, musicians, comedy or drama acts, all playing off each of the 12 "portals". A "portal" is my term for a verbal statement, question, description of an abstract or concrete idea, meant to be used as a launching point for a plot, poem, or construct as a performance. My images are purposely abstract allowing for creative freedom of interpretation by performers.

The Shore and More

Opening reception on First Friday, November 4th, 2016 at the Ware Center on Prince Street in Lancaster

I have always been fascinated with industrial buildings, especially abandoned sites with all of the rusted mechanical infrastructures, hardware, fixtures and signage. Having been reared in the heart of the Great Lakes, industrial boats, their rigging and well-battered hulls are also very attractive for me as an artist. It could be that my father's profession as expert tool and die maker- working all his life in machine shops and spending his leisure time sailing and maintaining boats, immersed me in a culture of tools, factories and commercial shipping and fishing surroundings. I have pursued other subject matter in recent years but finally found the opportunity to return to my " roots" in the forms and structures of my early environments.

Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations

November 2015 - The Ware Center, Millersville University, 42 South Prince Street, Lancaster, Pa.

Did you ever wonder just how many story plots there are? Or did anyone ever try to boil it down to the absolute basic possibilities? As I discovered in a chance reading of the New York Times theater pages 36 years ago, someone did - and no one since has been able to add to the basic thirty-six. I acquired the book by Georges Polti, and immediately set to painting one abstract work based on each of the thirty-six plots. I debued these works in a local gallery in the mid-seventies, but had always dreamed of creating a collaborative project involving the performing arts in reacting to my paintings and each of the situations, through dance, jazz compositions, poetry and improvisational live performances. At last, the opportunity arrived to bring this idea to fruition with the creation of the Ware Center and its director Harvey Owen. This November 7, 2014, I am creating a fresh set of the Thirty- Six Dramatic Situations Part II, with the second set of large works. As with the Part I exhibit in 2013, performers will react to situations they select and present their interpretations in front of my works or before projected images on a screen. My wish is to create unique conjunctions, surprising relationships and multi-faceted expressions with these very evocative and resonant artistic interactions.

Ware Center

November 1st, 2013 -- Ware Center. Barry Kornhauser arranged themes for the dancers, jazz musicians, and poets and actors to interpret.