Scratching the Surface
July 15 - August 26, 2023

Hrusovksy is one of the gallery’s most popular artists, and the show celebrates his thirty-year connection with Craven Allen, both as an exhibiting artist and gallery director.  For over twenty years, Hrusovsky found exciting artists to exhibit in the new gallery space, putting the gallery on the map, and helping to ensure its early success.

The paintings in Scratching the Surface showcase the diversity of Hrusovksy’s subjects and techniques, ranging from the figurative to the abstract.  All feature the luscious surface textures and color harmonies for which the artist is well known.

“Art should be fun and exciting to look at,” says Hrusovsky. “There is nothing more sensual than making marks through wet paint. Mixing, glazing, scraping, all the physical aspects of creating art, comfort my soul.”

A Triangle gallery staple for over four decades, and an outspoken arts advocate, Hrusovsky’s work is in major public and private collections.

STATEMENT

When I was 12 years old, until I was 21, I worked at Imperial Display, a thriving store on Main Street in Wheeling, West Virginia. The shop was full of plastic flowers from Japan, and during Christmas boasted a Holiday Tree Land. Nothing local could rival this display of everything plastic with decorated trees in all colors. One had a snow machine attached to the middle and a skirt below would collect the plastic snow and recycle it. I decorated trees, made wreaths, palm trees for luaus, and arrangements for tables--and even for graves. My boss, the store’s founder Isadore Mendolson, added craft and teacher’s supplies. Since the new products didn’t come with displays, Isadore told me to take whatever materials I needed to create store samples. I worked with papier mache, resin casting, jewelry, and all sorts of paper crafts in the studio my dad built for me at home off my bedroom.  I became familiar with myriad products, and had no fear of mixing them together to create all sorts of interesting pieces for the store.

My familiarity with materials, working on so many different projects, has led to my current paintings. I crave variety in both my subject matter and technique. I’m drawn to bold shapes and bright colors.  I am inspired by the work of David Hockney, Keith Haring, Norman LaLiberte, and Stacy Crabill. Folk and religious art has always appealed to me, and unusual objects I’ve collected often find their way into my work.

Art should be fun and exciting to look at. There is nothing more sensual than making marks through wet paint. Mixing, glazing, scraping, and all the physical aspects of creating art comforts my soul.