John Petach

River Town

"Though I spent many formative years here, in June 2012 I attempted to re-explore Lambertville and the Delaware river; to try to see it with fresh eyes.  This effort to approach a place which is so familiar to me and imbued with such strong emotions, was naturally not without difficulty. Lambertville is so full of meaning for me.  I grew up here, learned to ride a bike here, fell in love and got married here.  I have family here and make a pilgrimage here at least once a year.  More than anything, a large part of me still considers it home.  Deep familiarity with a place can make it very hard to truly see it.   It’s like when someone visits your home for the first time and asks you about some object in the living room that you hadn’t noticed for years."

                                                                         -John Petach

The mentors that I’ve had throughout my formal training have helped to develop and strengthen this narrative.  While at Rutgers University, two professors strongly inspired me; Leon Gollub as he transitioned from portraits of Francisco Franco in death to bold terrorism paintings and Lloyd McNeill with his primitive influenced works.  The primal themes in their work showed me a powerful language which I still use in my art today.

Reception this Saturday, April 20 @ 3pm.

April 19 - June 2