Ben Aronson on Exhibit at the Ann Norton by Marty Karlin

Renowned art historian, Donald Kuspit, writes of Aronson’s paintings, “Ben Aronson paints the urban scene, but, more to the esthetic point, his paintings are eloquently urbane: not just painterly, but suavely painterly.” His representation of the modern city is not simply a laundry list of architectural landmarks, but rather the distillation into something deeper, reflecting the mood of our time. Our city centers have changed, they are now more sophisticated, and, dare I say, elegant—as seen by Aronson in his gesture– ever moving, luscious and generous paint handling.
Abstraction and the idea of the “signature gesture” was the hallmark of the action painters of the New York School, while the Bay Area Figurative painters combined abstraction with representation in San Francisco. It is no coincidence that Aronson feels at home painting these cities. His own language of mark making is derived from a synthesis of both these schools of painting, thoughtfully filtered through his own experience and sensibility. Having studied with Philip Guston and James Weeks, Aronson comes by this honestly. From a generous viewing distance these paintings are realistic, almost photorealistic. However, as the viewer approaches, the paintings dematerialize into abstractions, made up of fast brushstrokes, splashes and scratches that spell out his own poetic signature.
Aronson paints the air between buildings, cars, foreground and distance so convincingly that one could say, his real subject is light. The inky, burgundy shadows of New York, as seen from the balcony of the famous Hammerstein Suite, “Reflected Dawn Above Madison”, the sun drenched vista of San Francisco’s, “Angel Island from Russian Hill”, and the subtle, sensual grays that bathe Paris, as in “La Tour d’ Argent”—all distinct and all unmistakably unique.
A new layer of complexity, social realism, has been thoughtfully and provocatively added to Aronson’s already wide range of subject matter. Many book and films have been based on the Financial Crisis of our times, however, fine art has all but ignored this subject, regarding it as a third rail to be avoided for fear of alienating a major collector base, one reason these paintings will out live the powerful men of this era, who brought the world to the brink of ruin. Ben Aronson, “Whose scenes of the New York Stock Exchange floor in particular reveal one of the most energized and sophisticated brushes in the country. His high-contrast tones, boldly thick paint and slashing marks perfectly mirror the fast-moving, high-powered and high-tech world.”, writes Daniel Kany of the Portland Press. The ubiquitous Bloomberg monitors of the NYSE appear as though they are actually illuminated and electrified, as opposed to being painted. Upon viewing these paintings, one can easily imagine this is the way Rembrandt or Vermeer would have painted a computer monitor. The glow of Aronson’s Wall Street traders in “Closing Bell” and “Selling on the News” are not unlike the lighted faces of the 17th century financier in Rembrandt’s “Money Changer”. Faces strongly illuminated by the glow of the technology of their day, the candle for Rembrandt and the computer monitor for Aronson.
Mr. Aronson, who received both his B.A. and M.F.A. in painting from Boston University, has been the recipient of The American Academy of Arts & Letters Childe Hassam Painting Prize, and four National Academy of Design Awards. He has enjoyed 19 solo exhibitions and has lectured graduate school seminars at Harvard. His works are widely collected, both nationally and internationally, most notably the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the DeYoung Museum, San Francisco and The Suzhou Museum of Art, China.
These 30 paintings, both large and small in scale, will be on exhibition through Sunday, February 10th at The Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens in West Palm Beach.u