Local Artist Showcases “Out of the Blue” at SJU Gallery

PHILADELPHIA (October 30, 2015) – Artist Bruce Pollock will exhibit his collection of exclusively blue paintings, “Out of the Blue,” at Saint Joseph’s University Gallery from Nov. 9 – Dec. 5. The pieces use the color blue as a window for reflection on the order of the universe and humanity’s place within it. 

Pollock employed the color white and shades of indigo blue pigment to paint geometric patterns and structures derived from natural and mathematical sources on each of his five pieces. His imagery references energy fields, cellular architecture, constellated starlight and atomic matrixes as well as earthly landscapes.

“Blue references the sky and the seas; it is the foremost color of our ‘blue planet,’” Pollock says. “[It] represents the infinite ‘blue yonder’ and infers verisimilitude as ‘true blue.’ My goal is to express the spiritual dimensions of nature by uniting the far reaches of cosmic space and the inner reaches of macro space.”

Pollock has exhibited his abstract art for over 30 years. He has held solo exhibitions in cities including New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Shenzhen, China. His works have also been featured in collections at local institutions including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Pollock received a B.F.A. in painting from the Cleveland Institute of Art in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1976, and an M.F.A. in painting from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, Pa. in 1978. Pollock is a professor at Temple University, where he has been teaching for 20 years.

“Pollock gives great depth to his work by adeptly mixing a myriad of shades of blue,” says SJU Associate Gallery Directory Jeanne Bracy. “His pieces are reminiscent of varying facets of nature: cellular formations, light seeping to the depth of the sea and the vastness of space.”

A gallery talk will be held on Tuesday Nov. 10, 11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Saint Joseph’s University Gallery is located on the second floor of Merion Hall on the James J. Maguire ’58 Campus at 355 N. Latches Lane in Merion Station, Pa. A campus map may be viewed online at www.sju.edu/map. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m., and most Saturdays, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. The gallery will be closed for Thanksgiving break, Nov. 25-29. For more information, call 610-660-1845 or visit the gallery website at http://www.sju.edu/gallery.