Brightman and Lister soak up the scenery at Judith Klein Gallery

“Well they say black is all colors at once so I gave it my red rage, my yellow streak, the greenest parts of me. And my blues, I knew just what I had to do.”

Bill Callahan

The current exhibition at the Judith Klein Gallery features the paintings of two elder statesmen of the regional art scene with some commonalities in theme but with wildly different and complimentary styles and approaches.

Milton Brightman’s paintings are lush with vibrant color and exacting detail. They are nearly all landscapes of some sort, be they dense city images, bucolic forest scenes, or nautical views.

Snowscapes, whispers of spring, crowded beaches, and autumn foliage make Brightman a man — and a painter — for all seasons.

In “The Brush Burners,” Brightman depicts a large group of men — state workers without a doubt — tossing logs onto a roaring massive bonfire. Seemingly in a frenzy, they move about the flames as if pagan celebrants, making offerings to ancient goddess of the equinox. Only the presence of a truck in the background and a chainsaw in the hands of one of the men place it in something akin the contemporary.

While the vast majority of the paintings Brightman displays in this exhibit are of very recent vintage, one dates back to 1993. And it is a stunner.

“The Hurricane Barrier in Winter” shows a man (Brightman himself) and his canine companion walking along the top of New Bedford’s dike in an era well before it was considered a safe place for a scenic stroll and outfitted with streetlamps, park benches and railings.

The waves are choppy and threatening but the tonality of the painting is nothing but cool. Even with soft black, baby blue and ash gray predominating much the composition, Brightman gives into an insistence that soft yellow, powdery green and the palest of pink be heard.

In the background, smokestacks, church spires and tenement buildings rise.

Brightman’s influences include not only van Gogh and early 20th century American realists such as Thomas Hart Benton and George Bellows, but also the underground comix artist R. Crumb and Marvel Comics creator Jack Kirby.

The influence of Crumb and Kirby is clearly evident in “The Beach,” certain to be a delight to those familiar with his paintings and drawings of crowds in local barrooms, on Boston streets or in Fenway Park.

Embracing a “comic-booky” approach, it is a mob scene among the dunes and boardwalks of Horseneck Beach featuring a couple of guys tossing a football, vigilant lifeguards, buxom babes in bikinis and a plethora of swimmers, sunbathers, sad sacks, senior citizens, sleepers, sandpipers and French fry-stealing seagulls. One can almost smell the cocoa butter.

Ron Lister’s work is leaner, visually speaking. He displays a number of paintings of New Zealand landmarks. “Mitre Mountain #1” depicts an iconic peak near South Island and Lister shows it as a living entity, its top appears as a gaping maw.

“The Remarkables, New Zealand” is Lister’s rather sensual takes on a mountain range on South Island on the shore of Lake Wakaputi. One peak in particular appears particularly fleshy against the green and purple mountains to its side. There are curves, recesses and forms that mimic the human body.

Lister also displays a number of nudes and there is a clear connection between them and the landscapes. Hips, bellies, buttocks, breasts and shoulders attain a certain majesty, as if the women and men depicted were the deities of antiquity. And with but a minor fumble or two, it works.

The paintings of Milton Brightman and Ron Lister will be on display at the Judith Klein Art Gallery, 127 W. Rodney French Blvd., Door #31, New Bedford through Oct, 5.

Don Wilkinson is a painter and art critic who lives in New Bedford. Contact him at Don.Wilkinson@gmail.com. His reviews run each week in Coastin’.

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