“Sunday Morning” ~ Oil by Kevin Quigley

“The Fish” ~ Oil by Morel Pagano

Left: “Pandora's Box” ~ Mixed Media by Liz Nicklus
Right: “Elevator Man.” ~ Mixed Media by Carl Johnson

Paintings and sculpture by artists Morel Pagano,Kevin Quigley, Liz Nicklus and Carl Johns will be on exhibition this month. Together, they are “Loose Constellations.” Loose as in “Loose as a goose,” as in “all hell broke loose,” as in Wordsworth’s “Loose types of things, through all degrees.” As for “Constellations,” well, to quote the 1964 edition of the World Book Encyclopedia: “For thousands of years, man has used his knowledge of the constellations to guide himself from place to place during journeys over the surface of the earth. See STAR.”

Morel Pagano has been the recipient of many awards and honors with work featured in both group and solo exhibitions and his work is in a growing number of private and public collections. Pagano uses his distinctly Italian sensibility to create unique and shimmering paintings in a style that constantly evolves. Pagano studied painting at Fleisher Art Memorial and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts under Franklin Watkins, Morris Blackburn and Jack Levine.

Kevin Quigley comes to painting from a background in comics and cartooning. His daring, demanding and exuberant tales have appeared in comics magazines and books throughout the world. As a painter, his work has been shown in group and solo exhibitions in New Jersey, Philadelphia and New York. Like his comics work, Quigley’s paintings can be viewed as metaphysical comedies, unexpected and deeply felt.

Liz Nicklus is an award winning mosaic and mixed media artist. She enjoys surprising viewers by pushing the limits by incorporating non-traditional materials into traditional mediums. The pieces themselves are gorgeously American hybrids. Nicklus began her career as a traditional oil painter and watercolorist, studying at Stockton State College, Ridgewood School of Art, Fleisher Art Memorial, and with Pat Witt at the Barn Studio of Art and also with mosaic artist, Isaiah Zagar.

Carl B. Johnson has been called a “twisted Hopper” and dubbed “outlaw artist.” He has exhibited extensively through the Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia region. Know primarily as a representational painter, Carl’s paintings obscure the lines between Abstract Expressionism and Contemporary Impressionism. His most recent works consist of found objects and mixed media; three-dimensional, sculptural artworks with hidden (and not-so-hidden) messages. And by the way, what’s that smell?