Neil Anderson (1933-2021) Earth Songs: Last Paintings

Philadelphia, PA – August 1, 2023. For our first Autumn show, Bridgette Mayer Gallery is proud to celebrate the life and artistic legacy of Neil Anderson (1933-2021) in Earth Songs: Last Paintings. The solo exhibition will be on view from Tuesday, September 5 to Saturday, October 21, 2023. On Friday, September 8th, the gallery will host a Celebration of Life from 4:30 – 5:30 pm at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Hamilton Auditorium, featuring guest speakers familiar with Anderson’s artistic practice and body of work. Immediately following from 5:30 – 7:30 pm, there will be an exhibition opening and reception at Bridgette Mayer Gallery.

Earth Songs: Last Paintings will showcase some of the strongest paintings from Anderson’s body of work, including some never-before-exhibited work and his final six paintings. In addition, the Vault will feature two etchings created in collaboration with Philadelphia print studio CR Ettinger Studio and a curated collection of the watercolors and works on paper that Anderson painted throughout his career.

This exhibition will be a celebration of Anderson’s Earth Songs series, which in turn was a celebration of nature and the earth. Anderson’s process-driven approach to painting was instinctual and improvisational, building on forms and layers until the relationship between parts became complex and interdependent. His work is celebrated for its strong composition and intuitive color use. Anderson once stated:

“Each painting in the [Earth Songs] series is a unique song that celebrates the earth, the ground under our feet. Each of these paintings begins without a preconceived idea of the direction it will take…Ultimately, the meaning of the painting arises from the unexpected occurrences of formal arrangement that happen in the process of working toward a conclusion where all the parts become interdependent.”

About the Artist:
Neil Anderson (1933-2021) was a contemporary painter heavily inspired by the natural landscape surrounding his studio in rural central Pennsylvania. He described his work as non-representational rather than abstract and explained that after the initial drawing, the emerging colors, textures and shapes are all improvised. The meaning of the painting arises from the unexpected occurrences of formal arrangement that happen in the process of working toward a conclusion where all the parts will become interdependent.

Anderson received his MFA from the University of Iowa and later became a long-time professor of art at Bucknell University, teaching there for 41 years and retiring in 1999. Neil Anderson primarily worked in oil and watercolor, with occasional forays into printmaking and on-site projects focused on the environment and natural phenomena.

His work has been featured in notable group exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and exhibited in numerous solo shows in Philadelphia, New York, and Washington D.C. His work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, and Temple University’s Fox School of Business among others.

Anderson has been featured in such publications as The New York Times, Art in America, Arts Magazine, ARTnews, and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Exhibition information: Neil Anderson (1933-2021) Earth Songs: Last Paintings will be on view from Tuesday, September 5 to Saturday, October 21, 2023 at Bridgette Mayer Gallery. On Friday, September 8, Bridgette Mayer Gallery will host a Celebration of Life at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts’ Hamilton Auditorium, 118 N. Broad Street, Historic Landmark Building, 1st floor, Philadelphia, PA 19102, from 4:30 – 5:30 pm. Immediately following, there will be an exhibition opening & reception at Bridgette Mayer Gallery until 7:30 pm.

Gallery information: Bridgette Mayer Gallery is free and open to the public. We are located at 709 Walnut Street, 1st Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Gallery hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 10:00am – 5:00pm.

For further information, please contact Julia Carita at: jcarita@bmayerart.com.