The Cooley Gallery is very proud to announce “Painting the Figure,” an exhibition and sale of figure paintings by Jerry Weiss.  
 
This summer the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts comes alive with programs designed to get hibernating artists back to the easel.  One of the offerings is a life drawing class taught by well-known artist Jerry Weiss. Here at The Cooley Gallery we thought it would be a great opportunity for Jerry's students and the rest of us to enjoy his very unique and powerful figurative paintings with this exhibition of his figurative works.
 
Jerry comes from a family of artists. His father was a celebrated cartoonist and his mother a painter. While Jerry paints beautiful landscapes he always returns to rendering the human figure. As a young artist and with his parents support he dedicated six years to the study of the human form.  "My goal was to create a visual diary that would be a pictorial of family and friends. Then, as now, I am intrigued by the portrait as a most sacred subject." Through rich paint application and both intuitive and intellectual editing, Jerry's subjects pulse with vitality. "I work from life. I like to paint fairly large and rapidly."  Capturing a moment or a mood with laser-like insight Jerry subjects present themselves to the viewer with a singular clarity.
 
Jerry Weiss is also known to many as an accomplished painter of portraits, a published writer, wordsmith and teacher. "Anyone who's taken Jerry's classes admire him for his clarity, insight and wit," said a former student.
 
Jerry has had numerous solo exhibitions in museums and galleries. He teaches figure drawing and painting year-round at the Art Students League of New York and leads intensive workshops around the country.  Jerry instructed at the Lyme Academy College for fifteen years and is a Contributing Editor for The Artist's Magazine for which he writes features and the 'Master Class' column.
 
This exhibition of a dozen figure paintings and drawings will be on view at 25 Lyme Street through August 15th. There will be an opening reception Wednesday, July 15th from 4-6 p.m. The public is welcome.
 
Come visit the gallery, and wake up your inner artist by checking out what’s happening down the street at the Lyme Academy, www.lymeacademy.edu.

Founded in 1981 and located in the heart of historic Old Lyme, the Cooley Gallery specializes in fine American paintings from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, including the Hudson River School, American Impressionism, and select contemporary artists. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 10am to 5pm. Please call (860) 434-8807 or email us info@cooleygallery.com for additional information.