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In
Frank Galuszka's painting Between Amherst and Delphi a blond
girl and a mysterious dark woman in a chinese hat exchange
a bejeweled orb surmounted by a cross. The transcendentalist
interaction takes place outdoors (at the Wissahickon, if
the title of another version of this painting holds for
this one), among lilies, tiny mushrooms and a cacophony
of other growing things. The margins of the scene dissolve
into a dazzle of light and golden color enhanced by mirrors,
creating a tunnel-like composition which draws us into the
picture.. The paintings I liked best as a child created
worlds with a mass of detail suggestive of the visually
complex world we actually inhabit. I would have been fascinated
by Amherst and Delphi then as I am now. Galuszka's creation
is hardly naive - it includes allusions for the literati
- but its central messages are accessible to anyone who
takes the time to look and think. In The Crickets, a mountain
of gold, lacy foliage and phosphorescent fungi both conceals
and generates a pair of figures, once again involved in
a cryptic exchangeÉ. Galuszka's concern for color, representation
and pure pyrotechnics reminds us of what traditional Western
painting is all about.
Robin Rice, Philadelphia City Paper
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