Artist Brings Energy of Van Gogh to New Show

Jim Porter, a Clinton Hill-based artist, is opening his show, “Where Has van Gogh Gone?,” this Saturday in the nabe. (Photo by Jim Porter)

Jim Porter’s art is full of energy, frozen in time, if only for a moment. The Clinton Hill-based artist has been preserving it on a blank canvas since 1967. And on Feb. 15, he opens a new show that explores how art can continue past the limitations of a canvas.

“These things pour on the page like rain,” Porter said. “Things get smaller on the page as if they’re approaching infinity.”

The show, entitled “Where Has van Gogh Gone?” explores where van Gogh’s works may have gone if his brush strokes continued on forever – as if “Starry Night” never ended, Porter said. The pieces attempt to show what happens beyond the stars, into the galactic universe. He’s not comparing himself to van Gogh, but said he is attempting to extend the post-Impressionist painter’s work into the unknown.

“My work is full of the rhythm, flowing motion and feeling of music, and is placed out among the galaxies, under the influence of gravity and other forces of the cosmos,” Porter said.

The show features four of Porter’s original works, three of which are black-and-white acrylic paintings on paper.

Two of the paintings – “Music of the Spheres” and “Out of the Box” – feature a piano keyboard going diagonally across the page, going on forever in each direction, according to Porter.

“Out of the Box” features hurricanes and tornadoes to represent “monstrous” amounts of energy. (Photo by Jim Porter)

“It’s all about the energy and feeling that comes out of music,” Porter said. “The flowing marks represent outer space.”

“Out of the Box” also features tornadoes and hurricanes. Porter said it’s his attempt to convey a “monstrous amount of energy” on the canvas.

“Music of the Spheres” features a piano going across the canvas diagonally, seemingly never-ending. (Photo by Jim Porter)

His color piece, “Hombre,” is not quite taken for its literal meaning.

“It’s the feeling in all these spaghetti westerns when the hero is confronted by banditos and there’s the strum of the guitar,” Porter said. “That moment is what the painting is about.”

The show is housed at The Bageuetteaboudit! Café, located at 270 Vanderbilt Avenue, and will be up through March 15. The opening party is Saturday from 3 until 5 p.m. Wine and cheese will be available.

“I hope people will look at [my work] and go into it and follow the lines of energy,” Porter said.