ARTIST STATEMENT
I am trying to create artwork that has universal and autonomous beauty.
I work from nature and direct experience as much as possible, gathering information through plein air painting, figure drawing, and the study of master works. All of these sources direct me in the process of making a painting, and often they all contribute to the final piece. Usually a place or experience provides me with the inspiration I need to start, but it is the working process – the hours, days, and months spent working and reworking that allows the painting to grow and become more self-directed. Many times the work veers radically away from its beginnings, but my faith in the process of painting makes the journey rich and enlightening.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Kurt Moyer finds inspiration in the natural world, the language of paint, and the master artists that have come before him. His subjects for this most recent exhibition focus on the familiar themes of landscapes and bathers. Moyer paints from life whenever possible, and he feels that it is the direct experience of interacting with his subject that contributes most to the painting’s overall success. A day spent absorbing the coolness of the rocks in a summer creek bed, the smell of moss and damp earth, the light filtering through layers of leaves – these are the sensations that he builds his paintings on. He works to capture all of this natural wonder alive in his paint. The surfaces seem to remember the hours spent immersed with his subject, looking, copying, and interpreting the world around him. Moyer is a daydreamer. His daydreams are reflections of glorious summer afternoons swimming with friends and moments of perfect joy. His bather paintings expand on these kernels of memory to create new Arcadian-like visions of men and women bathing in forest pools or secluded streams. He emphasizes light, color, and solidity of form over narrative descriptions, seeking to create paintings of autonomous beauty.
Originally from the southeastern Pennsylvania, Kurt Moyer now lives and works in Rochester, NY with his wife, Erin, and their daughter, Emma. His paintings have been exhibited widely throughout the North East in select public and private institutions including: The Gross McCleaf Gallery, the eDavid Gallery, the Susan Maasch Gallery, the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Allentown Art Museum, Pennsylvania State Museum, Penn State University, Loyola College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and the Phillips Museum at Franklin and Marshall College. Moyer is represented by the Gross McCleaf Gallery in Philadelphia.
CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION
Kutztown University, B.F.A. Printmaking and Painting, 1999
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2012
~ “Presence” The Figure in Contemporary Painting, Jeremy Long, Kurt Moyer, and Kyle Staver. Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY
2010
~ Solo Exhibition, “Kurt Moyer” The Arts and Cultural Center for Greater Rochester.
~ Solo Exhibition, eDavid Gallery , Bethlehem, PA
~ Group Exhibition, Susan Maasch Gallery, Portland, ME
2009
~ Solo Exhibition “Kurt Moyer: Bathers and Butterflies” Baum School of Art, Allentown, PA. Feb. 23rd – March 13th 2009
2008
~ Solo Exhibition “Kurt Moyer: New Paintings” eDavid Gallery, Bethlehem, PA. May 18th –June 21st 2008
2007
~ Four Person Exhibition. Pike Modern, Milford, PA
~ Four Person Exhibition. eDavid Gallery, Bethlehem, PA. March 16– April 22, 2007
~ “Four Realists” Kurt Moyer, Scott Noel, Eileen Goodman, and Mark Karnes. Loyola College, Baltimore, MD. March 15 – April 12, 2007
2006
~ “Friday Friends”, Phillips Museum at Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA.
2005
~ Solo Exhibition “Kurt Moyer, New Paintings” Gross McCleaf Gallery. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
~ “The Ever-Changing Landscape” Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft. Louisville, Kentucky.
2004
~ “Allentown Impressions” Allentown Art Musuem. Allentown, Pennsylvania.
~ “Art of the State” Pennsylvania State Museum. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
2003
~ “Plein Air” Gross McCleaf Gallery. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
~ “Landscapes” MCS Gallery, Easton, Pennsylvania. (Four artist exhibition with Peter Schnore, Midge Stires, and Thomas Burke)
2002
~ Solo Exhibition, “Kurt Moyer: Landscape, Vistas, and Light” Penn State University, Freyberger Gallery, Reading, Pennsylvania.
~ “Lehigh Valley Landscape”, Lehigh Carbon Community College, Pennsylvania.
2001
~ “Lehigh River Sojourn, 2001” MCS Gallery, Easton, Pennsylvania.
~ “12 Views of the Lehigh Valley” MCS Gallery, Easton, Pennsylvania.