Saratoga Arts - Arts Center | Arts Council

Configurations

Robert Carsten and Susan Stuart

April 6 – May 25

Opening Reception  |  April 6, 6-8pm

Discussion with the Artists  |  April 6, 5:30pm

Annual Meeting  |  April 6, 5pm 

Artists Robert Carsten and Susan Stuart unite in this compelling exhibition of paintings and pastels that speak volumes to the importance of materials in our society and to the process of creating.  Through the use of light, form and texture, Carsten and Stuart re-configure elements of our everyday, such as recycled materials and architectural structures into works that are imbued with color and emotion.

Robert Carsten’s pastels and paintings explore the aesthetics of recycled materials.  Using compositional elements of light, color and texture, he creates a dialogue between deeply routed ideas of art making and the global awareness around consumption and ecology.

Carsten studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Arts League of New York.  He has received numerous awards and is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America and the Connecticut Pastel Society.  Carsten has widely exhibited his works throughout the United States including New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Oregon.  Carsten lives in Springfield, VT.

Susan Stuart’s paintings are inspired by both an abstraction of our architectural landscape, buildings under construction or abandoned, and a creative process inspired by 19^th century French painters.  Stuart incorporates wet and dry pigments, intermixing pastels and pumice, resulting in intense color, form and surface texture that ultimately infuses these constructions with an idea of regrouping and rebuilding.

Susan Stuart received a BFA from Syracuse University and an MFA from The State University of New York at Albany and studied at the Arts League of New York.  Her works have received numerous awards and belong in collections such as The Albany Institute of History & Art, among others.  She has widely exhibited her works in galleries through New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Colorado  and Virginia.  Stuart lives in Albany, NY.