A Small Works Show with Big Impact

Christopher Dawson, Intense Red w/Black Scribble

Wall space has always been a challenge for me personally. If you are an an apartment of condo dweller, you can sympathize! Artist and curator Jean Benoit opened Small Works, Big Impact at the 203 Art Space on the 5th floor of the Stamford Town Center, transforming a former Claire’s store into an art gallery. No genre, media type, or subject matter were excluded, and the artwork is very space efficient without being minuscule.

Sculptures, abstracts, portraits, still-life’s, city and seascapes adorn the walls of the front and back galleries created by a group of talented multi-disciplinary artists.

Chandler and photographer Christopher Dawson’s digital photograph prints that from far away look like abstract paintings, invite the viewer to come closer and question what he or she is looking at.

Elisa Groglio, White Russian from the Cocktail Series

Elisa Groglio painted cocktail favorites with dark, romantic, and rich backgrounds. The White Russian painting was the most difficult for her because capturing the cascading cream into the glass was challenging. She had to “loosen her brush strokes” to depict the cream. Other paintings include Palomas, Cosmopolitans, Martinis, and Espresso Martinis. She mentioned to me that she is “currently reworking” her Margarita painting.

Elisa captures the cocktails with her painterly style in contrast to Megan Grugan who embraces the Old Masters’ style and Neo-Realism in her still-life painting, Sliced Bread.

Abstract painter Sue or Suleika B’s Disassociation features an abstract figure being pulled from “reality” represented by the black and white shapes into the fantasy, or dream world, represented by the colorful choppy brushstrokes. She builds texture on the swirls to demonstrate the contrast of the two realms. Blue represents the fluidity of water and the cold. I was fortunate to have spoken with the artist to learn her interpretation of her artwork. At first glance, I saw a Mayan or Aztec influence.

Sue B. Disassociation

Small Works Big Impact is in view for one month. The 203 Art Space is open Tuesday-Sunday 12-5pm, located on the 5th floor of the Stamford Town Center near Foot Locker. Art Critic in 1 Minute reviews of the 203 Art Space and Small Works Big Impact are now on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Megan Grugan, Sliced Bread