PERSPECTIVES

The Waverly Street Gallery presents the minimalist conceptual paintings on paper and canvas of Rob Hauck. Many paintings reference familiar images and unique experiences of coastal New England---fishermen’s buoys, or a boatyard fire--- or the ordinary --- numbers--- all aim at evoking emotional responses in the viewer.

Naught is one of a series of large acrylics organized around the theme of "numbers". A large black shape dominates a pale space suggesting, "zero" but also implying "no thing" or "nothingness". In Buoy Three, one of several paintings using the simple shape of a lobster trap buoy, bold black shapes represent lobster buoys abandoned at the water’s edge, but if taken less literally they also suggest the sense of abandonment. Other paintings in the series deal with passion, isolation, and peacefulness.

Of the work on paper, the "East Boothbay Fire" paintings recount a lighting strike that turned a thriving Maine boatyard into ash and cinders. Hauck even goes so far as to incorporate ash and pine needles from the very fire. He uses saturated color to convey the fire’s all-consuming heat and elsewhere muted color to suggest the still smoldering residue of the ill-fated place.