Allan Gorman

"Star and Stirrup"  2012  Oil on Linen  48" x 48"

"Patek"  2011  Oil on Panel  18" x 18"

"Rolex-15 Jewels"  2011  Oil on Panel  18" x 18"

"Twin Lights"  2012  Oil on Linen  36" x 36"

"Big Silver"  2011  Oil on Canvas  36" x 48"

Allan Gorman is a busy man. I've been getting emails from him for awhile now promoting various shows he's in all over the country. Maybe one of these days, one of them will be in my neck of the woods. He's realist, with a penchant for hard angles, technology and shiny surfaces. He has a long series of truck paintings that are well executed, but had always struck me as just an extension of the vast photo-realist car art world. Nothing wrong with that. Some of those guys are incredible. I guess it just isn't my bag. Still, I liked the way he focused in on details, on odd sections creating abstract designs. But his latest series really sold me. It's of the tiny inner workings of clocks and watches. He crops in tight so that the shape of the devices are lost. All we see are the enigmatic wheels, and clicking ticking bits that whir and stir in our imaginations conjuring up mankind's leap into both the enlightenment and industrialization. Now that we are firmly in a post-industrial world and enlightenment thinking seems occluded by pessimism and doubt, these images resonate with a kind of marvelous nostalgia. Such watches have been supplanted in usefulness by LED and LCD displays and quartz crystal timing. Those advances in technology however hold no spell over us. Perhaps the manner in which they work is just too remote, too difficult for most of us to grasp. We don't really understand all the intricacies of a mechanical clock either but we get the gist. And marvel. Allan Gorman has captured a bit of what it means to marvel. And that deserves a thank you.
You can see more at his website: www.allangorman.com

And if you happen to be in the Cleveland Area, or Chicago, or Rehoboth Beach, Delaware this summer you might go see the real thing.