Ray Ciarrocchi, Field by a River, 1989, oil on linen in artist's frame, 40 x 70 inches; 41.5 x 71.5 inches (framed)

Ray Ciarrocchi
August Moonrise

July 18 through August 23, 2024
Opens Thursday, July 18, 2024, 6–8pm

Harper’s Chelsea 534
534 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011
Monday–Friday 10am–6pm

Harper’s is pleased to announce August Moonrise, New York-based artist Ray Ciarrocchi’s debut solo exhibition with the gallery. The presentation features oil paintings spanning the 1980s through 2000s, and opens Thursday, July 18, with a reception attended by the artist.

August Moonrise takes a look at Ciarrocchi’s landscape paintings, a signature visual language for the artist for the past six decades and the focus of numerous solo exhibitions during his tenure as a gallery artist at Tibor de Nagy in the 1970s and 80s. Throughout this period, Ciarrocchi received critical recognition in publications like New York Times, ARTnews, and SoHo News. But at the onset of his career in the late 1950s, his method was informed by abstraction. He worked under the tutelage of abstract expressionists like Fred Conway and Stephen Pace as a student at Washington University; afterward, the artist moved to New York City and befriended formative painters within the movement like Edward Dugmore and Ernest Briggs. It was not until 1963 that Ciarrocchi made his first foray into landscape painting upon receiving a Fulbright Grant to study in Florence, Italy. It was here, amidst his familial homeland, that he began to paint en plein air, conjuring the warm light of the Italian countryside among breathtaking compositions. Ciarrocchi continued this path after returning to New York City in 1964. Ever since he’s paid homage to the sprawling lands and seasides he’s encountered traveling the United States and Italy.

The works of August Moonrise render many of the enchanting places foundational to the artist’s long career. As if portals to faraway lands, they provoke the onlooker to relish in poetic sights—from the bewitching Adriatic Sea in Fiery Moon - Midnight Sea, to the meandering Susquehanna River in Field by a River. In the former, a blazing full moon casts iridescent shadows over the still sea. With gentle layers of shimmering black pigment, Ciarrocchi captures the brilliant silence of the night sky. The artist divides the visual plane with striking slivers of light between these cool tones, emanating from the horizons where the sea meets the sky and the sand greets shallow water. Like many within August Moonrise, this meditative scene is spellbinding: with studied, yet expressive paint application, Ciarrocchi illuminates the transfixing power that radiates between the celestial and natural world. 

This enveloping charm is sustained in Field by a River. The painting is an invitation to sink into the quietude of Cooperstown, New York, home to the longest river on the eastern coast of the United States. The Susquehanna River is the subject of many works by Ciarrocchi, who spent years sketching, mapping, and painting the luminous body of water. In this serene composition, supple pink clouds, dignified mountains, and grazing farmland overlook the halcyon river. Near the center of the canvas, dense brushstrokes illustrate a verdant forest, reaching toward the periwinkle sky presiding above. The visual plane is distinctively illusionistic here: as the water refracts the peachy sunset and subtle curvatures of the land, Ciarrocchi transforms the bucolic setting into an otherworldly expanse.

Ultimately, Ciarrocchi is in pursuit of the mythical qualities that embellish the land. To uncover the esoteric, the artist embarks on an exploratory journey, remixing and heightening the hues and textures seen by the naked eye and revealing their radiant potential on canvas. Ciarrocchi’s profound gaze thus challenges the viewer to a transcendent expedition: shining resplendent light on organic beauty, the artist venerates nature's gifts far and wide.

Ray Ciarrocchi (b. 1933, Chicago, IL) received a BFA from Washington University in 1959, and an MFA from Boston University in 1961. His work has been the subject of solo presentations at University of Richmond, VA (2015 and 1991); La Fortezza, Civitella del Tronto, IT (2004); Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery, New York (1996 and 1993); Fischbach Gallery, New York (1989 and 1987); and Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York (1985, 1983, 1980, 1978, 1976, 1974, 1972 and 1971). Ciarrocchi’s work has been included in group exhibitions of note at University of Richmond, VA (2017); Rich Perlow Gallery, New York (2005); Gallery 53, Cooperstown, NY (1994 and 1988); Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Loretto, PA (1991 and 1988); Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY (1977); and Headley-Whitney, Lexington, KY (1976). His work is held in the collections of numerous institutions, including Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn; Ciba-Geigy AG, Basel; and Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus. Ciarrocchi lives and works in New York City.

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Detail: Ray Ciarrocchi, Field by a River, 1989

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