Alan Bray
818 Douty Hill Road
Sangerville, Maine 04479
Alan Bray was born in Waterville, Maine in 1946. He studied at the Art Institute of Boston and the University of Maine. He received his Masters degree in painting from the Villa Schifanoia in Florence, Italy in 1973.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 “Northwoods: Absence and Presence- The Art of Alan Bray and Poetry of Wes McNair” June 16- October 29, 2023 Monson Arts Gallery, Monson, ME
2023. “Inside the Outside” SEIS Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2019 “On Second Thought” Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland ME
2017 “Inward Maine” Garvey/Simon Art Access, New York, NY
2016 “Terrain Vague” Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME
2014 Recent Paintings Garvey/Simon Art Access, New York, NY
2012 “At The Edges”, University of Maine Museum of Art, Bangor, ME
2012 “Land, Sea and Sky” The Addison Gallery, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA
2010 “The Painting Show” Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
2009 “The Meditative Landscape” Dunnedin Fine Arts Center, Dunnedin, FL
2009. Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME
2007 Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME
2005 Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME
2004 Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME
2003 Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME
2002 Recent Work, A.V.C. Contemporary Arts Gallery, New York, NY
2000 “Alan Bray: Recent Works” Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME
2000. Schmidt Bingham Gallery, New York, NY; University of Southern Maine Art Gallery, Gorham, ME
1998 Schmidt Bingham Gallery, New York, NY ( also 1996,1994,1992)
1996 Maine Coast Artists Gallery, Rockport, ME
1994 “Alan Bray: Redefining Landscape” Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
1993 “Painted Places: Graphic Images” Gleason Fine Arts, Portland, ME
1990 Frick Gallery, Belfast, ME
1989 Barridoff Galleries, Portland, ME (also 1987, 1984)
1975 Center Gallery, University of Southern Maine, Gorham, ME
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 “In the Moment: Connecting Art and Sport” Cove Street Arts, Portland, ME
2021 “The Art of Monson, A Bicentennial Celebration”. Monson Arts Gallery, Monson ME Curated by Carl Little, 2021
2021 “Presence and Absence”. Foley Gallery, 59 Orchard St., New York, NY
With Gravey/Simon Art Access, New York, NY 2021
2021 “Marks and Tracks” L.C. Bates Museum and Colby College, Hinkley, ME, 2021
2015 “In Through The Outdoors: Keiji Shinohara, Ray Kass, and Alan Bray” Garvey/Simon Art Access New York, NY; 2013 Caldbeck Gallery Rockland, ME
2012 Spring Group Show Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME
2012 “Land, Sea and Sky: Contemporary Art in Maine” The Addison Gallery,
Phillips Academy, Andover, MA
2010 “The Painting Show” Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
2009 “The Meditative Landscape” Dunedin Fine Arts Center, Dunedin, FL
2009 “Above/Below” Greenhut Gallery, Portland, ME
2008 Thomas Moser Showroom Freeport, ME & Los Angeles, CA
2008 Linear Perspectives Center For Maine Contemporary Art, June Fitzpatrick Gallery, Portland, ME
2007 “Thirtieth Anniversary Show” Greenhut Gallery, Middle St. Portland, ME
2007 Portland Museum of Art Biennial, Portland, ME
2004 “Water” Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME
2001 “Past, Present and Future, Anniversary Exhibition” Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME
2001 Maine Biennial, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME
2001 “Water” Vanier Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2001 “From Nature, Part II” A.V.C. Contemporary Arts Gallery, New York, NY
2000 “Of Darkness and Light: Recent American Landscape Painting” Art Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke, VA
1999 “A Fishing Trip: 6 Men in a Canoe” Schmidt Bingham Gallery, New York, NY
1998 Portland Museum of Art Biennial, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
1997 “Re-presenting Representation III” Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY
1997 Selections from the Elizabeth Noyce Collection, Portland Museum Of Art, Portland, ME; Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME
1997 “The Eccentric Image” Icon Contemporary Art, Brunswick, ME
1997 “Neo-Romantic Nature” David Floria Gallery, Wood Creek, CO
1996 “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” Museum of Fine Art, Ann Arbor, MI
1996 “Destiny Manifest: American Landscape Painting in the Nineties” Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainsville, FL
1995 “Are You Blue?” Schmidt Bingham Gallery, New York, NY
1993 “Night Light” Barn Gallery, Ogunquit, ME
1993 40th Anniversary Exhibition, Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, ME
1993 “Migrant Within II” Carnegie Gallery, University of Maine, Orono, ME
1992 “On the Edge: 40 Years of Maine Painting, Maine Coast Artists Gallery, Rockport, ME
1991 “Art of Maine: A Bounty of Woods and Water” Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ
1989 Drawing Invitational, Maine Coast Artists Gallery, Rockport, ME
1988 Maine Savings Bank Collection, Portland Museum of Art,Portland, ME
1988 Juried Show, Maine Coast Artists Gallery, Rockport, ME
1987 “Works on Paper” Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
1987 Director’s Invitational, Maine Coast Artists Gallery, Rockport, ME
1986 “Made in Maine” Picotte Gallery, College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY and Art Gallery, University of Southern Maine, Gorham, ME
1986 “He Was Beside Himself” (Performance Piece by Juris Ubans), Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
1985 Barn Gallery Invitational, Ogunquit, ME
1985 “Painters Who Look at the Environment” University of Farmington, Farmington, ME
1984 Maine Biennial, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
1983 Maine Drawing Biennial, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
1983 Maine Artist-in-Residence Exhibition, University of Southern Maine, Gorham, ME
1982 American Academy & Institute of Arts & Letters, New York, NY
1982 First Maine Artists’ Invitational, Bowdoin College Museum,Brunswick, ME
1981 “Image of the House in Contemporary Art” University of Houston, Houston, TX
1977 Invitational, Barridoff Galleries, Portland, ME
1976 “American Painters in Paris” Invitational Paris, France
1975 Invitational, Webb & Parsons, Bedford, NY
1973 Invitational, Galleria Verde, Florence, Italy
LECTURES
2000 Farnsworth Museum of Art, ME
1997 Portland Museum of Art, ME
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA
Farnsworth Museum of Art, Rockland, ME
Fruit of the Loom/ Farley Inc. Chicago, IL
Kohlberg, Kravis, and Roberts, Menlo Park, CA
Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI
Lyman Allyn Museum of Art, New London, CT
Maine Savings Bank Collection, Portland, ME
Memphis Cancer Center, Memphis, TN
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
R.R. Donnelley & Sons, Chicago, IL
University of Southern Maine Art Gallery, Gorham, ME
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Susan Grisanti, “Show Stoppers” Maine Home and Design, April 2012
Daniel Kany, “Varied Landscapes at Caldbeck Galleries” Portland Press Herald Sept.13, 2015
Tatiana Istomina, “Alan Bray at Garvey Simon” from Metaleptic Stories May23, 2014 (metaleptic.blogspot.com)
Daniel Gauss “Alan Bray at Garvey Simon” Wall Street International, Nov.8, 2017
(wsimag.com/art/32572-inward-maine) Video/Media
“60 + Maine Artists: Collect Them While You Can” Maine Home Design April, 2010
“43 Maine Artists” Maine Home Design April, 2008
“A Passion For Place” Maine Boats, Homes, and Harbors Feb/Mar. 08, 2008, Beem, Edgar Allen.
The Geometry of Agriculture. Maine Times, October 26,2000
A fine fish story at Spencer Pond. Maine Times, May 13, 1999.
Moving Beyond Maine realism. Maine Times, August 28, 1997.
Maine Art Now, Gardiner, Maine: The Dog Ear Press, 1990
Penetrating the Maine Reality. Maine Times, August 10, 1984
Caponigro, John. “Survivalist Surrealsit Alan Bray: A Strong Sense of Place”. Preview!. July 26,- August 2, 1991
Crichlow, Beth. Artist For All Seasons. Downeast Magazine. June 1993.
“Destiny Manifest: American Landscape Painting in the Nineties, Exhibition catalog” Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, Florida, November 24, 1996- March 31, 1997.
Driscoll, John. The Artist and the American Landscape, Chameleon Books: Northampton, MA, 1998.
Gibson, Eric. “Staking Out Claims”. Art & Antiques. September 1994.
Gold, Donna. “Drama of Nature”. Resurgence, March / April 2001.
“Nature and Memory, Translated”. Maine Times, June 22, 2000
“Alan Bray Paints Desolation Without Loneliness”, Maine Times, October 29, 1998. Greenleaf, Ken.
“In Rockport, The Terrible Beauty of Alan Bray’s Maine”. Maine Sunday Telegram, June 30, 1996.
“Alan Bray’s Extraordinary Landscapes”. Maine Sunday Telegram, July 31, 1994.
Higgins, J. Thomas R. “Reader Response: Summer vs. Year-Round Artists”. Maine Sunday Telegram, August 10, 1984. Isaacson, Phillip.
Jakimides, Annaliese. “Painting An Honest Day” Bangor Metro, August 2005.
Some Artists Can Indeed Capture the Essence of ‘Islandness’”, Maine Sunday Telegram, July 9, 2000.
“Spencer Pond Artists Have Conviction, Delight to Spare”. Maine Sunday Telegram, May 9, 1999.
“Modern Maine Art: The Best and The Brightest”. Maine Sunday Telegram, August 22, 1982. Little, Carl.
“A Passion For Place” Maine Boats, Homes, and Harbors, Feb/Mar. 2008
Paintings of Maine, Chameleon Books, 2006.
The Art of Maine in Winter. Down East Books, 2002.
Paintings of New England, Chameleon Books, 1996.
“Alan Bray at Schmidt Bingham”. Art in America, March 1995.
Paintings of Maine, Chameleon Books, 1991.
Long, Andrew. “ Shutting the Door: The Hunger of Memory-Filled Landscapes Created Entirely in the Studio,” Art & Antiques, September 1998. May, Stephen.
“National Reviews”, Art News Dec. 2007, p 63.
McKanic, Arlene. “Alan Bray at Schmidt Bingham”. Art News, December 2000. O’Hern, John.
“Remains of the Day,” American Art Collector, December 2007, p 62.
Re-Presenting Representation, Exhibition catalog, Arnot Museum of Art Art: Elmira, NY, 1997.
(Color reproduction of Two Depressions)
O’Leary, Daniel E. 1998 Portland Museum of Art Biennial, Exhibition catalog, 1998
Sutherland, Amy. “Natural Detail Distinguishes Bray Landscapes”. Maine Sunday Telegram, July 24, 1994.
Wolff, Theodore F. “On the Edge: 40 Years of Maine Paintings, 1952-1992” Maine Coast Artist, 1992.
Artist Statement
I have never been able to paint Plein Air. I have great admiration for those who can and appreciation for the spontaneity and verve that is so integral a part of the process. I’ve never been comfortable with the two dimensional aspect of artist and subject so I have taken to painting with my feet in the sense that I require a thorough knowledge of how what I am looking at relates to all of its surroundings. What’s on the other side of the hill? What’s around the corner? How does it expand my knowledge of what I think I know about what I see?
-Alan Bray
It is among the intricate structures of phenomena that I look for an innate order of things. It is the branching pattern of trees, the drifting of snow, the meanders of flowing water, the swaying of grass in the wind, or the conjoining of ripples on the surface of a pond that imparts to a place and a time it’s particularity. To become a vital part of that particularity is to achieve familiarity, an intimacy and affection that serves to reorder the experience of a place. When I slow down and give myself up to a place or a phenomena it is to try and forget what I think I know and enter into a fresh state where all incidental details are eliminated and what appears to be chaos is organized into pattern.
This is how I approach a painting today. I know it will be a month-long meditation on a subject that will, in the best case, reveal new and unexpected nuances as it progresses. Most importantly it will, over time, clarify for me what it wants to be about because what is germane and essential is not always apparent at the outset. Each painting is a slow accretion born out of this ruminative process.
….
We shall tell it at length, thoroughly, in detail – for when did a narrative seem too long or too short by reason of the actual time or space it took up? We do not fear being called meticulous, inclining as we do to the view that only the exhaustive can be truly interesting.
-Thomas Mann
