Bruce Kurland (American, 1938-2013) Magnolias and Damsel Fly Nymphs

Exhibited
"Bruce Kurland: Insight into Still Life," Burchfield Center Western New York Forum for American Art, State University College at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, October 9 - November 27, 1983.

Note
Bruce Kurland began his career in his native New York, where training at the National Academy and Art Students League instilled an appreciation for early Dutch and French still life painting. After a few gallery exhibitions in the 1960s, Kurland left the city in pursuit of a quieter life in rural New York, eventually establishing a permanent studio in Buffalo. Inspired by his bucolic surroundings, Kurland developed his most recognizable and popular work - surrealist still lives of plants, animals, and everyday objects with allusions to mortality and time. In Magnolias and Damsel Fly Nymphs, the self-predatory flies swirl around decaying branches while the pinks and reds imbue vibrancy and life into the painting. Paintings such as Arrangement with Magnolias depict a pitcher balancing precariously on its edge, defying gravity and suspended in time. By employing bright, cheerful colors to capture the oft-melancholic subject matter, in Kurland’s paintings are at once haunting reminders of our own impermanence while remaining reverent to the natural world.

Provenance

Collection of Francis Moro.

Washburn Gallery, New York, New York.

Private Collection, California.