Hawk Hive Gallery Showing of Sharp Teeth

ANDES — The artist, and new resident of Margaretville, Scott Ackerman has embraced the storytelling of legendary writers such as the Brothers Grimm. This exhibition is a narrative of characters that somehow bridges the more gruesome fearful folklore of the Grimm brothers while utilizing colors that are esthetically pleasing as we all know today in the retold stories by Walt Disney. Ackerman’s masterful art is neither Grimm nor Disney but somewhere in between in his playful imagination.  Ackerman lends his process and emotion behind his work, “When we were talking about my use of color… when I paint, I usually have a few pieces going at once, so a lot of times even if a painting is completely different from one another, they do share a certain palette I've created that keeps the work a little more cohesive.” For someone who is an Outsider artist with no formal training in the arts, Ackerman has a natural gift for the use of colors, “Sometimes the subject of color is more important to me than the characters.” 

Jayne Parker, the owner of Hawk + Hive gallery in Andes wrote a fabulous essay on Ackerman’s exhibit found on the gallery website, ‘A rendering of the dark fairy tale plays out across several of the works. At the center of this is Spring Shawl, in which a young woman, reminiscent of Little Red Riding Hood (in this instance, in a green hooded cape), gazes past the viewer, perhaps on the look-out for a big bad wolf. And there are beasts a-plenty for her to be concerned about. In Silent Stares, a pack of wide-eyed wolves are gathered under a blood-red moon, seemingly poised for the chase. The two female figures in Together, appear to have elongated like Alice after she ate the cake. Curiouser and curiouser.’ Parker has a unique talent for poetically describing artists shown at her gallery, with a much-deserved reputation for selecting great artisans and finding new homes for their amazing work. With Ackerman being somewhat new to the Delaware County area, at the opening reception it was delightful to see how at ease Ackerman was with his wife Hanna and two daughters, “Working with Jayne throughout all of this has been amazing. She takes so much care in the artist and spends so much time making sure everything is on the right track. It's rare to find someone as dedicated as her and I'm so grateful to be working together.” 

In this interview, it was exciting to hear about Ackerman’s dedication to his work and progression, “This show has been quite the project for me. We've had so much going on the past few months between looking for houses and packing, I was nervous I wouldn't be able to get it all done the way I wanted, but I couldn't be happier how the show turned out. The whole process has been different for me really. I'm usually painting up until the show starts, with no real theme.
For this show I really focused on the work, I took more time on pieces, I went back and added more, took things out. I formed a narrative that took more and more shape as the paintings were made.” While there’s a theme to a portion of Ackerman’s exhibition, he does have a diversity of off topic and outstanding portraits such as the elegant painting, ‘Take Me There’. When asked if he uses his wife Hanna as a subject for his paintings, “Yes, but not as a model, just as we see each other around the house. I like to paint subjects within my surroundings. My daughters are in a few of my paintings, as well.” 

Ackerman is moving his family from Kingston to Margaretville by the beginning of August. The only person he knew out this way was the artist Gary Mayer who has shown with Ackerman at Greenkill Gallery in Kingston. Over the past few weeks, Ackerman has grown to love the community vibe of the arts that he hasn’t experienced out in the Hudson Valley area as much, according to his observations, since ‘Sharp Teeth’ opened a couple weeks ago. 

For a much more eloquent and lengthy depiction of Ackerman’s work on display at Hawk + Hive, see www.hawkandhive.com/scott-ackerman-essay and on Instagram @hawkandhive @lovescott3