N2Art   A BEZALEL & BRYAN Site

PRINCETON NJ Two young girls, both students in the lower school at Princeton Day School, looked intently at a portrait of Martin Luther King by artist Charles Franklin Bryan.
The older child placed her hand protectively on her friend’s shoulder.

The slain civil-rights leader is pictured seated in a chair, facing the viewer in a frontal pose. His face bears a peaceful expression.
Nearby are another two girls who look out shyly at the spectator, while a winged black angel stands attentively at King’s side. A second winged spirit soars in the background toward a mountain in the distance. The realm is surreal, but definitely accessible.

Lyrics from a new Jackson Browne song come to mind... “In the years since they shot him down, you see changes that once were a dream. When the walls have begun to crumble, when the stone has begun to turn.”

I then realized these small children had little notion of King’s imposing presence and appearance. To them, the image was a historical icon. To me, it was a convincing likeness, both physically and psychologically, of the man I remember in my mind’s eye. A generation has grown up, and another has taken its place since I first heard King speak at my college campus during the ‘60s.

PORTRAITURE is one of the artist’s strong suits, if not his forte. Eleven large canvases, all figurative in style, are on view at the school’s Anne Reid Art Gallery at the Princeton Township campus. Due to its popularity, noted gallery director Arlene Smith, the show has been extended through March 14.
 

“We have a number of black students here,” Smith noted, “and we wanted to have an art exhibit to celebrate Black History Month.”
 

   A

BEZALEL & BRYAN

Site

Bryan’s works, priced from $1,600-$3,500, have been extremely well received by the public, she added. Bryan intertwines, according to his artist’s statement, both real and surreal images in his artistic vision. “The real represents the viewers’ consensus; the surreal expresses that which may exist only on the canvas. Together they create what could be something better than what is — ideals.”

 A strong realist painter, Bryan prefers to work within the context of traditional art, employing standard devices established by artists centuries ago. Most of his scenes, for instance, have a checkerboard floor pattern. This compositional element originated with such Renaissance artists as Piero della Francesca, and often was used by the Spanish master Velazquez.
The image of Mona Lisa often appears frequently in Bryan’s work. She represents the traditional and rather sacrosanct ideal of beauty, as established by Leonardo da Vinci in the early 16th century.
WHAT BRYAN does with this timeless icon of feminine beauty is intriguing. In “Thelma,” a 1987 oil on canvas, he juxtaposes the portrait of a young black woman next to that of the Mona Lisa. Bryan here sets forth his own ideal of perfection next to the established norm. He assumes neither a militant nor an extremist posture, but asks the viewer to consider both images impartially.
A 1988 graduate of the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, and a 1986 graduate (with highest honors) of Mercer County Community College, Bryan resides at McGuire Air Force Base with his wife, Katie, a staff sergeant, and his two children Karlis, 5, and Kia, 3. Bryan often uses his wife and children as models.