23 Aug Yellowstone Art Museum Announces Solo Exhibition Jill Krutick’s “Metamorphosis” to Grace the Northwest Projects and Bair Galleries

The Yellowstone Art Museum proudly announces the fall 2019 exhibition of Jill Krutick’s “Metamorphosis,” an uplifting display of original abstract paintings by this emerging New York-based artist. The exhibition opens on November 7, 2019 and a reception with the artist will take place that evening between 6:00pm and 8:00pm. The exhibition continues through January 5, 2020.

Ms. Krutick, who has just completed a successful solo exhibition at the Coral Springs Museum of Art
(Florida), a group museum show at Museu de Porreres (Mallorca, Spain), and group shows at Georges Bergès Gallery (NYC), Fritz Gallery (Palm Beach, Florida) and the Center for Creative Education (West Palm Beach), is thrilled to present her artwork at the beautiful Yellowstone Art Museum in Montana, a state she cannot visit often enough.

Ms. Krutick has developed a remarkable signature style with roots in Abstract Expressionism which,
along with jazz, is one of the most uniquely American cultural breakthroughs. Krutick is a gifted
musician who once planned to be a professional pianist. Her swirling abstract painted shapes seem to reflect that rhythmic foundation and tempo in their noticeable, measured pace.

In addition to being influenced by the painterly gestures common in Abstract Expressionism, Krutick also incorporates a visual aroma of Impressionism’s visible brushstrokes and Post-impressionism’s dynamic and influential experiments from important pioneer artists such as Monet and Cezanne. Another “ism,” called pointillism, a technique that utilizes small distinct dots of color to comprise the complete painting, can be added to the distinctive variety of her palette.

In this dynamic exhibition, the artist presents engaging abstract color fields of organic hues and tints that enjoy a common denominator of style, pattern and texture, a lively approach to interpreting our natural environment. Krutick has created a lavishly colored and textured suite of canvases for her first exhibition in the West. These works assimilate remote aspects of the Montana landscape, where abstracted purple mountains and golden valleys are punctuated by suggestions of vibrant wildflowers and trees. Her interpretations of Montana’s beloved trout are simplified to a flat spotted surface that could offer a homage to the dramatic target paintings of the late Kenneth Noland. Four small paintings, “Cutthroat Trout,” “Rainbow Trout,” “Brown Trout” and “Brook Trout,” form a charming “school” of abstracted finned creatures. Other works have titles that surely reflect the atmospheric essence of Rocky Mountain region, such as “Montana Hills,” “Purple Mountains,” and “Montana Rivers.”

Krutick also incorporates delightful abstracted impressions of both the skyline and bodies of water, all accented with heavy applications of impasto to resemble mountainous terrain from a distinctive aerial view. She explores the mysterious skies and their perceived connective dots, forming enchanting circular currents of cumulous forms that hint at forming a massive weather front of a spiraling meteorological diagram.

As a young painter and musician, later as a media executive and board member, the arts always played a central role in Krutick’s life. In 2011, she began studying at the Art Students League, abandoning her career as a successful Wall Street analyst to pursue her passion for painting. Life experiences, from covering the media industry to parenthood, inspired themes of cartoons, children’s book characters and the playful incorporation of mass media imagery into her work. Just like the “Metamorphosis” of a butterfly, Krutick has transformed from a structured business world to the freedom that comes with being a full-time artist exploring a journey of creativity.

This exhibition, organized by guest curator, artist and critic Bruce Helander, former Provost of the
Rhode Island School of Design, celebrates the distinctive varieties and fusions of abstract expressionist theory and color field in Jill Krutick’s work. Her singular but somewhat enigmatic narrative offers viewers a compelling and exquisite balance of color, form, and meandering shapes that commemorate the spirit of creativity in contemporary art.