The Silver Circle Gallery in Putnam, CT is proud to announce the upcoming exhibit Transcendence: Works by George Chaplin. This show will display a variety of pastel works on paper and select oil on canvas paintings. A gallery talk given by colleague and accomplished artist Paul Zelanski is scheduled for Sunday April 22nd at 2pm and is a free event that will allow the public to view the artwork and learn about the artist (who will not be present due to a recent move to Maryland). The show will be on display through May 20th. George Chaplin received his BFA in 1958 and his MFA in 1960, both from the Yale University of Art in New Haven, Connecticut where he studied under world renown Modern artist, Josef Albers who was a student at the Bauhaus in Germany. From 1965-1971 he was the Chairman of the Painting Department at the Silvermine College of Art in New Canaan, CT and from 1972- 1991 he was the Director of Studio Arts and a Professor of Fine Arts at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. George’s art has been purchased by the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C. and has pieces in countless private collections worldwide. He has also participated in hundreds of national and international exhibitions and lectures since the 1960s and is mentioned in publications such as, The Art of Drawing, Color, and Who’s Who in American Art. In an article about George’s work for the Hartford Courant, It was stated that, “There is something visionary about these works. Chaplin’s choices of colors are never ostentatious or bombastic, but finely tuned to achieve more lasting effects. If these later pieces can be said to have a stirring impact on the human spirit, perhaps a category of “Spiritual Abstraction” can be applied to Chaplin’s art.” In this way, George lets the colors take control and permits them to dictate the direction of the painting. Although it is not obvious, George finds a great deal of inspiration from nature. Once called “nature’s transcendent painter,” Chaplin delicately utilizes color to lure the viewer in with intense gradations of three to four colors. One of the sources of his creativity comes from the ocean of which George states, “It’s a mesmerizing experience. You look at the ocean, its constantly moving, it’s always the same but it’s constantly changing.” This idea is translated into his pieces where George is able to create movement as the colors gradate into one another. An illusion is created within the piece as the colors appear to vibrate off of the canvas. George has the ability to select color combinations that never overpower each other and is able to simultaneously create a sense of excitement and calmness in his compositions.