As the global pandemic continues to affect daily life, it also continues to affect artists and the way that they use their world to draw inspiration for their work. Artist William Denton Ray used his time during isolation to experiment and work with new inspiration for his show “Spectrum”, which is on display in the Harrison Center Annex Gallery this month. William says in his artist statement for this show that “during the pandemic, a good escape from cabin fever was to travel to nearby state parks or just taking a drive to get out of the house”. It is from these trips during isolation that William was able to be inspired by nature and to create abstract work surrounding the concept of the “horizon line”.

“Spectrum” is a show of beautiful and complex work, full of many different pieces. Each piece in this show holds a different meaning than the next, and while some pieces were made and are displayed in tandem, such as Pathways for Escape 1 and 2, many of the pieces feel very different than others. The artist says about this show that he was working with “a new way of developing a composition, using more neutral colors and mixing colors to achieve a new and softer feel”, William’s experimentation with new techniques is evident in the way that each piece in this show feels so unique while still being able to work together in an extraordinary way.

The title of this show itself, being the singular word “Spectrum”, hints and the variety of the pieces within the show. Many of the pieces in this show are bursting with a multitude of colors, along with various abstract lines and shapes. However, this show also include various pieces without many bright colors, some without any color at all. What really ties all of the pieces of “Spectrum” together is the way that they are all centered around the “horizon”. However, as the title suggests, the pieces gradually shift from pieces like Blue Sky for Her (pictured above), which is very clearly inspired by a literal horizon line, to pieces like Red Sky Warning, which is a much more abstracted interpretation of the horizon. The artist stated that he “focused on the Horizon Line and worked more on the edges of the canvas”. He also said on his view of painting abstractly that he “paint[s] with no intent”, he is not “not painting to make a landscape or a face or person, [he is] trying to find a balance by design with interest in certain areas… it’s like dropping hints or like fragments of a dream”.

William Denton Ray is an incredible artist, and his show “Spectrum” on display at the Harrison Center is a wonderful example of his talent. This show will be up in the Annex Gallery for the rest of February and can also be viewed on the Harrison Center Website: https://www.harrisoncenter.org/spectrum. Be sure to check it out!