This month the Harrison Center celebrates the unveiling of Chœurs Insulaires, Kyle Ragsdale’s latest exhibition. Chœurs Insulaires, translated as Island Choruses, endeavors to evoke visions of mystery and tranquility through the portrayal of enigmatic island scenes. Ragsdale cites a wide array of inspiration behind the works: lavish generosity, French troubadours, 1960s nuns, nurses, kind strangers, Indian weddings, classical music, the birds and pennants of Eagle Creek, and the waves of Oval Beach (Saugatuck, MI).

The show features a mix of mediums and methods. While a majority of the works are oil on canvas, you will still find monotype, mixed-media, and acrylic paint pieces sprinkled throughout. The paintings in this exhibition are significant not only for their abstracted depictions of landscape scenes and figurative narratives, but also for Ragsdale’s application of paint. Matte hues mix indiscriminately with shimmering gold pigments. Soft brushstrokes meet thick coats of paint applied via pallet knife. Decadent drips add an air of controlled chaos to quite a few of the canvases.

The emotion encapsulated in this show is palpable. Ragsdale, like many others in the past few years, has experienced exceptional loss. These works represent the artist’s emergence from grief. Ragsdale practices intuitive painting, meaning that the concept of each piece is not premeditated. He begins abstractly, letting each layer of paint inform the next, until the final composition has been found. In doing so, Ragsdale breathes life into fictional scenes.

Many of the featured works call forth intense ranges of emotion. Several of the pieces, including the three paintings in the Oval Beach series, visually read as ominous but undeniably enchanting. To me, Oval Beach I exemplifies the eighteenth-century Romantic notion of the sublime. In it, sweeping gestures of thick paint give way to a shoreline scene in which a shadowy figure stands calmly before the dark waters of Lake Michigan. Seemingly unbothered by the heavy, looming clouds above – or perhaps looking to the bluer skies that remain distant but visible on the horizon – the figure gazes beyond the water’s abyss. The imagery is simultaneously awe-inspiring in its beauty, but also within the unease it conjures.

It would be a disservice to write about Chœurs Insulaires without shining a spotlight on what I consider to be the show’s tour de force: Prelude to an Afternoon. It is the work that currently graces the billboard at the intersection of 16th and Delaware Street. In an impressionistic style that is uniquely Ragsdale, figures dressed in white move gracefully across the foreground of the canvas. It is a diurnal scene, but there is something intriguingly unnerving about the gathering of this diverse cast of characters: a danseur and danseuse, a couple of loosely articulated woodland creatures, and three figures sporting exaggerated cornettes and haunting visages. The details of their forthcoming afternoon rendezvous remain unclear. These particulars are left solely to the imagination of the viewer. It is an ethereal vision: a pleasant fever dream.

Works like Oval Beach I and Prelude to an Afternoon are just a sampling of the dozens of pieces you will discover at Chœurs Insulaires. It is a compelling show in many ways: breadth, content, and skill. It is truly a mesmerizing curation of pieces that reflect Ragsdale’s distinctive style.

Chœurs Insulaires opened Friday, November 5th in the Harrison Gallery. The show can be viewed anytime in the month of November during Gallery Hours: Monday – Friday from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. The works can additionally be viewed for purchase through our virtual gallery.