Gingerich paintings impress in Columbus

Dean Shipley - Staff

Paintings by Mark Gingerich are now on display at the Faculty Club on the campus of The Ohio State University.

By Dean Shipley

Staff Writer

Garry McKenzie looked to be drawn into Alaskan Light, a painting by Madison County artist, Mark Gingerich. The painting at Glacier Bay was one of 24 canvases Gingerich has in his “Home and Abroad” show at the faculty club at The Ohio State University.

McKenzie, a geology professor emeritus, along with his wife, Dianne, visited the opening reception Friday evening of the show, which will run through June 24.

“The lighting is great,” McKenzie said. McKenzie knew the lighting was true to the scene for one good reason: he had been there. He did research for his Ph.D. in Alaska.

Dianne McKenzie likened Gingerich’s work to Monet, a leading painter of the French Impressionistic period of the 19th century.

“He has the sense of catching the light,” she said. “It’s realism.”

Larry Anderson, a professor emeritus in chemistry, also claimed a geographic reference to several of Gingerich’s works whose subjects were scenes in Europe.

“I identify with his paintings of Rome,” Anderson said.

His wife, Ruth Anderson, called Gingerich’s work “evocative.”

She particularly enjoyed Gingerich’s use of color.

“I find it very attractive,” she said.

They were among the approximately 30 people who visited the exhibit on its opening evening.

Marion Fisher, exhibit manager for the faculty club, said the club was “fortunate” to be able to exhibit Gingerich’s work. She said the exhibit was the result of a collaboration and a partnership with Brandt-Roberts Galleries of Columbus.

“We have a collaborative group,” she said.

Fisher, who sees many exhibitions throughout the year, commented how Gingerich’s brush work captured the movement of the water in a painting entitled “Minnowing.”

Gingerich, in his remarks to the audience, said he was grateful to have his work shown in a venue such as the faculty club. He described it as “a wonderful facility.”

He expressed his gratitude to Bryan Roberts of the Brandt-Roberts Galleries to allow the show to be displayed in the same city in which the gallery is located.

“Some galleries will not allow work to be shown in the same city, but he did,” Gingerich said.

Bryan Roberts spokesman for the gallery said the two exhibits were actually separate from one another. The Brandt-Roberts showing of Gingerich’s work focused on his European subjects, a show which just closed. “We had planned our exhibit months ago,” Roberts said.

The May date for the faculty club was the only spot open to Gingerich, who had taken classes at OSU in the eighties.

“It had nothing to do with our exhibit,” Roberts said. He called the timing “quirky.”

After the Gingerich show closes June 24 at the faculty club, some of Gingerich’s work will still be on display in the gallery, located in the Short North district of Columbus.

“He’s an amazing painter,” Roberts said.