Blind by Harry Kemp
The Spring blew trumpets of color; Her Green sang in my brain- I heard a blind man groping “Tap-tap” with his cane; I pitied him in his blindness; But can I boast, “I see”? Perhaps there walks a spirit Close by, who pities me,- A spirit who hears me tapping The five-sensed cane of mind Amid such unguessed glories- That I am worse than blind.


 Stephen Bron Gurtowski [b. 1993] is a painter living and working in Brooklyn. He studied painting and printmaking, receiving his BFA from Cooper Union, attended Yale Norfolk Summer School, and received an MFA in Painting from NYU. “Amid such unguessed glories...” is a selection of fourteen paintings made over the past year, part of a larger project of small scale paintings. For this recent body of work, his painting practice involves digging through nature, science and travel books from the early to mid-20th century for reference materials in the form of black and white photos. Utilizing unlikely juxtapositions, vibrant colors, precise and delicate line and brush work, and articulating light as negative space--on the constraints of a small canvas--he transforms and moves through and away from the original image. The results are glimpses into small, self-contained worlds of vivid, romantic lyricism and meditative calm.  The show’s title is a line from the poem Blind by Provincetown’s own Tramp Poet, Harry Kemp. While preparing for this show and meditating on the themes and searching for a title, he came across this poem. Its theme of a potential world just unseen, and the poet’s connection to Provincetown, resonated with the work, his process and the specific circumstances of this show. The poem is mystical and multivalent, yet simple and expressive, much like the paintings presented.  This is Stephen’s first one person exhibition at the gallery.