Impressions made at PCT

The Pocono Community Theater (PCT) in East Stroudsburg, PA held an Opening Reception on Saturday January 16th featuring the recent paintings of impressionist Carlo Savo. A modest gathering of friends and family members along with a number of art lovers attended the opening offering a generous variety of food while some truly remarkable pieces throughout the gallery proved to be as satisfactory to the pallet as the culinary delights. The conversation inspired by the work enhanced the event as it enabled each participant to learn more about each piece’s origin and each other.

The impressionistic aspects of the work allowed each viewer to become more involved in the images as some were blurred enough to create an interest to ascertaining what some objects actually were. This challenge engaged the viewer and encouraged them to participate in the creative process. In this way, the piece remained incomplete until the viewer determined the composition of the work and went beyond the images to discover its inner meanings.

An example of this could be found in a trilogy of pieces entitled, “The Table Doesn’t Know (#1, #2, and #3).” The blurred colors give rise to a curiosity to what they might be. We soon discover they are of people sitting around a table in conversation. Each individual painting shows the images engaged in different progressions of the same conversation and we begin to wonder what is it the table does not know. It’s there. So, it must know what is being said. But, it doesn’t.

However, we soon realize we’re standing in front of the painting and we don’t know what is being conveyed by the images. We could ask ourselves “Do the people in the painting know what is being said to one another?” “Are there times when we don’t really know the fullness of the conversations we engage in?” These provocative questions expands our thinking as we increasingly become part of the object of our ponderings. This is the pinnacle artistic expression and many of Carlos Savo’s work captures their viewers in similar ways in order to set them free. The exhibition will continue at The Pocono Community Theater until February 27th.

The next event to be held at The Pocono Community Theater in East Stroudsburg, PA will be a repeat performance of “An Evening with Bob Dorough” on Friday January 22nd beginning at 7pm featuring the great jazz pianist. Reservations are required. In the meantime, the theater continues to show the very best of Independent and Foreign Films not commonly shown in larger venues. These include the present screenings of “A Single Man,” “Up in the Air” and “It's Complicated.” The film “It’s Complicated” was the film recently seen and discussed during The Forwardian Arts Society Monthly Film and Chat Gathering for January. You’ll find our review of the film posted on our profile. Please feel free to contact The Pocono Community Theater at 570-421-3456 for more information on their film showing times and other offerings they have. You’ll find more photographs at The Forwardian Arts Society Pocono Community Theater 2010 Gallery at www.myspace.com/forwardian_arts.

Websites of those mentioned in this article are The Pocono Community Theater at www.poconocommunitytheater.org, Carlo Savo at www.carlosavo.com, and Bob Dorough at www.bobdorough.com.