Frank Bruckmann paints the sky to convey a sense of the clouds roiling overhead; perhaps it’s getting dark, or threatening rain, or both. In the dimness, the lights in the painting are blurred by atmosphere. Metal signs gleam in the reflected light. Bruckmann gives it all emotion and loving attention, which makes it all the more interesting that his subject isn’t a beautiful landscape, or an important person, but a snarl of traffic on I‑95.
The painting is part of“Seminal Journey,” a show of Bruckmann’s paintings and Gar Waterman’s sculptures running now at Kehler Liddell Gallery through June 23. The pairing of artists proves inspired. Both Bruckmann and Waterman apply rigorous artistic skill to unlikely subjects, helping viewers to look again at something they might otherwise pass by. And as both artists draw from their local environments, the show as a whole has something to say about New Haven County.
