Editor's pick: Art opening

Works on paper by David Hilson

Fri., July 8, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Free. The Delaware Arts Center Gallery, 37 Main Street, Narrowsburg, NY. 845/252-7576.

The imagery of Doug Hilson, on view in an exhibit of his drawings at The Delaware Arts Center Gallery starting July 8, is dense, rich and full. It feels urban to the core, with careening multiple viewpoints that sometimes rush from a dizzying aerial view to convoluted paths through packed city streets.

“With over two hundred of my works on paper being shown, I am reminded of a statement my mother made to me in 1970 when I showed her a large painting filled with hundreds of images which she obviously didn’t like,” says Hilson. “Being the wonderful mother she was, she just said, ‘Well Douglas, you certainly give everyone a lot to look at.’”

The drawings come from two different periods, 1993-1994 and 2001-2005. The work from the early 90’s is from four volumes of drawings entitled “The 90’s So Far.” Most are autobiographical or related to Hilson’s invented “Doug’s Museum,” which produced catalogues for exhibitions that never existed.

“All of my work is influenced and informed by nearly thirty years of living in New York City and general human folly,” said Hilson. “The most recent work from 2004-2005 is related to living in the center of Manhattan’s financial district where we are surrounded by massive vertical ‘towers of power.’ I find it visually exhilarating, rich in imagery, yet at times overwhelmingly daunting,” he said.