‘A Little Color’ at Café Monte Alto

Plymouth, N.H.—Who doesn’t need a little color in February? An exhibition of paintings by Plymouth artist Marcia Santore at Café Monte Alto brings just that. A Little Color: Small Works by Marcia Santore runs throughout the month of February at Café Monte Alto, 83 Main Street, Plymouth, N.H., open seven days a week, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Some in oil, some in acrylic, each of the vibrant works in the exhibition is no more than twelve inches high. With vivid color, contrasting texture, and subtle movement these small, contemporary paintings use recognizable subject matter as a point of departure to explore abstract ideas. Featuring imagery such as imaginary animals and impossible architectural spaces, each painting suggests a world of its own.

Santore says, “I’m fascinated by that point of balance between recognizable shapes or forms and complete abstraction. Some works lean more one way, others lean the other way, but they’re all walking that line. I am drawn to the endless possibilities of color, texture, line, and form to explore the border between the abstract and the figurative—echoing but never repeating the variations found in life.”

Born in Hartford, Conn., Santore was raised in Santa Barbara, Calif., and Rochester, N.Y., before her family came to settle in Austin, Texas. She received her BFA degree in studio art with an emphasis in painting and drawing from the University of Texas at Austin. With her husband, composer Jonathan Santore, she moved to Los Angeles, Calif., and Minneapolis, Minn., prior to making their home in Plymouth in 1994. Santore has exhibited her work in solo, juried, and group exhibitions throughout the United States, and her work is to be found in public and private collections in the U.S. and Europe. To learn more about the artist, visit www.marciasantore.com.