Chuck Gumpert and Tom Anderson are the featured artists at Childhood's End Gallery this month. Both are painters in the Abstract Expressionist tradition.

It seems like I've been seeing invitations to Chuck Gumpert's shows for as long as I've been reviewing art; but unless my memory has failed me - which it does quite frequently - I don't think I've ever reviewed his work, and I'm not even sure I've seen any of his paintings except in reproduction. I was surprised at the small-to-moderate scale of these paintings, because on websites they look much larger. It's Gumpert's very expansive explosion of color and loosely brushed forms with no definite edges that make them look so much larger.

The paint looks like it is still wet. Everything has the feel of windswept storm clouds with bright sunlight bursting from behind the clouds. His surfaces are heavily layered with drips and splatters and scumbled paint. (It just dawned on me that "scumbled" is an art term that not everyone is familiar with. Here is the dictionary definition: "to soften the color or tone of a painted area by overlaying parts with opaque or semiopaque color applied thinly and lightly with an almost dry brush.")

Read Alec Clayton's full review of the Chuck Gumpert and Tom Anderson show in the Arts section at weeklyvolcano.com.

Chuck Gumpert and Tom Anderson

Through April 22,10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Saturday
11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday
Childhood’s End Gallery
222 Fourth Ave. W., Olympia
360.943.3724