NORTH SALEM, N.Y. - Norman Rockwell they are not.
That’s how one North Salem gallery owner describes the work of artist Julie Garfield, whose Hollywood royalty childhood “resurfaces in haunting imagery.”
According to Tom Christopher, himself an artist, one canvas features acidic yellow hues surrounding “her now absent father in front of an abandoned warehouse.”
She is the daughter of the legendary actor John Garfield, one of the stars of the 1946 American film noir “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” and Roberta Seidman Garfield.
Another painting has daddy brandishing a knife in a scene from a movie, while another offers an awkward cross-eyed child tightly holding his chest, he said.
“These vibrant film noir-based paintings are a cross between Edward Munch and Diane Arbus. Once seen, you can’t quite forget them,” Christopher added.
Garfield is a New York-based award-winning actress who discovered her passion for painting later in life.
Among her many big screen roles was that of Mickey Conway, the wife of James Conway (played by Robert De Niro) in the 1990 movie “Goodfellas.”
Christopher’s Lift Trucks Gallery held an opening reception for her latest exhibit from on Oct. 26. The show remains up through December.
With a rich career in theater -- both on and off Broadway -- as well as in film and television, Garfield has built a remarkable legacy. (Her father faced blacklisting in the 1950s.)
Garfield has developed an extensive portfolio that includes a diverse range of paintings and drawings.
Her work uniquely blends elements of pre-surrealism, reminiscent of Bosch, with her own mysterious style and vibrant palette, using oil, charcoal, and pencil.
It is “not just self-referential but holds universal truths we can relate to. Sometimes the past resurfaces for all of us,” Christopher said.
Garfield’s images surfaced after decades learning how to paint.
“Nothing decorative or commercial here,” he said.
The show is a good fit with Lift Trucks Gallery because it searches out artists “who paint for no other reason than because they have to. No matter what.”
Born in Hollywood, Calif., Christopher says he “grew up with a healthy sense of dread” watching film noirs, a genre of cinematographic film characterized by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and (queue the suspenseful music) menace.
It was a term originally applied by certain French critics to American thriller or detective movies made during the mid-1940s to mid-1950s, especially those directed by legends Orson Wells, Billy Wilder, and Fritz Lang.
“The good ones stay with you forever,” Christopher said.
John Garfield died when Julie was very young, as, he noted, his own dad did.
“We half orphans are always subconsciously trying to recreate the father we know from tales and photos and memories,” he said. “It’s not particularly sad or strange, but just there.”
“Kind of sets one apart from others,” Christopher added.
That’s why he has titled Garfield’s show “The Artist Rings Twice.”
“Some memories ring twice,” said Christopher, known for his expressionist urban paintings and murals.
He started out as a commercial artist and now his works are internationally exhibited in galleries and exhibitions in France, Germany, and Japan.
Good to Know
Lift Trucks Project is located in a former forklift factory off Route 22 (3 East Cross St.) in the North Salem hamlet of Croton Falls.
It is a project space and artist studio that hosts several long-term exhibitions each year. Among the featured artists have been FA-Q, Christo, Ottmar Hoerl, Ed Roth, A.R. Penck, Sailor Jerry, and others.
For more information, call (914) 602-4681, email lifttrucksproject@gmail.com or visit its website, ltproject.com.
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