Stuart Shils, Phil-Ellena and Quincy Streets, Mt. Airy

Stuart Shils perceives and interprets the effects of light and water on form. A characteristically small but rich painting, Phil-Ellena and Quincy Streets, Mt. Airy exhibits the ephemeral qualities that are of such interest to the artist; buildings, walls, earth, and sky become brief poetic reflections. This work represents a turning point in Shils's career: an investigation of a streetscape that led to a renewed interest in urban subjects.

A Philadelphia native, Shils lives in Mt. Airy and has painted en plein air for thirty years. His paintings and monotypes have been exhibited in New York, Philadelphia, Tel Aviv, Boston, San Francisco, and Cork, Ireland. In 2001, Woodmere organized its own exhibition of his monotypes and drawings. Shils teaches at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he studied painting under Arthur DeCosta and Seymour Remenick, as well as at the Jerusalem Studio School and its summer program in Italy.