Art review: On the surface, the new exhibit of painter Jay Stern’s work is beautiful Maine pastorale

“White Pine Walk” by Jay Stern, 2024. 48 x 60 inches, Oil on canvas. Courtesy of Grant Wahlquist Gallery It’s a rich season for work by gay artists.

We started with the Ogunquit Museum of American Art’s Anthony Cudahy survey, “ Spinnaret ,” which comes down today. Two shows by gay artists are on exhibit at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland: “Nature Cult, Seeded | Donald Moffett” and “To Whom Keeps a Record | Arnold J. Kemp” (both through Sept.

8), which I’ll report on next week. WHAT: “Jay Stern: Awning” WHERE: Grant Wahlquist Gallery, 30 City Center, 2nd Floor, Portland WHEN: Through Aug. 17 HOURS: 11 a.

m. to 6 p.m.

, Wed.-Sat. (by appointment other days) ADMISSION: Free INFO: 207.

245.5732, grantwahlquist.com They don’t all tackle specifically gay themes.

Moffett, though well known for his art about AIDS, gives us instead a cri de coeur for the environment, focusing on endangered bird species in “Nature Cult.” And Kemp’s show is as much (or more) about being Black as being gay. But an argument can be made that all these shows deal with a kind of marginalization of a group (or species) that seems to be escalating rather than diminishing.

Currently at Grant Wahlquist Gallery in Portland is “Jay Stern: Awning” (through Aug. 17). Ostensibly, it’s a landscape and interiors show.

But the subtext here arises from a particularly LGBTQ+ point of view. You could say that it is a metaphor for how gay people often must hide in plain.