Diane Novetsky: Music of the Spheres (Main and Center Galleries)

Music of the Spheres retraces and amplifies the path of Novetsky's last Kingston Gallery exhibit, On the Cusp. Through her work, she draws the viewer into an imagined celestial world parallel to our own. The “spheres” are characters which echo the continuity, complexities and cycles of life. The title references an ancient Greek philosophical concept which connects the movement of heavenly bodies to a form of universal music. This interplay of form and sound is embodied in Novetsky's work and painting process which is greatly influenced by the expressive feeling and structural framework of music—from the improvisation of modern Jazz to the contrapuntal elegance of Bach.

Boston Globe arts writer, Cate McQuaid remarked on the work’s affinity to music in her
April 6, 2025 Substack essay: “Diane paints in warm, singing tones, nesting and looping turquoises and ambers, amethyst and limes in voluptuous, curving forms. Her paintings feel generous and slow, as if she’s listening to the gurgles of a deep underground well.”

Bulbous forms occupy the frame of the canvas and suggests a visionary world beyond the picture’s limits. Several paintings within this series depict spheres framed by biomorphic, or concentric rays of light. In other paintings, spheres describe overlapping and repeating forms that suggest a rhythmic movement through time and space.