FARMINGTON — Maine artist Harold Garde will show new paintings in an exhibit, “Harold Garde’s People, Places and Things,” from July 6 to Aug. 12 at the Emery Community Arts Center at the University of Maine at Farmington.

A reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, July 6, in the Flex Space Gallery.

The vibrant energy of Garde’s new paintings comes from the striking simplicity and boldness of color in his figures and objects. His use of surreal imagery blends seriousness and whimsy.

Garde began his career in the 1950s as an abstract Expressionist painter, later turning to the figurative subject. He uses acrylic paint on paper and canvas, he says, to convey his desire for “the simplest, the most direct, the most basic.”

Garde’s work appears in the collections of the Portland Museum of Art, Farnsworth Art Museum and Museum of Florida Art. For more information, visit www.haroldgarde.com.

The Emery Community Arts Center is on Academy Street, behind Merrill Hall. It is open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.