(Putting the finishing touches a couple minutes before the opening)
This past weekend was the opening of "Semblance" my first solo art show at the Fox Tax Gallery. It was such an amazing time to have so many people come out and see the work I have been producing. A special thank you to Fox Tax Gallery for giving me the opportunity in showing at their beautiful gallery and thank you to everyone that came out and made that evening a special one to remember.
With this show I wanted to push my paintings in a new direction. I wanted to explore the boundaries of modern art that is influenced by colors and patterns and see if it can sustain with a classical/neo classical figure. The figures were kept in a classical pose with patterns and bold colors intersecting through out the body and background. I was definitely not in familiar territory when producing these paintings which also made it more exciting to create. I think as artist we must always evolve and see how far we can challenge ourselves. For me the challenge was going outside my comfort zone of painting still life's and figures and try to produce a body of work that is unique, original and speaks to me.
The other half of the show was dedicated to ball point pen drawings. They are unique in their own right and thought having them with my paintings was only a natural thing to do. I wanted to draw people with beards for the most part, I have a fascination of interesting faces with cool mustaches or crazy looking beards. Either way its destined to produce an interesting drawing...hopefully. Ball point pen drawings have always been a form of practice for me, I can't always carry a brush and paint everywhere I go so drawing with a pen has been the closest thing. I never really thought of showing these in the past until my wife saw them and thought it would be a good idea to start showing them. These drawings I made for the show were a lot of fun as some of these models were found locally at shops or people I ran into in the streets. The drawings were as fun to produce as the paintings were.
(This night before the opening.)
As you can see from the picture above, I mixed the drawings with the paintings as far as set up goes. This gave a good flow from one drawing to one painting. The following pictures are in order how it was set up in the show.
"The Bearded Lady"
Ball Point Pen
"Darling"
Oil on Linen
"Ultra Man"
Ball Point Pen
"Logic & Belief"
Oil on Linen
"Curly"
Ball Point Pen
"Catching Light"
Oil on Linen
"Seiler"
Ball Point Pen
"Ivan Kramskoy Study"
Ball Point Pen
"Lady Sublime"
Oil on Linen
"Ruben & Ribera Study"
Ball Point Pen
"Technicolor"
Oil on Linen
"Prismatic Repose"
Oil on linen
"Ruffles"
Ball Point Pen
"Hypnos"
Oil on Linen
"Old Sport"
Ball Point Pen
I wanted to say a special thank you to my beautiful wife. The person who helped me with my work in improving them with her sharp eye and constructive critiques, I can not imagine the results without her. The person who made sure I didn't have to worry about anything else other than getting ready for the show. She is truly the best thing that has ever happened to me and I am really blessed to have her by my side. Thank you!
