U P O N C L O S E R R E F L E C T I O N
On View January 15th- March 6th, 2021
In our first exhibition of 2021, UPON CLOSER REFLECTION, each artist focuses on light and energy through their floral and still life imagery. This traditional subject matter is viewed under a contemporary lens through oil painting, traditional and cyanotype photography, illustration, watercolor, and augmented reality. As we enter into a new year, we cast a light back in reflection of our lives for contemplation and insight. We also consider the bigger picture to which we all belong, this is where the artists step in to bring inspiration and beauty to our community.
This group exhibition features the work of Bryan Leister, Eileen Roscina, Brian Comber, Angela Beloian, Jane Fulton Alt, and Chloe Hedden
Press Release (pdf)
Price List (pdf)
Bryan Leister
Bryan Leister’s latest series, Elements, represents a return to his past, while also exploring new ways of looking at and experiencing art. Working in the still life realm to focus on the calming practice of capturing light, Leister takes his work to another level by incorporating senses of touch and sound through his signature digital style. He utilizes mundane subject matter in his attempt to create what Kant referred to as a ‘disinterested state’, in hopes that the viewer can focus on light and soundscapes, and their reaction to them.
Artist Statement (pdf)
Resume (pdf)
“Most of my recent work has been in the form of digital and interactive experiences that evoke feelings of calm and meditation. For this series, I wanted to focus on something that calms me personally and that is simply painting a still life. Unlike portraiture or commissions, still life painting for me is focused on the act of capturing light as it strikes an object.”
“For the digital experience, I wanted to concentrate on the other senses, touch and sound. As you point your device at the paintings, mathematically derived shapes appear and are attached to synthesized sound. Touching the shapes changes the sequence and alters the soundscape.
The program is a structured around simple geometric shapes, with sounds place at various intervals along the shape. When struck, the shape emits a tone based on a variety of pentatonic scales.”
Bryan Leister
Open
oil on panel, with animated augmented reality application
16x16
$1500
Eileen Roscina
Eileen Roscina presents her latest series, Celestial Ripples. These cosmic concentric circles use layers of pressed botanicals and the power of our own star to create multiple exposures over the course of many days. This series investigates the idea of a singularity, our point of origin in the universe where star stuff was first born, and where time ceases to function.
Artist Statement (pdf)
Resume (pdf)
“These cosmic concentric circles use layers of pressed botanicals and the power of our own star to create multiple exposures over the course of many days, in many ways acting as a calendar.”
Brian Comber
Influenced by his circumstances, Brian Comber’s recent watercolors have taken on decidedly non-watercolor hues of black and gray, and depict the static objects that now surround him every day. In contrast to his earlier work, the paintings are smaller, grouped together in themed grids.
Artist Statement (pdf)
Resume (pdf)
“I have spent my career alternating between painting and printmaking, incorporating techniques and traditions of one to inform my work in the other. Gigantic, colorful oil portraits and landscapes would display aspects of etchings, with layered overlays. It was only recently I added watercolor to my arsenal.”
“Watercolor has recently become my preferred medium, if the newest work is any indication, although still with a “Comber-esque” twist. Influenced by my circumstances, these recent watercolors have taken on decidedly non-watercolor hues of black and gray. That's where my printmaking background comes in. Gray is as important a 'color' as any other, to my eye.”
Angela Beloian
Angela Beloian’s new work takes inspiration from the quiet sanctuary of her own backyard. The raging fires surrounding Colorado this past year influenced the work, and appear as vibrant bursts of energy radiating from within a cosmic background, a reminder of the bigger picture to which we all belong.
Artist Statement (pdf)
Resume (pdf)
“Growing up in Southern California, my grandmother’s flowers were always in bloom. My mother nurtured her houseplants, some of which were decades old; they held emotional ties to loved ones both living and gone. Caring for the plants in and around our home connected us to the past and present.”
“Recent paintings take inspiration from my own backyard. They are meditations on transcendence and reference the biodiversity of the garden as a window to the cosmos. The celestial backgrounds are a reminder of the "bigger picture" to which we all belong; everything is born of stardust. “
Jane Fulton Alt
Jane Fulton Alt’s careful attention to beauty and light is reminiscent of the old Dutch still life painters. She has always used the camera to more fully understand the human condition, while addressing the ephemeral nature of all things.
Artist Statement (pdf)
Resume (pdf)
“The inspiration for this body of work was a bouquet I received as a gift in the spring of 2019. Every day, over the course of a week, I arranged the flowers using a series of vases, sometimes adding fruit, and photographed them in the early morning light. I wanted to capture the brilliant color of the ranunculus and the lush profusion of the peonies. I thought of the images as simply a response to the beauty of the flowers. “
“As the flowers began to wilt, I was just as compelled by the ranunculus’ serpentine droop and the gentle splash of peony petals. Thus, these still lives became a series and its theme was one that has run through almost all of my photographic work, even if in different guises: the ephemeral nature of all things, the inevitability of decay,
the realization that life and death are not contradictory but a single process to be embraced as a whole.”
Chloe Hedden
Chloe Hedden paints the poetry of light. Focusing on a dense cluster of glittering refraction, or delicate transparency and shadow, she renders these microcosms on large canvases with her purposeful brush strokes. Her pieces are portraits of a particular flower at a precise moment in time that will never exist again.
Artist Statement (pdf)
Resume (pdf)
“As an artist, I look for the unseen patterns and hidden narratives that reveal the magnificence in all things. Robert Henri said, "Paint the spirit of the bird rather than its feathers." There is a still point in every moment and to capture this essential luminescence is to acknowledge the ancient wisdom in all things.”
“I paint the poetry of light. Zooming in close to a dense cluster of glittering refraction, or delicate transparency and shadow, I render these microcosms on large canvases with my purposeful brush strokes. My pieces are portraits of a particular flower at a precise moment in time that will never exist again.”
Press and Praise for UPON CLOSER REFLECTION
Jeffco Transcript: A New Year Begins- Upon Closer Reflection
