Russ Havard

Sundown Palace

Represented by George Billis Gallery, NY & LA -- From Russ Havard's artist statement, "The process of endless building and reconfiguring transcends the mere physical and encompasses ...

Represented by George Billis Gallery, NY & LA -- From Russ Havard's artist statement, "The process of endless building and reconfiguring transcends the mere physical and encompasses ...

Represented by George Billis Gallery, NY & LA -- From Russ Havard's artist statement, "The process of endless building and reconfiguring transcends the mere physical and encompasses ...

Represented by George Billis Gallery, NY & LA --The process of endless building and reconfiguring transcends the mere physical and encompasses the spiritual and symbolic. The scars a...

In "Holes and Slices", Peña creates a silhouette of house and fills it with bubbly curved shapes and contrasts them with sharpe-edged shapes that contain gradients and muted tones of aqueous colors such as teal and light blue. He balances these colors with muted tones of pink and violet. The viewer can create a house that is yet to be built in between the gaps here. In "Holes and Slices", Peña remarks on a house and landscape that has yet to be built. The aquatic nature seems to hint at the possibility of a house and landscape under water. The painting is created with watercolor and acrylic paint on paper. In the foreground we see Sintra board or flattened PVC that has been CNC routed. In the "soil" beneath the house are small bubble-like cut outs where the viewer can see through to the pattern created with watercolor and acrylic paint. Peña’s works range from painting to multimedia installations that question the ever-changing psychological landscape of America; asking the viewer to re-examine their perceptions of the “American Dream” and the affects that pursuit has on our environment and national psyche. The realization that both the idealistic pursuit of happiness and the relevance of painting in a technologically driven world informs his practice. With each composition the labor begins with digital composites of a fragmented American landscape in peril —where tension lies in the contrasts between past and present, analog and digital, representation and abstraction, and stability and instability. In his most recent series the American home (stability) and fragmented and shifting landscape (instability) are veiled by a digitally produced mat. Traditionally a mat is, by definition, a flat, thin piece of paper based material included within the picture frame and serves as additional decoration when framing artwork. He activates this commonly overlooked material by using a non-traditional material, Sintra (flattened sheet of PVC), that has a negative digitally drawn image cut-out. This cut-out might, at first glance, look hand cut however, a more astute viewer would realize the precision is mechanical. The mat has been transformed from inactive decoration to digitally produced veil that represents the technologically anxious precision we surround ourselves with. Nick Peña...

In his early years Colin Kent studied and worked as an architect. He was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours in 1971 and then became a full time paint...

In his early years Colin Kent studied and worked as an architect. He was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours in 1971 and then became a full time paint...

Stephen Mueller (American, 1947-2011) Southwest Spirit, 1973 Mixed media on paper Signed 'Stephen Mueller 4 '73 NYC' on the reverse Full sheet: 36 x 24 inches In vintage wood frame. Over all dimensions 39.75 X 27.75 Inches Provenance: William Talbot...