“Searching for the unexpected. Categorizing feels stagnant. I’m still moving.” - Stephanie Cramer

The painting process is constantly changing for me. There are a lot of intermissions that happen when you work from home. It is almost impossible to come back to the same person I was before the break. But then again, maybe I need a break from that person I was before. Maybe these interruptions/intermissions are what is fueling the work? Maybe the intermission has something more to offer than the show itself.

We invited a curated list of artists to submit works for this “Invitational” exhibition. These artists previously participated in group shows at Obelisk Gallery and have shown exceptional talent. 22 artists are featured in this exhibition. Opening Reception: June 7th, 2024, 6-10pm Exhibition Showing: June 7th – July 27th, 2024

Center stage in my art is the figure—an object in motion, as if the figure is caught, just for an instant; a glimpse, a snapshot before the gesture is complete. I’m not in search of exact representation. I’m intent rather on provoking a sense of tension or intensity. These plus color, bring the emotion to the painting. Whether spatial or expressionistic, the implied relationship between figures is intended to arouse curiosity. Painting is like a freeze frame. It helps both the viewer and the painter to pause—if just for a second as we enter into that two dimensional space. Most of the time the stage is imaginary or based on dreams and memories. Like Alice, the viewer is invited to step into the drama or the wonderland inside the looking glass.

Color is the first thought before the brush hits the canvas. Blue is what soothes the soul, red adds spice, a wide swish begins the movement. Let the color take you… Go forward… Make a mark. Leave enough room for you to wonder. Let the color rush over you. Breathe.

Welcome to the beach! The beach has always inspired me to sing, dance, and paint. These paintings embody a playful spirit, and summarize the joy I experience during a beautiful day at the beach. “Silliness” is a prominent theme in these paintings. The beach can give you the freedom to act without thought, and these paintings reflect that freedom by mashing reds and pinks and oranges together the way you did in childhood. Back then you would say to yourself, “Man, that’s crazy, but it works!”. In the same way the colors of the boardwalk mix and meld into abstract images, the colors of my paintings combine to create an environmental whole. I hope these paintings inspire you in the same way the beach inspires me. Enjoy, and have fun!

Lineage is a body of work based on two stained glass windows made by my late grandmother, Barbara Rosen. For these paintings, I am examining her unique use of color and shape through a lens of further abstraction. These works are painted in oil using a wet on dry technique to build nuance and depth into the intense palette inspired by glass. I also created an accompanying series of works painted using the soak stain technique that I often use in my painting process. For these works, acrylic paint is the primary medium on raw (unprimed, unstretched) canvas, but I have integrated oil paint into them as well. This integration creates a unique pattern based on the repulsion and absorption of the two painting media. The palette for these soak stain works is based on my grandmother as well and her particular love of turquoise.

Ever since I was a little boy in Illinois I have always been “LOOKING WEST”. Cowboys , Indians, Will Rogers, Mark Twain, surfers, California Yosemite, Yellowstone and now the California painters Richard Diebenkorn and Nathan Olivera are my sources of inspiration along with my wife and teacher the painter, Jacqueline Warren, who was born in San Diego. Now here is a song that I wrote for Jackie’s birthday in November that explains all you need to know about my new paintings and the spirit and light of the West that is in them thanks to Jackie and the beaces and rivers and the light and the artists of California. JACQUELINE Jacqueline, my precious Jacqueline, the girl who taught me how to paint Jacqueline, yes, Jackie is her name, the pretty girl who taught me how to paint And make those colors dance around and play And I am such a lucky man cuz she put a paintbrush in my hand And showed me how to make those colors dance around on canvas And she told me all about Matisse and Richard Diebenkorn So all my painting have the light a California morning And now I am a painted, a painter’s what I’m called Cuz I can make those colors dance on canvases on walls And I owe it all to Jacqueline, my California Girl Who showed me how much fun it is to live in a crazy painter’s world Jacqueline, my precious Jacqueline, the girl who taught me how to paint Jacqueline, yes, Jackie is her name, the pretty girl who taught me how to paint And make those colors dance around and play This show is dedicated to Jackie and her patience and love.

In this collection, I continue my journey over the last five years to break myself from having to use a strict reference to create my paintings. It’s a range of works that explore the balance between using partial references and the lack thereof. With a handful of pieces, I manipulate borrowed photographs by reforming them, simplifying, and using them as loosely as I can. On the other end of the spectrum, this collection also includes a dozen of intuitive abstracts as a result of completely abandoning my reference and excluding it from my process completely. A new introduction to my portfolio, abstracts are the crowning challenge to let go of the plan and just paint.

"To me, art is about “magical moments”. That is, a magical moment for both the artist and the viewer. That moment happens “when a work of art works” and it keeps working for a long time. The more we look at a painting, the more we see: the more detail, the more magic, the more beauty, the more color, the more energy, the more love. We wonder how did so much color come together in such a wonderful way so that the colors are all singing and dancing together at a party that never ends! After twenty years of painting, I am still amazed by that “magical moment” when a painting comes together forever! It’s just that simple and true: when truth and beauty reign. When that magical moment appears on canvas." - Tom Beale

Metachrosis is the ability of some animals to change their color, texture or patterns. Annie often uses paint in the same way these animals do to create or reflect different states of being.

"Being a devout observer and lover of Nature, I have a unique challenge when painting a landscape. In Nature I am amazed by the infinite number of organisms and elements swirling in this mix of life. Representing that power, beauty and unity is possible by transforming these elements into form and symbols. Plato states that the material world is changeable and unreliable, yet beyond this world of appearances is one of permanence and reliability. This is true reality. For any conceivable thing there is a corresponding Form which is an independent existing abstract perfect idea. The idea of a tree, for example, has great complexity and spirit. It becomes more than an object; it becomes an idea. I use these forms /ideas as my subjects in a scene to create a story about human connection. The painting isn’t an outside story, but rather an inside one." -Jane Troup

By exploring animals personified, we are forced to confront nature, consider our relationship to it, and perhaps see things for what they are. Through collaboration and individual creation, these paintings are like mirrors for the world around us as both literal and metaphorical expressions. The aim of this body of work seeks to have fun with some contemporary explorations which we both share individually and collectively. From an ethereal domestic dog fight to a deer in the head lights; the unique “nature” we often find ourselves in has been reimagined for personal contemplation. The outcome of the experimental collaborative paintings lends itself to new methods and processes for creating “together”. For example, one artist may initiate the piece conceptually, laying in the ground work in preparation for the other to come and carry it forwards…and or backwards if needed. Another method stems from the act of picking up “abandoned” pieces or surfaces that have been laying around for a long period of time; the resurrection of something old, giving it new life, new meaning, or end point for a particular painting. There is an unspoken rule in studio spaces the two have shared together over time. If it sits around too long, its free game to paint on! Mindful of the others’ plans of course, this is the real joy the two find in working together and sharing the process of painting and creating.

There is a space between shape and form. The negative space that builds itself from lines and light, keeping the shadow’s shape. It interests me most this negative space that fills and rounds out a central subject from a flat or distant background. This is my primary thought in approaching these works… I’ve painted what I like, the dramatic and exciting, from inspiration found from simple shapes in flowers to intricate architectural scenes. All creating the negative areas that I find alluring.

So, when can negative be positive? In my paintings. Since I primarily seek to exploit color in vivid and unusual ways in my art, it took me a long time to realize that negative spaces can energize my color palette. What are negative spaces? Those areas between and around objects. Negative space can be background. It can define objects and bring balance. But it can also become the object itself, shoved to the forefront by complementary surrounding colors. White can create a negative space that gives structure and substance to a canvas. Other colors used in secondary roles can do the same. Negative space can be used to elevate starring roles in a story, which is in face what an abstract offering projects. In much of my work for this show, I have used the color white more liberally than previously. I have been pleased to learn a new way of telling my stories.