Monday, April 15, 2013

Common Ground: Still Life Painting Show opens this Friday at Argyle Fine Art

Still Life painting hasn't been something we've shown a lot of  at Argyle Fine Art, with a few exceptions to that rule, however in the last three years we've noticed a resurgence of highly skilled still-life artists living in our community that definitely stand out from the rest.

Artists Chris Wallace, George Spencer and Stuart Melanson are the artists that will be featured in the show, which opens this Friday, April 19th. Although Chris Wallace has some formal training as a fine artist, his medium of choice, Egg Tempera, really depends on patience, determination and lots of self-learning to get it just right. He never stops challenging himself.

Egg Tempera, Chris Wallace

George Spencer and Stuart Melanson have no formal training from art institutions, but that hasn't kept them from exploring and learning. George Spencer takes his cues from many Dutch still-life painters and works with the medium of oil.

Oil on Board, George Spencer
 Stuart Melanson was inspired by the works of Robert Bateman at an early age-and tried his hand at painting with Bateman's chosen medium of acrylic-and with the same attention to detail and precision.

Acrylic on Board, Stuart Melanson
All of the artists  in this exhibition have learned to paint from watching others, reading extensively, studying other artists's works and of course, by painting! Lots of painting and trial and error. The result? An exciting body of work that I would boast is some of the best examples of  still-life I have seen from this region in quite some time.

Oil on Board, George Spencer
Please attend the reception if you are able to- I think you'll agree these works are worth the time for a second look at still-life and ultimately, a form of realism in our province.