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Indepth Arts News:
"Natural Contrast: Paul Hunter, Isabelle du Toit and Lari Gibbons"
2005-12-02 until 0000-00-00
Pan American Art Gallery
Dallas, TX,
USA United States of America
The Pan American Art Gallery will open Natural Contrast, a three-person exhibition with works by Paul Hunter, Isabelle du Toit and Lari Gibbons on Friday, December 2, 2005, The exhibition will continue through January 8, 2006. Pan American Art Gallery, based in Dallas, Texas, specializes in art of the Americas. Established in 1994, the gallery seeks to create a bridge between North and South American cultures and to present and exhibit artists from both regions concurrently. By dealing with emerging to established artists, as well as secondary market paintings, sculpture, and works on paper, Pan American Art Gallery seeks to contribute to the growing art community of Dallas. The gallery is an active member of the Dallas Arts Dealers Association.
LARI GIBBONS
Lari Gibbons creates poignant works through the fine art of drawing and printmaking. Whether she is investigating the impact of urban development on the native woodlands or studying the relationship between seemingly disparate objects, Gibbons does this with delicacy and care. Though her works are small, each piece is loaded with epistemological questions. The tonality and resolution with which she is able to bring such questions to light is a tribute to her talent with the arduous process of mezzotint, a type of intaglio print, whereby the image is carried beneath the surface of a metal plate and must be coaxed onto the surface by scraping and burnishing parts of the plate back to the original smooth surface.
Lari Gibbons received her MFA at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and is currently Assistant Professor of Art at the University of North Texas. She has participated in over 100 national and international exhibitions, and her work can be found in private and public collections throughout the US, Canada, China, Italy, and France.
PAUL HUNTER
Paul Hunter paints the imaginary landscape onto canvases covered with 23-karat gold leaf, bronze, copper, aluminum, and white gold leaf. Using infallible centuries-old techniques, each leaf is adhered individually to the gessoed canvas, and allowed to cure for one week before Hunter paints his landscape. He often combines different types of gold and metal leaf in a single painting to exploit their different colors and reflective qualities. Though he paints with a variety of colors, it is often black that contrasts so opaquely with the shimmering metal leaf to create striking panoramas. By moving in front of the painting and shifting the viewing angle, the viewer can alter the light and shadow that fall onto the landscape, making every moment with one of his paintings a unique viewing experience.
Originally from Quebec, receiving his MFA from Concordia University in Montreal, Paul Hunter now lives and works in New York City. His select exhibitions include the Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris, Alternative Museum, Montclair Art Museum, Art Museum of Princeton University, Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, the Quebec Museum, and various galleries throughout the United States, Canada, and most recently Germany. Select awards include the Canada Council Grant 1986-88; Quebec Government Artists Fellowship, 1984,1988, 1991; and The Pollock-Krasner Foundation 1987.
ROUAUD (ISABELLE DU TOIT)
Isabelle du Toit's approach to painting is sensitive both in style and subject matter. Her meticulous depictions of solitary animals ask the viewer to consider the plight of nature in the face of man's encroachment. Painted life-size, her subjects are able to quietly convey this message to the viewer. Du Toit's skillful, detailed paint handling combined with the astute attention to the nuances of chiaroscuro, create a look and feel unique to the artist. Her minimalist and contemporary backdrops isolate the honesty and beauty of the subject matter, and at the same time emphasize what we might see in the world around us if we looked beyond the constant bombardment of images generated by modern life.
Isabelle du Toit's grandmother, Simone Rouaud Guignan, has been a source of inspiration to the artist since childhood. Recalls du Toit, "She painted on porcelain, and made me aware that we were surrounded by colors that we do not take the time to see. I sign my work Rouaud in memory of her."
Rouaud was born in Strasbourg, France, but at the age of sixteen she immigrated with her family to South Africa. Rouaud received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in printmaking in 1993 from Port Elizabeth Technikon in South Africa. Currently a resident of Dallas, she exhibits throughout the US and is a member of the International Guild of Realism, winning the Gold Medal in their first juried exhibition last spring.
IMAGE
Paul Hunter
Dry Landscape # AT, 2005
aluminum, white gold, acrylic & enamel on canvas
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