DENVER, COLORADO - 11/18/10 -

  For the last month of 2010, Translations Gallery will feature four of its newest artists:  Lance Jackson, Ann Holdreith, Randy Wix and Cheryl Dietz.  The artists represent an array of techniques and styles of current contemporary painting.

Lance Jackson, an abstract expressionist painter, utilizes studies and sketches of places he sees to trigger an emotion for a painting.  His paintings, while often referencing land and city scapes, are unique expressions of color, ranging from strong and bold to quiet and subdued.  Jackson lives and works in Denver. 

Another abstract expressionist, Ann Holdreith considers her work visual poetry: mixing of textures and colors to create tapestry-like paintings.  Repeated shapes are layered to build abstract images that appear spontaneous and playful.   She has work in Corporate collections across the US.

The colorful qualities of Holdreith and Jackson are complimented by the more natural and earthy color schemes of  Randy Wix and Cheryl Dietz. Wix is a self taught artist, who explores unconventional techniques and materials to create rich, three-dimensional textures.  His colors stay earthy, and evoke decomposing surfaces found in urban and natural settings. Wix often introduces references to technology through text and shapes.  The end results are dominating earthen works that consider man's influence on the natural world.

Cheryl Dietz similarly uses nature as her inspiration but distorts perspectives and viewpoints to create disorienting images of the Southwest.   Nature both clashes and integrates with man-made structures. What is expressed is an environment of disruption and unpredictability.  Dietz's work is heavily influenced by the landscape of New Mexico, where she lives and works.

Images: (top to bottom) Lance Jackson, Plains Morning, acrylic and graphite on canvas, 48"w x 48"h;  Ann Holdreith, Light Rising, 36"w x 36"h; Randy Wix, Assimilate, mixed medium, 48"w x 48"h; Cheryl Dietz, Haughty Mangle, oil on canvas, 36"w x 30"h.