September 2 - October 2, 2010

THE LAURA RUSSO GALLERY IS PLEASED TO PRESENT:

Michael Brophy: Outside - New Paintings

Eric Stotik : Recent Paintings


OPENING RECEPTION:
First Thursday September 2, 2010
First Thursday Hours, 5-8pm


Please join us for artist talks with Michael Brophy and Eric Stotik,
Saturday, September 11, at 11a.m.


Michael Brophy


Michael Brophy
Tunnel 2010
oil on canvas
54" x 66"

Michael Brophy’s exploration of the landscape touches on a broad range of subject matter in this exhibit, titled Outside. Large and medium size canvases present images like docks, driftwood, industrial containers and tunnels, exploring a broad range of ideas that relate to Brophy’s longstanding interest in a sense of place, and the fascinating intersection of human and natural history. Regarding the current direction of his painting, Brophy says “(w)hereas before I was drawing the space in my paintings, now I’m working the image, wet on wet, out of large fields of paint. I’ve come to work in a more abstract and minimalist way. The horizon has gained more importance, the images more singularity; the paint is more open and direct.” His physical and conceptual understanding of painting gives his canvases allusive power and mythic impact. The result is dramatic, probing and refined.

Northwest artist Michael Brophy graduated in 1985 from the Pacific Northwest College of Art, where he has also taught. He has shown extensively in the Northwest in both solo and group exhibitions. Currently, his work is part of Critical Messages: Contemporary NW Artists on the Environment, an exhibition that originated at Western Washington University, and will travel to the Hallie Ford Museum and the Boise Art Museum. He is a recipient of multiple honors including a NEA Westaf Grant, a Pollock Krasner Grant, and an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Regional Arts & Culture Council. His work is in collections including Microsoft, the Multnomah County Library Collection, the Portland Art Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, the Tacoma Art Museum, OSU Library in Corvallis, and the City of Portland, OR. Public commissions include Portland’s City Hall and the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center in Wasco, OR. He recently completed a commission for Mount Rainier High School in Des Moines, WA, through the Washington State Arts Commission.

More Examples by Michael Brophy


Eric Stotik



Eric Stotik
Untitled LR193 (falling man in green; blue sky) 2010
acrylic on wood panel
13.5" x 10.5"

We are pleased to present the newest paintings of Eric Stotik. His small, intimate narratives depict enigmatic people and places, raising questions about identity, loss, interconnection and the human condition. He describes his artistic lineage as Schongauer, Grünewald, Dürer, Goya and Max Beckman. Incorporating dreamlike figures and settings that warrant further investigation, Stotik’s paintings probe a darker side of the psyche. He says about his work of the past two decades, “My focus on the human form and pathos has not wavered. My intention of presenting viewers with both accusatory and celebratory images with “gravity” is unchanged. The combination of technical skill in draftsmanship, composition, and visual impact, with concurrent themes of human life and death has always been and remain my artistic compass.”

Eric Stotik grew up between Papua, New Guinea and Melbourne, Australia. As an adult, he came to Portland to study art at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, where he graduated in 1985. He won the prestigious Betty Bowen Memorial Award in 1994 and was Artist in Residence at the Vivian and Gordon Gilkey Center for the Graphic Arts, Portland Art Museum in 1997. He has shown his work extensively throughout the Northwest. His work is included in the collections of: the Hallie Ford Museum at Willamette University, Salem; the Portland Art Museum; the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah; Idaho State University; the New York Public Library; and Yale University.

More examples by Eric Stotik

Upcoming 2010 Exhibitions


October 7 - 30, 2010
Fay Jones – New Paintings
Rae Mahaffey – Recent Work

November 4 - 27, 2010
Henk Pander - New Paintings
Marlene Bauer - Recent Work