…opened here in Missoula at the Dana Gallery today. I perused the show this afternoon after having lunch with some of the Southwest Art folks. Impressions:
- If you ain’t painting figurative, landscape, or still life, fuhgeddabout getting in. I saw 5 or 6 pieces that had animals and no people in them (out of 200+ paintings).
- Many of the landscape and figurative paintings chosen had fairly impressionistic brushwork. Most of the still lifes were fairly tight.
- The edgy work I submitted didn’t fit (and didn’t get in). You need:
a) beautiful brushwork
b) fairly conventional topics
c) an original composition - If you’re going to submit a still life, make sure it’s several objects in a shaft of light in an otherwise dark painting (yawn).
- There were definitely some pieces (a dozen or so?) that had a “WOW!” impact on me. There were plenty that were interesting to look at, but not engaging otherwise (back to the still lifes…)
…sour grapes? No, never, not me! but when I see a ho-hum painting of a poorly-drawn reclining cat that got in over who knows what else, well…
Get the catalog and tell me what you think.
Tags: art show
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