Catch the last gallery walk of the winter and view the meticulous encaustic works of Matt Duffin and the realist book portraits of Paul Béliveau!
Paul Béliveau
Paul Béliveau’s Morandi is inspired by the often pastel-toned works of Italian painter Giorgio Morandi. While Béliveau has treated book spines as subject matter before, in the Morandi series the books themselves, rather than the text that decorates their covers, are treated as the aesthetic quality. Outside reference to author, subject, and image is missing and instead, Béliveau revels in the shape and volume of the books responding and building upon each other as a methodical convergence of color and form.
Matt Duffin: Retrospection
Matt Duffin’s encaustic paintings use primarily black and white tones with selected pops of color to bring attention to his irreverent subjects. Employing simplicity within the imagery allows the painstaking qualities of his methodology to shine. Encaustic works are made using wax to which pigment has been added. The wax is heated, applied to a prepared wood surface, and shaped using special brushes and tools. To achieve this level of detail requires exactitude and skill. Considering the rigorous amount of time it takes to complete each piece, it is no surprise that Duffin’s themes tend to explore nostalgia, solitude and irony.
Cooper Cox: Out Here
OCHI is pleased to present Out Here, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Brooklyn-based artist Cooper Cox. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. Out Here will be on view at OCHI Sun Valley, located at 119 Lewis Street in Ketchum, Idaho from December 15, 2023 to February 24, 2024. An Artist’s Reception will be held on Thursday, December 28th from 4:00 to 7:00 PM MST. From a young age, Cooper Cox harbored a fascination with trees, often sketching them in the margins of his schoolbooks. Allured by their elegant forms and endurance, as well as by their symbiotic relationships with neighboring organisms, Cox’s newest paintings feature snags—large, coniferous, upright trees that appear lifeless but serve as essential habitats for wildlife long after losing their leaves and flowers. Like the first line in a charcoal drawing, snags appear exposed, revealing the history of their growth as slow, incremental adjustments rather than sudden change. Snags symbolize strength and adaptability—having survived shifting climates and human interventions, Cox’s snags can occasionally bloom soulful blossoms that reflect the emotional and physical changes of senescence. Physically immersed in each stage of the painting process, Cox begins by pushing paint across the …
TINY FRUITS by SARAH BIRD
Opening December 12th, “Tiny Fruits” is a solo exhibition of oil paintings by artist Sarah Bird at Hemmings Gallery in Ketchum. Bird is an Idaho- and Oregon-based realist oil painter. She draws on nineteenth-century techniques and seventeenth-century imaginative Flemish perspectives to weave still life and landscape into intimate tabletop worlds that sometimes tip into the surreal. In her arrangements, both individually and taken together, one can also see the passing of the seasons and a loose calendar of a year, of a life, emerges. These pieces are the “tiny fruits” of seasonal pleasures and of painting. Bird paints only with a very small, size zero round brush which makes the process similar to egg tempura painting or needlework: the whole surface is carefully, heavily touched. Come meet the artist at the Opening Reception on December 29th from 5:00-7:30 pm, same night as the local gallery walk.
MESH Gallery Holiday Party
MESH Gallery’s 2023 Holiday Party Please join us Friday, December 22nd for snacks, beverages, and new images as we celebrate the holiday season and welcome in the upcoming New Year. 420 4th Street East. Ketchum, Idaho. We would love to have you stop by!
Join us for Gallery Walk at Gilman Contemporary
Join us for the second gallery walk of the winter! Come view the colorful, abstract paintings of Joanne Freeman and the figurative paintings, crafted with sewing patterns, by John Westmark. Drinks are on us!
Join us for Gallery Walk at Gilman Contemporary
Join us for the first gallery walk of the winter! On view is our annual holiday group show, Deck the Walls, showcasing new work by our artists and featuring teasers for our winter/spring exhibitions.
On the Fold: John Westmark
Using delicate paper sewing patterns applied directly to canvas Westmark creates strong female protagonists, often stoic martyrs, fantastical beings or the hapless everywoman. Westmark embellishes the garment patterns with custom text inspired by feminist writing, creating a conceptual narrative alongside the existing assembly instructions to complete the familiar dialogue presented to women throughout history. The viewer is asked to read both the text embedded surface and the pictorial narrative as a whole to disrupt the stereotypical notion of women’s work in order to create a feminist dialogue in the visual conversation.
These Days: Joanne Freeman
Abstract painter Joanne Freeman does not rely on direct observation but rather process and precedence. The title These Days, borrowed from the song written by Jackson Browne in the late 1960’s, conjured up comparisons to her own state of mind during her daily studio practice where the realities and upheavals of the external world collide with the inner workings and solitude of her studio. The reductive abstract paintings are about the beauty of singular color, the impact of pure abstract forms and the quiet order that cuts through the noise.