Tyler Stallings
dal 31/3/2004 al 22/4/2004
Segnalato da
31/3/2004
Tyler Stallings
Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach
Tyler Stallings will present two new bodies of paintings. The first is a series of eccentric portraits that are based on images found in style magazines, and the second body of work is of moody home interiors through which he has trespassed.
New Paintings
Tyler Stallings will present two new bodies of paintings. The first is a series of eccentric portraits that are based on images found in style magazines, and the second body of work is of moody home interiors through which he has trespassed.
When the fashion models are removed from the context of magazines in the portrait paintings, and are painted in a graceful and thoughtful manner, they suddenly inhabit themselves with an inner life, rather than waiting to be consumed. Their bodies have distorted hands, lips, and eyes which produce an otherworldly aura around the figures, yet their clothing and the settings make them seem recognizable. They are 'American humanoids,' feeling both familiar and unfamiliar.
The paintings of incomplete home interiors reflect the recent housing boom in southern California. Stallings has been intruding into some of the numerous houses that are under construction and taking photographs, which then become the basis for the paintings. These interior images show exposed wooden frames, drywall, exposed plumbing, among other details. In these paintings that are absent of people, he aims for a haunted and uncanny atmosphere.
The style of Stallings' paintings is a fine-tuned realism utilizing both glazing and fine brush work. His work is aligned with other young contemporary painters, such as Glenn Brown, John Currin, Tim Gardner, Andrew Grassie, Margherita Manzelli, and Lisa Yuskavage. Their approach to painting is one that reveals a thorough interest in the history of painting, looking to other painters such as Van Eyck, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Ingres, combined with a tweaked viewpoint of modern-day subject matter, especially that of middle- and upper-class lifestyles. The results suggest that perhaps the act of painting can be a genuine way through which to wade through the culturally constructed icons of today. Furthermore, their mingling of a virtuosity of paint handling with humorous and oblique narratives puts forward a kind of new realism.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
In Los Angeles, Stallings has exhibited at Cirrus Gallery; cherrydelosreyes; Food House; Christopher Grimes Gallery; Richard Telles Gallery; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others. In New York he has exhibited at John Good Gallery; Thread Waxing Space; and Andrea Rosen Gallery, among others. His work has also been shown at the Overgaden, Copenhagen, Denmark and Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona. His work will be included in an upcoming group exhibition this summer at the VTO Gallery, London, England, and he has another solo show in fall 2004 at Newspace Gallery, Los Angeles. He received his MFA from California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California. Stallings is also the curator of exhibitions at Laguna Art Museum, where he focuses on contemporary art and popular culture.
ABOUT THE GALLERY
The Peter Blake Gallery has been the definitive source for modern and contemporary art in Orange County since 1993. Over the years, the gallery and its artists have received both regional and national critical acclaim ranging from the Los Angeles Times to Art in America. Other artists represented and exhibited at the gallery include Peter Alexander, Tony Berlant, Paul Darrow, Tony DeLap, Joe Goode, Dennis Hollingsworth, Kim McCarty, Jim Morphesis, Ed Moses, Rene Petropoulos, Astrid Preston, Adam Ross, Sharon Ryan, and Tom Wudl, among others.
Two Receptions:
April 1, Thursday, 6-9 p.m. (First Thursdays Artwalk)
April 10, Saturday, 6-8 p.m.
Daily, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., and by appointment.
DRIVING DIRECTIONS
From either the 405-Frwy or the 5-Frwy, exit 133-South/Laguna Canyon Road; drive 9 miles through the canyon, ending at Pacific Coast Highway. Turn right onto PCH, drive up the hill. The gallery will be on your right on PCH and Aster, just past Laguna Art Museum.
Image: Tyler Stallings, Welcome, 2004,
oil on canvas on panel, 10 x 8 inches
Peter Blake Gallery
326 N. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Tel: 949-376-9994, Fax: 949-376-3471