QUIET SPACES:
CHRISTOPHER BENSON, JOHN BEERMAN, DAVID HINES & KURT SOLMSSEN
QUIET SPACES Christopher Benson, John Beerman, David Hines & Kurt Solmssen
LewAllenGalleries Railyard Arts District | 1613 Paseo de Peralta | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | tel 505.988.3250 www.lewallengalleries.com | info@lewallengalleries.com cover: Roswell 10 “The Sculptor”, 2015, oil on canvas, 84 x 84 in
QUIET SPACES
SEPTEMBER 25 - NOVEMBER 1, 2015
Four highly-acclaimed painters of personal impressions of place join together in a new LewAllen Galleries exhibition of contrasting imaginings of the visible world. Connecting the significant range of pictoral variation included within the show is the power of place to inflame the imagination with indelible imprints of the sublime. Images may be the most unassuming of scenes or the grandest of vistas. But a common theme aptly illustrated by the work in this show is stillness created in very different ways through choices of place, perspective, color, lighting and brushwork. This pervasive sense of quietude in these various scenes allows a penetrating feeling of reverence and veneration to enter the mind and heart. In each very different narrative, there is a nearly haunting sense of peacefulness lingering long after the image is viewed. A compellingly meditative serenity is evident in these paintings and results in part from images whose sense of repose exceeds any that might be expected. In each, the intensity of stillness is mesmerizing and memories are graudally evoked. Observaton uniquely mediated by imagination, perception and interpretation and inspired by being in a place of significance to each artist confers an alluring gift of joy and awe, the experience of which transcends the immediacy of time.
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Kurt Solmssen, Beach House, 2014, oil on canvas, 40 x 48 in
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Christopher Benson, Roswell 9, 2014, oil on linen, 30 x 50 in
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Christopher Benson, Roswell 8, 2014, oil on linen, 22 x 36 in
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Christopher Benson, Nate’s House, 2015, oil on linen, 21 x 21 in
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Christopher Benson, Roswell 11, 2015, oil on linen, 10 x 8 in
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Christopher Benson, 90 Degrees in the Shade, 2015, oil on linen, 16 x 20 in
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John Beerman, View from Cottage with Grey Truck, NM, 2015, oil on linen, 32 x 36 in
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John Beerman, Orange Fence Post, Tree Shadows on Building and Rusty Bucket, Mid Morning, 2015, oil on linen, 46 x 42 in
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John Beerman, Red Fence, Sunlight and Lightening Strike, 2015, oil on linen, 24 x 26 in
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David Hines, East of Palmdale, 2015, oil on canvas, 28 x 42 in
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David Hines, Night Intersection, 2015, oil on canvas, 24 x 46 in
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David Hines, High Vista End of Lancaster, CA, 2015, oil on canvas, 24 x 46 in
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David Hines, Plowed Fields and Dormitories, Stanislaus, CA, 2015, oil on canvas, 23.75 x 30 in
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David Hines, Roadside, Sun Valley, CA, 2015, oil on canvas, 20 x 40 in
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Kurt Solmssen, The Peach Tree, 2015, oil on canvas, 50 x 114 in
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Kurt Solmssen, Sunshine Beach Home, 2015, oil on canvas, 46 x 62 in
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Kurt Solmssen, Study for Beach House, 2014, oil on canvas, 20 x 24 in
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Kurt Solmssen, The Davis House, 2015, oil on canvas, 50 x 120 in
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QUIET SPACES Christopher Benson’s unique approach to Southwestern landscapes features the rich and sensuous palette naturally seen in the area over the exaggerated colors favored by many Southwestern scene painters. Benson depicts and interprets the world we live in with simplified geometric form and rich paint application, turning it into a study in aesthetics. Benson studied at the Rhode Island School of Design for three years before heading to New Mexico and Califonia to pursue painting and continuing education on his own. He returned to RISD to complete his BFA in painting in 2005 after receiving the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Foundation Painting Fellowship in 2001. His work is housed in important collections, including the Museum of Modern Art. Painter John Beerman is widely known for his depictions of the Hudson River Valley, as well as landscapes of New Mexico, Texas, Italy and his native North Carolina. Beerman’s poetic sensibility is felt in his treatment of his natural surroundings, whether in the contours of a river, the dappled midday light on a wooded path, or a dirt road stretching into the horizon. Often compared to the Hudson River painters Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole and Thomas Doughty, his meditative compositions are kindred to the Luminist offshoots of the Hudson River School, known for expansive skies and subdued brushwork. John Beerman received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and later attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. He has exhibited around the world and received numerous awards and fellowships including the Pollack-Krasner Foundation Award and the Yaddo Artist Colony Fellowship. His work is represented in numerous public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others. California realist painter David Hines turns the dichotomous nature of night--its simultaneous familiarity and mystery--into intriguing visual wonderment. Wih an exquisitely detailed technique involving subtle variations of darkness and glints of distant light, Hines activates memories of nocturnal solitude--at once suspenseful, perhaps voyeuristic, and engaging. Hines received a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Arts in painting from the University of New Mexico. He has received multiple Artist in Residence opportunities around New Mexico, including at the Tamarind Institute, the Harwood Foundation, and the Roswell Artist in Residence Program.
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Kurt Solmssen’s landscapes are saturated with luminous color and a deeply felt sense of place. His paintings have a direct quality, and are painted from direct observation, en plein air, to capture the atmosphere of the place in a specific moment in and around his home on the Puget Sound. His are inhabited landscapes--with architecural elements and signs of human domesticity--a house nestled into a hill, a woman picking cherries, a girl reading, a drifting yellow boat. The emotion of place supersedes geography. Solmssen studied at the University of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. His paintings have been exhibited in numerous galleries from New York to Califronia, and in museum collections including the Bakersfield Museum of Art and Tacoma Art Museum.
Christopher Benson, Roswell 12, 2015, oil on linen, 12 x 12 in
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Railyard Arts District | 1613 Paseo de Peralta | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | tel 505.988.3250 www.lewallengalleries.com | info@lewallengalleries.com Š 2015 LewAllen Contemporary LLC Artwork Š Christopher Benson, John Beerman, David Hines & Kurt Solmssen