Title: Someday, Maybe, Never
Description: Raandesk Gallery of Art kicks off the fall gallery season with an exhibition by artist Jason Bryant with "Someday, Maybe, Never: New Works by Jason Bryant" at In Good Company in Manhattan, September 18-November 21, 2008. An opening reception with the artist will be held on Thursday, September 18 th from 6-9pm, and is free and open to the public.
"Someday, Maybe, Never" is a collection of Bryant's latest works, including large scale oil paintings and small intricate depictions of figures, their clothing and features deftly captured in a highly realistic style that evokes a film still or a cropped photo. Inspired by film and comic book images from childhood, Bryant dramatically crops his images to create a more dynamic perspective, often putting the viewer intimately close to his subjects - close enough to see individual hairs or the smallest detail on a shirt collar. His portraits have been described as "freeze frames...with...natural-looking fuzzy colors and blurry outlines," by J. Bowers of the Baltimore City Paper.
Though Bryant's subjects are often celebrities and models, the images he depicts are more about the figure with full features obscured enough to draw the focus to the dimensionality of the surfaces that he creates with just paint and colored pencil. Anna Altman of NY Arts Magazine described the artist and his work best: "Bryant attempts to realize and sharpen the simultaneity of two worlds: the image world of film, celebrity and popular culture in concert with the real world we inhabit physically", Working directly from an image onto the canvas or paper, he achieves depth, texture and richness that is often startling to the viewer.
A Gallery Talk with the Artist is set for Saturday, October 4 th from 12noon at In Good Company. Led by Raandesk Gallery Founder and Director Jessica L. Porter, the artist will share his inspiration behind his images and discuss his painting and drawing processes to achieve his style.
Exhibition: Someday, Maybe, Never: New Work by Jason Bryant Reception: Thursday, September 18, 6-9PM. On view through November 21, 2008.
Where: In Good Company, 16 West 23 rd Street, 4 th Floor, New York, NY. (646) 810-9195 http://www.ingoodcompanyworkplaces.com/
Gallery Talk: Saturday, October 4 th , 12noon-2PM, at In Good Company.
Hours: Monday-Friday, 8am-8pm, Saturday and Sunday by appointment.
Jason Bryant is a prolific artist whose paintings and drawings have been featured in more than a dozen solo and group shows at galleries and venues including: The Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville, North Carolina; The Period Gallery, Omaha, Nebraska; Transport Gallery, Los Angeles, California; The James E. Lewis Fine Arts Museum, and The Contemporary Museum, in Baltimore, Maryland; Tribes Gallery, New York City and Gallery 32 in London, England. Bryant earned a BFA in painting at East Carolina University followed by an MFA from the Mt. Royal School of Art Graduate program at the Maryland Institute, College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. Upon graduation, Bryant moved to Brooklyn, NY to further his skills, and became an assistant to noted portrait artist Kehinde Wiley. Bryant's work has been featured in Link Magazine , Direct Art Magazine , New Art International , and NY Arts magazine .
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