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April Issue 2006
Robert Lange Studios Fine Art Gallery in Charleston, SC, Features Works by Robert Lange and John Duckworth
Trompe L'Oeil, the ancient
art of creating the illusion of 3-dimensional reality, gets turned
on its ear this April, as Robert Lange Studios Fine Art Gallery
in Charleston, SC, debuts a show aimed at challenging the boundaries
of perception and art. New works by Robert Lange, painted
using ancient techniques to create illusions of reality, will
hang side-by-side with new works by John Duckworth, who has developed
a unique technique to render artwork "painted" with
a camera. The show, Trompe L'Oeil: Illusions in Art
A Dialogue About Art and Reality, will be on view from Apr.
3 - 30, 2006.
The dichotomy between Lange's hyper-realist paintings that appear
to be photographs and Duckworth's abstract photographs that appear
to be paintings lays the groundwork for the Trompe L'Oeil
exhibit.
"With the Trompe L'Oeil show, we're challenging preconceived
notions of paintings and photographs," says Megan Sobchuck,
Gallery Director. "These are paintings that mimic reality
- many that look like actual photographs taped to the canvas -
and works that are 'painted' with a camera."
A heightened form of illusionism, the Trompe L'Oeil tradition
stretches back to 15th Century Italy, when perspective was first
developed and further advanced with new developments in
optics in 17th Century Netherlands. During the Renaissance, new
knowledge and developments in oil paints enabled artists to render
objects and spaces with astonishing accuracy thus, "fooling"
the eye.
Lange's Trompe L'Oeil paintings represent a classic interpretation
of the tradition. Pairing his knowledge of perspective and
mathematics (he uses composition ratios like fifths, sevenths
and ninths as opposed to halves and thirds) with his signature
palette of stark lights and darks, Lange's series is startling
in its realism. Seemingly ordinary items like photographs, paintbrushes,
knives and other objects are infused with new meaning as they
become the sole focal point in each piece.
The reverse reality of new works by John Duckworth will offer
an interesting juxtaposition. Using techniques he's developed
over the last several years, Duckworth "paints" his
works using a camera. The result is colorful and richly textured
works on canvas that appear to have been painted with oils. This
exhibit offers the perfect forum for works from Duckworth's Landscape
Abstracts series, as well as his newly released Urban Cityscapes.
This work blurs the lines between photography and painting, between
realism and abstract art, between traditional and modern aesthetics
and begs the question "is this a painting rendered
with a camera or are these photographs?"
"These works are all about perception and reality and
what constitutes a painting or a photograph," says Lange. "We
expect these contrasting works will spark a dialogue about aesthetic
versus process, art and reality, and painting and photography."
Duckworth's latest works are abstract impressionist renderings
of the landscape and urban areas, blending his passion for painting,
photography and color. These limited edition prints are available
on paper and canvas in series or as standalone works of
artwork. Over the past five years, Duckworth's paintings
and photographs have been sold to collectors in New York, Charlotte,
Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta, Charleston, and Canada.
Lange is a young contemporary painter whose work resides in the
small genre of hyperrealism. Highlighting bold colors against
a stark palette of whites and blacks, Lange achieves an extreme
sense of light. His paintings capture the transitory moments
of life, the graceful yet temporary interplay of shadow and light
within a single frame of time.
For more info check our SC Commercial Gallery listings, call the
gallery at 843/805-8052 or at (www.robertlangestudios.com).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing
Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc.
Copyright© 2006 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston
Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts
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