Hi-Fructose favorite Brett Amory (Vol. 20) is getting ready to head to the U.K. to show his new paintings that take his Waiting series to a more high-tech dimension. Floating somewhere between documentation and meditation within a dusty palette of blurred brushstrokes, Amory’s latest body of work, Waiting 101, zeroes in on specific figures that have caught the artist’s eye on his regular commutes in Oakland, where he works.
Ever since adopting Instagram software on his iPhone, Amory has been snapping photos of passersby and then deconstructing the images, repainting them in oil on wood panels in full detail and then smearing the result to destroy the documentarian effect and create a dream-like landscape. Amory gives just enough visual cues to spark the viewer’s imagination, transporting us to dark bus stops and gloomy diners where lonely, ghost-like individuals stand or sit, as if stuck in an infinite pause in their routine. Waiting 101 debuts April 20 at The Outsiders Gallery in Newcastle. — Nastia Voynovskaya
