Colorado-born artist David Rice creates stirring acrylic paintings that blend the figurative, abstraction, and notes from nature. His recent work “pushes the limits and boundaries of the physical world through his imagery,” a statement says. Rice was last mentioned on HiFructose.com here.
Chromagrain, the latest exhibition from Svper Ordinary Gallery in Denver, brings together the stunning art of Blaine Fontana (featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 36) and David Rice (last covered on our blog here). The new works are currently on view through the end of September. View more images from the exhibition here.
David Rice fuses the natural and the man-made in his paintings, representing the possibility of a peaceful balance between the two. Featured here on our blog, and in our current issue of Hi-Fructose Vol. 39, his wildlife-filled works address themes like cohabitation, where people and animals are combined to create hybrid beings, often wrapped in colorful textiles. The Portland based painter is about to debut a new series, entitled “High Alpine”, his largest body of work to date.
35,000 years ago, man picked up some bones and charcoal off the ground and drew his first cave painting- only instead of painting a picture of himself, he painted animals. He watched the herds cross the plains and thought they were beautiful and magical, and retained this image in his mind and translated them on the cave walls with graceful and accurate curves. A new group exhibition titled “Animalia” at Abend Gallery in Colorado will showcase contemporary artists whose work has been influenced by animals, and takes a look at how we relate to them today.
Despite some drizzly weather, Portland is looking a little more colorful this week. As of August 24th, the nonprofit mural festival Forest for the Trees, previously covered here, has been in high gear as 29 international artists work their magic on buildings across the city. The festival is co-directed by local artist Gage Hamilton and gallerist Matt Wagner of Hellion Gallery in Portland, who wanted to expand on their city’s visual identity through art. For its third year in a row, the project has a goal of creating 19 collaborative new murals.
Growing up in rural Colorado, Oregon based artist David Rice forged a special connection with his environment, which he develops in his colorful illustrations. His works focus on themes of nature through figurative portrayals of animals. Rice forges a link between the natural world and what is man-made in his current exhibit, “Two Creeks” at Antler Gallery, which is showing alongside Syd Bee’s “In My Bones”. In a new series of nine acrylic on wood panel paintings, Rice portrays wild animals with unnatural elements. A recurring element is fabric, which appears as clothing fashioned as cloaks that the animals wear, draped over their backs like blankets, or in more subtle forms.