By Josie Luciano. The following review appears in the March 17, 2016 issue of The Reno News and Review.
“I’m upending a story that wasn’t true and never happened,” said Tom Judd.
He believes that the West, the frontier, and the stories that surround it are part of a mythology that’s worth a more cynical look. In Home on the Range, now showing at Stremmel Gallery, the Philadelphia-based artist subverts one vintage perspective (the myth of the frontier) with another (painting). The resulting work is sad, funny and, above all, weird.
“One of the reasons the story of the West is so weird is because people are so weird,” said Judd in a recent phone interview. “They make up weird stuff and then pretend like it’s real.”
Displacing Native Americans and calling it settlement, going to war with Mexico under the guise of annexation, killing the buffalo and piling their bones in a giant heap of hubris. While domestic policy driven by manifest destiny is thought to be a thing of the past, it’s hard to deny the appeal that the quiet cowboy holds for our national character, even today. Read More
Stremmel Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of recent paintings by Dutch artist Ewoud de Groot, on view from September 10 – October 3, 2015. A rising star in contemporary wildlife art, de Groot has exhibited widely throughout Europe and the United States, with this event marking the artist’s first solo exhibition in Nevada. The artist reception will be held Thursday, September 10, 2015 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Both the exhibition and reception are free and open to the public. Ewoud de Groot has been recognized for the refreshing perspective he brings to wildlife painting. As photorealism continues to be the prevailing mode of the genre, de Groot is not concerned with depicting all the painstaking details. Instead, the artist is concerned with conveying mood and atmosphere. He approaches his work as an ongoing experiment of color, composition, and technique, channeling traditional and contemporary masters alike. His paintings aim to find a balance and tension between the representational and the abstract, the traditional and the modern.
The artist’s familiarity with wildlife ensures that they have become his primary artistic focus. De Groot’s subjects are most often birds of the Northern Hemisphere, from Europe, Siberia, and into North America. Living in the Netherlands, he has met many of these creatures during treks throughout the Wadden Sea, a wetland known for its rich biodiversity of flora and fauna, particularly coastal birds. De Groot will often represent his subjects with accurate detail, but allow them to emerge from environments that are far more expressionistic.
Landscapes dissolve into luminous bands of color and shimmering explosions of colored shapes, with spontaneous drips and splatters of texture filling his canvases. De Groot graduated from the Art Academy Minerva and began his career illustrating nature and wildlife books before pursuing painting full time in 1999. Today, he is based out of the small coastal village Egmond aan Zee in the Netherlands. Recent exhibitions include Astoria Fine Art, Jackson Hole, WY; Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; and the 27th Annual Western Visions exhibition as the 2014 Featured Artist at the National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, WY.
Stremmel Gallery presents My Montana featuring artists Jerry Iverson and Gordon McConnell. As McConnell has become a familiar name at Stremmel Gallery, it will be the first time Iverson is exhibiting his work in Reno. The opening reception is 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Thursday, May 21, 2015 and the exhibition will continue through June 30, 2015. Both the opening reception and exhibition are free to the public. RSVP to this event on Facebook.
Stremmel Gallery presents My Montana featuring artists Jerry Iverson and Gordon McConnell. As McConnell has become a familiar name at Stremmel Gallery, it will be the first time Iverson is exhibiting his work in Reno. The opening reception is 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Thursday, May 21, 2015 and the exhibition will continue through June 30, 2015. Both the opening reception and exhibition are free to the public. RSVP to this event on Facebook.
JOHN CLYMER (1907–1989), Whisky, Whisky! (1972), oil on canvas, 30 × 60 inches
Estimate: $500,000-700,000 – To be sold in the 2015 Coeur d’Alene Art Auction
A partial catalog of works for sale at the 2015 Coeur d’Alene Art Auction is now available for preview on their website. The Auction will take place on July 25th in Reno, Nevada at the Peppermill Resort. Tickets and catalogs may be purchased online or by calling 208-772-9009.
A limited number of quality consignments for the 2015 sale are still being accepted. Click here to view artists represented by the auction.
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