Gallery at the Regional Arts Commission: Friday 4 April 2008
The Gallery at the Regional Arts Commission (RAC) presents "Common Concerns," an exhibition of figurative paintings by David Ottinger and Barry Sullivan. The exhibition opens at 5:30pm on Friday, April 4, and is curated by Tim Liddy.
Ottinger and Sullivan met as students at the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) where they graduated in 1974. After a stint in New York City, Ottinger found himself back in St. Louis, where he had lived before attending KCAI; Sullivan worked in Paris, Iran, and his native Rochester, NY, before ending up in St. Louis as well. The two friends decided to share a studio, and their work was first shown together in 1975 at the now-defunct Alvey Gallery.
Now, more than 30 years later, the paintings of Ottinger and Sullivan will be sharing gallery space once more. Much has changed since the two artists first met, but their friendship and passion for painting has remained strong. Ottinger's work is still about observation and representation. "Whether it is from photography or real life, the problems are always the same," Ottinger says. "It is line, color and shape, and their relationship to the canvas."
Though he has experimented with the abstract more than Ottinger, Sullivan's current work relies on objective references that he has manipulated to be personally expressive. Like Ottinger, Sullivan-who considers himself a "practitioner, a maker of paintings" - explores traditional subject matter such as portraits, figure, landscape and still life. However, when both bodies of work are viewed together, the "distinct directions the two artists have taken are highlighted," says curator Tim Liddy.
Ottinger and Sullivan met as students at the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) where they graduated in 1974. After a stint in New York City, Ottinger found himself back in St. Louis, where he had lived before attending KCAI; Sullivan worked in Paris, Iran, and his native Rochester, NY, before ending up in St. Louis as well. The two friends decided to share a studio, and their work was first shown together in 1975 at the now-defunct Alvey Gallery.
Now, more than 30 years later, the paintings of Ottinger and Sullivan will be sharing gallery space once more. Much has changed since the two artists first met, but their friendship and passion for painting has remained strong. Ottinger's work is still about observation and representation. "Whether it is from photography or real life, the problems are always the same," Ottinger says. "It is line, color and shape, and their relationship to the canvas."
Though he has experimented with the abstract more than Ottinger, Sullivan's current work relies on objective references that he has manipulated to be personally expressive. Like Ottinger, Sullivan-who considers himself a "practitioner, a maker of paintings" - explores traditional subject matter such as portraits, figure, landscape and still life. However, when both bodies of work are viewed together, the "distinct directions the two artists have taken are highlighted," says curator Tim Liddy.
posted by Bill Barrett at 2:01 PM
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