BRETT OSBORN
Sense of Place
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
EXHIBITION: Brett Osborn: Sense of Place
DATES: March 4 - April 8, 2000
RECEPTION: Saturday, March 4, 4 - 6 p.m.
LOCATION: Ruth Bachofner Gallery
2525 Michigan Ave. G2, Santa Monica, CA 90404
310.829.3300, fax 310.449.0070
E-Mail: la.art@gte.net
Web site, http://www.bachofner.com/gallery
GALLERY HOURS: Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Ruth Bachofner Gallery is pleased to present Sense of Place, an exhibition of landscape paintings by Brett Osborn. There will be a reception for the artist Saturday, March 4, 4 - 6 pm.
Sense of Place brings together a unique body of work that challenges traditional concepts of landscape painting. Instead of recording scenes of specific places, the pieces are painted from memory as Osborn draws on the emotions that growing up in rural Wisconsin elicit. The only visual information he relies on are small black and white photographs of his ancestors which appear in his paintings as translucent figures superimposed on the fictitious settings.
Vast stretches of land or groves of birch trees that are decidedly midwestern become surreal as the looming ethereal figures dressed in Victorian clothing return the viewer’s gaze. Osborn’s combination of intricate brushwork and personal vision turns what could be mundane, timeless landscapes into pages of history. The paintings reveal not so much exterior beauty, but the spirit of and a deep emotional response to an environment that is rich in history.
“I feel Wisconsin’s soil itself holds a memory of every generation working, living and dying on the land,” the artist says. “The area feels like a doorway into history, much like the feeling one experiences walking through an ancient battlefield. I see my work when, finished, as obtaining an identity of its own. No single painting expresses completely the emotion I originally attempted to convey. But each one often carries a greater array of emotion than what I had originally intended.”
For further information please call 310-829-3300, fax 310-449-0070 or visit our web site at www.bachofner.com/gallery
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