Tory Folliard Gallery

Gallery Night Celebrations!

Gallery Night at the Tory Folliard Gallery was a great success! Below are pictures of just some of the wonderful people that attended to celebrate Patrick Farrell's exhibition New Oil Paintings: Looking Back. If you weren't able to make it, the show is open until September 1, so be sure to stop by!

Sofia Arnold: New Paintings and Drawings in "Nature Redux"

Sofia Arnold is a recent graduate of the UW-Madison Art Department where she studied with T.L. Solien and Fred Stonehouse. She is currently showing new paintings and drawings in "Nature Redux," the summer show at Tory Folliard Gallery. Painters Beth Edwards and Stephen Warde Anderson are also in the show. Here is what Sofia Arnold says about her work:

Sofia Arnold, M WORMHOLE ON HER BIRTHDAY, Acrylic on Panel, 24 x 24"

I grew up in very hilly, rural part of Southwestern Wisconsin, where my parents moved in the seventies when they got tired of living in downtown Detroit. So they are kind of reformed, hippy back-to-the-landers. They originally wanted to be self-subsistent farmers, but some things didn't work out, or more accurately things worked out in a different way than they originally expected, and now they are sort of reformed former-hippy back-to-the-landers.

Sofia Arnold, BRUSH RUSH, Colored Pencil and Spray Paint on Paper, 17 x 14"

Sofia Arnold, CAMPSITE AT MUD RIVER, Acrylic on Panel, 20 x 30"

I feel like I am painting my parents, and their friends and neighbors (which includes countless people who moved to this area for similar reasons). In a broader sense, the people in my paintings are young adults making decisions about geography and lifestyle and the best way to co-exist with the planet. They are well-intentioned people with specific plans and ideals, but the reality is more complex and involves a lot of pitfalls and compromises.

Sofia Arnold, FOOLS CAMP II, Colored Pencil and Nail Polish on Paper, 17 x 14"

I don't want to promote an agenda or a strong opinion either way about rural living, so I think it's safe to say my work is a light-hearted, observational commentary on all of this. It's also from the point of view of someone who grew up in it, and is now facing similar choices to the ones my parents faced thirty years ago. When my parents ask what my paintings are about I just tell them I'm painting la-la land.

Sofia Arnold, GOODBYE TO THE WORM FARM, Acrylic and Oil on Canvas, 34 x 42"

Sofia Arnold, M WORMHOLE AND THE POISON RAPES, Acrylic on Panel, 24 x 24"

Sofia Arnold, SPOILED MEATS I, Colored Pencil and Nail Polish on Paper, 7 1/2 x 5"

Having said that, obviously these paintings are more fantasy than autobiography. I use reality as a launching point, and don't return to it all that much. I am clearly not trying to realistically represent any flora or fauna of this region, instead I want to convey the feeling of a unique place with its own atmosphere, folklore, traditions, newcomers, old-timers, etc.

Sofia Arnold, UGLY LIFE BEAUTY TRICKS, Colored Pencil and Nail Polish on Paper, 7 1/2 x 5"

Sofia Arnold, Sofia Arnold, VERMIN AND THE FROG, Colored Pencil and Nail Polish on Paper, 14 x 17"

The characters have seen a lot, and are usually too self-absorbed to pay attention to the things that might engage the viewer. I am using the format of "storybook-gone-awry" because I want it to feel like the viewer is getting a peek into a larger, mostly hidden world. When I paint fauna, I try to treat humanity and animality as a spectrum, e.g. sometimes the animals will be doing very human-like things, other times it will be more ambiguous. When I paint flora, I like to mess with the scale to create a peculiar space where plenty of odd things can happen.

Craig Blietz - In "Artists Magazine" and at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art

Craig Blietz’s painting, “K - A Rural Kouros” has been juried into The Fort Wayne Museum of Art’s 2012 Contemporary Realism Biennial in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The exhibition will run from August 11, 2012 thru October 28, 2012. A full color catalogue will accompany the exhibition.

Sarah Aubrey, the museums Curator of American Art, said “We received a record number of entries, all very high quality and in a range of media and subject. Reviewing all of the entries made it evident that Realism is definitely vital in this country.”

Craig Blietz,

"K - A Rural Kouros, Oil on Linen 56"x40", 2010

Blietz’s painting depicts a standing nude figure, and results from his admiration for the Greek ‘Kouroi’ sculpture of approximately 540 B.C. A Holstein cow skin forms a backdrop for the figure.

Craig Blietz, "Incline", Oil on Linen, 35"x67", 2010

Craig Blietz has had two paintings, “Incline” and “Pastoral Dreaming”, selected as Finalists in the Animal & Wildlife Category of The Artist’s Magazine’s 29th Annual Art Competition. The competition was open to artists from all over the world. The Artist’s Magazine is an arts publication issued 10 times a year featuring interviews, art news, and articles on technique and craft in a multitude of media. Finalists will be acknowledged in the December 2012 issue of the magazine.

Craig Blietz, "Pastoral Dreaming", Oil on Linen, 30"x40", 2009

Blietz is best known for his rural and agrarian inspired imagery, primarily that featuring domestic farm animals. Both “Incline” and “Pastoral Dreaming” present a surreal interpretation of animals in the ‘pastoral scene’ suggesting much about the relationship of the cattle to one another and the resulting parallel to human behavior.

Blietz’s work has been exhibited in venues such as The Charles Allis Art Museum, The Rahr-West Art Museum, The Wright Museum, The Miller Art Museum, Muskegon Museum of Art, West Bend Art Museum, Racine Art Museum/Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, and The Elmhurst Art Museum to name a few. Tory Folliard Gallery will be featuring the work of Craig Blietz in the East Gallery in 2013.

Patrick Farrell "New Oil Paintings - Looking Back"

Over the years, much has been written about the work of the venerable painter Patrick Farrell. The self-taught artist has consistently delighted art lovers around the world with his superlative work. In "New Oil Paintings - Looking Back," Farrell's latest exhibition at Tory Folliard Gallery, the perspicacious painter translates his careful observations into conclusive still-lifes. Each painting is like a flawless jewel: stunning, perfect, and filled with an inner light.

Patrick Farrell, Still Life in Glass, oil on linen, image 11x5 inches

Patrick Farrell, Nymphatidae / Apaturnia,
oil on panel, image 4x4 inches

Intensely concerned with structure and form, Farrell re-examined some of his favorite subjects for "Looking Back", including exotic butterflies, unusual fruits, and the reflective surfaces of glass and pewter.

Patrick Farrell, Wild Apples, oil on panel, image 5.5x9.25 inches

Patrick Farrell, Wild Apples in Pewter, oil on linen, image 11x22 inches

Patrick Farrell, Windflowers in Glass (Anemone), oil on linen, image 9x8 inches

Patrick Farrell's Looking Back: New Oil Paintings opens with a preview artist reception on Thursday, July 19th from 5 to 8 pm. The artist will also be attending Gallery Night, July 27th from 6 to 9 pm.