6 West Coast artists capture the essence of urban life
Danny Heller
Danny Heller, Capitol Records, oil, 20 x 16.
“When I was young, my family would take weekend trips from the outer suburbs into the city of Los Angeles. I remember being intrigued by the majestic old buildings and the history entrenched in the area. About a decade later, my inquisitive nature led me to study the history found around me in the suburbs, starting with mid-century modern tract housing. Eventually, this led me back to the city to one of the icons of mid-century modern architecture—the Capitol Records Tower. This painting captures what I seek out most often in my artwork: how design and environment come together harmoniously to enliven the viewer’s imagination.”
Dossier
Representation
Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA; www.dannyhellerart.com.
Scott W. Prior
Scott W. Prior, Santa Monica Bus Stop, oil, 24 x 30.
“This is one of those paintings that took me awhile to finish, meaning that I had to put it away to let my brain marinate on it. After setting it aside for a few months, I was able to get back into it again and remember the frustration the people were feeling while waiting for the bus. At the time there was a bus strike going on in L.A., so they had to wait for a long time. Having been there myself, waiting and waiting for the bus just to show up, I could feel their frustration. To make things worse, there’s a bus coming from the opposite direction.”
Dossier
Representation
American Legacy Fine Arts, Pasadena, CA; El Prado by the Creek, Sedona, AZ; South Street Art Gallery, Easton, MD; www.priorityart.com.
Misty Martin
Misty Martin, The Lights of Tacoma, acrylic, 12 x 18.
“When I think of the visible footprint that humankind has left on the world, my mind instantly focuses on architecture. While it’s true that no structure will last forever, buildings seem to have a sense of permanence. The built environment contains so many memories, so many traces of the individuals who strived to make it. I like to think of these buildings as more than just brick and mortar or steel and marble: They are containers of the past as well as the present. There is so much to learn about the people who created these structures and their choices in making them. It’s as much a story about what they left out as what they included.”
Dossier
Representation
Patricia Rovzar Gallery, Seattle, WA; American Art Company, Tacoma, WA; www.mistymartin.com.
Hye Seong Yoon
Hye Seong Yoon, Rain in December, oil, 18 x 24.
“My work is a reflection of my world as well as myself. It is the world as I see it and live it here in San Francisco. It reflects an intimate, personal journey, with every single day being different. When I painted this moment of my life, I first tried to remind myself of the feeling of this particular rainy day, and then I exaggerated and idealized the experience. As a transplant to the city, I see it with fresh eyes. I like to show the reality that exists for me by creating a mood to stimulate the viewer to see their environment in a fresh way.”
Dossier
Representation
New Masters Gallery, Carmel, CA; Lee Youngman Galleries, Calistoga, CA; Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art, Charleston, SC; www.hyeseong.com.
Teresa Saia
Teresa Saia, Sidewalk Renegade, pastel, 24 x 18.
“Traveling to far-off places as often as I do, I sometimes lose sight of the beauty that is close at hand. Last winter I focused on Pioneer Square, where I have my studio in downtown Seattle. As with every downtown area, we have a large number of bicyclists, many of them couriers who scurry from business to business delivering documents. They tend to have a kamikaze mentality to their riding and a devil-may-care attitude toward the people around them. This was just one of the many elements that inspired this painting. I try to create compositions that say something about the city and its people rather than merely documenting it.”
Dossier
Representation
Howard/Mandville Gallery, Kirkland, WA; www.teresasaia.com.
William E. Elston
William E. Elston, On the Corner II, oil, 36 x 48.
“ON THE CORNER II is a studio painting based on preliminary material from a trip to New York City in October of 2001. It was just a month after the attack on the World Trade Center, and the city was still very emotionally charged. I spent a couple of years in New York in the late 1970s, and this painting depicts a familiar haunt from those years. The sense of loss, both of life and memory, made it an important painting for me. However, I chose to focus on the positive aspects of my memories from my own heyday there, rather than let the terrorists rob me of that good feeling.”
Dossier
Representation
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA; Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR; Borealis Arts, Tucson, AZ; www.elston.net.
Featured in May 2010