| WATERMELON SUMMER, OIL, 11 X 16 |
By Devon Jackson
Colin Poole was a sculptor before he was a painter; today he is adept at both art forms. Born in Washington, DC, and raised in Virginia, Poole came from an artistically sensitive family. The most artistic being his grandmother, sculptor Una Hanbury. “She was my hero,” says Poole unabashedly. He now lives and works in her Santa Fe, NM, home and studio.
Using a spotlight and sometimes even a magnifying glass for his still lifes, Poole favors simple compositions. “Although my still lifes are quite similar compositionally, it’s the dance of the subtleties between the two or three elements within them that distinguishes them from one another. They have a quiet simplicity,” notes the artist.
Poole also prefers realism to photorealism. “I want more than, ‘Hey, it looks like a photograph!’” says the artist. “I try to evoke both the sensory aspect of what I’m painting and the memories associated with it. A watermelon can take you back many summers, to a time when you were a kid spitting out the seeds. I want to evoke memories people have. Or memories they’d like to have.”
He is represented by Manitou Galleries, Santa Fe, NM; Zantman Art Galleries, Carmel and Palm Desert, CA; Hallmark Fine Art Gallery, La Jolla, CA; Kneeland Gallery, Ketchum, ID; Gallery B, Lexington, KY; Chasen Galleries, Charlotte, NC, and Richmond, VA; Ed Chasen Fine Art, Washington, DC; Howard Gallery of Fine Art, New Hope, PA; IAG Galleries, Naples, FL.
Featured in “The Produce Aisle” in November 2008