Show Preview | Astoria Fine Art: Jay Moore and the Best of Astoria

Jackson, WY, August 28-September 16

Jay Moore, Grazing Among the Cottonwoods, oil painting

Jay Moore, Grazing Among the Cottonwoods, oil, 9 x 12.

On August 28, Astoria Fine Art opens its Jay Moore Showcase featuring 10 to 12 new works by the Colorado painter. Best known for his mountain landscapes, Moore brings new subject matter and an astounding breadth of sizes, ranging from 9 by 12 inches to 60 by 80 inches. Moore says, “I love to paint big, and I would paint large all the time if everyone had 12-foot ceilings and basketball-court-size rooms.” No two paintings for this show are likely to be the same size.

“I’ve never painted up into Montana before,” Moore says, and nearly a third of the paintings in this show will be scenes from Montana. For this show he spent time in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone as well as the Beartooth Mountains, Lake McDonald, Hidden Lake, and Logan Pass—all in Glacier National Park—collecting plein-air studies from which he’s assembled a diverse yet cohesive collection of works. An artist’s reception is on September 1 from 5 to 8 p.m., and the show remains on view through September 6.

Coinciding with Jackson Hole’s Fall Arts Festival, the gallery presents The Best of Astoria from September 7 to 16, featuring a new work by nearly all of the gallery’s artists and multiple works by featured artists Greg Beecham, G. Russell Case, Tim Cherry, Richard Loffler, and Joshua Tobey. Artists’ receptions begin on September 13, with a meet-and-greet event for Case and Tobey from 2 to 5 p.m. On September 14, the Beecham and Cherry reception is from 1 to 4 p.m., and on September 15, the gallery hosts Loffler and many more gallery artists from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Greg Beecham, A Good Mother, oil painting

Greg Beecham, A Good Mother, oil, 30 x 50.

Loffler presents his best sculptural work of the past five to seven years featuring birds, wildlife, and figurative pieces. “I am trained to work from life, so, for the better part of 25 years, I have gotten right into the cages with these animals,” he says. This includes buffalo, elk, trained grizzlies, and rodeo bulls. “I love animals, and I love being very close to them. That’s what got me into this.” THOR’S HAMMER, one of Loffler’s show pieces, is a 52-inch-high bronze of a mature bull elk with a full rack. “When you get close to an elk, it will start grinding its teeth, especially if it’s penned,” Loffler says.He refers to this behavior as “getting gnarly.” The sculpture captures that behavior with a pronounced twist of the elk’s lower jaw.

Wyoming painter Greg Beecham says that most of his works for the show are scenes from his home state, such as A GOOD MOTHER, a 30-by-50-inch oil that depicts a grizzly sow shepherding two cubs through mountain sagebrush. But he also brings one painting of Africa. “It’s been 16 years since I’ve been to Africa,” he says, “but I still have strong feelings for that part of the world.”

In total, Beecham and Case display 10 to 12 new paintings each, Loffler showcases between 20 and 25 sculptures, and Cherry and Tobey each have 30 to 40 pieces on view. As Fulton sums up, this show presents Astoria’s “best of the best.” —Laura Rintala

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This story was featured in the September 2012 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Order the Southwest Art magazine September 2012 print edition here, or purchase the Southwest Art magazine September 2012 digital download here. Or simply click here to subscribe to Southwest Art magazine and never miss a story!