we are gearing up for the first opening of 2020 for brian coleman and chris terry. both painters have been working arduously in their studios for the past year in preparation for their solo exhibitions. each artist’s work creates a calmness that radiates off the canvas. brian coleman’s paintings are restrained to the point of only essential marks poignantly placed on the surface. his focus is on shapes and how they relate to each other thus telling a story through placement. in contrast to Brian’s abstracts the still lifes by chris terry are precise and simplistic. the tablecloths are perfectly draped and the functional object are placed in an ordered fashion. the stillness of the moment is peaceful and comforting. the light transcends the ordinary into something heavenly. it is a pleasure to view these two painters together for their differences compliment each other just as their use of deliberate constraint radiates control.

brian coleman received his degree in graphic design from the art institute of charlotte. a practicing artist since 2003, coleman is not a painter of social commentary—though his mixed-media works certainly reflect an emotional expression to which all viewers can relate. neither does the abstract artist define himself as a true expressionist, yet his process—alternating between fluid and structured gestures—undoubtedly reveals how he makes sense of the world as he moves through it. painting according to his moods and always to music brian harnesses the heightened creativity of turbulent days to allow his pure emotion to guide his gestural works, while calmer, more focused moments call upon his foundations in graphic design. coleman draws from a vast library of compositional reference points to produce these precise, magnified and tightly controlled studies that weave a common thread throughout his entire oeuvre. he lives and works in mooresville, nc with his wife, son and daughter.

i draw because i need too, i always have, it is a form of therapy for me. they are pieces and parts of life - memories, out of space happenings, free drawing in the moment, recurring images i have used in previous works that have told other stories. i am always building the surface, changing direction and rearranging on a journey to explore the space on the canvas; the drawing comes alive and starts to move and grow, gaining substance. the images are pieces and parts of the past, present and future, in the process of becoming something else. the works become stories of their own, they come together to become another place in time, they are not made to make sense, they are made to evoke feelings. i am never arriving at a place, and i am constantly using my pieces and parts in the process of a journey that never ends.

-brian coleman 2020

chris terry was born in stamford, connecticut in 1956. he attended rhode island college in providence, ri where he earned a ba in studio art in 1978. he continued his education at the university of wisconsin-madison, where he earned his mfa degree in 1981. after moving back to connecticut, he began exhibiting his paintings in and around the new york area in 1982. accepting a teaching position at california state university, long beach in 1984 brought him to the west coast. in 1988 he accepted a position at utah state university and began teaching painting and drawing there. professor terry is the recipient of numerous awards as a painter including the utah visual artist fellowship, and a westaf/nea fellowship in painting. he has twice been the recipient of a fulbright fellowship for teaching and research in germany and in 2000 was a visiting artist at the american academy in rome.

“the central theme of my work is the ability of light to transform. although i select and place my subjects carefully, they are mostly drawn from the insignificant artifacts of everyday life. they lack a strong ego and without the stage i build for them, they would likely be overlooked. the interiors i choose are similarly anonymous. i’m drawn to these spaces and objects that lack a strong individual presence, and i rely primarily on light to transform an abandoned interior and enigmatically placed object into a secular altar.”

recently i’ve focused my paintings almost exclusively on the idea of passage from one space into another. this isn't a new idea for me, but this current group of paintings has allowed the landscape, or in some cases, an implied exterior space, to take on more significance than in previous explorations.

i’ve always admired the way that painters as diverse as raphael, bonnard or fairfield porter have used the window motif. with it, they can explore the contrast between nature and our manufactured environment, the way light animates an interior space, or the theme of isolation and separation. my own use of the window builds on these ideas, but i’m also excited by the way that i can use the brush, my own invention, and color in the exterior passages of the paintings. in some paintings, the portals i present to the viewer remain sealed and they offer little more than an opportunity for the viewer to imagine what might be behind a drawn curtain or a closed door. but where the landscape is allowed to intrude on the meditative silence of the interior, i enjoy the freedom the landscape allows me. unlike the relative precision i apply to the interior space, the landscape enables me to explore very different painting conventions.

the results are most often paintings in which the viewer feels enclosed or even compressed by the interior space. the glimpse afforded of the outside world feels to me like an escape. it’s an escape for the viewer, where they can imagine the sounds and activities of the natural world, but it’s also an escape for me as the painter. the landscape releases me to use more expressive marks, higher intensity color, and gives free rein to my imagination in inventing the landscape forms. the framing device of the window or doorway keeps the vigor of nature under my control and striking the balance between interior and exterior is an intriguing puzzle that continues to engage me.

-chris terry 2020

all available work by each artist can be viewed on the artist page of our site under the artist's individual tab. click on the artist image to see all work including sizing and pricing. the opening reception with brian coleman + chris terry is friday, january 10th from 6-8 pm. please call the gallery if you have any further questions.