the leaves are starting to have a tinge of fall and we are thrilled to be opening three incredible exhibitions for cameron ritcher, kim testone and barbara campbell thomas. seeing the gallery transform every month with the installations of new shows is energizing to the mind. it fuels our hearts to continue to expose our collectors to work that pushes the boundaries whether it is large scale mixed media works with plexiglass overlay or hyperrealist paintings of ice cream cones. to view the world through an artist’s eye is to see things from a different perspective. the process of creating a body of work to be exhibited together from the idea to completion always astounds us. huge thank you to cameron, kim and barbara for all the tedious hours in the studio!
cameron ritcher is a swiftly emerging artist who graduated from james madison university in 2017 with ba in studio art. cameron accepted the school’s award for a graduating senior with a concentration in painting, among numerous other awards and scholarships. hot sugar is cameron’s inaugural exhibition at hidell brooks and includes both his construction wood assemblages along with his mixed media works with tinted resin and plexiglass. he currently works from his home studio in richmond, va where he lives with his wife, emily, and their cat, louie.
“the work in this show spans a large range visually and conceptually, but the unifying idea that seems to drive all of my work is an obsession with the tactile. In addition to a striking tactility and dimensional presence, the Intersect series pieces explore light and color theory. i’ve also considered, in the footsteps of artists such as donald judd, the degree of impact (or lack thereof) my own hand has on the work. recently i’ve gravitated toward limiting the element of human “error” in the work - allowing the naturally occurring elements of light, gravity, and color, to interact in a way that feels pure and unadulterated. the color schemes are derived from the natural world and specifically the sky at different times of day.
the pristine, methodical process of the intersect pieces leaves me craving something much more expressive, visually active, and hands-on. the wood assemblage pieces satisfy that craving for me. my approach to materials and process is unconventional in terms of painting: i enjoy the physicality of “constructing” a painting. Instead of applying a brush to canvas, i am using saws, nails, and a T-square. along with otherwise mostly industrial materials, i have begun to incorporate 24k gold leaf and extra-fine glitter into my work, which feels spiritual and mysterious in contrast to (or in tandem with) the basic shapes and forms that comprise the rest of the work.
a couple years ago, i rediscovered a stack of old board games in a cabinet at my grandfather’s house in shelby, nc. these games - the boxes, boards, cards, & various pieces served as the source material for many of the icons & color decisions used in this body of work. what has resulted are paintings that are undeniably playful, yet ache with nostalgia. nostalgia is one of my favorite emotions to feel, and it seems to grow each year as i become acutely aware of the passage of time. the layered history of mark-making and the scuffing, scratching, sanding, and scraping in my work is driven by, and reflective of, the change brought about by time. the pilgrim series specifically deals with the fact of human mortality, which feels morbid initially, but when we gain clarity on this reality, it actually brings about true, deep, and lasting joy.
behind all of my work is a “let’s just try and see what happens” mentality. why? because if i don’t, i’ll never know. the primary purpose of my work is to entertain the artist and viewer, to evoke curiosity, and hopefully, to ask questions rather than answer them.”
kim testone holds a ba in drawing from the university of central florida and a masters in arts administration from savannah college of art and design. kim is a former art magazine editor, writer and theme park caricature artist. her paintings focus on ordinary objects, with a bit of a quirky and sentimental twist. she paints subjects that celebrate imagination and entertainment, from nostalgic toys and games to colorful desserts to trompe l'oeil pieces that aim to fool the viewer's perceptions. she resides in syracuse, new york, with her husband and their three cats.
kim testone is a contemporary acrylic realist painter whose work primarily focuses on happy and colorful dessert foods that evoke a sense of nostalgia. her unique painting style combines her formal education with many years of self-taught technique. it involves a complicated and time-consuming process of layering thin, often translucent layers of glazed acrylic paint on flat panels, creating an optical blend of colors that plays with the interaction of light. each piece can take a week to a month to complete. the end result is a painting with very little texture that aims to achieve a sense of hyperrealism and pop off the panel to become part of the space. ultimately, she paints with the goal of eliciting a warm and positive emotional reaction from the viewer.
“my hope is to capture a little bit of unexpected joy in everyday subjects and surprise the viewer. if my work can elicit a smile or help someone recapture a warm memory, that’s a pretty good day.”
barbara campbell thomas's work combines painting with quilting, overlaying their material vocabularies to create complex formal dialogues that resonate with the details of her own life and the history of each medium. she came relatively late to quilting, which she learned from her mother, but quickly realized its power as an art form traditionally practiced by women to inform and expand the range of painting.
barbara’s paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries across the united states: at the weatherspoon art museum, the virginia center for contemporary arts, the painting center, the atlanta center for contemporary art, the southeastern center for contemporary art and the north carolina museum of art. she has been an artist-in-residence at the hambidge center, the skowhegan school for painting and sculpture, the elizabeth murray artist residency and the virginia center for creative arts. she is a recipient of a north carolina artists fellowship.
barbara campbell thomas is an professor of art in the school of art at unc greensboro. she lives and works in climax, nc.
barbara campbell thomas’s paintings harness geometric abstraction and a materially rich surface of paint, collage and sewn fabric to explore how her ancestral past shapes who she is as an artist. in her new body of work, created for the artist’s second solo exhibition at hidell brooks gallery, barbara campbell thomas mines the presence of abstraction in her own matrilineal ancestry, calling upon the handwork of her great-great grandmother to anchor the visual language employed for these ten paintings.
the exhibition title, edna’s diamonds, refers to the repeated pattern of blue and grey diamonds furled across a small rag rug made by edna otto bame in the early 20th century. passed down to campbell thomas’s mother, the rug was a memorable presence of domestic abstraction in the artist’s childhood home. over the last year, barbara campbell thomas allowed the blues and greys of the rug to direct color, resulting in her most focused palette in over twenty years. this decision to limit color to those selected by her own great-great grandmother spurred on a conversation between these two women tied by blood and a mutual devotion to geometric abstraction.
edna’s diamonds also centers on a buoyant formal exploration of the diamond shape set within the square or rectangle created by the chosen painting frame. across these paintings, diamonds play a game of relay, enacting a visual call and response with each other that mirrors, alights and anchors. the paintings converse, their rhythmic cadence a delightful reflection of the imaginative dialogue barbara campbell thomas holds with her own maternal ancestor.
all available work by each artist can be viewed on our website under their individual tabs including sizing + pricing. hidell brooks gallery is by appointment. please call the gallery if you have any further questions.