Solo Exhibition | Jackson Hole, WY
Altamira Fine Art is pleased to present a new exhibition for Utah-artist Bradford Overton, opening August 6th, 2019 at our Jackson Hole, WY location.
Please join us for the Artist Reception, Tuesday, August 6th from 5:30-7:30pm.
On a formal level, Bradford Overton focuses on texture and light. On a personal level, he focuses on play—the enduring human desire to live in and enjoy the moment. Vintage toys resonate on both levels as archetypes of play, symbolizing Western mythologies. With textured and colorful surfaces, they convey time-worn materiality.
In his paintings, Overton considers play in context. True to his roots, he explores the historic and cultural conditions coursing through his birthplace of the American West. Raised in Utah, he has lived the realities of the romance: riding horses, running free through the landscape. Every painting he produces centers on this core ethos of adventure.
“Everybody plays, if you are not playing you are not alive,” Overton says. “There are lots of ways to play, and my way is art.”
Starting with the toys themselves, the artist builds a scene as a stage. Like a great film, he focuses each composition on action, each character on sincerity. Some paintings are laced with humor. Some reference history, personal or panoramic. Others gesture at mystery and the sublime. As he paints, he layers on storylines, complex plots that get distilled into resolved scenes as genuine as they are luminous.
“You must be completely true to you. That’s what my paintings are about: they are intense little gems about doing what you want,” Overton says. “I want them to convey the sense of freedom in the West. That’s what the romance is: we completely love the adventure of the West.”
Contact the gallery for more details, connect@altamiraart.com, (307) 739-4700.
