Moth 2 (Mothra), 20" x 16", Oil on Canvas
Scott Conary: Fresh Cuts, through March 24, 2010
Susan Maasch Fine Arts
567 Congress Street, Portland, Maine
Scott Conary: Meat, February 3 – February 26, 2010
Nisus Gallery
328 NW Broadway #117, Portland, Oregon
Wall Chop, 22" x 28", Oil on Canvas
Hen, front, 24" x 30", Oil on Canvas
Hen, back, 24" x 30", Oil on Canvas
Tired Chop, 8" x 8", Oil on Panel
It's always interesting getting someone else's take on the work. From the Nisus Gallery:
Nisus Gallery is pleased to present Meat, new oil paintings by Scott Conary. In this solo show, Conary extends the tradition of still life painting beyond bowls of fruit and fading flowers to the fresh cut lambchop. Though small in scale (most are no larger than 9″ x 9″), the paintings lend an almost mythic aura to their subject, cuts of raw meat. As Conary states, “We are creatures of the landscape, of flesh, of our own personal and shared histories. But no matter that history, no matter how intricate the shapes and colors of the bone, muscle, fat and gristle, we are keenly aware that is part of a once living thing. It’s beautiful, desirable, and it’s unclean.” Through his loose, vigorous brushstrokes and stark compositions, Conary elicits that keen awareness with visceral, and somehow cheeky, precision. In the end, we are left with a sense of that conflict, of the tension between the weighty awareness of our own mortality and an odd playfulness; how silly to to see a lambchop there on the wall.
I wonder how the people of the two Portlands will see the meat. I'll get a sense of it from at least one side of the country as I'll be at the First Thursday opening for the show here in Oregon. Whichever Portland you might be close to, I hope you make it out to see some of the work.
Some of you may have noticed, but I've also created a facebook page where I'm a little less... discerning in what I post. If you're a facebook user, please take a look.
p.s. I considered various titles including "Meat", but I was afraid they'd be caught by your spam filters.
