My approach to painting derives from a great appreciation for the sensuous nature of the medium and an understanding of the communicative possibilities inherent in its many manifestations. As a representational painter it is not my intention to produce an exact mimesis of my subject, but rather to manifest an underlying content that resonates with my audience. I consider my work to be spaces of crisis. Through the use of a wide range of technical and formal approaches, along with a variety of subject matter, my work evokes the tension created by the realization of unmet expectations and the potential for personal restitution.

Upon visiting my studio a fellow artist once questioned if I ever felt schizophrenic in my studio practice. She was wondering if in my attempt to work concurrently on several different bodies of work, each with its own distinct stylistic approach, I had lost my sense of identity as an artist. I answered, smugly, "Isn't that the point?" My current body of work does exactly that. In an attempt to mine the schism caused by the intersection of my personal experiences and beliefs with that of our social and cultural ideals and expectations, this work applies a profusion of painterly modalities along with a range of subject matter to integrate a variety of disparate pictorial solutions. This body of work operates as a rehearsal for and revisitation of (my) success at failure as I look both backwards and forwards at my life through the lens of middle age. Each painting, through both image and form, strives to realize a kind of telos which will bring about an absolute resolution between the disparate formal elements and the individual egos of the protagonists, each having their own intentions, needs and desires. While the heterogeneous appearance of these paintings speaks of an incongruous approach to rectifying personal conflicts, their ability to harmonize disparate forces expresses the possibility of achieving balance, even if complex and tentative.

 

born: 1970, Lancaster, PA

education:

The University of Arizona, MFA, 1999
Tyler School of Art, BFA, 1993

selected awards/honors

Professional Development Grant, Tucon/Pima Arts Council, 2009
Dissemination Grant, NMSU College of Arts and Sciences, 2008
Contemporary Forum Grant, Pheonix Art Museum 2005

selected publications

Philadelphia City Paper, "Hot Off the Prez, Robin Rice on Visual Art :"Obamna-Rama" and Guilty Pleasures at Projects Gallery", Robin Rice February 10, 2009
Boise Weekly, Image reproduced on front and inside coverwith short bio December 2008
"Soaring Upward," Maragret Regan, Tucson Weekly January 13, 2008
Tucson Museum of Art An Eclectic Eye: Selections from the Dan Leach Collection, Tucson AZ (exhibition catalogue) October 2007

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Gallerie Urbane, "Craig Cully New Work", Dallas TX 2010
Stewart Gallery, "Get Out of Jail Free", Boise ID 2010
Washington State University Gallery, "Mingle", Pullman WA 2009
Klaudia Marr Gallery, "The Success of Failure in a Space of Crisis", Santa Fe NM (tri-fold catalogue) 2009

selected group shows

Park Fine Art Gallery, Gallery Edel and Changwon National University Art Museum, "Park Fine Art International  Invitational", Albuquerque NM, Japan and South Korea (catalogue) 2010
Cumberland Gallery, "Small Packages", Nashville TN 2009
Boise Art Museum, "Kids Stuff", Boise ID 2009
Northern Kentucky University Main Gallery, "I Love You Love Me", Highland Heigths  KY 2007