MICHAEL REAFSNYDER
DELIGHT

VIDEO ROOM: WILLIAM LAMSON

NOVEMBER 19 - DECEMBER 23, 2011 / Opening: Saturday, November 19, 6-8pm

Michael Reafsnyder, Chorus, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 72 in.

Marty Walker Gallery presents deftly boisterous abstract paintings by California artist Michael Reafsnyder for his first exhibition in Dallas, Texas. Part drip, smear, scrape, and drizzle, part color-field, purely intuitive, intellectual and largely frenetic, the nest of colors vibrate beyond the canvas and invite a playful entry. Layers of paint are drawn across the surface like strata of earth in different perspectives in vibrant, unblended hues, cut up and left on the canvas like scraps. Inspired by abstract expressionism, the paintings blend intuitive process with child-like discoveries of the COBRA avant-garde group, cleansing the angst and subconscious monsters with his ever-present, smiley-face signature.

Reafsnyder received a BA from Chapman University in Orange County in 1992 and a MFA from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. His work has been nationally and internationally exhibited, including Ameringer, McEnery and Yohe, NYC; Blaffer Museum, Houston; Western Project and Mark Moore Gallery, Los Angeles; University of Nevada – Las Vegas, Las Vegas Art Museum; and various galleries in Austria, Italy, Spain, and Germany. His work is included in numerous public and private collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Portland Art Museum, and Laguna Art Museum.

William Lamson, Action for the Paiva (video still), 2010
25:12 minute HD Video

VIDEO ROOM: WILLIAM LAMSON

On exhibit in the video room, Marty Walker Gallery presents a new video piece by gallery artist William Lamson, entitled Action for the Paiva, a 25-minute video made in Nodar, Portugal. Building on themes of balance in nature’s sublimity, human interaction, and unpredictable experimentation, Lamson sets the scene among the lush hillsides of the Paiva River. Reminiscent of Hudson River school large-scale landscape paintings, Lamson’s small figure subtly animates the scene and appears to stand on the surface of the water using a carefully calibrated and hidden apparatus, floating slowly across the pool of water as a heavy fog rolls in and birds chirp their morning calls.

Lamson completed this piece during a residency at Binaural in Nodar, Portugal. Lamson’s work has been exhibited internationally as well as nationally, most recently at the Indianapolis Museum of Art for his installation Divining Meteorology. His work is included in collections of the Dallas Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Art Houston, Brooklyn Museum, and Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts. Lamson lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.