SILOAM SPRINGS -- Tulsa artist John Hammer will open a new exhibit, "Tattered Aesthetics and Peculiar Portrayals," at the John Brown University Windgate Art Gallery with an opening reception and gallery talk on Thursday, Jan. 23.
The reception begins at 6 p.m. and Hammer will speak at 6:30 p.m.
Hammer is a former graphic designer who turned full-time painter in 2012. His design background and love of color have led to the pursuit of his distinctive style, described as "pop impressionism."
This exhibit features two of Hammer's newest stylistic explorations.
"Tattered Aesthetic" explores subjects we pass by in our daily lives but that have seen better days. Hammer says he began this body of work traveling the back roads and scouring flea markets, searching for the tattered to capture.
"Peculiar Portrayals" comes from Hammer's need to freely sketch with no predetermined outcome. The portraits are first sketched in a small sketchbook, then refined in a larger pencil sketch before becoming a variety of other art forms, such as screen prints, paintings and sculptures. Hammer says the concept is to display how one sketch idea can take on multiple identities just by changing the art form in which it's rendered.
The exhibit will run through Feb. 14. The Windgate Gallery is located in the Windgate Visual Arts West building on the JBU campus in Siloam Springs.
For additional information about the JBU Windgate Gallery, go to www.jbu.edu/art/gallery or contact Jeannie Abbott at [email protected].
Community on 01/15/2020