Redtree Times

American Art Collector Show Preview, June 2024 Issue

Mere change is not growth. Growth is the synthesis of change and continuity, and where there is no continuity there is no growth.

–C. S. Lewis

The new June issue of American Art Collector arrived yesterday. In it there is a pretty good preview of my upcoming show, Continuum: The Red Tree at 25, at the Principle Gallery. By pretty good I mean that that the feel of the images together on the pages truly seem to reflect the visual tone of the show as a whole, which doesn’t always happen. As it says in the opening paragraph, I am seeking maximum visual impact with this show and the group of four images very much represent that aim.

It was good to see them maintain the same effect on the page as they do here in the studio. I view this as a big show for me, one that hopefully punctuates the quarter century run of solo shows at the Principle Gallery with an exclamation point.

The beauty in having this string of solo shows going back to the RedTree show of 2000 is that it demonstrates the synthesis of change and continuity that C.S. Lewis mentions in the quote at the top. I believe there has been real growth in the work over these past twenty-five years that might not have appeared without the continuity of the goal that each year’s show has provided. The goal of this year’s show is to demonstrate the fullness and growth in the work brought on by this continuity.

I think it will do just that but I am usually suspicious of my own impression of such things. I am just too close and invested to the work to be truly objective. But seeing this spread made me feel better about my gut feeling for this show.

Hopefully those who get to the Principle Gallery during its run there will see it the same way.

Continuum: The Red Tree at 25 opens June 14, 2024 at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA. The exhibit runs until July 3.