Ann Korologos Gallery presents Rick Stevens: Sanctuary, a solo exhibition exploring interpretations of nature through the juxtaposed shapes, patterns, colors, and textures used on the canvases of Rick Stevens. The exhibition features over a dozen new abstract impressionist works from the Santa Fe studio of Stevens and is on view August 5 through August 23, 2023 at Ann Korologos Gallery in Basalt, Colorado and virtually at korologosgallery.com.
Rick Stevens is a New Mexico-based landscape artist whose work evokes both immediacy and contemplation. The painter spent his childhood in Sparta, Michigan where his first artistic inspiration was his father, a plein air painter. It was there that he developed his own affinity for forests, rivers, and wildlife. Stevens painted alongside his father and graduated with a fine arts degree from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI. A visit in 2008 to New Mexico and its varied terrain captivated Stevens, motivating him to move west to the “Land of Enchantment,” establishing a studio in Santa Fe.
A strong foundation painting en plein air and a close affinity for the woods has established Stevens as a landscape painter, and yet, his eye and technique are a world of their own with an abstract impressionist quality. Stevens takes his inspiration from the natural world, approaching his paintings with spontaneity and transmitting the feelings evoked by the landscape with immediacy and improvisation, an approach he compares to the jazz music often playing in his studio. While he doesn’t claim true synesthesia, he feels the likeness of music and painting, seeing visual patterns of colors with closed eyes while listening to music and interpreting it in his head. “It’s one way that I can get inspired for artwork, especially work that’s more abstract,” he shares. Another way to get inspired is digitally, working from photographs that he altars with filters and layers of color, shape and texture. From there, he paints a series of smaller studies, referencing both the digital and painted studies as he embarks on a large canvas.
“You’ll see that there’s a certain rhythm of patterns,” he says, pointing to paintings set aside for Rick Stevens: Sanctuary at Ann Korologos Gallery. “I’m creating these overlapping patterns that I’m weaving in, almost like a tapestry, so there’s a movement to them, so I want to keep that sense of interweaving shapes and make it a pleasurable experience for the viewer. That’s the way I feel, when I’m out in the woods – that’s what I look for. Everything can be reduced to pattern, so I see that when I’m working.”
Rick Stevens: Sanctuary is on view August 5 to 23, 2023 ‘under the clocktower’ in historic downtown Basalt and virtually at korologosgallery.com. For questions, hours, or private viewing times, please call (970) 927-9668 or email art@korologosgallery.com.
