March 1 - 31, 2012

THE LAURA RUSSO GALLERY IS PLEASED TO PRESENT:

Lucinda Parker : Mountains (Trees, Water, Clouds)

Rae Mahaffey : New Paintings and Works on Paper

OPENING RECEPTION:
First Thursday March 1,, 2012
First Thursday Hours, 5-8pm


LUCINDA PARKER


Lucinda Parker
Northside    2011
acrylic on canvas
50" x 120"

Lucinda Parker creates dynamic paintings inspired by and abstracted from natural forms. As with previous work, her focus remains on the handling of the paint itself: the textures, layers and volumes that create what Parker terms the “muscular boldness” of an image. Always working toward a better, more unexpected fusion of texture, gesture and geometry, Parker strives for a “rhythmic coherence” between the ground and figures in her paintings. This new show includes major new large scale paintings, gouaches which were exploratory studies for A Glade of Many Ages, commissioned by the University of Oregon, as well as studies for Parker’s recently completed commission for the federal courthouse in Bakersfield, California.

Originally, from Boston, Lucinda Parker received a BA jointly from Reed College and the Pacific Northwest College of Art, and an MFA from Pratt Institute, New York. Her work has been exhibited at numerous one-person shows throughout the Pacific Northwest and nationally. The Portland Art Museum honored her with a mid-career retrospective in 1995, and the Boise Art Museum presented a one-person exhibition of her work in 2002. She was also included in the Bonnie Bronson Fellows twenty year retrospective at Lewis and Clark College, Portland. Parker’s work is well collected throughout the Northwest. Major public collections include the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University, the Portland Art Museum and the Seattle Art Museum. Public projects include the Oregon Convention Center, Portland City Hall, and a recently completed commission for the federal courthouse in Bakersfield, California. .

More examples by Lucinda Parker


Rae Mahaffey



Rae Mahaffey
Social Structures    2012
oil on wood panel
18" x 36"

Rae Mahaffey uses color, pattern and complexity to examine the interaction between visual experience and a more allegorical consideration of the structure of human life. She is less concerned with expressing a specific interpretation than with investigating the layered possibilities of color, pattern and repetition—what Mahaffey calls the “semantics and syntax of visual art.” The artist exhibits works that speak to the intricacies of the world around us. This show will include paintings that are oil on wood panel, as well as watercolor studies on paper. This work continues her exploration of the visual experience through formal artistic means. Mahaffey’s fresh, direct approach is provoking, visceral and contemporary.

Rae Mahaffey studied at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark and the University of Washington. She moved from Seattle to Los Angeles in l988 where she worked as a curator for Gemini G.E.L. and as a consultant for David Hockney's studio. She moved to Portland in 1992 to start Mahaffey Fine Art print studio with her husband Mark. Mahaffey’s exhibitions include shows at the Portland Art Museum, OR, Marylhurst Art Gym, OR, Maryhill Museum, WA, and the Schomburg Gallery in Santa Monica. Completed commissions include Washington State Arts Commission for Gray Middle School in Tacoma, a project for the Pacific First Center, Harsch Investment Properties in Portland, and most recently, a major installation for the El Paso Airport in Texas.

More examples by Rae Mahaffey