Friday, October 24, 2008

November Fenario Art Show

shanna trumbly, the rabbit and the shooting stars, acrylic on canvas

This Novermber at Fenario Gallery we'll be having a joint show with local artist Shanna Trumbly and a Portland-based photographer named Rainen Janes. Shanna and Rainen have been friends for years, but this is their first time showing together, and I'm excited to find that I think their work, despite their very different mediums work together very well and have an interesting give and take. Shanna has been active in the art community in Eugene for years. She has a popular booth at the Saturday Market, and her shop at the Country Fair this year had lines pouring out into the paths. While her art had been mainly focused on craft and mercantile, Shanna picked up a paint brush about a year ago and found she had a virtuosic natural ability with the medium. Producing several whimsical, dreamy scenes often depicting animals and local flora over the past year, her more recent works hinge on a new technique in which Shanna takes a photograph which she has printed on canvas and then paints bright, juxtaposing images over the photo. Her benign animal scenes have taken on a distinctly darker flavor, and though there is still a fairy tale like narrative element, they are more like the Grimm Brothers' original stories than Disney classics. 

Rainen Janes' captivating nature photography (similarly printed on canvas) will make for an interesting artistic olio when hung with Shanna's acrylics. A gifted photographer with a strong sense of form and color, Rainen's series for the exhibit will focus mainly of photographs of horses. With interesting angles and the inclusion of unexpected depictions of the theme in far flung locations hand picked from his travels, the exhibit will be an interesting twist on a nature photography show.

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