Exhibitions

ADAM THOMAS & ELISE WEHLE

The Rymer Gallery / 233 5th Ave. N. March 3, 2017 - May 1, 2017

Adam Thomas
Elise Wehle

Ascend by Adam Thomas:

Working primarily with oil paint and encaustic, Adam Thomas’s new series explores influence, grief, and transformation. Reflecting on the passing of so many iconic musicians over the past year, and after a trip to Paris to view Jasper John’s #5 painting, his inspiration coalesced. Upon returning home to Chicago, Mr. Thomas immersed himself in creating a new exhibition that employs movement, depth, light and shadow to form bold and masterful paintings. Scrupulously applying abstract pallet knife work over the surface layers, Adam Thomas deftly juxtapozes delicate figurative elements, such as birds in flight. Many musicians are featured in the exhibition, whereas Mr. Thomas collages sheet music into the very groundwork of his paintings, lyrics rise up from the depths, including Prince, Leonard Cohen, and David Bowie.

New Works by Elise Wehle:

Originally from California, Elise Wehle studied art at Brigham Young University in Utah, but it was a year long trip to Spain that proved to be the most formative experience for Wehle's artwork. Surrounded by the patterns that cover Andalucía, she began using similar patterns within her own work. She later applied these and other patterns to paper through intricate cut outs. She explains, "For me paper cutting possesses a human presence, imperfect but dedicated. It almost convinces its audience it was created through laser cutting or some other machine-based process until they look closely at the irregularities, the small mistakes, that prove it was all done by hand. Pattern relates to this concept, and I directly associate pattern with these same kind of hands-on, laborious methods. There is something about pattern that naturally fits into the themes of dedication, craft, and devotion, all of which I value in my creative process." Wehle currently lives in Utah with her husband and daughter.