Seven Sixteen Twenty Fourteen

Portrait of Lu

Self-Portrait 2013

Portrait of Nancy

Portrait of Betsy

Portrait of Mohamed

Portrait of Frank

Portrait of Zainab

INSTINCT ART GALLERY
Self and Others


Self and Others reminds us why portrait painting will never die: we can never fully understand ourselves or others, nor keep from trying.  Opening Saturday July 26 with a reception from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., Self and Others runs through September 6. Instinct Art Gallery is located at 940 Nicollet Mall. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Friday, noon to 6:00 p.m., and Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The exhibition is curated by John Schuerman and features the art of Frank Gaard, Pamela Gaard, Stu Mead, and Nancy Robinson. High-res images are available upon request. Images Attached (in order): Nancy Robinson, Frank Gaard, Pamela Gaard, Stu Mead, Postcard.

About the Artists:
For many years Nancy Robinson has painted narratives with herself as the protagonist.  She runs away from creepy people on the streets, finds herself painting a clothed model without her own clothes on, is the girl that walks into a bar and feels all male eyes turn, finds herself waking up in bed with a Pinocchio-like being, and is in the Garden of Eden as both Adam and Eve.  These are dreamy sequences we relate to, because we too know, that the world is weird and really like that, and we could easily be there in her place. These are not pretend, 'dress-up' self-portraits in the vein of Max Beckman or Cindy Sherman, they are real stories.

Frank and Pamela Gaard have been creating dual portraits of family, and people they've met along the way.  In part, it is socializing.  Pamela says, 'it's a way to get to know someone on a Thursday morning'.  Frank does a lot of the talking and engaging of the subject.  His portraits are comic, expressionist, and cut to the core -to the one bright color within. Pamela takes the quieter observational vantage point.  She distills the person and flavors them with touches of realism. "I think a portrait's successful when I catch that verisimilitude; maybe it's the psychology of the person or just a quirk that they do which is recognized by those that know them well."  The dual portrait is synergistic. We see the person at one moment in time, through two different artists.  They make the complexity of a living human being visible like no other static portraits.

Stuart Mead as a portrait painter -is able to pierce visual reality, sweep away the irrelevant visual cues and render and  accentuate the ones that tease the mind --and still we think, 'that really must be what she looks like'.  We get a true likeness of the sitter, 'the other' but heavy with Stu's gaze and what he wants of them, his 'self'. Hailed (and dissed) for  his desirous overtones, he calls you. Come decide for yourself if these are not wonderful portraits.