Elroy Artspace Gallery Announces ʻDinosaurs & Diving Girlsʼ, a Solo Exhibition by Vintage Roadside's Jeff Kunkle of Fine Art Photography at The Original, a Dinerant in Portland, OR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact:  Joe Staskerz, Owner, Elroy Art Agency, 
Joe@ElroyArt.com  
(503) 609-0503  www.ElroyArt.com 

Elroy Artspace Gallery Announces ʻDinosaurs & Diving Girlsʼ, a Solo Exhibition by Vintage 
Roadside's Jeff Kunkle of Fine Art Photography at The Original, a Dinerant in Portland, OR

(download the entire 'Dinosaurs & Diving Girls' Jeff Kunkle Solo Show at The Original- A DInerant Press Release here) 

Portland, OR (May 14, 2010) — Elroy Artspace Gallery is pleased to announce Dinosaurs & Diving Girls, a solo exhibition of fine art photography by Jeff Kunkle. In the artistʼs first ever exhibition, Dinosaurs & Diving Girls, Kunkle introduces his artwork borne of passion for seeking out roadside history. A commercially published photographer whoʼs worked behind the lens for almost 30 years, Kunkle found his artistic voice with Vintage Roadside, a company he and wife Kelly Burg began with the goal of documenting this disappearing part of our history.

Dinosaurs & Diving Girls showcases art “created while traveling thousands of miles a year with Kelly, criss-crossing the country along old highways, seeking out and photographing whatʼs left of things built roughly from the 1930s through 1960s,” Jeff says, “or before the age of the Interstate.” Many of the places and things Jeff photographs were once a part of the everyday landscape - the mom & pop ʻroadside cultureʼ of architecture, signs, and tourist attractions that have been pushed out or pushed over by modern roads and a changing society.

“There's something about my passion for roadside history that in some strange way flipped a switch for me in how I see these things and shoot in a way I had not seen them before,” Jeff explains of the technical approach to his work, “and Vintage Roadside works with local historical societies, state and national resources to learn the back-story of the places we visit, because for us the value is the history behind them. And that's what Iʼm working to share in my photography.”

Jeff Kunkleʼs fine art photography is inspired by his love of American roadside history, but is fueled with a passion to have us all see it through eyes that make it fresh again. Jeff and his wife Kelly are also business partners in Vintage Roadside, taking them over the countryʼs backroads and forgotten by-ways much of the year, but they live in the creative epicenter of Portland, Oregon.

Elroy Artspace is curating this show at The Original, a Dinerant (located at 300 SW 6th Ave. in downtown Portland, OR). Elroy Artspace is a gallery whose mission is to enhance the human experience by introducing fine, fun art to design professionals and others concerned with bringing color and beauty into the home and workspace.

For Media inquiries, additional information regarding Elroy Artspace Gallery, Elroy Art Agency or Jeff Kunkle artwork sales and leasing, please contact: Joe Staskerz, Owner, Elroy Art Agency: Joe@ElroyArt.com (503) 609-0503 www.ElroyArt.com.

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Elroy Artspace Gallery Announces ‘Shipwrecks of Sparta’, a George Perrou Solo Exhibition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Media Contact:  Joe Staskerz, Owner, Elroy Art Agency,
Joe@ElroyArt.com 
(503) 609-0503 
www.ElroyArt.com

Elroy Artspace Gallery Announces ‘Shipwrecks of Sparta’, a George Perrou Solo Exhibition  


 

(download the entire 'Shipwrecks of Sparta' George Perrou Solo Show at Elroy Artspace Press Release here)

Portland, OR (May 4, 2010) — Elroy Artspace Gallery is pleased to announce Shipwrecks of Sparta, a solo exhibition of new works by George Perrou.  In the artist’s first solo exhibition at the gallery, Shipwrecks of Sparta, Perrou builds upon the creative variation marked in his 2009 small piece series - when he introduced ‘distressed’ backgrounds to his popular ‘modscapes’ and unique atomic-age images.  On the experience, the artist said: “Giving the backgrounds a dual-colored effect allows me to infuse a different tonal quality to the paintings.  And the technique works particularly well for this series, adding a worn, aged effect as with an old nautical map which has gotten wet and dried several times and some of the ink has run.”

Shipwrecks of Sparta features Perrou’s trademark style of imagery inspired by the cartoons of his baby-boomer youth.  Nostalgic for a time before video games and text messages, Perrou rekindles a childlike sense of wonderment in his paintings, recalling an era when encyclopedia pictures and TV’s Jacques Cousteau brought more questions than answers to the mysteries of dark ocean depths and their theft of cargo and trade ships.  “The 1950's and 60's saw a rise in underwater discovery due to technological advances,” says Perrou, “and art based upon the bottles and other vessels which archeologists brought to the surface found their way into many contemporary homes of the era.”  

Infusing the paintings of these re-claimed cargo with the unique shapes that have come to immediately identify a painting as ‘a Perrou’ brings us generations ahead, and into the mid-century era which he so tactically creates. The now-iconic shapes he uses were created early on in his career and have become Perrou’s trademark, and as Perrou’s direction has evolved his aesthetic remains cohesive.  His canvases consistently feature brightly hued flat colors painted in crisply defined planes of space, forming shapes and optical perspectives clearly separated by impeccably clean, sharp, and precise geometric line-work.

George Perrou’s art is inspired by mid-century animation, and gives nods to Miro, Kandinsky and Calder. Channeling the Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. cartoons of his youth, Perrou's is a style all his own, painting colorful abstractions of reality onto the canvas using retro and modern colors in acrylic.  George lives and paints in the creative epicenter of Portland, Oregon.

Elroy Artspace is a gallery whose mission is to enhance the human experience
by introducing fine, fun art to design professionals and others concerned
with bringing color and beauty into the home and workspace.  Visit Elroy
Artspace at 1730 NW Lovejoy #103, Portland, OR, 97209

  



Elroy Art Agency is a boutique agency whose raison d'être is creating brand identities
and promoting the visibility of artists and the venues that sell their work. (www.ElroyArt.com)

For Media inquiries, additional information regarding Elroy Artspace, Elroy
Art Agency or artwork sales and leasing, please contact: Elroy Art Agency:
info@ElroyArt.com (503) 609-0503.

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