Gallery One Eleven’s latest exhibit features diversely different approaches to abstract painting
Published 9:40 am Wednesday, March 29, 2023
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Gallery One Eleven’s third exhibit of the year will feature three abstract artists from Shreveport.
“Three from Shreveport” will feature 30 paintings from Michael Miller, Uriah Joseph Oxford and Lauren Ross Simmons, and will be displayed in the gallery from Thursday, March 30, until Saturday, April 22.
This exhibition has been a long time coming. Three years ago, Oxford was set to display its artwork at the gallery. However, the gallery closed during the pandemic.
“As we set the current exhibition season, the gallery knew that we wanted to get him back,” said Tony McDonald, gallery coordinator When they invited Oxford back, they also asked him to suggest two more painters from the Shreveport area to feature.
The exhibition will feature diversely different approaches to abstract painting, said McDonald.
Oxford, from the Alexandria area, explores shape, color and imagination through his abstract works.
Heglues, staples and pieces together large pieces to create art that explores images from throughout art history that “you can get lost in” McDonald explained.
Though the pieces are two dimensional, the large, vibrant and dynamic surfaces become sculptural. McDonald noted that depth is created through “minor manipulation of color values and the changing size of shapes and lines.”
“His work invites you in, and once you are captured by the paintings you find yourself engulfed in alternate universes with occasional reference to common and identifiable objects.”
Shreveport-based artist Miller transmutes his works into 3-D objects and “makes you feel the act of painting in his works,” McDonald said.
“His work grapples with the enigma of perception… with a deep knowledge of paint and its storied history, Michael employs a disregard for convention and a willingness to follow his creative impulses wherever they may lead.”
He often experiments with simple themes by presenting them from a “dissociative and playful perspective.”
His works command attention with the heavy use of paint, “encouraging the viewer to engage with the work in a way that is all too often missing in an era where most paintings are seen through photos on screens… the works play on the border between object and surface, inviting the viewer to contemplate the nature of painting itself.”
Lauren Ross Simmons uses her twenty years of fashion, theatre and travel experience – especially her time as a wardrobe assistant for tours with Cirque du Soleil and Hello Kitty — to create abstract art with heavy pop culture influence.
“Simmons relies on pop culture and fashion images, past and present, to populate her work,” said McDonald. “Pop culture, fashion and color drive her paintbrush as she pulls from iconic figures of the past and present and combines them with current fashions and designs.”
Oxford, Miller and Simmions will be at an Artist’s Reception that will be hosted on Saturday, April 8 at 6 p.m. at Gallery One Eleven, 111 Third Street, Leesville.
