Nathan Ota/Anthony Pontius @ Roq La Rue (4/10/09)

[roqlarue]

Roq La Rue Gallery
presents

Nathan Ota
" Hiding Out "
new paintings and drawings

Anthony Pontius
" The Casual Calamity "
new paintings and studies

Opens Friday April 10th 2009
runs through May 2nd

For April, Roq la Rue is pleased to present two solo exhibitions featuring new works by two painters who work with dramatically different styles and tone but approach similar subjects in different ways.

Gorgeously apocalyptic and subtly infused with a dark whimsy, Anthony Pontius uses a variety of media (mostly oils and pencil on wood panel) to create his haunted and stark landscapes that have a strange resonance to the unearthly works of Bosch, inhabited by strange creatures and degraded machinery. With narratives looking like the end of a bleak fairy tale that did NOT end happily ever after, the canvas is then splashed with streaks and blotches, and re-worked with pencil creating intricate scarred vignettes of ghostly words and images. Each painting is suffused with a smoggy, smothered glow that creates an evocative and enigmatic aura. Anthony will be showing 9 brand new paintings on wood panel, and 9 small graphite studies.

Nathan Ota’s paintings are exquisitely rendered in acrylics and can be interpreted as commentary on environmental issues as well as the exploration of personal relationships. Breathtakingly tight line work and a sophisticated sense of color theory are combined to create luminous works that touch on subjects such as environmental degradation to feelings of personal loss, and featuring a re-occuring cast of inquisitive, hollow eyed birds, drunken dunce cap wearing monkeys, decrepit robots, and his anthropomorphic tree beings.
He will be exhibiting 12 paintings as well as a selection of smaller paintings and drawings.

Please email me to get on a preview list! [e-mail]
Roq la Rue Gallery
2312 2nd Ave Seattle WA 98121
www.roqlarue.com


Nathan Ota "Love Birds" acrylic on panel


Nathan Ota "Left Out" acrylic on panel


Anthony Pontius "Stuffed And Stacked" oil on panel


Anthony Pontius "Fog Has Lifted" oil on panel

[thinkspace]

This is going to be an AMAZING show!!!

Antony's pieces really need to be seen in person to be really appreciated, but they are described above perfectly. Just haunting pieces, we love his work.

Good luck with the show Kirsten - look forward to seeing you this weekend at the Hi-Fruc show!

[ill]

I bet those Pontius pieces are ridiculously better in person. They're nice on the screen, but they seem like something that just would not translate well to a picture.

[roqlarue]

Anthony's work is amazing- and very hard to photograph well!
Here is an example of a detail:




From "Hotter Than Hell"

[amin]

wow, never heard of Pontius before. Love the palette

[masao626]

adore ota's work - can't wait to see his pieces!

[roqlarue]

Here is the preview for the shows:

NATHAN OTA:
roqlarueotapreview.blogspot.com/

ANTHONY PONTIUS:
roqlaruepontius.blogspot.com/