Ben Steele
Coloring Outside the Lines
October through November
Pop-realist painter Ben Steele blends traditional technique with wry contemporary humor and commentary. Using familiar stylistic language from art history, advertising, and popular culture, Steele upends our expectations and embraces the humor and joy that can be found in art. Based in Helper, Utah, he paints with the technical skill of a Renaissance master and the eye of an American humorist to draw us into a mixed-up world that is completely his own. The exhibit showcases new works from Steele that continue his ongoing conversation between old masters and new mythologies.
December 1 through 31
To close the year, we present a group exhibition spanning photography, painting, and mixed media, a survey of the range and depth across the gallery’s program. The exhibit will include new work from Kelly Ording, Steve Wrubel, and Jason Wheatley. Kelly Ording hand- dyes her paper with coffee and salt, creating an earthy and spontaneous ground for her meticulously painted lines and shapes. The work leans on the language of mid-century modern graphics and an organic sense of space.
Steve Wrubel has spent his career photographing the American rodeo, working close enough to the animals to feel the dirt and risk of the arena himself. His images catch bronc and bull riders’ mid-motion, a split- second of contact between man and animal rendered with the grit and immediacy of someone who was standing in the ring, not behind a fence. Jason Wheatley’s paintings fall into the realm of magical realism. Each oil on canvas is a vivid dream brought to life with paint. Working with the meticulous technique of classical still life painting, he populates his scenes with monkeys, exotic birds, and goldfish that seem to swim through open air, ordinary subject matter tipped into something stranger. The result is a canvas that rewards a second look, precise enough to convince you, playful enough to remind you not to trust it.
Image titles:
I Love Fly Fishing, But…
by Ben Steele
oil on canvas
30” x 40”
Admiration Knot
by Kelly Ording
acrylic on hand-dyed paper
51.75” x 49.5”
A Celebration Of
by Sofia Jaramillo
archival pigment print
size and edition vary
Hope on Sandhill
by Jason Wheatley
oil on canvas
72” x 48”
Gilman Contemporary
661 Sun Valley Road | Ketchum
208.726.7585
gilmancontemporary.com
