Progressive Narratives: The Work of Kelly Detweiler and Kerry Rowland-Avrech

Accomplished artists Kerry Rowland-Avrech and Kelly Detweiler come together at the John Natsoulas Gallery for a remarkable exhibition of narrative works. This unforgettable exhibition opens November 30th, 2016 and runs through January 3rd, 2017 with an opening reception on December 10th, 2016 at 7pm.

As an eminent contemporary female painter in California, Kerry Rowland-Avrech’s work shows a vast depth of understanding of American culture and art. The paintings of Rowland-Avrech endeavor to simplify complex elements by creating imagery that builds a narrative and allows the observers to ponder the view for themselves. From landscapes to figurative works, it is the interplay of light on form that compels her to create certain types of imagery.

“The way that Rowland-Avrech places and accents her figures recalls the work of Edward Hopper, but with a difference. Although Rowland-Avrech borrows some of Hopper’s stylistic devices, the emotional tone of her work is warmer. Like Hopper, she creates spaces that suggest serenity while also encouraging the mind to roam. In some works, Rowland-Avrech goes a step further by removing the figure entirely and letting the composition’s open spaces and human traces prompt her viewers into creating their own narratives.” -John Seed.

Rowland-Avrech’s work has been exhibited at the Palm Springs Modernism Show, 2016 the Art in the 21st Century Exhibition, and the California Landscape Exhibition. Her works are in the collections of the Triton Museum, Santa Clara, California and private collectors from New York, and Washington, D.C. to Palm Springs and San Francisco.

Similar to Rowland-Avrech, Kelly Detweiler creates narratives that are open to interpretation and allow the viewer to create their own response to the work. Detweiler’s work is often autobiographical, sometimes political, usually colorful and sometimes humorous. The small pieces featured in this exhibit are all narrative and usually deal with people immersed in nature or even sometimes lost in the forest. Issues of isolation, loneliness and past relationships are present in this work. Detweiler’s cut out pieces evolved over the past few years and are a result of doing many drawings and paintings, which involved overlapping his imagery to create an illusion with space and objects, which contained a narrative. Kelly Detweiler received his MFA from the University of California, Davis in 1977. Kelly has shown his work extensively both locally and internationally in Japan, Korea, and Germany. His work can be found in many private collections as well as in the collections of the Skowhegan School, De Saisset Museum, the Triton Museum and The Villa Heiss Museum in Zell Germany.

Rowland-Avrech and Detweiler both create works that allow the viewer to become immersed within it. Both of these artists take inspiration from nature, light and form and use these elements to create a narrative within their work. The John Natsoulas Gallery is excited and proud to have the work of these two extraordinary artists on display.

Exhibition Dates: November 30th – January 3rd Opening Reception: December 10th 7pm-9pm