National lifestyle designer Barclay Butera was selected a few months ago by artist and friend Ray Turner to be one of his portraiture subjects for the artist's "Population" show, which opens in Santa Fe, NM, on August 7th at the Skotia Gallery. The 12"x12" paintings portray the designer in Turner's signature bold style. Two paintings of Butera--Turner chose only a few subjects to capture twice--will be part of 125-150 portraits shown. Skotia Gallery is "Population's" first stop in a traveling installation that will subsequently be exhibited at the Pasadena Museum of California Art (Oct. 2009 - Jan. 2010), in San Francisco at the Toomey-Tourell Gallery in January 2010, then on to Beverly Hills and Europe. The show will have an accompanying 12"x12" hardcover book, reflecting the exact size of each likeness, and with essays by Rick Gilberts, James Scarborough, and Roberta Carasso, PhD.
"In doing business with Barclay, we immediately became friends and I knew I wanted to include him in the series," muses Turner. "I find him to be one of the complex human beings that many of us are and that I seek out, and I painted toward the soul in him that I perceive...a snap shot that tells part of his story. I have painted a few people more than once out of interest in capturing a different facet of their personality. Barclay is one of these, and I consider him both friend and subject."
Painted on panel and glass, each portrait in the series evinces a slightly different approach by the artist, while inheriting the same topographical quality seen in the brooding, epic landscapes he is known for. A prescient interpreter, he is able to capture his sitters during "privileged instants" with skill and intimacy, using impasto (a la German Fauves and Expressionists), and violent color and exaggerated features, which recall influences as Vincent Van Gogh and Francis Bacon.
"I am very honored that Ray asked me to be one of his subjects," says Butera, CEO and President of Barclay Butera Inc. "I'm a big fan of his, and often recommend his work to clients. The layering of colors and strokes he delivers moves me and appeals to my own sense of depth in layering and texture. I also love that there are two different portraits--one being more lighter and 'real' to my eyes, and the other more dark with exaggerated features. There's also a bit of a Warhol flavor to this exhibition concept, which I enjoy."
