CCAA / Mistlin Gallery: Interaction : collaboration

An exhibition by sibling artists Troy and Kelly Viss
January 4, 2010 — February 28, 2010 | Reception: Tuesday, February 9, 2010 : 8:00 PM

Turlock City Gallery, City Hall
156 S. Broadway, Turlock CA
8am - 5pm Monday through Friday and during public meetings

Kelly-Viss Hollinger and Troy Viss are landscape painters who share a preoccupation with natural light. Residents of Turlock, their work often includes reference to the landscape of the San Joaquin Valley.

At the heart of their paintings is "the intent to create art that people will want to live with, visit often, and rediscover at varying degrees of distance and resolution."

Kelly and Troy come from a family where artistic expression was inspired, encouraged, and always complimented. As they grew up and took different career paths, each has developed their own signature style; Kelly's is layered and meditative, Troy's is filled with delicate colors and bold brush strokes.

Kelly is clearly at ease with the landscape tradition, making it her vehicle for studies in light and color. Upon further observation the viewer becomes aware of the dichotomy created between the bucolic depiction and the gritty finish. The imagery is tranquil or exultant; the surface: dripped and stained. The overall affect is arresting in its reverence for both nature and visual experience.

Kelly Viss : Scorched Euphoria 30 x 30 : Oil on Canvas

Troy's ambitious works reference abstract and interpretive ideas of time, place, and memory. His paintings alternate between peaceful and energetic, some resonating with tranquility while others practically dance in front of you. Troy employs transparent layers of oil and varnish in a process that includes wet-on-wet painting and scraping to reveal underlying composition and create additional dimension and texture, inviting the viewer to look beyond the surface and see what lies below.

Troy Viss : Accumulating Interest : 30 x 30 : Oil on Canvas

INTRODUCING LYNN GORDON: A COLLABORATION

The Turlock exhibition represents a landmark event for the artists as they present works made independently, along with their first collection of works produced collaboratively under the persona “Lynn Gordon”.

In this joint effort, Kelly [LYNN] Viss and Troy [GORDON] Viss challenge the notion of the artist as loner, an individual toiling in solitude—replacing it with a vision for creative partnership and community. The work produced is unique in its origin and sensibility. Sibling artistic precedents of note include Augustus John and Gwen John who also worked independently, and more recently the Chapman brothers and the Starn twins who make artworks collaboratively.

The collaborative paintings in this exhibition are inspired by local culture and history, with the artists’ appreciation for the community that has played a significant part in shaping their personal and professional lives. As Jackson Pollock said, “Every good painter paints what he is.”