Structure and Imagery

Memphis based painter, Hamlett Dobbins has spent his summer in the studio producing ink and acrylic drawings based on meditations. The forms of the simpler compositions possess a tantric purity while the color evokes the layered, jewel like preciousness of Russian icons.  Only in scale do Dobbins' drawings defy this reading. The medium size just begins to flower into the viewers space. And one can imagine the work larger still - becoming a quiet and all consuming consciousness. Seven drawings from this series are currently on view through August 31 at David Lusk Gallery in Memphis, TN. All works: Untitled (For M.M.Y.) , 2012, ink and acrylic on paper, 30 x 22 in. * Images © the artist.

Elizabeth Sheppell , Fat Series 17, 2012, oil on canvas, 6 x 6 in. Hamlett Dobbins , 2012, Untitled (for M.M.Y.), ink and acrylic on paper, 30 x 22 in. Dwayne Butcher , fried chicken tastes good, 2012, acrylic and ink on canvas, 8 x 10 in. Price Is Right Opening: Friday, August 3, 6 - 9 PM August 1 - 31, 2012 David Lusk Gallery 4540 Poplar Avenue Memphis, TN 38117 * All images courtesy of the artists and David Lusk Gallery.

Last week I took a trip through my hometown, Memphis, TN, and stopped by for a studio visit with painter Hamlett Dobbins . Dobbins is the Director of the Clough-Hanson Gallery @ Rhodes College and also operates Material Art Space . Material is an alternative project space that has hosted the most contemporary, high quality exhibitions in Memphis over the last seven years while providing a venue for artists from Birmingham, AL to Tokyo, Japan. From Dobbin's statement in the current issue of New American Paintings: In our everyday lives, there are times when we are gripped with a whole-body pleasure, a spine thrill of delight when time seems to slow and we are hyper-present. I am trying to understand what it is about these extraordinary experiences of real life moments, in stories or movies that move me so. The way Elwood P. Dowd says, "and the evening wore on" in Harvey...the recording of my father's voice telling "The Story of the Rose"...the w...