Beginning March 4, Lily Pad | West Gallery combines the work of two artists, Peter Batchelder and Leya Evelyn, into one vibrant show titled Color Space. While Batchelder’s work centers around the architecture and landscape of his home in the New England area, Canada-based Evelyn focuses on gestural abstractions. Both artists are seemingly quite different yet, come together in an explosive, color-focused show.
Leya Eveyln, Until No. 2, triptych, mixed media on canvas, 60 x 72"
“Fascinated by architecture and archaeology, Batchelder intends to translate the context of time-worn structures within his paintings, asking questions such as ‘who built this?’ and ‘who lived here?’” Explains gallery representative Kim Storage. “Alternatively, Evelyn allows her paintings to become structures themselves, self-referentially recounting the history of their own making. Through their use of color, both Batchelder and Evelyn shift focus away from the built environment towards an emotive one.”
Batchelder strives for simplicity in his work, taking out parts of a composition than what may have actually been tin the real scene that inspired the piece. In show piece Rose, featuring a bright rose-colored barn on a brightly lit background, it’s all about color. The oil painting also contains a small purple and blue shed to the left of the barn. “I love the almost human quality that I see in the clusters of outbuildings found on so many old farms,” says Batchelder, “but overall, Rose is about color and light.”
Peter Batchelder, Rose, oil, 48 x 48"
His piece Refuge, of a trail with two trees against a purple and blue sky, has a bit more complexity. Batchelder says, “[This piece] is both about a place and emotion. This location is based on a meadow on Martha’s Vineyard. On a recent trip to the island, I visited a favorite [piece of] conservation land with miles of trails that crisscross old farmland that leads to small bays and lagoons that cut into the shore. I have always loved the sense of peace and solace I find at these places. The simplicity of the landscape and hints of relics of human interaction with it give it that quality that attracts people to visit. Some call these preserved tracts of land ‘sanctuaries,’ or ‘conservation lands.’ What they all provide is refuge from the modern world.”
Evelyn’s way of working is to “emphasize the complexity of color, its intensity and its many permutations,” she says. “The focus is on the emotions this provokes rather than any need to analyze.” In her largely abstract, mixed media show pieces Things You Need to Know No. 1 and Until No. 2, she says, “Both investigate gesture, marks and the intensity of color. Each one allows the viewer to appreciate the deeper meaning of the color’s potential in different ways…Their intention is to eliminate any preconceived notions or prejudices a person may have about a color, how it is used and what a painting is. The subject matter refers only to itself. This, therefore, creates a uniquely personal visual impact.”
Leya Eveyln, Things You Need to Know No. 1, mixed media on canvas, 60 x 49½"
Both paintings use blue as the main color: one is mainly ultramarine blue, the other indigo. “The indigo painting, Things You Need to Know, seems close to black,” says Evelyn. “By the way it is used, the drama of the color is accentuated by the other colors in the painting. It is a more talkative painting than [the other painting]. Until emphasizes the many possible variations of blues and how they can enhance each other. All color is relative: how it is used, where it is placed, what is near it, how much there is and what kind of mark it makes.”
These colorful arrangements will remain on view at Lily Pad | West through April 10. —
Lily Pad | West
215 N. Broadway • Milwaukee, WI 53202
(414) 509-5756 • www.lilypadgallery.com
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