Principle Gallery | 8/26-9/12 | Alexandria, VA

Alive with Color

Crisp new still lifes from Trish Coonrod debut at Principle Gallery

By Meg Daly

Trish Coonrod’s paintings of flowers and fruit look so real you want to touch them. Coonrod brings a contemporary verve to the classical art of still life painting. Based in Ithaca, New York, she has been exhibiting her work for three decades. Her latest show at Principle Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia, promises a cornucopia of the artist’s favorite subjects. Flowers from her garden, fruits at peak ripeness, and even brightly hued gumballs-all in the service of celebrating color. Seckel, Bartlett, and Red Pear, oil on aluminum, 12 x 16"

Coonrod says her use of color is as unique as handwriting.

“Color is personal,” she says. “When I’m painting, I think a lot about color relationships. It’s like a puzzle. When the colors and values fit, it creates a 3D form.”

Though her style is photorealistic, her practice is intuitive. She paints fruits and flowers from her garden, spending hours absorbed in the process. “I think of still life painting as a quiet, contemplative art form. It’s just me and the things I’ve found that pique my interest.”Jar of Gumballs, oil on canvas, 12 x 16"

Drawn to the ruddy hue of a ripe red pear or the intricate veins on an amaryllis in bloom, Coonrod says it’s a race against time to paint organic matter before it decays. “I’m attempting to make a lasting record of something temporary,” she says.

Fittingly, the show at Principle comes during harvest time when gardens produce the last hurrah of the growing season. Recently, Coonrod has been focusing on floral paintings, some of which have been in the planning stages for years. “To finally have the chance to get them down on canvas has been very satisfying,” she says. Amaryllis Buds, oil on aluminum, 12 x 9"Though her subject matter is often organic, her media tends toward the industrial. She paints most of her work on aluminum composite panels. Because the panels do not expand and contract depending on humidity, the paintings resist cracking.

Which is to say it takes artifice to create realism. Coonrod says stylization is a component of her paintings. “It’s not always exactly how I see it. I leave out details, even if it may not look like it.”Pink Gladioli, oil on aluminum, 24 x 12"She knows a painting is finished when the subject looks convincing. Then it’s ready for the viewer to enjoy that contemplative space Coonrod knows so well. —