Principle Gallery | 12/2-1/2 | Alexandria, VA

Big Opportunities

Principle Gallery’s small works show features nearly 100 works of art.

The holiday season presents the perfect environment to shop for new artwork—as a gift to others or a gift to yourself. This year, Principle Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia, will be featuring 40 artists and nearly 100 paintings during its annual Small Works Group Exhibition, giving collectors the chance to purchase smaller-scale works at more affordable price points.

J Louis, My Space, oil on canvas, 13 x 10"

“Small Works is always such a positive and uplifting exhibition,” says Taylor Chauncey, assistant gallery director. “It’s the perfect show for the holidays, and it’s also a great opportunity for us to invite new artists to exhibit with hopes that our market responds positively and we can welcome new talent to the gallery.”

Among the talent in this year’s show are J Louis, Raymond Bonilla, Trish Coonrod, Geoffrey Johnson, Bill Mayer and many more, all offering a variety of subject matter, from figures to florals.

Geoffrey Johnson, Study – New Orleans, oil on board, 12 x 12"

Coonrod’s Scarlet Gladiolus Blossom features a bright pink bloom against a textured, neutral backdrop. “I’ve been growing gladioli [flowers] for many years but have only recently begun to paint them. I’m fascinated by their pattern of growth, with each flower opening in succession along a single stem,” says Coonrod. “Scarlet Gladiolus Blossom is from a series I painted this summer, where I removed all but one flower from the stem, so I could study a single flower more closely and see what shape it would take on its own.”

Trish Coonrod, Scarlet Gladiolus Blossom, oil on aluminum panel, 4 x 4"

Study – New Orleans by Johnson is an abstract scene in the artist’s instantly recognizable style, depicting the Big Easy. “New Orleans has a mood like no other city I’ve visited,” he says. “I went there for the first time earlier this year. It is as if many of the European cities I’ve visited are all rolled into one place. Hopefully I can capture that mood somewhat in my work.” Mayer started working on a series of little gouache paintings in between deadlines waiting for approvals. “It was nice having a chance to work without any interruption in the process. It’s just fun to play with the emotions art can generate,” he says. His eccentric Big Fish, Small Pond features an enormous fish floating in the air, surrounded by onlookers standing in the snow. “I’ve been experimenting with twisting reality in somewhat classical settings to give to the viewer surprising and thoughtful images,” Mayer says. “A large black moor floats above a frozen pond with a muted yellow dawn sky. This piece evokes a grim landscape not unlike the works of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, who created this wonderfully grave, serious sense of bleakness and dire hungry winters with his use of snow. Hungry peasants ponder the fish as he floats endlessly through time and space. A visitor neither welcome or unwelcome, a specter of hope or harbinger of doom?”