Richard Heisler | Tyler Star Opens Tonight, 6 to 8 pm

Top: Tyler Starr.  Attempted Fix: Phantom Recovery.  Mixed media with ganpi paper, gouache, and pencil on paper.  Bottom: Richard Heisler.  Roppongi #1.  Mixed media on panel.

 If you are in Seattle tonight, stop by the gallery from 6 to 8 pm for the opening party and reception for the new exhibit: Richard Heisler | Tyler Starr: Tokyo Paintings & Mixed Media Works.  Below is the press release for the show.  I hope to see you tonight!


Richard Heisler | Tyler Starr: Tokyo Paintings & Mixed Media Works
January 21 - February 26, 2011
Opening Reception with Richard Heisler, Friday, January 21, 6 to 8 pm
Artist Talk with Tyler Starr, Saturday, January 29, 1 pmBoth events are free and open to the public.

Two American artists consider contemporary views and events within Tokyo's urban neighborhoods.  Seattle artist, Richard Heisler's photorealist paintings from his ongoing series, One Hundred Views of Tokyo, quietly reference the landmark 19th century woodblock prints, One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858).  Selections from two of Tokyo artist, Tyler Starr's mixed media series, The Wallowing Series and Attempted Fixes, look at political, military, and municipal constructions and events in present-day Tokyo.

Heisler's dense paintings contrast with the vast empty spaces of Starr's mixed media works, yet the meticulous requirements of both artists' chosen technical approaches lead to a similar close focus on their subject. Heisler's precisely chosen layers of color and perfect lines are carefully laid in over many months; Starr applies intricatly cut layers of thin, decoupaged ganpi paper, gouache paint, and tight graphite details.  The artists' labor-intensive media draw the colors, angles, and real events of Tokyo into a sharper focus.

Richard Heisler was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1973.  He was a student at Seattle Central Community College and Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA.  Heisler is represented by Cullom Gallery as well as Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts, Binghamton, NY; MA Doran Gallery, Tulsa OK; and Galerie Persterer, Zurich, Switzerland.  His paintings have been shown in numerous solo and jurried group exhibits including the 2008 Biennial National Exhibiton, La Grange Museum of Art, LaGrange, GA; the 2008 Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Realism, Ft. Wayne Museum of Art, Ft. Wayne, IN; the CPSA Explore This 5 Exhibition, where he received the Award for Excellence; and solo exhibits at Anthony Brunelli Gallery, Binghamton, NY.  Heisler's paintings have also been featured multiple times in Southwest Art Magazine.

Tyler Starr was born in 1974 and lived in Connetiticut, Rhode Island, and Minnesota before moving to Tokyo several years ago.  In 1999, Starr was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow, Poland.  He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.  He is currently a PHD candidate at the Tokyo National Univerisity of Fine Arts, Ueno, Japan.  His work has been featured in numerous solo exhibits and jurried biennials, most recently, the International Biennial of Contemporary Prints, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Liège, Belgium; the 2nd Bangkok Triennale International Print and Drawing Exhibition, Excellence Prize,PSG Art Gallery, Silpakorn University, Bangkok Thailand; and Tokyo Wonderwall 2009, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo Japan.  His work is in the permanant collections of the Corcoran Museum, Washington, DC; Univerisity of Connecticut; and Pozan Museum of Fine Arts, Poland.

For more information please contact Beth Cullom, Cullom Gallery, 206-340-8000, info@cullomgallery.com.