New York, NY — Louis K. Meisel Gallery is proud to announce Small Town Meditations, the gallery’s first solo exhibition of Rod Penner on the occasion of a career survey book, Rod Penner, Paintings 1987-2022 from the Artist Book Foundation. The exhibition includes a selection of paintings that span the artist’s three-decade career, as well as recent works. A Texas-based artist, Penner’s realist works depict the open, empty towns of the American Southwest. Blurring the line between nostalgia and reality, his highly-detailed paintings possess a cinematic quality that elevate the work beyond mere landscapes. Each painting is an exploration of the subtle synchrony of decay and joy that often punctuates landscapes across rural America. Born in Canada, Penner was raised in the farmlands of British Columbia. Now a resident of the Texas Hill country, he has spent an inordinate amount of time driving through the hills and flatlands of Texas and New Mexico in search of towns, houses, and buildings to photograph, and later paint. Once a subject has been located, he will often return to that locale to document the shifting light at various times of day and changing weather conditions. These photographs become the basis for his paintings, which are all completed by hand over the course of many months. Rod Penner began his career at O.K. Harris Gallery in 1991, and he has regularly exhibited in New York since that time. His work has been included in numerous European museum shows, including the Museo Thyssen Bornemisza, Madrid and Musée d’Ixelles, Brussels. His works are in the public collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C., the Flint Institute of Art, Flint, MI, and the Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK. Rod Penner: Small Town Meditations is on view from 18 March through 29 April at 141 Prince Street, New York, NY 10012. A reception and book signing will be held on Saturday, March 18th from 2pm to 5pm. For more information about the exhibition, the recent publication or our events, please email [email protected].
