Rootwings Art at Herran House, 2021

Ridgway, Colorado

The Grand Opening of Rootwings Art at Herran House in Ridgway, Colorado on June 18, 2021, drew a big crowd of enthusiastic visitors.

The show, “Luscious: A Provocative Pairing of Paintings and Sculptures,” showcased roughly a dozen of my fantasy portraits alongside the thought-provoking and whimsical illuminated sculptures of Ridgway artists Bruce Backer and Vanessa Marootian Backer. The historic Herran House was built in 1890 as a boarding house and hotel. The site is also known in local lore to have housed a brothel at one time. If so, Herran House provides an apt venue for my large-format fantasy nudes.

Bruce Backer has described the site as “more of an art installation than a conventional gallery.”

I was especially pleased to see how the Backers staged their sculptures in relation to my paintings. Moving through this space, the visitor perceives my fantasy portraits by looking through and around the gems, wires, ceramic and charred wood elements of the sculptures. At the same time, the sculptures cast an inviting glow onto the paintings. Surprising spatial effects are created by this interplay.

When I paint fantasy portraits, my abiding desire is to feel that I am inside the image I am creating, that I’m wrapping the image around me as it inevitably wraps around the viewer. When I worked as a professional animator, I was known as a specialist in perspective animation. This show captures some of the feeling of moving through space that I always enjoy.

For more information contact vanessa@backerstudios.com or 619.885.5521. Or visit rootwings.com.