Brian Wells | April 29 - July 31, 2024
Used Car Lot, 2021, Oil on canvas, 21 x 28 inches
Exhibition Dates: April 29 - July 31, 2024
Riverside Town Hall: 27 Riverside Road, Riverside, Illinois 60546
Viewing Hours: Monday – Thursday 9:00 am – 4:00 pm, Friday 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Artist Reception: Friday, May 24, 2024, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
The Riverside Arts Center is pleased to present Brian Wells’ exhibition of urban scene paintings at the Riverside Town Hall. Please join us for a reception for the artist on Friday, May 24, 2024 from 6-8pm. The Town Hall is located at 27 Riverside Road, a short block from the Riverside Arts Center. Refreshments will be served in RAC’s sculpture garden.
Lively Dead End, 2022, Oil on canvas, 33.5 x 43.5 inches
Artist Statement
My work has always focused on the mystery to be found in the commonplace, everyday world. Working as both a print maker and painter, my subject matter has included construction workers, urban landscapes, horse racing, ants and monkeys interacting as workers and bosses, and abstraction based on the natural world. I have worked with a variety of mediums: hand printed, multi-colored woodcuts; abstract constructions; drawings on paper; oil and acrylic paintings.
In 2011, I started painting vignettes from my house and yard in Chicago. The materials in these domestic scenes include thrift store, estate sale, and outsider art, found objects, and my own work. These pieces encapsulate the random coming together of the unknown, causing the viewer to question and delight in the unexpected. My newer work focuses on local storefronts, both shuttered and currently in business, along with doorways and construction dumpsters. In 2020 I started a series of self-portraits that morphed into using sculpted mannequin heads as models, and the latest series uses shop window figures. I’ve also returned to painting exterior urban settings, especially south side Chicago abandoned sites or overgrown, graffiti-covered walls. These mundane subjects take on a mysterious life of their own for me, enveloping a sense of time and place that never remains still.—Brian Wells
Brian Wells has had solo exhibitions of his paintings, prints, drawings, and constructions at Rainbo Club, Garden Apartment Gallery, Joymore Gallery, Kimball Arts Center, and Lula Café in Chicago. Group exhibitions include the Illinois State Museum (Lockport), Birdhouse Museum (Chicago), Palette and Chisel Academy (Chicago), Triangle Gallery (San Francisco), and the Three Rivers Arts Festival (Pittsburgh). His art is held in numerous private collections.
Riverside Town Hall exhibitions feature work by area artists, celebrating the exchange of support and generosity between the community of Riverside and the Riverside Arts Center.
Riverside Town Hall
27 Riverside Road
Riverside, Illinois 60546
Riverside Town Hall Hours: Monday – Thursday: 9am-4pm, Friday: 9am – 3pm, Closed Saturday, Sunday, and major holidays