Larger than LIFE

transFORM GALLERY cordially invites you to the Opening Reception of Larger Than LIFE, March 5th, from 5-8pm, at transFORM’s New Rochelle Showroom & Gallery, sponsored by Westchester Magazine.

Photo Realistic artists S.J. Riley, Sonne Hernandez and Michael Thornton-Smith paint life as we know it – this time depicted exceedingly bigger, more impressive, evocative and memorable.

Brooklyn based artist, S J Riley aka Sonne Hernandez, focuses in on the details and movement of her subject. Her abstract photo-realism oil paintings evoke the viewer to both come closer and stand back to visually process her paintings. The subject matter is blown up or in movement to the point where the contents become hidden. The absence of hard lines and instead soft layered brushstrokes’ that bleed into one another give the surface a very abstract feel. Until the subject reveals itself and suddenly it’s realism.  Riley approaches her composition with her deteriorating eyes, being severely near-sighted she mimics how she sees her world around her. Having to come very close to recognize the object while everything around it disappears and from a distance how objects just bleed into one another or produce movement. The final outcome is a feeling of larger than life.

Michael Thornton-Smith’s Dandelion 2, began with an exploration into the dynamic forms and saturated colors of selected flowers. “As I became more comfortable working with a subject matter I had shied away from previously; I began to play with enormity, scale and abstraction of the subject attempting to achieve a luminosity inherent in particular varieties of flowers. The dandelion flower gone to seed became a jumping off point to create cosmic mandalas of light. At first they were monochromatic paintings concentrating on the essence of form but eventually led to working with ethereal and tertiary colors. This is an ongoing project.”