Billy Hassell
Exhibit: "Field Notes" (Square Gallery)
Dates: May 9 - June 21, 2008
# Works: Media
Billy Hassell
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Polychromed Mahogany
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About the Work
Charles Dee Mitchell writing about Hassell’s latest exhibit at the Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi in 2007 stated, “Even as the past century marked the triumph of abstraction in modern art, realism and the representation of the natural and man made world have remained core elements in many artistic projects. But realism as a style remains a moving target. At the furthest remove there is naturalism with its complete fidelity to observed detail. For the past century few artists have aimed so far. We expect artists with a commitment to the real world to do some creative picking and choosing among the plethora of detail the world offers, to aim at a form or realism that involves varying levels of stylization and selection. We recognize the world they present us, but we also know and appreciate that they have made it somehow their own. With an exhibition history that goes back twenty-five years, Billy Hassell is an artist who has created such a personalized world. He is engaged and committed to the natural world, having done work for both the Audubon Society and the Nature Conservancy of Texas, but from his earliest paintings he was always been willing to tweak its colors and twist the shapes of its inhabitants.”
Billy Hassell
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Polychromed Mahogany
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Artists' Statement
“Informed and inspired by nature, my work seeks to describe and illuminate a personal vision of the natural world that is based on direct observation and study. It is a visually expressive interpretation. Through color and exaggeration of form I emphasize aspects of the landscape particularly the indigenous flora and fauna. While I would consider my work more than mere landscape painting it certainly fits into that tradition. Unlike many contemporary landscape painters, however, my work is not based on photography but on plein air sketches and watercolors done on location.
I am very interested in capturing the feel and sense of a place and I am particularly interested in places that have environmental and regional significance. While the landscapes are specific and rather literal in depiction, the images of the birds that frequently dominate the works are treated more as iconic signifiers, simultaneously representational as well as symbolic. In addition to the landscape, my work has also been influenced by Mexican and American folk art, the arts of ancient Egypt and Japan and the19th century American landscape painters. I am also very interested in the early Texas regionalists and feel a direct lineage to that tradition.
Over the years, working with organizations like Audubon Texas and the Nature Conservancy I have become increasingly sensitive to the fragility of the environment and the urgent need to slow down and, if possible, reverse the infringements on the environment that are seriously impacting critical habitats and the survival of endangered species. It is my hope that my work will, in some measure, help raise the public's awareness of some of these concerns.”
More information can be found at:
www.billyhassell.com and www.conduitgallery.com, www.williamcampbellcontemporaryart.com