Billis Williams Gallery is pleased to present THE FUTURE OF THE FIGURE, a special exhibition of work by Laguna College of Art + Design Bachelor of Fine Art Candidates in Drawing and Painting under the mentorship of Kenny Harris. The exhibitions runs March 28-31 with an opening reception on Saturday, March 30.
Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD)’s undergraduate program is one of the few that focuses on providing students with a robust foundation in representational drawing, painting and sculpture with an emphasis on academic figuration. The painters coming out of the program are producing work that is exciting, innovative and deeply rooted in technique.
With that groundwork, these young artists have a unique skillset at hand to explore and depict their life experiences. These artists are coming of age in a world steeped in technology and digital media and yet are creating work that will resonate far beyond the current moment. Their work draws deeply on historic technique and juxtaposes that with voices that are strikingly contemporary. Depicting their personal stories and experiences of the world with a masterful hand, this new generation is shaping the future of the figure in painting.
This exhibition brings together paintings by nineteen of the 2024 BFA candidates in Painting + Drawing who have been studying with internationally exhibited painter Kenny Harris. Kenny Harris (b. 1974) has made a career out of describing his environment both at home and abroad. He has traveled around the world depicting subject matter both grand and mundane. Drawn to quiet subjects, his muted palette and spare spaces evoke a calming energy. Harris borrows from both modernism and classicism to achieve a naturalistic style full of grace balanced with formalism and urgency. Classical motifs are cropped with a modern eye; rendered forms are contrasted with palette knife scrapes and impasto.
The exhibition features work by Gabrielle Anievas, Piper Bangs, Kyra Beal, Rylee Cook, Emma Crespo, Anna Eisen, Annie Louise Goldman, Chase Heindel, Carly Isabel, Amber Jodoin, Rachel Nicole Joy, Julianna Lazio, Xochitl Leal-Bailon, Rafael Mejia, Kat O’Brien, Lauren Skinner, Arely Sojo, Isabella Stockbridge, and Jenna Swerdfeger.
For all press inquiries, please contact 310.838.3685 or gallery@billiswilliams.com
