Potential Stories: Painting by Rick Gillis
A Stroll in the Aspens, acrylic on canvas
Rick Gillis is an artist with a background in journalism and writing. The artist’s skill with narrative art forms comes through in many of his paintings, which are often dense with detail and potential stories.
Gathering Storm, acrylic on board
Rick’s gallery of recent works contains a multitude of styles and subject matter. Sometimes the artist seems to combine multiple styles in a single work, leading to pieces in which the figures look as if they could have been collaged from numerous sources. In some, the artist adds three-dimensional and textural elements to the painted surface, venturing further into the mixed-media territory and sometimes creating works that are partly sculptural.
It’s interesting to see how the artist tailors his style to a particular subject. Oftentimes, human subjects are painted in a realistic, relatively straightforward style, but Rick also plays with abstracted and heavily stylized elements, lending a distinct tone to particular works.
