TAMAR HENDEL GALLERY
Fall/Winter Juried Exhibition
Louis Middleton
Fountain/Balloon
Acrylic on panel
18” x 18
2020
$150
Artist Bio:
A devotee of all things 1950s, Louis Middleton gravitates towards retro celebrity tributes as well as epic landscape, or a combination of the two in his art. Louis has been a member artist at Make Studio since 2010. He most recently the centerpiece artist for the exhibition, “Storytellers” (Make Studio’s Showroom Gallery, 2022), showcasing narrative sequential work. Louis’s work has also been featured in “Digital Art” (OCA Mocha, Arbutus, MD, 2021), “Outside Forces” Art Enables (Washington, DC, 2021), Hotel Indigo with MAP (2020), “The Art of the Process” (OCA Mocha 2020) and “Creative Voyage” at the Baltimore County Arts Guild (2017).
Artist Statement:
I am exploring the idea of “renovation” and change over time. These pieces were from years ago when I was interested in beaches and water, especially the texture in the waves. I recently “renovated” the piece Landscape Beach by adding texture with paint marker to make it more perfect. I have grown as a painter to now work more with texture and blending. I still look at Ao Nang Beach (Thailand) and want to renovate it, but I also enjoy it as-is: a painting by a past version of myself. The piece Fountain/Balloon shows a more literal renovation. It is a scene from what used to be called Downtown Disney. It is now called Disney Springs, but this piece shows the paneling during construction when it was changing names and how it looked. There are masterpieces to be found before, during and after renovations.
CREATE Art Center has operated in the Silver Spring community for over thirty-five years as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to spark creativity, foster learning, empower individuals, and facilitate community connections through the visual arts. Named after CREATE’s founder, the Tamar Hendel Gallery opened in 2019. It showcases local artists who work in a variety of media.