SOLO EXHIBITION | JACKSON, WY
Altamira Fine Art Jackson is pleased to present a solo exhibition for Utah artist Bradford Overton August 1-12, 2023.
Please join us for the show reception Thursday, August 5, from 5:30-7:30pm and Meet the Artist.
DAYS OF FUTURES PAST
A cowboy sings — a plight of sorts for this vintage toy, ever frozen in a romantic moment. He exuberantly sings — even though the sky above him is falling in, his desert stage rages with wildfires, and radioactive scorpions skitter around him. Blessed with obliviousness, the cowboy toy keeps on amid the apocalypse.
Years ago, when this scene hatched fully formed in the imagination of Brad Overton, he couldn’t wait to paint it. But after exercising key components on canvas, he began to question the painting and himself. “‘What am I doing?’ Have I lost my mind? I seem to have gotten off track here,’” he said, remembering the self-recriminations.
Back then, he felt cautious about leaving his regular programming of painting vintage toys in contemporary settings tinged with irony and humor. No more: in the years since, Overton has learned to let go of self-judgment, to freely pursue his creative instincts wherever they may lead — on canvas, in writing, behind the camera. Brimming with ideas, he no longer stops himself mid-step. Now, the scene of crooning chaos feels true to Overton’s free-ranging creativity. “I’m pulling out weird things that I loved from the past,” he says. For Overton, this exercise recalled his childhood understanding of the Moody Blues’ second studio album, Days of Future Passed (1967); Overton thought the title was Days of Future “Past” — a poetic reinterpretation that suits his new show for Altamira: by returning to scenes abandoned years ago with fresh eyes and a wider lens, he finds himself seeing new aspects of insight, new realms of cultural prophecy. The work now lives betwixt and between temporalities.
“I always appreciate seeing an artist push outside their formally-accepted body of work,” he says. “The work may look totally different than other things they’ve done, but it’s clear some experimentation is going on. I think that’s healthy. It’s nice to have surprises within familiar work.”
The act of being surprised by an artist is what made Overton want to become one: in the 1980s, he went to an exhibition of paintings by Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla. “They were all so bizarre, no two were alike. He was just playing,” Overton says. “That’s when I realized you could do whatever you wanted as an artist, you can be as weird as you want.
“I always come back to that pivotal experience I had as a kid. I like being free to explore whatever part of life interests me.”
Pre-sales available. Please contact the gallery for details, (307) 739-4700, connect@altamiraart.com.