Upcoming Exhibition: Rockwell Museum

I wanted to share with everyone a little about my upcoming exhibition this June at the Rockwell Museum of Western Art in Corning, New York. It is a solo exhibition that will include a variety of my images chosen by Rockwell Museum curator James Peck. While it is a while off yet, you can follow the link below to read about the show including a great essay about my work written by the curator. I'm really excited about showing at such a great venue - more information and images to come!

http://www.rockwellmuseum.org/Cowboy-Paintings-by-Jason-Cytacki.html

Grin and Bear It

And I present the last large painting for my upcoming show: Grin and Bear it. This one was a blast to work on with glazes over that drippy and distressed surface.

Grin and Bear it
48" x 36"
Oil on Panel
2011

Detail

Honky Tonk Blues

Here is another new painting destined for the Art Now show. I've been enjoying working on these cowboys at a little larger scale, about 3 x 4 ft. The increased scale has given me opportunities to really push the tension between the areas that are tightly rendered and those that dissolve. In addition, this lets me build up an area, really destroy it and then build it back up again.

"Honky Tonk Blues"
Oil on Panel
48" x 36"
2011

Detail

The Strong Silent Type

This is another new painting - enjoy.

Strong Silent Type
48" x 36"
Oil on Panel
2011

Art Now 2012

I'm happy to announce that my paintings will be featured in the exhibition Art Now 2012. Chosen by an independent curator, the exhibition showcases the work of 25 Oklahoma based artists. I will have around 7-8 new paintings in the show including the painting in my previous post. Art Now 2012 will occur at City Arts Center in Oklahoma City on Jan. 20th. The event functions as a fundraiser to enable year-round visual arts exhibitions in the Eleanor Kirkpatrick Gallery to remain free of charge to the public. For more information on Art Now, visit here, or on Facebook here.

Small Works Cowboys

More new Paintings! This is a group of small cowboy portraits for an upcoming show. As I was creating these, I was thinking about them more as drawings with paint than paintings. As such, I treated the panel as if it was a piece of paper, only using as many marks as needed and trying not to overwork things. In addition the white background works to isolate the cowboy from his environment. They've also been a great way of pulling multiple mark making applications together, impasto, dripping, dry brush, pooling, etc. They all measure between 16" x 12" and 20" x 16". Here they are:

Blue Steel

Here's one of a group of new paintings I have been working on over the past few months. I will be uploading more in the next few days, so be sure to check back!

"Blue Steel"

Oil on Panel
48"x36"
2011

Panels

Lately I've been constructing a series of masonite panels. These will end up being paintings destined for a couple upcoming shows.

Thesis Posting 3

Here are the final two pieces from the exhibition.

"High Lonesome Throne"
Oil on Canvas
84" x 60"
2011

"

Thesis Installation Shots

A couple quick peeks of my Thesis show installed in the Mestrovic Gallery at the Snite Museum of Art. Hopefully I will get some better, Hi-Res shots before the show goes down.

Thesis Paintings, Post 2

"Don't Look Back"
Oil on Linen
60" x 84"
2011

"Hang 'Em High"

Oil on Canvas
62" x 42"
2011

Thesis Paintings Post 1

"Don't Fence Me In"

Oil on Canvas
62" x 42"
2011

Shoot for the Stars (detail)

First posting of Thesis paintings finished. I will get a full shot of the bottom painting as well as Hi-Res images of all 5 paintings up on my website soon enough. For now, enjoy these!

Interview:

This is a video that was created as part of the 2011 MFA Thesis Exhibition at the Snite Museum of Art. It is an interview about my Thesis Project interspersed with installation shots and some images of my paintings. Check it out!

Link

I am currently featured on the frontpage of Notre Dame's Art, Art History and Design departmental website. Check it out here:

http://artdept.nd.edu/news/19145/

Thesis Exhibition

Big News...

I am happy to announce that I have accepted a Tenure Track position teaching painting at the University of Oklahoma. I'm extremely excited to have the opportunity to get to know all the staff and students and the city of Norman. It seems like it will be a really interesting place to live and work. I've posted a few pics of the campus below, (thanks google images) and a link to the University's Fine Arts page.

http://www.ou.edu/finearts/