Phoenix Gallery

The Phoenix Gallery in midtown Sacramento was made up of a wide variety of works from oil pastel drawings to mixed media paintings, both of which left me impressed.

I walked into the gallery and was struck by large 3'x5' oil pastel portrait drawings on canvas by Mark Neimeyer.  These drawings were similar to caricatures in the way the faces were distorted proportionally to have large foreheads, wide eyes, elongated noses, and petite mouths.  The drawing I liked most was titled "Big Heads...uh oh Man" which seemed appropriate for the confused, almost shocked male expression.  The eyes seemed to hold worry and a bit of sadness in the way the whites of the eyes surrounded all edges of his pupils.  The wrinkles around the eyes also gave a look of emotional drain while the wrinkles in the forehead bring on a sense of confusion when combined with the arch of the eyebrows.  Neimeyer had strategically used lines and space and it was evident his strength in their use.  What amazed me was how the artist used all hues to give tints and shades to the male's face, but used extension to ensure you still saw the overall picture.  The background was much more simple in composition relying on the contrast of red and green and the balance they could create.  Unity was formed with two diagonal red corners and their contrasting two diagonal green corners.  

The next works which caught my eye were mixed media paintings by Jonathan Troxler.  "Myself" in particular was very unique.  Made up of only a solid black, solid red, and solid yellow implied circle, this piece's simplicity of color overlaying enmeshed nails and gauze had great texture and a sense of eeriness.  The yellow focal point, rather than being centered, was situated a little up as if in the top third of the canvas and following the thirds rule.  The placement of this imperfect, implied yellow circle was key to the design of the simple work.  The final touch was the arrangement of clear glass pieces that lines the border of the canvas which seemed to sit on the edge while partially showing from the front view. Rather than detract and form a very visible border, the clear glass added depth and left you asking questions about the piece's purpose.