BR ADFORD OVERTON
August 6 - 17, 2019 Jackson Hole
BR ADFORD OVERTON Close Ups, One-Offs and Paper Skies
Jackson Hole | Scottsdale | AltamiraArt.com
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Moyetzicate Oil on Canvas | 48 x 48 inches Enquire
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Bradford Overton
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On a formal level, Bradford Overton focuses on texture and light. On a personal level, he focuses on play—the enduring human desire to live in and enjoy the moment. Vintage toys resonate on both levels as archetypes of play, symbolizing Western mythologies. With textured and colorful surfaces, they convey time-worn materiality. In his paintings, Overton considers play in context. True to his roots, he explores the historic and cultural conditions coursing through his birthplace of the American West. Raised in Utah, he has lived the realities of the romance: riding horses, running free through the landscape. Every painting he produces centers on this core ethos of adventure. “Everybody plays, if you are not playing you are not alive,” Overton
says. “There are lots of ways to play, and my way is art.” Starting with the toys themselves, the artist builds a scene as a stage. Like a great film, he focuses each composition on action, each character on sincerity. Some paintings are laced with humor. Some reference history, personal or panoramic. Others gesture at mystery and the sublime. As he paints, he layers on storylines, complex plots that get distilled into resolved scenes as genuine as they are luminous. “You must be completely true to you. That’s what my paintings are about: they are intense little gems about doing what you want,” Overton says. “I want them to convey the sense of freedom in the West. That’s what the romance is: we completely love the adventure of the West.”
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Horse with No Name Oil on canvas | 72 x 72 inches Enquire
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Brother’s Keeper #2 Oil on canvas | 40 x 40 inches Enquire
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Brother’s Keeper #1 Oil on canvas | 40 x 40 inches Enquire
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Ghost Train Oil on canvas | 48 x 48 inches Enquire
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River Guide Oil on canvas | 50 x 40 inches Enquire
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Wild Vest, the Cactus Queen Oil on canvas | 60 x 60 inches Enquire
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Empire of the Sun Oil on canvas | 30 x 30 inches Enquire
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The Messenger Oil on canvas | 40 x 40 inches Enquire
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Things In the Night Sky Oil on canvas | 40 x 40 inches Enquire
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Renegade Oil on canvas | 40 x 40 inches Enquire
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172 Center Street | Jackson, Wyoming 83001 AltamiraArt.com | 307-739-4700