Rod Penner

Based in the sparsely populated town of Marble Falls, Texas, Rod Penner paints photorealistic images of small-town America. Evoking contrasting senses of isolation and nostalgia, melancholy and peacefulness, Penner depicts shabby buildings, empty parking lots, and idiosyncratic road signs with loving precision. Committed to working objectively, Penner considers his paintings photojournalistic, as well as poetic. “I'm interested in the look of things and the quality of being there,” he says. “A moment that is completely frozen with all the variety of textures; rust on poles, crumbling asphalt, light hitting the grass.”