Fred Stonehouse: Man, Myth, Monster & Devils and the Dead

May 2015

Fred Stonehouse: Man, Myth, Monster & Devils and the Dead
Exhibition Dates: May 30 – July 11, 2015
Artist Remarks followed by Reception: Saturday, May 30, 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Friday: 10:00 am – 5:30 pm; Saturday: 11:00 am – 5:30 pm
Public Contact: 310-836-9055

Koplin Del Rio is pleased to announce its seventh solo exhibition of work by Fred Stonehouse, “Man, Myth, Monster and Devils and the Dead.” The show features a series of intimate portrait paintings that incorporate reoccurring themes and characters, as well as explore new mediums with the use of found vintage photographs.

This new body of work, conceived specifically for this show at Koplin Del Rio Gallery, is actually two distinct but related groups of portraits. “Man, Myth, Monster” consists of ten panel paintings in heavy 19th century frames that riff on the traditional portrait format but the sitters are characters from my personal mythic universe. They range from an almost realist portrait of a saint caught between earth and the grave, to a mythological creature with the head of a dog.
I have a long-standing interest in the portrait format. I think that something of its immediate accessibility allows me to take liberties and simultaneously reinforce the believability of my characters. Maybe it’s a way to lend them legitimacy, for who would go to the trouble to create a portrait of a fiction?

“Devils and the Dead” is a series of altered vintage studio photo portraits. Starting with an actual portrait, then transforming them through painted alterations constitutes a sort of surrealist game or dada intervention on the perfectly sensible and ordinary family studio portrait. Taking an existing portrait and straining it through the filter of my imagination has produced unexpected results and contributed to the range of my painting and drawing vocabulary. As with the painted portraits of “Man, Myth, Monster”, the portrait format and the traces of actual photo remaining serve as a sort of baseline truth lending an historical authenticity to the fiction of the final image.

• Fred Stonehouse

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Fred Stonehouse earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wisconsin at Madison where he now teaches. His work has been shown in numerous galleries as well as several museum group exhibitions, including recent shows internationally in Germany and Italy, and nationally at The Laguna Art Museum, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock, San Jose Museum of Art, The Art Center in Wisconsin, and the Cincinnati Art Center in Ohio. He currently resides just outside Milwaukee. Stonehouse is the recipient of many prestigious awards including The Joan Mitchell Foundation award, the Wisconsin Institute of Visual Arts Lifetime Achievement Award, and a National Endowment for the Arts, Midwest Fellowship award.

For further information or photos, please contact Ronald De Angelis at (310) 836-9055.