Tree (Varina) captures the particular kind of blue-black that you only see at night, cool like moonlight. Many kinds of shadow and darkness are on display in this show, not unlike some of his work from last year’s show, but here Van Auken has gone deeper, with increased variations in texture and shade. They’re a focus for the room, both visually and as a means to understanding the picture. The spare feel of the room lends their bodies more importance, and the way the colors from the surroundings interact with their own skin makes them into something more than subjects. The colors of the room and the fabrics around them are picked up by their skin, all of it optically mixing into a balanced, bright center of interest. The naked figures of Interior with Two Women are engaged with their instruments, reclining on and against a couch. Seeing these pieces come together in one painting, you realize that you are seeing an unerringly convincing depiction of someone else’s viewpoint. This year I’ve been fortunate enough to take classes taught by the artist at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond, and I’ve heard him say multiple times that “observation is your best tool.” That’s clearly based on his own experience, as the shapes and colors on display here ring absolutely true, and most of them are-independent of seeing them in reality-nothing that the untrained observer would think to combine to make into a tree, or a rock, or an arm.
Van Auken returns to landscapes and the human figure again and again throughout the show, each executed with unstinting fidelity to the subject. The show’s title is apt: leaning in close, it was easy to pick up the smell of oil from some of the canvases, they’re so recent. Some were flirting, some were arguing, many were snacking on the Country Style Doughnuts that gallery owner Kirsten Gray had on hand, and everyone was looking at the wonders and surprises on display.
Last Friday night’s opening was packed, with visitors circulating around the gallery and looking at the work on display. Fortunately he not only sees these things, but records them with paint and brush, and you can see them on display at his new show, “ Thomas Van Auken: Recent Work,” at Eric Schindler Gallery on Church Hill.
The way that summer begins to leave the trees. The hues that make up human skin, but which our eyes blend into pinkish tan or brownish black. All the different shades of darkness that congregate around a Dumpster at night. Studio with Figures, by Thomas Van Auken, courtesy of the artist and Eric Schindler GalleryThomas Van Auken sees things that you don’t.
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