Living Document

Terry Powers

January 10th - February 14th

GGLA is proud to present Living Document, Terry Powers’ fourth solo exhibition with the gallery, and the artist’s second in Los Angeles. Picking up right where he left off, Powers’ latest body of work consists entirely of observational painting, building lush oil on linen paintings from the places and objects that encompass the artist’s day to day. Free from photographic reference and any tricks or tools of modern image-making, Powers paints solely from life–a process that the artist dubs “painting without a safety net”. In an age of AI-created imagery passing for real life, or fabricated lifestyles mediated through social media and reality TV, observational painting exists about as far from these conventions as is possible. As the exhibition’s title attests to, the works within Living Document breathe with intimacy and lived experience. The subject matter feels almost incidental, providing the viewer the glimpse into the quiet moments of another, all mediated through careful looking and Powers’ masterful application of oil paint on linen.

Powers describes the process of creating a painting as something akin to a stake-out. Any potential scene, or arrangement of objects, swath of fabric, or industrial backdrop has the potential to become a painting, yet Powers will observe these same settings multiple times over the course of the day, diagnosing how light plays and shadows are cast. Refusing the urge to photograph these scenes so as not to see them as images before an easel is set up, once the painting is started, outside circumstances such as weather, lighting shifts or the demands of a busy work and family schedule all play into the outcome of each work. Following the artist’s move from the Bay Area to northern Utah to join the painting faculty at Utah State University, a new element of seasonality has begun to play into the work. Dictated by the fluctuations of a harsher climate, smaller paintings are made in the winter, painted predominantly in the early morning or in stretches before picking up kids, while larger paintings are painted outdoors in the summer when time is less pressed.

The works within Living Document depict still lifes composed within the artist’s home from everyday objects, or atop geometric textiles and handmade quilts, as well as outdoor scenes such as train trestles or the elaborate mechanical componentry of a semi-truck. Within these works Powers attests to a new-found patience within his painting process–a sense of calm in working slower and letting things take as long as they need while also realizing that he can never get something totally right. A quiet confidence permeates Powers’ latest works as he tackles dizzyingly complex textiles within his largest works, capturing the fleeting reflections and refractions of a densely tiled geometric textile as seen through a jug filled with water. Or within another painting of a train trestle we see the glowing gradations of receding wooden railroad ties, as these same colors bounce off the dappled stream and abound in the dense foliage behind. Powers renders these scenes with a warmth and intimacy that makes the unfamiliar instantly familiar, and as great painters have the capacity to do, prompts the viewer to look at their own objects and surroundings with a different sense of care and consideration.