PRESS RELEASE
JRB Art at The Elms presents “Best of the West 2017”, a dynamic exhibition of four nationally recognized artists: Native American painter Mike Larsen, Sculptor Paul Moore, Photographer Allen Birnbach and American Realism painter James Andrew Smith. The exhibits will open Friday, June 2nd, at 6:00 p.m. during the Paseo Arts District’s monthly First Friday Gallery Walk. Additionally, we will have three events, that are free and open to the public, in our Beyond Art series: Artist Talk with Allen Birnbach, Saturday, June 10th, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.; Best of the West Brunch Sunday, June 11th, 10:30 – 1:30 p.m.; Artist Talk and Demonstration, with Mike Larsen Sunday, June 25th, 2:00 - 3:30 p.m.
Many of Mike Larsen’s subjects come from historical research. His love of painting dancing figures began in 1991 when he was commissioned by the State of Oklahoma to paint a 26-foot long mural for the Capitol Rotunda of Oklahoma’s five internationally prominent Native American ballerinas. Many of his subjects continue to be Native American and largely, for the past decade, have been people of the Chickasaw Nation, which is his heritage. Mike brings a variety of portraits and landscapes to The Elms for his exhibition.
Paul Moore is a fifth-generation Oklahoman and a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Since 2000, Paul has been creating the Oklahoma Centennial Land Run Monument. When completed, the monument will be one of the largest freestanding bronze sculptures in the world, occupying a corridor of 365 feet in length by 36 feet in width and over 16 feet in height consisting of 46 larger-than-life bronze elements. Paul’s portrait and figurative sculptures are represented in prominent institutions such as the Oklahoma State Capitol; the US Capitol Collection/the US House of Representatives, Washington, DC; National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian, Washington, DC; The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Columbia Point, Boston MA; San Diego Zoo, CA; Warner Brothers Studios, Burbank, CA; Citibank and Phillip Morris Co.
Fueled by a love of the human spirit and the power and majesty of this planet, Colorado artist Allen Birnbach brings his large-scale photography to The Elms; part of a series exploring the loss of rural landscapes and a project about the future of ranching in the West. Allen’s career has spanned the worlds of commercial and fine art photography for over forty years.
James Andrew Smith’s focus is primarily still life, a context that allows him to control the composition, lighting and subject matter. His inspiration comes from an admiration for traditional Dutch painters, while re-framing them within the context of American Realism. In taking ordinary objects and presenting them in a contemporary manner, his work carries on the historic precedent of elevating commonplace subject matter to the status of fine art. James lives and works in Tulsa, OK.