Flowers and Fields:
Mary Long | Daniel Phill

Who: Mary Long and Daniel Phill
What: Exhibition of painting
When: July 1, 2016 – July 14, 2016
Opening Reception: Friday, July 1,5-7 pm.
Where: Ruhlen-Owen Contemporary,
225 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501

Ruhlen-Owen Contemporary’s first duo show of the 2016 season proudly features encaustic artist Mary Long and mixed-media acrylic artist Daniel Phil. Both well-established artists have experienced successful careers with Ruhlen-Owen Contemporary.

SANTA FE, NM. Aerial views of urban landscapes that are separated by boundaries and rural fields that are isolated by fences are a consistent theme in Mary Long’s geometric abstractions. “It’s a juxtaposition of architectural grayness against expanses of happy saturated colors that inspires my work to this day,” she says.

Mary Long is a self-taught encaustic artist whose use of that technique brings to her work elements that are both solid and transparent, those that are easily and immediately understood positioned next to those that are evasive and subdued. The wax medium allows her to further explore the painting in a tactile way by selectively scraping, incising and scarring; the mediums and materials are broken down only to be rebuilt and reshaped, making the work an extremely personal psychological reflection and reaction to the subject matter presented.

Daniel Phill is known mostly for his botanical imagery, his paintings bear his signature bold strokes and improvised gestures and marks that are created and composed on layers upon layers of thick, wet, viscous paint on canvas. He has transformed, recreated, reimagined and evolved his unique style of blurring the boundaries of abstraction and representation.

First and foremost a colorist, Phill creates fiery, saturated hues critics say are reminiscent of David Hockney's work.  Working in an Abstract Expressionist style, he pieces together organic shapes in his abstractions and teases images from splatters of paint in his floral paintings. His canvases demonstrate an impressive control of his material.  In large, loose gestures, he describes essential details - long, slender tendrils become reeds, pressed and flattened globs of paint turn into petals, and delicate veins emerge from colors bleeding together. 

Phill received his MFA from Stanford University and his BFA from San Francisco Art Institute.