The Outsiders Gallery Presents: Brett Amory “Waiting 101” (Newcastle, UK)

March 19, 2012 Artists, Events, Gallery, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Opening, U.K.

Waiting 101

NEWCASTLE

The Outsiders, the emerging art gallery from curator-director Steve Lazarides, presents ʻWaiting 101ʼ a solo exhibition featuring the newest works from Brett Amoryʼs internationally acclaimed ʻWaitingʼ series.

American contemporary painter Brett Amory is widely considered one of the breakthrough artistic talents of the past year. He is best known for his Waiting paintings, a body of work that has spanned the last decade documenting figures and landscapes in the Bay Area. The new collection ʻWaiting 101ʼ debuts at Outsiders Gallery in Newcastle, UK on April 19th 2012.

The compositions in the exhibition focus on Amoryʼs newfound relationship with technology, and the implicit freedom it allows in his work. Delving into documentation methods which new modes of ambulatory technology offer, Amory experienced a metamorphosis in his painting preparation and application. With intimate, firsthand knowledge of the many ways that technology can affect the lives of those it touches, Amory explores the avenues itʼs opened up for him as an artist in ʻWaiting 101ʼ.

Photography applications with sophisticated software (such as Instagram) have allowed Amory to expand the scope of his series. Heʼs now able to capture critical moments that strike him as they unfold. “With my iPhone, I always have a camera on hand. Iʼm able to capture what I experience day in day out,” he says. “Every morning I wake up and walk to the café for a cup of coffee. On the way I see the same people following their own routines. New technology allows me to document these people as they go about their lives. Capturing the people I see in my neighbourhood on film and later on canvas, is really a documentation of what I do and see on a daily basis. This body of work aims to give the viewer a look into my own experience. Hopefully it opens up a deeper personal exchange between myself and the viewer.”

Inspiration has never been so easy to manipulate and document. Amory expertly wields the tools available to him, with the intent of maintaining and evolving the series that has garnered him international acclaim. Prior to Amoryʼs use of the camera phone, his process involved painstaking research and meticulous stake-outs at chosen locations. This was always with the hope of capturing a moment and individual suitable to his artistic vision. With the modern software now in his employ, Amory has the world at his fingertips _ as evidenced in ʻWaiting 101ʼ. His compositions show a radical departure from his historical works in their obvious spontaneity, yet remain true to his unequivocally distinct technique.