Home    

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 6, 2009

Portraits Of Sandy Hook And Newtown (Back Story)

Local artist Glen River has recently completed an art book called Sandy Hook and Newtown. You may have seen him about town on his photo safari. Working from his photos, he creates paintings he calls "portraits of place." These are his Americana art. He says, "We are living what in a short time will be seen as the myth of an American age." In his art River strives to capture a sense of moment and place. For those of us who live here, the pictures offer a new look at the familiar. Vivid color accents these pictures. Similar projects include; Campus Portraits Of Yale, Mystic Seaport, and many more portraits of place.

River feels most of us have some special places we build a mythical connections to. In his portraits of place he attempts to arrive at a sense, or feeling of the place, rather than just a picture. River was a resident of Sandy Hook in 1997. From 1999 to the end of 2007 He lived in New York Hudson River Valley. Now again a resident of Sandy Hook he has completed the art book called Sandy Hook and Newtown. The odyssey described as "Portraits Of Place" has been a long voyage which started on the lower East side of Manhattan in 1959. His artist uncle lived in the city. On returning from visits, River created impressions of his experiences. The habit of making these images became a source for many similar projects. The paintings were soon accompanied by photographs. Throughout River's travels sketchbook and camera informed his sense of place. Sandy Hook And Newtown contains vivid scenes of familiar views. The artist's eye presents the familiar in a new way. After digesting the color and gesture of his art we are prompted to look closer at scenes so familiar in our daily travels. River studied art at Silvermine College Of Art in New Canaan and later earned an MFA from the Yale School Of Art.

Campus Portraits Of Yale is a another book in the "Portraits Of Place" series. Each are Full Color 48 page art books packed with astonishing paintings. Similar projects have spanned the years. Old Greenwich, Westport, Weston, Rosendale, New Paltz, Woodstock, Oxford, Costa Rica and Hydra are all among the connected places. Life in these places have composed the body of works in portraits of place. New projects came together quickly when visiting the Mystic Seaport, Harvard, and Provincetown. Many of these projects have been edited into art books representing the region. These books are available at the artist's web site: glenriver.com/art or may be ordered through local bookstores. (distributed by Ingram)

Reference Links:
    Early Manhattan Series
    2002 - 2008 Manhattan Series (use back browser button to return here)
    2004 - 2008 Yale Portraits Series (use back browser button to return here)



CONTACT: Glen River

###