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June 2, 2009

Portraits Of Place (Back Story)

The Portraits of place series started long ago with Manhattan paintings. River was just 14 years old. 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. While exploring connections between land and myth, his Kachina series strengthened his views on our association to places we feel connected to. The native American tribes of the American southwest have traditional as well as personal connections to the land. 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.

The Manhattan Portraits continued with a major series from 1979 through 1989. Many of these were lost in the Weston fire in 1992. In 2002 River returned to this group of works. The process was focused on a personal journal of the moment. His source material was gathered from the glimpses of his excursions. Visiting friends and family took him to neighborhoods. These local views are the villages within the "big city."A feel for life in the gesture of the moment caught his attention.

The Yale Campus Portraits had their start in 1968-1970. At that time River was in the Yale School Of Art. His sketches were only a loose reference at that time. He had other projects occupying his attention. In 1989 he rediscovered the campus. Most of those were also lost in the Weston fire. In 2004 River restarted the project. The work has resolved in the group of paintings published in his art book. Campus Portraits Of Yale is a new Full Color art book 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

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