Double Vision by Pennie Brantley and Robert Morgan

March 22, 2019 – May 12, 2019

The paintings of Pennie Brantley and Robert Morgan exemplify concerns with global, artistic and personal affinities and share an awareness of the chain of humanity. For these artists, life is a continuous journey, traveling distant paths geographically and psychologically in search of deeper understanding and appreciation.

As a married couple who had established careers prior to their meeting, the artists found that they had arrived independently at similar motivations in their work. Yet each is unique both in vision and in the materials they use in creating their paintings.

Acknowledging the inherent securities and anxieties evoked by the particular environments we inhabit – both literally and figuratively — the works tacitly nod to an unbroken link with history. All of us experience the triumphs, tragedies and banalities of living, whatever the superficial barriers of nationality and custom.

Paintings in this exhibition reflect travels in Argentina, France, Italy, Mexico, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and their own actual backyard. Brantley and Morgan see the wonders of the earth as embodying abstract ideas about the realities of living. Both artists strive for resonance by combining or contrasting a variety of sensations within each painting.

Several works in this show have purposeful evocations of a sense of movement in the midst of peace and solidity. Without deliberate collaboration, they have separately created mysterious, quiet, people-less paintings of man-made structures or nature touched by man, playing formal beauty against an eerie disquiet. The artists hope that these metaphysical symbols transcend global territories to touch all human spirit.