Description
The Delaware Division of the Arts’ Mezzanine Gallery presents artist Forest Z. Allread exhibition, “Smorgasbord,” running July 1 through 29, 2022. Guests are invited to attend a Meet-the-Artist Reception to be held Friday, July 8, from 5-7 p.m. as part of Art Loop Wilmington.
“Visual art can provoke a viewer to encounter something strikingly raw and new,” says Allread. “Much like a wild animal revealing itself through a thicket of brush, this can sometimes be startling and mesmerizing at the same time.”
Allread may hope that Smorgasbord evokes those same feelings for its viewers. It is an exhibit of large-scale, mixed media paintings and small works employing digital illustration, photography, and animation techniques, and “…created through a mode of improvisation, head-scratching, and an insatiable appetite for painting playfully,” he says.
Allread describes the work: “I like to think that each work feels ‘alive’ based on how it came to be.” In his works, Allread says he tries to utilize tactics that stop a viewer in their tracks and asks them to remain intimately connected. The artist has created imagery that seemingly shape-shifts into its own development, each piece showcasing its own trajectory to completion. Regions within the paintings are caked in layers of materials while other pockets remain unfinished. They invite the viewer to meander about surface textures, brush strokes, and unexpected pops of color.
Normally used to label a buffet of foods or wide variety of something, Smorgasbord seems an apt description for Allread’s exhibit. “I’ve cooked up a variety of ingredients and churned out each work of art for Smorgasbord,” he says, “so feast your eyes upon it and indulge in the pleasure of viewing!”
“Painting for me is serious-fun,” says Allread. “A musical — and at times amusing — act of risk and play that never fails to provide for unexpected, delightful results.”
The Mezzanine Gallery, open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is located on the second floor of the Carvel State Office Building, 820 N. French Street, Wilmington.