“Cowboys & Friends”

“Cowboys & Friends” is a new exhibit at the Dolphin Gallery, opening Saturday, April 9, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The exhibit features the work of Richard Weiss, who is no stranger to art lovers here, and the new exhibit represents a change from the familiar.  “Cowboys & Friends” continues through Sunday, May 8, 2022.  The gallery is open 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m Thursday through Monday.

For this exhibit, two series of paintings will be presented. A COWBOY series of 9 paintings, and a CAT series of 12, as well as a few 3D optical illusion paintings.

“Cowboys & Friends” is a series of acrylic on canvas paintings. The work presented in Weiss’s exhibit at the Dolphin Gallery differs from all the work he has shown in previous exhibits at the Gualala Art. For this exhibit “I decided to try my hand on two-dimensional paintings on canvas, instead of the interactive optical illusion 3-D paintings on wood that have been awarded Best in Show once and Peoples Choice twice at the Gualala Art Center.”

The origin of this exhibit can be found in early 20th Century American paintings. According to Weiss, “I found the theme for this new Cowboy series when I came upon a 1900s Remington painting commissioned to illustrate a story for the magazine Collier’s Weekly. Remington painted the scene in grisaille for a better half tone black and white reproduction in print. I wondered what this black and white painting would have looked like in color. I decided to reinterpret it in my pop art style, and in color.  As the painting was progressing the choice for a different surrounding became evident. By the time the painting was finished, I wanted to continue representing cowboys caught in action. Recreating the active life of cowboys in the great outdoors was an antidote to the restricted life imposed by Covid.

As the series progressed I discovered that there was a common thread in all of the paintings. They told stories of cowboys in action, with the wilderness of great western landmarks as backdrops. All the cowboys were going downhill, in a precarious situation, facing a potential danger while on their way back to civilization. A few optical illusion paintings will be included in this new exhibit.”

Weekly videos of the work being exhibited will be available until the opening date.  We invite you to watch each one of them to get a glimpse about the exhibition. Here’s one.

Born in Lyon, France, Richard Weiss has worked and lived on three continents before taking residence in California. A freelance graphic artist for businesses and corporations, he has designed movie sets and costumes and illustrated children’s books. He now lives and works in a quiet northern California coastal town of the Mendocino coast making use of his previous experience in different art forms to develop 3-D interactive optical illusion paintings. It’s also worth noting that Weiss is also a performing musician on three continents, and he has written movie soundtracks in France and in the USA. A nominated screenplay writer in America, he has gathered thirteen US movie awards as a science fiction movie director and producer.