press release
The vibrancy of Darrell George’s palette counterbalances the import of his figures’ expressions. The backgrounds of his work are vague, lacking the detail to draw the viewer’s eye away from the figures and George uses vertical and horizontal to draw us further into the people he paints. Our gaze is held by the almost active body language and complex facial expressions of the people he creates. His personal history of college football, current gallery work and his long pursuit of painting converge and create an art that is richly centered on the human form. Among his influences, George cites such varied artists as non-conformist Russian artists Vachegan Narazyan and Edward Yashin as well as the allegorical painter Francis Bacon. This broad frame of reference serves to establish a base from which George’s work emrges as original and compelling.