Rob Schouten Gallery – October Exhibit – Mason Andrews, Timothy Haslet, Craig Kosak

This month we are introducing three exciting new painters to the gallery:

Mason Andrews paints powerful portraits emerging from colorful patterned backgrounds. An emerging self taught artist, Andrews’ style evokes an immediate emotional response that grabs the viewer’s attention.

Timothy Haslet presents expressive landscapes from his Whidbey Island surroundings. Haslet begins with a neon acrylic base layer and then paints with oils for each subsequent layer, giving the paintings bright as well as muted color moments.

He states: “The colors and mediums that I use mirror the dense and saturated memory, feeling and emotion I receive with each location. With each painting, I work a careful balance of describing enough form to recognize the place, but also enough that is open to the interpretation and personal experience of the viewer. A viewer’s eyes and memories complete the piece. Sharing my paintings with others is also like sharing the location of a secret beach or site.”

In painter Craig Kosak’s new series “Spirit Guides” mythological animals inspired by the sea, forests and wildlife are portrayed on colorful backgrounds that become dimensional spaces conveying emotional experiences.

Kosak explains: “Having traveled extensively around the American West, my life and work are about the land and the creatures with whom I share life. Rather than make paintings that tell a story I’m much more interested in making paintings that share a feeling. My work explores the inner world where things are felt more than seen. I am making representational paintings about emotional experiences.”