Ed Templeton: The Spring Cycle

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These new works create hyperbolic realities that scrutinize the human condition through the lens of urban isolation. The exhibition runs January 22nd - March 5th, 2022, with an artist reception on the night of Saturday, March 5th from 4-7pm. This is the artist's eighth solo show with the gallery.

Templeton’s most concise works to date continue earlier themes cynical of the provincial customs and rituals of his surroundings, notably the ever-polarizing political milieu over the last five years in Orange County where he lives and works. Suggestive imagery and unsettling portraits are joined with idyllic landscapes that verge on the pastoral to explore fragmented or at times distorted experiences with sensitivity and specificity. Details such as discarded religious pamphlets or signs, highlight how belief systems, however absurd, permeate our lives. The lack of specific environmental factors further highlights the enigmatic nature of each scene. Boundaries between what is public and private are blurred. Proxemics between people have no clear delineation, so relationships are not easily determined at first glance, if at all. The disdain is incandescent.

The linear compositions of the large-scale paintings epitomize the West Coast’s horizontal configurations, while smaller works evoke a more intimate quality. Templeton again employs a realistic style that has defined his painting practice; however, these new works see a lack of fantastical elements and the introduction of deep-set shadows, a divergence from his normally hyper-saturated palette. The realistic, straightforward suburban scenes are not unlike, in both sensibility and style, the mundane photographs of Ed Ruscha's book Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1963). Also on view are works on paper and the artist's original photographs, both of which provide considerable insight into the paintings.

In Templeton’s world, young adults, and teens struggle to adapt to the banality of their parents' structured, homogenous world. Per the artist, “I found punk music and skateboarding which altered my worldview and disappointed my grandfather. I then married a mixed-race woman, whose father was from Mexico. I was eager to escape this provincial region, but through twists of fate ended up staying here and planting roots among the endless blocks of tract housing.” Spring's cycle of change, with its energy of transformation, provides a welcome escape.