15 Aug 2017

Bill Killebrew & Charles Ladson

Blue Spiral 1

Reviewed by Andy Gambrell

Charles Ladson paints a crisp cocktail of lonely objects and figures in vacant settings, all with a speckled patina akin to that on camp cookware. Bill Killebrew's paintings nod to Vuillard and Matisse, but he has so digested their work that he paints with autonomy.

In works like Killebrew's Icarus, drawing is an economical armature for paint. Dabs of color are masterfully mixed and applied with such sureness that they call to the eye in the same way an amuse-bouche calls to one's taste buds. Luxurious neutrals dominate the paintings, allowing decadently rich passages of vibrant color to set off the compositions. Figures don't so much inhabit Killebrew's compositions as haunt them. Scenes of front porches and lackadaisical days at the lake emerge from beautiful clusters of paint. Ladson's Sheeler-like precision contrasts with Killebrew's lush painterliness to the benefit of the paintings and the viewer.