New Gallery Artists: Damon Lehrer and Gail Spaien May 7 - 29, 2004  The William-Scott Gallery is proud to present an exhibition introducing the work of new gallery artists Damon Lehrer and Gail Spaien. The work of these two artists encompasses contrasting techniques and influences which display their diverse talents. Realist painter Lehrer?s masterful draftsmanship recalls the expressive eloquence, poetic sensibility, and intensity of Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo artists, while Spaien combines exquisite rendering and decorative patterning, and is influenced by American Folk Art, the tradition of Indian miniatures, and Minimalism. Please join us for an opening reception on Friday, May 7, from 5:30 ? 7:30pm.   Damon Lehrer‚s narrative compositions are often painted on a monumental scale and include multiple figures.  These works conjure the romantic and idealized fêtes galantes of French Rococo painter Antoine Watteau, in which elaborately costumed nobility frolicked in fanciful outdoor settings.  His whimsical tendencies are epitomized by his ongoing series of canine paintings, which address their subjects in self-consciously sentimental, affectionate, and sometimes bizarre ways.

Damon Lehrer Gail Spaien

Lehrer‚s work has been exhibited internationally.  Venues include the Fuller Museum in Brockton, MA, Pepper Gallery and Chase Gallery, both in Boston, MA, Jenkins Johnson Gallery in San Francisco, CA, Tatistcheff Gallery in New York City, and Harvey Nichols, London, Beaux Arts Gallery in Bath, England, and Jenner's in Edinburgh, Scotland.  His work is held in numerous collections including the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA, Boston Public Library, and New York Public Library in New York City.  Lehrer holds an M.F.A. from Boston University, and a B.A. from Amherst College.  In 2000 he was awarded the prestigious Massachusetts Cultural Council artist‚s grant .   Painter Gail Spaien‚s work explores the infinite, transcendent quality of the present.  Her compositions combine decorative patterning and exquisite rendering to create quiet, peaceful moments that provide a respite from the cacophony of our daily lives.  Delicate flora and fauna and elegant avian creatures float on the flattened picture plane, inhabiting a two-dimensional, conceptual landscape.  In an art world often eschews the decorative arts, Spaien celebrates embellishment, pattern, and the depiction of simple beauty, creating a contemporary folk art tradition infused with a minimalist Zen aesthetic.    Gail Spaien‚s work has been shown nationally in solo exhibitions at the Vanier Gallery in Tuscon, AZ, Aucosico Gallery in Portland, Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, ME, as well as in group shows at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, Jack Meier Gallery in Houston, TX, and the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, ME.   Spaien holds an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute.  Fellowships include the Djerassi Foundation Resident Artists Program in Woodside, CA, Millay Colony for the Arts in Austerlitz, NY and, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.   The William Scott Galley is located in the heart of the SOWA gallery district at 450 Harrison Avenue at the corner of Thayer Street, on the third floor, suite #318. Gallery hours are Wednesday though Saturday, 10:30 to 5:30.  The gallery is accessible by public transportation via the Orange Line New England Medical Center and Back Bay stations, the Red Line‚s Broadway station, and the new Silver Line bus.  There is also ample parking available.  Visit our website www.williamscottgallery.com for driving directions.  All exhibitions and receptions are free and open to the public, and fully wheelchair accessible.  For more information please call (617) 542-4030.                                       Digital images available for publication upon request.