A Cell of One’s Own: Randy Bacon
June 6th – September 13th 2009
A Cell of One's Own: Randy Bacon
Comfort, 2007. Oil on canvas. Randy Bacon. Private Collection. © 2009
The Old Jail Art Center is pleased to present the third installment in the contemporary artist series, A Cell of One's Own. With this exhibition Randy Bacon invites visitors to pause and truly see the sometimes overlooked appeal of rural Texas. Randy Bacon, a native of Abilene, grew up with the landscape he so often chooses to paint. Scenes that most travelers in the state speed past daily take center stage in the oil panoramas on view in the upper galleries of the 1877 old jail building. Bacon is inspired by the light and color of the West Texas landscape as well as the timelessness of the rural scene. Catherine Deitchman, art journalist, best explains Bacon's "emotionally poignant paintings" as a reminder that "oftentimes the journey is more important - and more intriguing - than the destination."
Thurber, 2009. Oil on canvas. Randy Bacon. © 2009
"I have always been attracted to the quality of light, the precise colors and the big skies of my native Texas. In communicating a sense of place, my representational oil landscapes often have a narrative, cinematic feel. I draw upon the venues of my life to bring about work where past, present and future become blended, where memory and reality connect. In the vastness of the West Texas landscape, I look for situations that reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary. This land often appears to be caught in a time warp and I try to capture the quiet timelessness of its isolation." --Randy Bacon
Pinto Canyon Road#2, 2007. Private Collection.© 2009
Randy Bacon, a native of Abilene, Texas lives and works in Fort Worth. He received a BFA in Journalism and Art from Southern Methodist University and an MFA in Painting from Texas Christian University. Mr. Bacon has also served as an Adjunct Professor for his alma mater, Texas Christian University. Since 2004 Randy Bacon has exhibited widely across Dallas/Fort Worth and the state of Texas including exhibitions at the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum; The Grace Museum; Community Art Center, Fort Worth; and the Museum of East Texas Culture. Randy is the recipient of the Joyce and Bob Capper Award in honor of David Brownlow; an award given in 2007 as a part of the "Preservation is the Art of the City" exhibition at the Community Art Center, Fort Worth. In 2008 Randy was nominated for the Texas State Visual Artist 2-D for the Texas Commission on the Arts.