 Mr. L, 2007 Oil on linen, 54 x 48 inches John Bankston In his new paintings, John Bankston follows Mr L. (a leather clad figure familiar from earlier works) and his colorful fellow travelers on their quest to find the Rainbow Forest. Along the way they encounter and surmount various obstacles - including a river filled with monsters - and gradually realize that the forest may not be the Eden they expect. Functioning like brief glimpses into the main narrative, the smaller paintings simulate the feeling of drawings through a mixture of media (acrylic, wax and oil) and application techniques, whilst the larger ones create full-scale tableaux. As in all Bankston's works we sense that the depicted narrative is an allusion to broader themes of identity, the quest for happiness, and differing interpretations of masculinity. John Bankston was born in 1963 in Benton Harbor, Michigan and lives and works in San Francisco. He obtained his MFA in painting from the School of the Art Institute, Chicago in 1990. He has recently been the subject of solo shows at Jack Shainman Gallery, New York (2007) and the de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco (2006). A finalist in SFMOMA's 2002 SECA award, Bankston's work has also been featured in group shows including "Black Alphabet - The Context of Contemporary African - American Art", Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland (2006); "African Queen", The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York City (2005) and "Seeing Double: Encounters with Warhol", The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh (2005). Exhibition: September 6 - October 13, 2007 Gallery hours: Tues-Fri 10:30am - 5:30pm, Sat 11am - 5pm Rena Bransten Gallery 77 Geary Street (between Kearny and Grant Streets) USA-San Francisco, CA 94108 Telephone +1 415 982-3292 Fax +1 415 982-1807 Email info@renabranstengallery.com www.renabranstengallery.com |
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