Artists Jonathan Hodge and Garth Swanson are keeping it real with their twin exhibits at The New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts on Magazine Street through March 29. Their takes on realistic painting, however, are on entirely different tracks.
Hodge, an instructor at the academy, is the purist of the pair. His selection of drawings and paintings are in the mode of classicists from Millet to Manet to James McNeill Whistler. Hodge titled his exhibit “Muddied Spirits,” but his art is anything but muddied. It’s entirely the opposite, in fact.
The New Orleans native has perfected the age-old skills of careful anatomical observation, crosshatching to create volume, and the layering colors to produce translucent skin tones – methods that have become scarce in the chaos of contemporary art styles.
But for Hodge, mastering traditional techniques is only the start. “I want to take realism and tell stories abut what’s going on now,” he said recently. And so he has. The topics of Hodge’s allegorical paintings include the heartbreak of war, the lingering memory of Hurricane Katrina, and the joy of Mardi Gras.
His violent canvas titled “Cain and Abel” could be seen as a symbol of the country’s political divide. Perhaps this is what the title “Muddied Spirits” alludes to.
While Hodge employs classical techniques to illustrate concepts, Garth Swanson uses his command of realism to achieve abstract effects.
Artist Garth Swanson’s artworks are certainly illusionistic, but he also loves painterly techniques for their own sake
Swanson, who in known both as a New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts instructor and the longtime bartender at Clancy’s restaurant, can convincingly paint a fading rose, a glinting silver water pitcher, or a hazy curtain of Spanish moss.
But his heart seems to lie, not with the subject matter, but with the properties of the paint itself. He likes glistening brush strokes, gritty textures, and smooth passages of pure color, not for what they represent, but for what they are, glint and grit and smoothness.
True, the paintings in Swanson’s exhibit “Waxing & Waning” are illusions, but they are also, simply, real.
“Muddied Spirits” and “Waxing & Waning” continue through March 29, at The Academy, 5256 Magazine Street. Open Mon-Fri, 9 a.m. to 4, Sat, 10 a.m. to 4. For details, call (504) 899-8111 or visit noafa.org.
Artist Jonathan Hodge’s painting ‘Cain and Abel’ is a violent biblical scene with current implications
