A Beautiful Deep Dive Into Our Worldwide Arts + Culture
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A Beautiful Deep Dive Into Our Worldwide Arts + Culture |
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by Andrew Romanelli I slipped into The Cube in the Arts District, inconspicuous, less interested in hellos, more to view the opening reception of “Strange Days,” the latest collection of paintings by Brett Wesley Sperry. I was drained from work yet allowed myself to be absorbed by the color and the swooping circular dynamic brushwork that spoke to me in a language I understood yet was accented in the unfamiliar. The paintings embodied such a pervasive brightness that a shift of mood within me moved to one of inspiration. This is the third show I have attended of Sperry’s, and his second solo exhibition devoted exclusively to painting on canvas. Here, I find him more evocative through the inclusion of muted dark colors, symbols that evoke an instinctual proto-language, even words on the canvas granted another lens from which I could view what the artist was conveying and how each painting connected to the others as a whole. Sperry exhibits a playfulness, dare I say a vulnerability, letting the spontaneity flow from what is inherent within him into expressive strokes. Beauty here has this way of looking effortless. As I worked my way in and around the people, gathering views from various angles—I spent time in the layers of these paintings which revealed themselves through fields of color, loops and arcs, ravens and coyotes (I think of their uneasy and beneficial relationship in nature), the recurring human figure that is falling or perhaps the figure is a representation of the dream state.
I return on a later date to view the collection minus the people only to be faced with the dilemma of non-functioning lights, a result of construction work in the area that day. In the effort to restore lighting, I find myself among the paintings with a faint glow coming from the outside and the occasional beam from a cellphone flashlight searching for a fuse box. In these circumstances color, takes a back seat. I see shapes, the Jungian archetypal shadow at play through curious deviations of dualities chaotic and serene. I visit again the next day. With the lights back in working order, I walk through, painting to painting, connecting and following a continuous improvisational flow from one to another. The success in these paintings comes to me in the form of jubilation when I view them. While “Strange Days” is a byproduct of the intense times we live in, together and within our own minds, Sperry’s play across canvas makes beauty radical.
Viewing by Appointment Only - Through November 20, 2026 - text (310) 596-9970
About the Author: Andrew Romanelli is a Las Vegas born and raised poet, educator, and Creative Director at Devoid Magazine. You can find his available books and a comprehensive list of his published work online at www.andrewromanelli.com About the Artist: Brett Wesley Sperry is a multidisciplinary artist, game designer and cofounder of Westwood Studios. He has exhibited photography, art installations and paintings in Las Vegas since 2010. Instagram: @brettsperry
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