Late Empire Style

Morton Fine Art (MFA) presents Late Empire Style, a solo exhibition of new paintings by artist Vonn Sumner. The exhibition will be on display at Morton Fine Art from September 16 through October 7, 2011. The opening reception will be held on September 16^th from 6 to 8 pm with the artist in attendance.

Vonn Sumner (b. Palo Alto, CA; paintings and drawings): his fancifully eccentric characters appear in paintings which invite the viewer into a strange and isolated parallel world. Vonn Sumner’s markedly West Coast aesthetic was honored with a solo museum exhibition, The Other Side of Here, at Riverside Art Museum in late 2008. His solo show Late Empire Style at MFA runs concurrently with the artist’s second museum solo exhibition Stages at The Phillips Museum of Art in Pennsylvania. An understudy of Wayne Thiebaud, Vonn Sumner received his MFA from the University of California, Davis. His work has been shown in numerous galleries in the U.S. and Europe.

Vonn Sumner – New Paintings & Other Exciting News

I am pleased to announce the arrival of two new paintings, ‘Byzantine’ and ‘Gray Totem’, by artist Vonn Sumner.  Mentored by renowned California painter Wayne Thiebauld, Vonn Sumner had his first museum solo exhibition, “The Other Side of Here”, at the Riverside Art Museum in 2008.  He now gears up for a second museum solo exhibition  at The Phillips Museum of Art in Pennsylvania in 2011.

Vonn Sumner's 'Byzantine', oil on panel, 19.25"x16"

Vonn Sumner's 'Grey Totem', oil on panel, 20"x16"

Influenced by Renaissance art, Vonn Sumner is well known for otherworldly figurative narratives, oftentimes originating in costumed self portraits.  As curator Peter Frank notes, ” the decision to generate the costumes himself…has allowed the artist to burrow much deeper into the eccentricities of this characters and their idiosyncratic inner lives. They are resonant precisely because they turn inwards, rather than project their energies out into an uncaring and voracious contemporary media sphere.”

The Journey of the Magi (1435), by Sassetta

Attached is a slide show of work currently on loan to The Phillips Museum of Art for Vonn Sumner’s September 2011 museum show, which will run concurrently with the artist’s September solo exhibition at MFA!

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