Camden Falls Gallery is pleased to announce our final show of the 2018 season “The Artist’s Journey”, featuring Taddeus Retz. The show runs from Sept 11th -28th, 2018.
Since graduating high school in 2015, Taddeus Retz has been in pursuit of his personal muse. Chasing the light and painting by day, he studies masterworks by night. Primarily self-taught, this young artist is consumed by a passion to paint.
Retz is inspired by 20th Century Impressionism and Realism. His eyes and interests are drawn to anything painted from life. It is not always the subject matter that captures his interest, but the way light reacts to the objects and the environment. According to Retz, “I am inspired by past artists such as John Sargent, George Bellows, and Winslow Homer. Being able to capture the essence of a scene with deliberate, expressive brush strokes ignites the drive in me. I believe the most successful paintings in this style were the result of studying in the natural environment.”
Retz captures and records the values that he sees on to his substrate, ranging from board panels that he personally sizes, to illustration board. Per Retz, “I would say the biggest change since I began is the quantity of paint applied now. I don’t try to conserve as much as I used to and it is liberating. I also take more risks in pursuit of learning about the materials and fundamentals of picture-making in general. I’ll push colors towards a crazy harmony or paint on cardboard just to see what happens. I’ve found all the rules we hear about applying paint and the “steps” you should take are helpful to know, but I like forgetting about all of it sometimes. Creating with the free mindset I had before I knew the things to and not to do.” He would use anything as a substrate if given the opportunity, which originates back to his inherent passion to paint, design, and experiment.
Tad pushes the boardaries of colors around his canvas, and pulls everything together by using the primary colors he started with. He notes that “Starting and finishing a painting on location is how I like to work. Plein air painting requires that I work efficiently and make minimal mistakes. Reproducing a scene exactly how it appears is a challenge that constantly motivates me, and one that continually informs my work.”
For artists looking at Retz’s work, it is his “unerring sense of design, color, and markmaking” that makes his work so compelling to his audience. It is also with Retz’s firm belief to paint from life that imbues his work with expressive energy and life.
As we close our summer season for 2018, it is our overwhelming pleasure to introduce to Maine this young talented emerging artist. This hanging opens this young artist’s career up as his first solo show. Come and be immersed in Tad’s ongoing pursuit of art. Enjoy his interpretations of our landscape as he captures the interaction of water on our rugged coast in Maine light, be it crisp and bright, or filtered through morning mists and fog. Stop by the gallery and enjoy these works by this wonderfully passionate painter, as he starts his journey on what promises to be an incredible art career.
Camden Falls Gallery is located on the Public Landing in Camden, ME. The gallery is open daily from 10 am to 8 pm throughout the season. For more information, please contact us at 207-470-7027 or www.camdenfallsgallery.com
