Press Release:
ArtsWest announced its new gallery exhibition, Sun in an Empty Room: Ode to Hopper coming to the ArtsWest gallery May 31st and running through June 25th. This exhibition reveals American artist Edward Hopper’s iconic style as a benchmark for modern artists today. Hopper was a creator of compelling paintings who produced remarkably subtle and realistic effects in oils, etching, and watercolor. This exhibit is a tribute to Hopper through a display of contemporary paintings, pastel art, and photography by three contemporary artists: Zachary A. Mazur, Barbara Noonan, and Alec Huxley.

The classic works of Edward Hopper (1882–1967) capture the realities of urban and rural American life with a poignancy and beauty that have placed them among the most enduring and popular images of the 20th century. From the late 1920s, Hopper was recognized as one of the most profound American artists, praised for his mastery at painting light, for his direct, eloquent realism, and for his unique sensitivity to modern American life. Hopper's career spanned six decades, and in his epic late paintings, created during the ascendancy of abstract expressionism, he remained a staunch realist, his style marked by increasing simplicity and austerity.

Seattle-based pastel artist Barbara Noonan uses strong lines and large shapes to create harmonious compositions of both rural and urban structures: aging barns in fields across America, gable roofs of Colonial homes, and industrial architecture alongside her unparalleled use of color. Noonan’s art echoes Hopper’s realist works spanning from 1923 to 1952. Hopper painted some of his most powerful work while summering in Cape Cod.

Similarly, Noonan’s lively pastels of everyday scenes display intense richness and depth, each piece telling its own story. Noonan is a multi-award winning artist including Best of Show from PNW School of Art, 2010 and a longstanding member of the Women Painters of Washington.

Hopper’s cinematic use of light and innovative compositions provided a significant paradigm for the contemporary photographic movement. Zachary A. Mazur’s compositions focus on contrasting light, capturing scenes of rural inland America. Using a 4x5-view camera, Mazur’s B&W and color photographs capture desolate landscapes populated with residual artifacts of humanity. Mazur received his M.F.A. in photography from Western Washington University in 2008 and is currently the Assistant Curator for WSU’s Museum of Art in Pullman, WA.

A Seattle native, photographer and painter Alec Huxley hails from San Francisco’s Lower Haight District. Huxley’s monochromatic paintings blend human form and environment. Conceptually, each of his paintings is an exploration of mood and a direct translation of Hopper’s interest in the psychology of human nature. Huxley attributes his inspiration to “Hopper’s love of light and shadow, the geometry of structures and spaces, and his idealistic vision of modern American life.” Huxley graduated from the University of Puget Sound and, additionally, studied at the School of Visual Concepts and Photographic Center Northwest in Seattle.

The exhibition, Sun in an Empty Room: Ode to Hopper, was curated by ArtsWest’s gallery director, Nichole DeMent.

Sun in an Empty Room: Ode to Hopper will be on display at ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery from May 31st through June 25th. Meet the artists on Thursday, June 9th for the opening reception from 6-9pm. This event is free and open to the public. Drinks and light refreshments will be served.

Gallery hours: Wednesday - Saturday, 12-7 PM and Sunday, 11 AM-6 PM