George Towne The Company of Men June 2 – July 9, 2011 Reception June 10, 6-9 pm

The Michael Mut Gallery is pleased to present the oil portraitures by painter George Towne. The exhibition is comprised of paintings depicting Towneʼs obsession of masculinity within gay males through an introspective of beauty and desire.

Towne creates images of friends and former partners that have affected him, whether it is through enlightenment or simply being a part of his life during difficult times. The artist explains, “People have come and gone in my life, and loss has not always been easy for me to deal with, but if I have been able to paint them, itʼs like capturing them and holding them with me forever.”

Towne illustrates his subjects in an engaged and confrontational aspect while placing them in a defined background setting. This allows him to highlight specific light sources and utilize his “Painterly Realistic” style. Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Port Jervis, New York, Towne realized he loved drawing as a young man, and often found himself copying caricatures out of old “Mad” Magazines. After his high school art teacher bought him his first set of oil paints, he started to become more serious about making art. Towne is influenced by works of Old Masters, such as: Caravaggio and Velasquez, as well as the American painter Thomas Eakins.

Towne has received several grants, residencies, and awards, including: Visual AIDS, 2007, 2009, 2010; SVA Summer Studio Residencies, 2006, 2007; Stonewall Community Foundation, 2002; Paula Rhodes Memorial Award, 1997; SVA Alumni Society Award. His work has been reproduced and written about in publications such as American Artist Magazine, Time Out New York, and HX. Next Magazine put a piece on the Cover in Spring 2010. Recently, he has been attending two Gay Men’s “Erotic Life Drawing” groups: “The Leslie/Lohman Erotic Drawing Studio” and “Harvey Redding’s Queer Men’s Erotic Art Workshop” that meets at the LGBT Center.