Thomas Broadbent’s solo exhibition of paintings presents a series of composed situations that observe fashion and the utility of trends, from the relative meaning of dress, to the inference of status from leather bound books. Broadbent’s new watercolor paintings impeccably represent scenes of positioned components that relay metaphorically meaning through the association of objects within each new work.

Broadbent’s still lives have a timeless quality, seeming relating to the turn of the century at times. His paintings of shoes, cocktail gowns, pants, and moreover, books and ledgers often incorporate prosaic birds such as chickadees and pidgons. These situational compositions have an uncanny presence, that seems to exist somehow here and there, past present and future.

Broadbent’s inherent sense of light, tone and pallet heighten the perceived reality of his compositions. Scale shifts, fusion of objects and delusive structures place the viewers themselves within the framework of each painting. The scope of Broadbent’s new series ranges from introspective commentaries to universal truths; the works in “Chronicle” capture the essence of our current place in time, personal desires, implied status of objects, and implications of a future utility for those items represented.