Stone Roberts: Street Scenes, Still Lifes, and Figures

Grand Central Terminal: An Early December Noon in the Main Concourse
Stone Roberts, Grand Central Terminal: An Early December Noon in the Main Concourse, 2009–2012, Oil on linen, 74 x 76 in., The Louis-Dreyfus Family Collection

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Stone Roberts: Street Scenes, Still Lifes, and Figures

Don and Viriginia Davis Gallery

Stone Roberts’ contemporary figurative paintings celebrate the commonplace by attention to detail and visual clarity. Artist Stone Roberts approaches all of his paintings with intense realism. Throughout his street scenes, still lifes, and figure paintings, his admiration for the often-overlooked details of life are evident. Nine of Roberts’ oil paintings exploring human encounters with everyday life will be on display, exemplifying the artist’s rendering in sharp focus and encouraging viewers to see distinct personalities and individual objects with attention and appreciation of the commonplace. In particular, the exhibition will include one of the artist’s most notable paintings, Grand Central Terminal: An Early December Noon in the Main Concourse, 2009–2012. This painting depicts the New York terminal full of life and activity yet showing the tension between anonymity and uniqueness that can exist in even the most crowded space. The Museum will also show English Forcer Still Life, 2005, one of Roberts’ beautifully crafted still lifes, demonstrating the range of the artist’s work. The composition consists of fruits displayed alongside other objects, inviting comparison of textures, shapes, and the play of light on varying surfaces. Roberts was born in Asheville, NC, where he was exposed to a wide range of art and music. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Yale University where he studied under William Bailey (b. 1930) and Bernard Chaet (b. 1924). From there, he travelled to the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and to Rome working with John Moore (b. 1941) and Ronald Markman (b. 1931). Roberts’ inspiration comes from many sources—from the rich legacies of art history to contemporary culture. For Roberts, painting is a way to celebrate the sensuality of the world around us while finding resonances with art of the past and present.