October 7 through November 25, 2017
Extended through February 24, 2018
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 7, 7-10PM
What motivates an artist’s work?
In the case of Cody Norris, the driving force behind his poignant, atmospheric oil paintings of endangered landscapes in America is questioning what gets lost along the way of life – in progress and in transition.
“I am curious to explore the emotions and consequences that are created when something is taken away,” says Norris. “When we lose a dream, a favorite place, or a relationship, does this always result in a negative balance within us, or can an accumulation of losses result in a gain?”
In his debut solo exhibit at Bermudez Projects | DTLA, Norris grapples with this existential dilemma through nearly 20 works of art – paintings, watercolors, and charcoal sketches.
Still Remains presents bucolic melancholy that is both captivating and saddening. Beautifully captured vistas and quiet glens are set ablaze – quite literally – serving as a reminder to the fragility of our biosphere.
“My current work makes use of fire to access the ideas and emotions surrounding loss,” says Norris. “Imagery of fire, the physical byproducts of fire, and the chemical reaction of burning are used to create paintings that have a tragic beauty.”
Norris’ background as a seasonal wildland firefighter with the US Forest Service, as well as being made aware of his natural surroundings by his father (also with the US Forest Service) has obviously informed the subject matter to which he’s chosen to focus on. Yet, what compels the artist to make sense of loss, and what comes of it, by literally scorching the surface of his paintings via blowtorch, extends beyond a fascination with this powerful element.
“The inevitable entropy that is seen in all natural systems is alluded to in the burning of the surface,” says Norris. “The idea that within each loss there may be a seed of hope or an eventually positive outcome.”
There is a palpable tension that is inescapable when confronting Norris’ paintings. This tension is felt most strongly when encountering a painting that has much of its surface charred away or has been blurred, resembling an old daguerreotype.
“The creation of the image is an additive and subtractive process between painting and burning away layers of paint,” says Norris. “The process is controlled but not confined. The accident of the fire and the surrender to the material interaction is important to the larger theme of loss in the work.”
Cody Norris (b. 1981) was born from a surrogate mother in Amarillo, Texas and was raised in a small house about an hour west of Lake Tahoe, California. He grew up surrounded by the vistas of the California Sierras and was educated early in his childhood about land and nature by his father. He earned his BFA from the University of California, Davis, received his MFA from the California State University, Long Beach, and attended a post bac program through RISD. Norris lives and works in Riverside, California with his wife Erynn Richardson and their cat, Kali.
