Cris Worley Fine Arts is pleased to announce an exhibition of works by Paul Manes, entitled Desire. This is the artist’s fourth show with the gallery and will feature new paintings in oil on canvas. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, October 13 from 5:00 to 8:00pm. The artist will be in attendance from Colorado.

For over thirty years, the work of Paul Manes has held a steady influence in the world of contemporary painting. His keen handling of pictorial space is widely recognized for its sensual balance of abstract and figurative elements, pointing to Manes’ deep awareness of the Western canon. Volume and light are combined in large canvases to heighten the illusory power of his real subjects in hazy palettes of sand, milky white, and ocean blue. Art historian and curator Barbara Rose has observed that while Manes was a painting student in New York City in the 1980’s he, “was totally and consciously opposed to the instant recognition of the clear, flat graphic images,” often found in the work of his pop and color field contemporaries. Manes has been consistent in his vision of art that retains recognizable aspects of the natural world, remaining grounded in lived reality just long enough for viewers to lose themselves in his expressively layered hand.