David Sandlin at Billy Shire Fine Arts

I just got back from 2 very busy art openings. The first was for the opening at Billy Shire Fine Arts of David Sandlin and Helen Garber's new work. I'm such a long time fan of David Sandlin's work that I'm just commenting on his show there for this post entry. It was a tough night to have an opening because so many people were going over to the "Some Paintings" show at Track 16 (Bergamot Station in Santa Monica). That place was a madhouse. More of a partylike atmosphere, but good strong work and celebs filling the place. Matt Groening and Matt Dillon were there. Apparently a lot of famous men named Matt. Anyway, I'm just glad I made it to Billy Shire first to see David Sandlin's work. I will add more to this post in a day so I can get the name of the paintings that I found really impressive. Here are a couple of images from the show though. The work was big....BIG!!!! They were all oil on canvas (for the most part) and the colors were strong and vibrant. I've always loved how Sandlin rides this fine line between cartoonish and abstract. It's a dreamworld of distorted characters and genitalia. (Lord knows I love to paint the female breast.) He tends to draw on his life experiences and his 2 favorite topics are sex and religion. We have this in common for sure. He grew up in Belfast and also Alabama. His mother was from Ireland and the first painting here is an homage to her.