Frank Gonzales

"Passing Thru"  24" x24"  acrylic on canvas

"Kingfisher"  18" x 18"  acrylic on canvas

"Sharp 1"  12" x 12"  acrylic on canvas

"Gila Woodpecker" 18" x 18"  acrylic on canvas

"Sharpiehawk"  36" x 36"  acrylic on canvas

Frank Gonzales combines a naturalist's love for wildlife with a strong sense of decorative and graphic design and the confident skills of a practiced painter. It all comes together very nicely. It is possible for this type of image making to fall into the category of mere decorative poster art, the kind that lines the walls of mid-range hotels. Gonzales rises above this not only by his skill but also by his exploration of the nuances of color and paint. His approach to painting the birds in a manner reminiscent of pixelation does not feel as gimmicky as it might in less able hands. Instead we get a clear look at how the artists selects a hue and then blocks in the subject stroke by stroke. By purposely misplacing occasional brush strokes we can focus in on the intentionality of how the marks build up the image. The results remind us that pattern is at the heart of everything we see. Patterns may not be the true nature of the everything we see, but it is the true nature of how we see.
To look at more work go to his website: http://www.frankgonzales.net/
Thanks to the folks at http://www.booooooom.com/