Opening last Saturday at the Lam Gallery, the vibrant large-scale paintings and smaller works by LA-based artist Sally Bruno compel with color and thick, nearly three-dimensional applications of paint. Whimsical and riveting, Bruno’s work may remind viewers of Matisse and Chagall.
From large, imaginative flowers to romantic courtyards and mysteriously energetic, curved, and colorful shapes, Bruno captivates. “I’m really interested in things that color can do for the viewer, and the viewer’s experience of pleasure or joy,” Bruno explains. “Every painting just vibrates with color. That’s when I decide a painting is finished, when I get an internal realization that the paint, the color, is complete. The most interesting and exciting part of the process for me is that I have no idea what my paintings will look like until they are right there. When I paint, I’m really in the moment.”
Bruno describes her creation process as “moving fast and thinking fast. Everything leads to a different idea. There’s a part of me that really simply enjoys the journey of the painting, and learning what it means as it takes shape.”
A rainbow of colors, Bruno’s rich and energetic paintings are about the texture, the pigment, the waves and ribbons of color that shape her figures and landscapes. In “Flower Pot,” for example, Bruno’s exquisite layering of paint and color result in flowers so lush that they seem to pull the viewer into a world where such flowers grow.
Oil on canvas, many of the paintings are large and expansive, with her inviting “Courtyard,” featuring an electric-red chair, and a table with flowers, is 84 by 120 inches. But just as riveting are pieces such as “Fruit Bowl,” a 24 x 18 colorful collection of fruit that could’ve come straight from Carmen Miranda’s hat.
To experience Bruno’s inventive palette, enter her peacock-hued world at LAM Gallery by August 15th.