For this exhibition, Amy Talluto focused on a single freshly pruned white pine (Pinus strobus), which she has rendered in a vivid, slightly acidic palette. Talluto, who is interested in locating unexpected idiosyncrasies in landscapes, was drawn to the pine because of the bold orange wounds left on its trunk after the branches had been cut back. These markings, coupled with the beguiling quality of the late afternoon light as it filtered down through a thick cloak of branches overhead, led her to select this tree from a dense cluster of similar ones in the Abrons Woodlands. She captures the eerie quality of that light with the application of saturated gold underpainting, followed by the gradual build up of thick, rich color which is equal parts invented and observed. She calls out sections of the tree by revealing parts of the under painting, alternately lighting up individual leaves and bits of bark. At the same time, the tree’s position at the center of the composition, seen at a slightly skewed angle, has a sense of dominance that is echoed by the winding, sinewy gesture of Talluto’s brushstrokes. She has also included a smaller painting which depicts a sugar maple (Acer saccharum) from a nearby area of the woodlands.

This January Amy Talluto showed her paintings in a solo exhibition at Packer Schopf Gallery, Chicago, IL, and in a three-person show at Metaphor Contemporary Art, Brooklyn, NY. Previous shows include a solo exhibition at Rowland Contemporary, Chicago, IL; a two-person exhibition with fellow Arbores Venerabiles artist Diane Carr at PS122 Gallery, New York, NY; and group exhibitions at Black & White Gallery, New York, NY; the Abrons Art Center, New York, NY; Kentler International Drawing Center, Metaphor Contemporary Art, and the Brooklyn Arts Council, all in Brooklyn, NY; and the Kleinert/James Art Center, Woodstock, NY. She has had residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT; Ucross Foundation, Clearmont, WY; and the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY, where she was awarded a Pollack-Krasner residency sponsorship. She earned her BFA at Washington University and her MFA at the School of Visual Arts.

More information can be found at: http://www.amytalluto.com/