Pop Artist James Gill presented by Lanning Gallery

Written by Orville Talbot Sunday, 12 June 2011 22:01

SCOTTSDALE, AZ – The reemergence of legendary Pop Artist James Gill continues with a second Arizona exhibition.  During the weekend of February 20-22, 2009, Cattle Track Arts Compound will be the setting for a two-night artist’s reception presented by Lanning Gallery on Friday and Saturday evenings, from 5-9 p.m.  On Sunday morning a ‘Coffee with the Artist’ will be held from 9-10:30 a.m. at the Hotel Valley Ho ballroom, a site that’s been famous since its opening in the 1950s when regular sightings of Hollywood's greats were common.

Artist James Gill made his mark among the Hollywood greats as well, becoming famous for his Pop Art portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Bridget Bardot, John Wayne and others.  Along with those subjects, currently his stylized portraits of John Lennon and the Beatles are capturing collectors’ attention.  Gill, who shot to fame in the 1960s next to Rosenquist, Warhol, Lichtenstein and Hopper, and who was collected at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian and other major museums, is as known for his singular paintings as for the fact that, at the height of his fame, he walked away from it all.

Now, after nearly thirty years of self-exile, Gill is catching everyone’s attention with abstract paintings, created in his unique collaged method.  Comprised of figurative elements such as lips or eyes and defined by swathes of bright color, Gill calls these his “Still Lifes.”  As an artist, he loves painting figures and painting abstracts making this latest oeuvre a perfect blending of his passions.

Cattle Track Arts Compound is located at 6105 N. Cattle Track Rd., one intersection east of Scottsdale Rd. and McDonald; Hotel Valley Ho is located at 6850 E. Main St., both in Scottsdale, AZ.  For further information contact: Lanning Gallery, mail-at-lanninggallery.com or 928-282-6865.  Visit: www.lanninggallery.com