Adding to the growing list of artists eager to immortalize beautiful abandoned architecture is artist Rod Penner, whose photorealistic paintings of Texas Hill Country and the greater Southwest are nearly impossible to identify as, well, paintings. Both head-scratching and lovely in their life-like portrayals of desolate roadside attractions and boarded-up ranchers, Penner relies on photographs and digital video stills to meticulously render the small-town American landscapes usually overlooked and—as evidenced by his body of work—often left to crumble. "I'm interested in...a moment that is completely frozen with all the variety of textures; rust on poles, crumbling asphalt, light hitting the grass," explains the artist. "The finished paintings should evoke contrasting responses of melancholy and warmth, desolation and serenity."
Head to GBlog for the full set.
· Rod Penner [Gessato via Design You Trust]
· Exhibitions, Rod Penner [Ameringer McEnery Yohe]
· All Abandonment Issues posts [Curbed National]