PARK CLUB ROTATING EXHIBITS
2024 AUTUMN ROTATION
From Kennedy Contemporary
Randy Akers
Randy Akers is a visual artist based on Skidaway Island, Georgia. His work transforms unremarkable and forgotten neighborhoods of the South into powerful metaphors, symbolizing lost connections and the passage of time. His keen observation of color and space not only capture the present but also allude to the imminent threat of gentrification and undeniable change. Throughout his travels in his home state of Georgia, and broader through the artist residences in Andalusia, Spain and Puget Sound, Washington, Randy aims to build a visual history of humanity and the undeniable beauty of age.
Akers’ work has been exhibited at prestigious venues such as the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, the University of New Mexico’s Harwood Foundation, Brownsville Museum of Art, among others. His art residencies include notable programs like Vashon Island Artist Residency in 2023, JOYA: arte + ecologica in Spain in 2022, and Cill Rialaig in Ireland in 2021, showcasing the global reach of his artistic pursuits.
Akers’ solo show, “Road to Canaan,” gained recognition in the VIVA Florida 500, and his work has been selected by the Office of the Governor for The Art of Georgia, sponsored by the Georgia Council of the Arts. Beyond private collections, his art is held in the collection of the Commercial Bank and Trust in Memphis. Notably, Akers contributes to social causes, with five
paintings donated and sold under the guidance of Susan Roberts from the Tiny House Project in 2021, with all proceeds directed towards housing for homeless veterans in Savannah.
In addition to his visual art career, Akers boasts a rich background in directing and designing for international television commercials, movie titles, music videos, and print for Fortune 500 companies. With an M.F.A. from SCAD and a B.F.A. from Chouinard Art Institute, his expertise extends to 3D Design, and he has served on the board of Art Rise Savannah and the Arts Georgia advisory council.
Leslie Allen
Leslie Allen (b.1954) is an American artist whose intrinsic connection with the Rio Grande U.S./Mexico border defines and inspires her every stroke. Born in New Mexico and raised in El Paso, her work has been described as “high-octane abstraction” for its daring colors and gestures that mimic the diversity of the vast desert landscape, as well as the tensions of a political border. Her works knit together an expression of the region’s deluge of contrasts: crimson southwestern sunsets to the blackest of nights, a blistering, still heat against the vibrant buzz of Juarez, delicate cactus blossoms, and the majestic Franklin Mountains.
That Allen’s improvisational style is also driven by music is no coincidence; she is an impassioned cellist in the College of Marin Symphony Orchestra. She uses brushes, knives, brayers and blades with outstretched arms to compose each piece; whether geometric, lyrical, figurative or monotype it all coalesces into an oeuvre of expressive abstraction.
Allen credits Mark Adams (watercolorist and master weaver), Thomas Marsh (classical sculptor), and Chester Arnold (illusionist oil painter) as her greatest mentors. It was Arnold who urged her to abandon the delicate watercolors of her earliest exhibits for the bolder commitment of oils, and in doing so she unleashed the full amalgam of her borderland culture, her penchant for small-plane topographical exploration, and her rich life experiences.
Today, Leslie Allen lives and works in Sausalito, California. She is represented by Kennedy Contemporary in Newport Beach and Seager Gray Gallery in Mill Valley. Her works reside in private and public collections throughout the United States as well as in London, Toulouse, Dusseldorf, Berlin, and Bern
Chris Gwaltney
Balancing between abstraction and figurative, the works of Chris Gwaltney (b. 1953) are evocative, luminous, and lush. He balances color with unexpected washes and scribbles; scraping physically from the surface as he generously slaps paint onto the canvas. Having studied Bay Area figurative painters – such as Richard Diebenkorn, Nathan Oliviera, and David Park – and influenced by the works of Joan Mitchell and Robert Motherwell, Gwaltney begins each work with a conversation in mind. He often starts with a vertical gesture, builds with foundations of layers, and allows the composition to reveal itself as he works.
Gwaltney lives in Laguna Beach and holds a BA and MA from the University of California State Fullerton. He has exhibited throughout the US, including Peter Blake Gallery (Laguna Beach, CA), Seager Gray Gallery and Robert Green Fine Arts (Mill Valley, CA), Cadogan Contemporary (London, England), Anne Loucks Gallery (Glencoe, IL), Julie Nester (Park City, UT), and Tria Gallery (New York, NY). His work has garnered an international following and resides in numerous public and private collections.
Elyse Katz
Elyse Katz (b.1951) is a self-taught American artist residing in Newport Beach, California. Her works are abstractions inspired by the visceral recollection of her personal experiences. As such, she calls her paintings “landscapes of my inner world.” Fittingly, physical landscapes and architectural rhythm also fuel her creativity: urban and rural vistas as viewed from the air, for example, textures and colors of old weathered surfaces and the pattern of cobblestone, to name a few.
Katz begins each painting without expectation of outcome, with mark-making and play, layers of acrylic paint and oil pastels and found materials – vintage text and typography – laid down in collage, scraped, then painted over until a story “speaks.” Her canvases and panels express a juxtaposition of contrasts, like defined-versus-blurred edges or bold, opaque color fields
abutting transparent color washes.
Her foray into fine art occurred relatively late in life on the heels of personal tragedy. But in the two decades since she first picked up a brush, Katz has committed herself to her practice by studying with renowned artists such as Nicholas Wilton, Pamela Caughey, and Krista Harris. She has gained recognition through representation with Kennedy Contemporary and by working with interior designers who have placed her works in private collections around the world.
Elyse Katz
Tug of War, 2023
Acrylic, Mixed Media, and Cold Wax on Panel
36 x 36 x 2 in | 91.4 x 91.4 x 5.1 cm
Randy Akers
Grey Skies Over Eden, 2024
Acrylic and Mixed Media on Panel
24 x 42 in | 61 x 106.7 cm
Randy Akers
Dos Puertas Verdes, 2023
Acrylic and Mixed Media on Panel
37 1/2 x 49 x 2 1/4 in | 95.3 x 124.5 x 5.7 cm
Leslie Allen
Lovers Vice Versa II, 2023
Oil on Cradled Canvas
36 x 35 x 1 1/2 in | 91.4 x 88.9 x 3.8 cm
Leslie Allen
Steppin’ Out, 2024
Oil on Cradled Panel
42 x 36 x 2 in | 106.7 x 91.4 x 5.1 cm
Chris Gwaltney
Winter #2, 1994
Oil and Encaustic on Canvas
54 x 53 1/2 x 1 1/2 in | 137.2 x 135.9 x 3.8 cm
Elyse Katz
In the Crosshairs, 2023
Acrylic, Mixed Media, and Cold Wax on Panel
36 x 36 x 1 1/2 in | 91.4 x 91.4 x 3.8 cm
