In the 1980s, Joe Fay made his mark at Roy Boyd, Molly Barnes, Richard Green and Jan Baum galleries with vibrant, wildly luscious, oozing paintings resembling robust, Italian marbled paper. Shortly thereafter, he decided to leave LA and spend his time fly-fishing in Montana. In recent years, he has begun exhibiting again, drawing inspiration from the wildlife around him. The new exhibition, Natural Order, redefines his approach to both his subject matter as well as his signature paint application. In the new paintings, his technique of pulling wet paint with a sharp tool and creating starburst forms is mostly limited to the area within the animal shapes, leaving the background in solid, brilliant, monochromatic fields of orange, yellow, or blue. In fact, he often represents only a portion of the animal, thus alluding to the environment outside the canvas. He also chooses to pair animals with their prey, such as a wolf and an elk, or a bald eagle and a fish, demonstrating relationships of the natural world.

In her first exhibition at Craig Krull Gallery, Tanja Rector presents paintings consisting of textile materials that are cut into pieces, re-stitched in patterns, and wrapped around stretcher bars. Growing up in the Netherlands, Rector watched her mother embrace what she describes as the meditative, “slow work” of knitting and sewing. Her textile paintings re-connect with this process by rearranging old shirts, fine transparent cottons, tablecloths, curtains, bed linens, and burlap. In addition to her childhood memories, Rector acknowledges the inspiration of women artists Anni Albers, Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse, and the quilts of Gee’s Bend.

The paintings of Caroline Larsen were introduced to the West Coast in a solo show at Craig Krull Gallery in 2015, and subsequently featured in a group show in 2016 entitled Paint is a Thing. Larsen has become internationally known for her three-dimensional surfaces, made with pure thick oil paint that she brazenly weaves, daubs, and squeegees. In her new paintings, Larsen employs these techniques to depict vases inspired by the vibrant enamelware of the French manufacturer, Longwy. Founded in 1798, the company reached a zenith in the 1920s when they produced work for the department store Printemps, which led to their participation in the significant 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes (from which the term Art Deco originated). Larsen’s interpretations of these highly stylized works are complemented by decadent florals that are swirled as if being churned in a blender. The backgrounds, never a forgotten part of a Larsen painting, equal the vases and flowers in intensity, with seventies-inspired rainbows and mind-bending checkerboards. In addition to these mystic flowers, Larsen will be showing two Ouiji Boards, one of which glows in the dark, further demonstrating her passion for creating playful, patterned, and sometimes even supernatural, paintings.