The Primitive Electric by Faris McReynolds

'The Primitive Electric' is an aptly named new exhibition by Los Angeles based artist Faris McReynolds. McReynolds paintings have two distinct styles; first a brutal, stark, somewhat Francis Bacon-esqe style which dehumanizes its subjects, and second, portraits that seen from a distance look almost like a re-touched photo. The latter, on closer inspection, are quite wonderful - the paintings seem to be melting in translucent impressionist blobs.

On a couple of paintings McReynolds distinct styles morph somewhat; 'Caveperson' is like the portrait style but the subject is caught is a blurred scream, and in 'Potato Eaters 2' the aggressive strokes are toned down, giving the painting more realism but the interesting use of color and placement makes the subjects in the background appear to be closer than those in the foreground...

'The Primitive Electrics' runs at the Roberts and Tilton gallery in Culver City from 17th October to November 14th...