It is an even greater thrill when we can present the work of artists who have been doing their work for many years, developing and building a body of pieces that are coherent, personal statements, and who have been included and honored in all kinds of venues – Regional, National, and International galleries, fairs, museums, private and corporate collections.

 That is the case with the artists included in our new exhibit, FOUR REAL.

Anthony Abboreno, Ted Fuka, Jessica Smit Mattingly, and Joan Quirke have been exhibiting their works for some time. For this show, we are presenting several representational pieces from each of them that move in the direction of extremely realistic observations or photo-realistic images.

 Their works are primarily paintings – in acrylics, oils, watercolors or pastels. Their subjects are often natural forms, landscapes, portraits, animals, still life, and studies of man-made objects that are visually exciting – cars, trains, trucks, rural and city structures.

 Their intentions are to share some views that are beautiful, wonderful, amazing or mundane, that we might have missed, or might have kept as memories from long ago, or simply have always found comfort in discovering. We see portraits of people who are like us, reminding us of our families, and people who are symbols for our mysteries, our struggles, our heroes, and our own reflections.

 Tall Grass Gallery is extremely honored to present the works of these four artists in our FOUR REAL exhibit. We hope all who visit the show will come away with great respect for the skill and imagination and dedication to their art that Anthony, Ted, Jessica, and Joan sustain through each piece they create.

Curated by Claudia Craemer and Debbie Craemer, FOUR REAL will open on Saturday, July 6, 2024 with a Reception, open to all, from 12-2pm, followed by an Artists’ Talk from 2-3pm that will provide an opportunity to hear the artists share some insight into their subjects and processes.