Richard Oversmith has no trouble being called a traditionalist.
"I've always liked traditional representational painting,” says the painter. “All my life, I've enjoyed painting realistically, from photographs or life. Looking at things and painting them, giving them a sort of Impressionist feel. I've never explored painting in the abstract."
Though Oversmith is equally adept with studio still life and portraiture, his work in plein air has garnered much attention over the past few years. Oversmith and his wife, Jennifer, lived in Brittany for six months, where he spent nearly every day outside painting, capturing the play of light on the countryside.
This month, Oversmith will be signing copies of his just-released hardback, Richard Oversmith: Selected Works 2006–2009, in conjunction with an opening of his recent works at 16 Patton Fine Art Gallery. “The time we spent living in France was a definite turning point in my art career,” he says. “I gained a certain confidence during that time and became much more efficient. Putting it simply, the book is a collection of what I feel are my strongest images starting from that time.”
Now living in North Carolina, the area’s pastoral scenes once again provide inspiration. Oversmith admirers will likely recognize some familiar landscapes in the July show—the stark terrain of Graveyard Fields, the timeless charm of the Biltmore Estate, or the open rolling fields of Black Balsam. Still life and portraits round out the book.
“This book is an important step in cataloguing Richard’s recent body of work,” says Danna Anderson, owner of 16 Patton. “Many of the works can be seen in both the book and this exhibition, giving his followers and collectors the opportunity of viewing images over and over, somewhat like having one’s own ‘armchair exhibition.’” —J.M.
