Penney, a New Hampshire artist is frequently compared to Andrew Wyeth. Where Wyeth never wanted to pigeonholed into any one style, many art critics and commentators would describe both, Penney and Wyeth as Magic Realism Artists.
They both loved compositions that included rural landscapes, with strange and uncanny perspectives complete with micro-details. For example, both artists could paint endless blades of grass to heighten the drama. With these details, they created texture within their paintings.
In Penney's painting; "Rural Mailbox" there is a high gauge stainless steel mailbox sitting on a weathered three-prong wooded post. The mailbox takes left center stage, along side the road. The tall grasses sweep the flat landscape, where children play. We are not sure if the children are Penney's children or if it is a memory out of his childhood. The kids running in the tall grasses are wearing summer tee shirts and the sky is a muted color of warm hazy. With this scene, Penney creates an open ended story, we don't know details, so we decided it is a poetic mystery.
In the painting below, Penney creates distance between the one central object, the mailbox and the greater landscape. Are the children running in the tall grasses, playing tag? Out for a summer day? The observer wonders, why is the central object - the mailbox in complete detail, yet the children appear almost blurry as they play. Was he trying to capture action like a camera on the art board. We don't know, we can only observe this magic realism.
Penney was born in Laconia, New Hampshire and spent most of his life living there. One of his last major exhibits was at the Saco River Theater in Portland, ME in 2012. The 17th Edition of Who's Who in American Art provides the following details of his life:
Studied: Worcester Museum School; Cleveland Woodward, illustrator, with Eldon Rowland, Well Fleet, Mass; New York Phoenix School Design
Exhibited: Hanover Galleries New Hampshire, Southern Vermont Art Association, Manchester; Solo Shows, Wiener Gallery NYC, Center Street Gallery Winter Park Florida, Gallery 2 Woodstock Vermont.
Work: Worcester Polytech Institute Mass, Stockholm Museum Sweden, Dartmouth College, Hanover New Hampshire.
Awards: Creative Communications Award, Art Institute, Boston
Dealers: Hobe Sound North Galleries, One Milk Street, Portland, ME; Center Street Gallery, 136 Park Avenue South, Winter Park, FL
Mailing Address: 131 State Portland, ME (1986)
They both loved compositions that included rural landscapes, with strange and uncanny perspectives complete with micro-details. For example, both artists could paint endless blades of grass to heighten the drama. With these details, they created texture within their paintings.
In Penney's painting; "Rural Mailbox" there is a high gauge stainless steel mailbox sitting on a weathered three-prong wooded post. The mailbox takes left center stage, along side the road. The tall grasses sweep the flat landscape, where children play. We are not sure if the children are Penney's children or if it is a memory out of his childhood. The kids running in the tall grasses are wearing summer tee shirts and the sky is a muted color of warm hazy. With this scene, Penney creates an open ended story, we don't know details, so we decided it is a poetic mystery.
In the painting below, Penney creates distance between the one central object, the mailbox and the greater landscape. Are the children running in the tall grasses, playing tag? Out for a summer day? The observer wonders, why is the central object - the mailbox in complete detail, yet the children appear almost blurry as they play. Was he trying to capture action like a camera on the art board. We don't know, we can only observe this magic realism.
"Rural Mailbox"
Oil on Masonite Board
29" X 18"
Signed Lower Right: Bruce Penney '79
Penney was born in Laconia, New Hampshire and spent most of his life living there. One of his last major exhibits was at the Saco River Theater in Portland, ME in 2012. The 17th Edition of Who's Who in American Art provides the following details of his life:
Studied: Worcester Museum School; Cleveland Woodward, illustrator, with Eldon Rowland, Well Fleet, Mass; New York Phoenix School Design
Exhibited: Hanover Galleries New Hampshire, Southern Vermont Art Association, Manchester; Solo Shows, Wiener Gallery NYC, Center Street Gallery Winter Park Florida, Gallery 2 Woodstock Vermont.
Work: Worcester Polytech Institute Mass, Stockholm Museum Sweden, Dartmouth College, Hanover New Hampshire.
Awards: Creative Communications Award, Art Institute, Boston
Dealers: Hobe Sound North Galleries, One Milk Street, Portland, ME; Center Street Gallery, 136 Park Avenue South, Winter Park, FL
Mailing Address: 131 State Portland, ME (1986)
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| Signature: Bruce Penney - 79 |
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| Wiener Gallery magazine advertisement Exhibit for Bruce Penney Please note, the advertisement misspelled the artist's name. |
I would love to have this piece in my collection. Love his work!
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