Robert Leo Jones in his studio. Photo by Sarah Katherine Davis For LVA (2016).
Not all artists have studios outside of their home, making participation in Open Studio Weekend a different challenge. Perhaps the best solution is when one artist invites another to join them for the weekend. Robert Leo Jones and Tom Cannady have been friends long enough that he was comfortable doing exactly that. Both are painters, but the differences in their work provide a striking contrast. Jones working mostly in abstract expressionism – I can think of no painter I have recently observed who more clearly harkens back to Pollock and the ‘drip’ technique from middle 20th century American painting, while Cannady is unabashedly representational, although his sun drenched images of Americans at leisure and the predominance of vintage automobiles connect us to the same period as Jones technique.
Tom Cannady working on a painting. Photo by Sarah Katherine Davis For LVA (2016).
Even when working figuratively, Jones’ color palette tends to darkness, so we see none of the well-lit, carefree escapades of a flourishing middle class that we find in Cannady’s images. Even though we are only looking at their work together because of circumstance, it is a tantalizing thought that the two might be working two sides of the same street; Cannady capturing the warm nostalgia for a time that seems deceptively simpler, a period that often is held up as an ideal of American morality, while Jones probes the inevitable heart of darkness lurking beneath the surface of that rose-colored memory.
"Jamestown 1972" by Tom Cannady, 30x30in, acrylic on canvas (2016), $1200 | BUY NOW
Cannady currently has pieces at the Makers Crucible Showroom in downtown Louisville, and he has a solo show opening there on December 8, 2016.
Jone's work has been featured at Huff Gallery at Spalding University, Urban Design Studio, Art [squared], and currently at Take A Seat, an exhibition at the Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea, Kentucky. Although predominately a painter, Jones also works occasionally in furniture repurpose and design. His current projects are layered paintings done in acrylic on canvas or Masonite panels.
"Three Humans" by Robert Leo Jones, 47x61in, acrylic on masonite (2015), $1950 | BUY NOW
You can visit Tom Cannady and Robert Leo Jones in Jone’s studio in Old Louisville during OPEN STUDIO WEEKEND, November 5 & 6, 2016. The event benefits scholarship programs for Louisville Visual Art and University of Louisville’s Hite Art Institute and tickets may be purchased here.
Name: Tom Cannady
Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Age: 58
Education: BS in Marketing and a minor in Art, Murray State University
Website: http://www.tjcannady.com
Name: Robert Leo Jones
Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Age: 72
Education: BS in Marketing, Kent State University
Website: http:///www.robertleojones.com
"WHAT is going on down at the Tasty Creme?!" by Tom Cannady, 60x48in, acrylic on canvas (2016), $3600 | BUY NOW
"Banyans" by Robert Leo Jones, acrylic on canvas, 9x12in (2016), $125 | BUY NOW
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Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2016 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.
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