The Loft continues to present exciting new works to the Marietta community during its inaugural year on the Marietta Square. The Loft will open a new exhibition on Friday, June 7, from 5-9pm during the popular Marietta Square Art Walk, including a spotlight on resident artist Eric Stevens. Enjoy live mixing by local artist Refuture as you enjoy the evening, and see the best that the Marietta Arts District has to offer. This exhibition will hang through June 30 and is free and open to the public.

The spotlight will feature works from a number of Stevens’ series, including “VIRTUE: Chivalry as a Memory Tradition,” “The Golden Age of Man: Practical Tools,” “Floral Series,” and “Land and Seascapes.” Stevens is drawn to the relationships between complex detail and simple composition, classical rendering of form and modern reduction, searching for and heightening the tension between the two. Much of his work describes simple, organic forms like flowers. These paintings often use vibrant true-to-life color to depict the subjects, while their settings take the subjects out of their expected contexts. The perspective and scale furthers this, isolating the subject, and bringing the viewer closer.

Of his work, Stevens states, “For me, the process of painting obeys a set of rules, like a formula, determined beforehand. I decide on a subject, and also determine the best formula for executing that piece or series. Things like palette specifics, the use of reference images, composition, types of brushes and even brush stroke, canvas size and shape, length of time used for completion; all these things can be affected. For me it’s part of the creative process. How I paint is just as important to me as what I paint. A formula must be decided upon for the subject at hand.”

“I’m happy to return again to his work and admire the sanctity of the natural world suffusing everything truly seen,” states poet and Pushcart Prize Nominee Yahia Lababidi. The Loft is proud to present such a unique and exciting show to the burgeoning Marietta Arts District.