April 4, 2011…The Silver Circle Gallery in Putnam, CT is proud to announce the upcoming exhibit “Influence”, featuring paintings by Charlie Brooks and Jean-Paul Jacquet, two local painters with a shared history.

Once teacher and student, Jean-Paul Jacquet and Charlie Brooks reunite nearly 10 years later to share their influences and join creative forces. Inspired by each other’s work, they challenged themselves to each create a portrait of the other in preparation for this collaborative. They then turned their pencils and brushes towards more personal inspiration, to bring a variety of pieces to the Silver Circle Gallery while still maintaining their reverence to the inspiration and influence that one artist can provide another.

Charlie Brooks is a painter who currently lives and works in Hartford, CT. His figurative paintings often depict members of his family and friends. Though Charlie is by no means strictly a portrait painter, he is currently in the process of exploring what role the figure and the portrait may still play in contemporary culture. Due to the accessibility and immediacy of photography, the avenue for painters interested in the figure has been “all but cut off”. In lieu of the traditional painted portrait, Brooks argues that our culture has devalued art for the home by “demoting it to the realm of decoration, landscapes, and still lives”. Although portraits may be mistaken as symbols of vanity in today’s society, they actually represent that which we find most perplexing, relatable and meaningful as a popular subject matter: human beings. Likewise, Charlie Brooks’ interest in people serves as the foundation of his art.

Jean-Paul Jacquet is a painter and a sculptor who works in two varying styles. His sculptures have been prominently displayed at the Convergence Arts Festival in Providence RI for three consecutive years, and on the Madison Mile, in Madison CT for two consecutive years. Several of his Paper Airplane sculptures are in private collection throughout New England. A 160’ long mural adorns the halls of Walchem Corporation in Holliston, MA. He spent time working for the band PHISH, creating large scale sculptures for a number of their national tours. His paintings can be seen locally in a number of venues, including the Vanilla Bean Café in Pomfret, CT, 85 Main Restaurant in Putnam, CT, and regularly at the Silver Circle Gallery in Putnam, CT.

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Silver Circle Gallery is located at 75 Main Street in Downtown Putnam, CT. Since 2008, Silver Circle has been a fresh, contemporary space where local and regional visual artists convene to show and sell their work, educate others, and inspire one another and the community. Visit www.silvercirclegallery.com for more information.