Animal oil painting

Animal oil painting
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The city is a state of mind as well as a real place in "Metropolis,” a two-person show of acrylic paintings by Bennett Berry and mixed media oil paintings by Michele Mikesell at JRB Art at The Elms, 2810 N Walker.
Contrasting styles — from Berry’s photo-realistic street scenes and ad sendups to Mikesell’s distinctly surrealistic portraits of animal oil painting dressed as people — are found in the work of the two artists.
I met Bennett in graduate school at the University of Oklahoma,” Mikesell, a Dallas artist, said of Berry, who lives in Oklahoma City. "I think our work complements each others by how much it contrasts.”
Sometimes using industrial enamel as well as oil, Mikesell’s slyly satiric animal oil painting on canvas and wood build up multiple layers to create a glazed, almost glassy surface.
As important as the image is … the process is equally important,” she said. "The surface of the painting has a high gloss finish which encases paint that has been dripped, worn, sanded and stained.”
Heads floating over bodies — one of her most effective visual devices — create just the right notes of unreality in Mikesell’s oils of a masked rabbit reveler in "The Game” and of a "Lucky” dog jockey.
One can nearly smell "Harold’s New Cologne” in her large, 30-inch-by-48-inch animal oil painting technically masterful oil of a white cat, seen in profile, wearing a white shirt, in front of a pale, blue-gray background.
Harder hitting is her oil of a dark Doberman pinscher waiting in its corner, wearing red boxing gloves and a white robe, while a formidable feline glares at us in "A Leopard Can’t Change Its Spots.”Berry opts for a more realistic approach in several well-handled acrylics which capture the interplay between buildings, people and vehicles on New York City streets (based on photos he took).Offering a nice counterpoint are Berry acrylics — broadly satiric of conspicuous consumption — which incorporate flatly painted colors and patterns.
Going a step farther is "Hello,” an acrylic painting in which a well-dressed woman has nothing to sit on as she waves at us in front of a vertically striped background.
The show is recommended viewing during its run through Jan. 31.