February Spotlight - R.F. Pangborn

Faun

Big Trouble In Little China

Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Rogue Gallery. ​
The work of this month’s artist you may assume to be pop art, if you do you are mistaken. This artist’s work transcends mere pop, (his subjects are often culled from iconic scenes of American cinema) as there is an intrinsic understanding in these paintings that the iconography of America lies, not in religious mythology or even historical accounts, as much as in the scenes embodied in the nation's films.
Here is an artist who paints with the precision and lyricism that was embodied by the impressionists. His brush trowels through the globs of oil paint he lays upon the canvas to reveal figures gleaming with the artificial blaze of a Hollywood sound-stage. Their eyes focused on each other but with the ears slightly pricked up as though the gaffer just bumped into something, knocking it over, or the script consultant is giving them a line of dialogue. You see the scenes, often tense with the drama, but the subjects don’t feel the drama as we do (life and death, good versus evil); they feel the drama of studio heads, producers, directors, accountants. They feel something that we as movie goers are never meant to see, and maybe in the moment of total absorption in a film, we don’t… but in these paintings, there is a definite sense of these elements just beneath the surface.
Indeed, the work which you are about to see transcends pop and is much more akin to a sort of new American history painting. But whereas an artist like Jacques-Louis David painted heroic Napoleon and the martyred Marat, the works of this month’s artist portrays the heroes of mass commercial culture and personifications of the only true mythology of modern America, that of Hollywood. We proudly present to you our February Spotlight artist: R.F. Pangborn.

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Frumkes

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Ed

Zulu

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Meltdown

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R.F. Pangborn
​Horror movies were a huge form of escapism for me during a troubled childhood. They've stuck with me through thick and thin like old friends ever since, and of course their imagery would find its way onto the panel again and again for me later on in my forties, when I seriously decided to take up oil painting.
               It's a little early on in my painting career for me to floor you with any deep or enlightening statement about what my art means. The act of painting, especially slopping it on thick, brings me peace and contentment like nothing else. It's been a fantastic catharsis for me. And yes, more escapism. I've been a doodler all of my life, but I've only taken up the brush seriously for the last five years and I'm just now starting to get a tiny glimpse of the potential of painting.
                I'm excited by all this possibility. Where I can go with all of this? I'm overjoyed that anyone finds my work interesting or entertaining in any way.
                I'm extremely grateful to the horror community at large. The people out there who support my efforts in so many ways, including purchasing my art. Still blows me away every time I sell a piece!
               I tried to get into comics back in the 90's with only a couple of dubious publications who printed my work, worked a million odd jobs, messed around with film-making for a few years, married a great gal, got my backyard S.O.V. crap-fest The Sadness distributed in 2007, didn't make a dime. Moved down to Florida from NJ two years later, played a bunch of electronic noise shows, wised up to internalizing bad advice about being an artist when I was a kid. Got a late start, but I'm finally where I'm supposed to be.
Thank you for having me,
RF

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www.facebook.com/rf.pangborn

www.facebook.com/pangbournearts