On display in Sip Art Gallery from June 13th, 2024 to July 7th, 2024.

Join us for the Opening Reception of this exhibition in the Sip Art Gallery at IAMA on Saturday June 15th, 2024 from 3 to 5 PM.

Brian McPartlon, Return

“For many years after leaving San Francisco, I traveled from my newly adopted home of Santa Fe, New Mexico to run in “Bay to Breakers,” the city’s annual footrace. Going up and over the hills and ending at the beach represented not just a race well run, but a victory joyfully given to me by the city I loved that loved me back.

Runners speak of the “runners high.” RETURN is my runner’s high that comes from the years of going up and over the metaphorical hills of my precious studio life. The life of an artist well lived. These paintings are an homage to some of the scholars, maestros, poets and artists I knew during my exhilarating time with the San Francisco Art Institute. This is my retroactive gift to the 1970s burgeoning South of Market art scene. To me, this body of work signifies victory, a race well run.

My gracious thanks to the IAMA for marking the finish line.”

—Brian McPartlon

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Since his first exhibition, as a teen, at the Oak Room Gallery in 1965 in Schenectady, New York, Brian McPartlon has honed his skills with acrylics, watercolor, oils, pastels and mixed media sculpture. In 1973, he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the San Francisco Art Institute. In 1975, he founded and directed the 63 Bluxome Street Gallery in San Francisco, California.

McPartlon’s technique seeks to present true depth of field through layers of shapes and colors. His process includes staining, pouring and spraying, and a diverse set of brushes from a traditional 6” house painting brush to palm fronds, cacti, animal bone fragments and his fingers. A single painting may take him ten minutes or over 40 years to complete. The large bold canvases can be ominous, antagonizing, invigorating and breathtaking

The range of colors and depth of each of McPartlon’s works evoke powerful reactions from viewers. Observers of his works struggle to not touch the textures or crawl into the portals that exist in the layers of his paintings.

About the Artist

Brian McPartlon was born in Schenectady, New York in 1948. His high school teachers encouraged his art and at age 17 his work was recognized at a local art exhibit as one of the “Best of Show.” McPartlon then attended the School of Visual Arts in New York. He studied drawing, painting and sculpture in a traditional studio setting, all the while exploring art museums and galleries, hungry for art without confinement. He “hung out” at famed counterculture places, associated with influential artists and activists and participated in Vietnam War protests. These events brought a connection to a world that he felt was his to encompass and portray in a manner unlike any he had learned in school. McPartlon then moved to California to attend the San Francisco Art Institute.

Upon graduation in 1973, McPartlon rented studio space in San Francisco. With artist friends from the evolving South of Market art scene, he put together well-attended impromptu art shows at 63 Bluxome gallery. In 1975, the collector

Thomas Martinez introduced him to other collectors, designers and artists. McPartlon was now selling his work. In 1978, McPartlon also began using his studio to build movie sets and was Art Director and Property Master for various films through 1986.

In Santa Fe for the past 40 years, he has supported the arts – as a fundraiser, curator and exhibit producer. He and his brother Kevin started McPartlon Roofing, an ongoing successful roofing business. And McPartlon continued to paint every day.

His work was recently selected for The Art in Architecture Program: U.S. General
Services Administration National Artist Registry, Washington, D.C.

Recent and upcoming exhibits include International Art Museum of America, San
Francisco, CA (solo); Slice of Pie, Pie Projects, Santa Fe, NM; CINQ Gallery, Dallas, TX;
and The Shape of Color, Pie Projects, Santa Fe, NM (solo). Recent press includes
LandEscape Art Review, London, UK; Magazine 43/Berlin, Hong Kong, Manila; ART UP MI, Milan; Southwest Contemporary; Artwork Gallery Magazine, Kyiv, UKR; MVIBE
Magazine; Silk Road Review; Gemini Magazine; Modern Renaissance Magazine; The
Woven Tale Press; New Mexico Bar Bulletin (cover); Unique Homes/The High End; Forget
Me Not Press; Superpresent Magazine; Blue Mesa Review; Pasatiempo/Santa Fe New
Mexican; Another Chicago Magazine; Arkana Literary Review; Dream Noir; and The
Uncoiled.
He is represented by Pie Projects, Santa Fe, NM; CINQ Gallery, Dallas, TX; and Fresh
Paint Art Consultants, Los Angeles, CA.

Website: https://www.brianmcpartlonstudio.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brianmcpartlonstudio/