William Shearburn Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition entitled, Shot and Killed by Craig Norton. The exhibition will open with a reception for the artist on Friday, May 15th from 6 to 8 pm and continue through June 21st, 2009.
Craig Norton makes work of remarkable directness. His ideas arrive channeled through his incredibly fine skills as a draftsman, amazingly using only 29-cent Bic pens as drawing implements. He uses a BIC pen to draw photorealistic faces using a stippling technique. Hundreds of thousands of dots give the faces realism and depth. Wallpaper collages build the clothes of the figures. Most recently, Norton’s pieces have consisted of large-scale vignettes involving dozens of figures per scene.
“Social issues are incredibly important to me, and my work will always have some relation to an issue that I am currently burdened with. In the past this has included racism and genocide, and my current and future work will deal with gun violence and soldiers’ mental states upon returning from war.” – Craig Norton
Craig Norton is a self-taught artist that lives and works in St. Louis. This will be the artist’s first solo exhibition at William Shearburn Gallery. Craig Norton was recently invited to participate in the 2009-2010 Vancouver Biennial and is a part of New York’s Drawing Center viewing program.