Photo courtesy of Landmarks Gallery
Anthony Pazos didn’t hone his skill for drawing the human figure in art school. He began, instead, in medical school as an illustrator who won awards for illustrating clinical textbooks. Pazos continues to work in that field while applying his skill to a different medium: painting. Seven of his oils are on display at Landmarks Gallery in an exhibition called “Colors of Summer: Brighter Than Nature.”
The show title is apt. Five of the seven paintings are set outside and depict children or entire families at play—often with kites. The two paintings of the artist seated and at work in his studio (on canvases depicting the outdoors) are done in a similarly vibrant palette. The outdoor scenes are ultra-impressionistic, with sunlight at play in an explosion of color whose shapes are brighter than nature. Pazos’ sandy beaches are periwinkle, and his grass glows in lime green; the kites and clothing are fuchsia, fire-alarm red and noonday yellow.
His training as a medical illustrator is detectable in the expressively lifelike faces of his subjects. However, the individuals in the paintings are less the subject than the activities with which they are engaged and the ambience of unguarded fun on a warm, carefree day.
“Colors of Summer” is a tonic in this gloomy December, its beaches and parks a reminder that Milwaukee isn’t dark and cold all year round.
Colors of Summer: Brighter Than Nature is on view through Jan. 31 at Landmarks Gallery, 231 N. 76th St.
