On February 6, ICON Gallery opens an exhibition featuring the brilliant pairing of Michael Rutherford and Bill Teeple, highlighting two approaches to art—abstraction and realism.
In Rutherford/Teeple: Abstraction/ Realism, Rutherford’s small nonrepresentational paintings, freed from accurate depiction of the familiar outer world, invite interpretation. In contrast, Teeple’s miniscule photorealistic landscapes draw upon the local topography with precise detail that mirrors the visible world. Together, the two create a small-works show rich with subtlety and intimacy.
Small-scale works require that the viewer look closely, carefully, to see the meticulous details, surface textures, and nuances. Depending on how well the artist has honed their craft, the art object will enliven and elevate the senses, mind, and fine feeling level of the viewer and offer a genuine spiritual experience. Bill Teeple believes “art is a bridge between heaven and earth.”
Michael Rutherford
Rutherford, a self-taught artist from Packwood, Iowa, worked weekends from 1991 to 1993 as a security guard at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas. It was there, while in the U.S. Air Force, that he was inspired and nourished by art. Through close observation of the museum’s collection, he acquired a trained eye and an in-depth knowledge and appreciation for 20th century contemporary art.
And so began his own pattern of practice, “always immersed in this visual language—searching, thinking, and making, again and again,” he says.
As you walk into the gallery, about 50 of Rutherford’s abstract works are displayed in the front. He paints on wood covered with fine canvas, letting the paint wrap around the outside edges, beyond the boundary of the picture plane. Using acrylics (often adding found materials such as registration marks, staples, or micro glitter), he layers, creating a sumptuous field of color, a spacial depth in which lines, dashes, and dots roam freely, floating like thoughts in a field of consciousness. On a textural surface, Rutherford creates exciting relationships with luscious colors and geometric shapes. A balanced and coherent personal storyline emerges with transparency and solidity.
“Painting is a form of communication that I use to record visual experiences as physically encoded memories,” he says in his artist’s statement. “These images serve as notational devices that signal or hint at my thoughts about things. Composition, color, and mark-making are key elements of the work and are employed to coax each piece to a certain point of completeness.”
Though small and appearing simple, the work is sophisticated, and even mysterious.
Bill Teeple
At an early age, Bill Teeple was naturally drawn to realism. Landscapes were a favorite. He admired the High Renaissance painters, especially Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael, and 17th-century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. While attending the University of California Berkeley (graduating in 1968), Teeple was exposed to modern art and the complexity of postmodern art. “I embraced, absorbed, and integrated what I had been exposed to,” he says. “I also went deeply into the entirety of global art history, going back as far as we can go. This experience led to becoming the art teacher and curator that I am today.”
The art lovers of Fairfield honor Bill Teeple as ICON’s founder (2003), but he humbly wears many hats: gallery director, curator, museum tour guide, film-night host, studio art teacher, and artist. Although he heads ICON, this is the first time he has filled the gallery with his own exquisite artwork.
His love of the miniature started in the 1980s when he had no studio workspace. He traveled from place to place with a clipboard and sharpened pencil, often making postage-size “tiny drawings.” The format continued for 20 years, and while Teeple has returned to using high-quality oil paint, the size of his paintings are no larger than five by seven inches.
Teeple’s miniature landscapes celebrate the beauty of Fairfield. He captures the silence and emptiness surrounding this small Midwest town, creating a still moment with deep reverence, depth, and dignity. In a tiny space, he yields a monumental effect, an intimate interaction with the world above and below, where sky meets the land at the horizon line or at the gentle curving treeline or at the wavy contour of slightly rolling hills.
Each painting has a silent, soft glow achieved by employing disciplined techniques. Teeple, a self-described perfectionist, prepares the gessoed canvas by sanding the surface smooth with 400 grade sandpaper, then he scrapes the surface with a blade to remove any resisting roughness. “Without this crucial step,” he says, “the luminous quality of the painting won’t happen.”
Next, he builds up the surface by layering the paint. A master at mixing colors to get the desired warm or cool tones, Teeple, at this seasoned stage of his artistic career, has an intuitive sense for choosing the right combination of colors that harmonize together.
His oil paintings are simple, not flashy. To paint the delicate details, he uses ultra tiny brushes—a long, thin brush for grasses and twigs—with paint slapped on the canvas for a final touch.
For this show, longtime ICON supporters David and Joanie McGinnis have generously lent their own collection of Teeple’s paintings. These pieces are displayed together on the rear wall overlooking the gallery.
Abstraction and realism are a marvelous match. Be curious. Be part of the visual conversation. Take a private moment to connect intimately with the artworks and the artists in this show.
Teeple and Rutherford will discuss their artwork at a walk-through to be announced. The show continues through April 11.
Visit the Hudson Collection at ICON
While at ICON, walk upstairs and take a seat in the Hudson Gallery. In that quiet room, get acquainted with Tantra art from Udaipur, India. You will see pure abstraction in the Anonymous Shiva Linga Paintings from the Hudson Collection. The artists used found paper and applied various media, including watercolor, tempera, gauche, ink, and their own hand-made colors. Stay awhile and listen to the recording of the Thousand Names of Shiva. This special exhibition was organized by David T. Hanson in collaboration with Allen Cobb.
Iowa Contemporary Art (ICON) is located at 56 N. Main Street, Fairfield, Iowa. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 5:00 pm. For more information contact: iconbillteeple@gmail.com.