Sell’s oil pastels: introspective and autobiographical

NARROWSBURG, NY — “The Suspicion of Representation,” an exhibit of oil pastel drawings by Michael Sell, will open on Friday, June 11 at the Delaware Arts Center Gallery, 37 Main Street. The show will continue through July 2. The opening reception for the artist will be held on June 11 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The Ill Winds Chamber Ensemble will play for the reception.

The male figures in Sell’s drawings are introspective and sensitively rendered with lush oil pastels. The images resonate with the viewer, striking an emotional chord. “These male figures are autobiographical essays on internal states of being,” said Sell. “In our societal order, where weakness and sensitivity in males is equated, there are few possibilities for true connection with others and ourselves. I am drawn to the most elemental aspects of the human condition: the interior isolation and nakedness that is the most primal state of being…”

Sell graduated with honors from The Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. He then moved to New York City and worked as an independent illustrator and designer. Eventually he moved to Wayne County, PA and began doing his own work, mostly still lifes and interior scenes. Sell eventually settled on the figure as his subject and most personal means of expression.

Sell has exhibited in The Rizzoli Gallery in New York City, McMurtey Gallery in Houston, The Museum Bank in Los Angeles and Century Gallery in Washington DC. Corporate and private collections in Europe and the United States feature his artwork.

Sell’s exhibit is sponsored by the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance and made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

For more information call 845/252-7576.