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Looking Glass Gallery presents “Portraits” by Cameron

June 12, 2012. The Looking Glass Gallery presents “Portraits,” an exhibition highlighting the latest portrait paintings of studio art major Josiah Mark Cameron. The exhibition is on display through Aug. 3 and is curated by Dianna Loughlin. 

Cameron’s portraits cannot be described as photo-realistic, yet they breathe the life of his subjects with every stroke of his brush.

His works are painterly in display and rich in their layers of oil, acrylics, charcoal and graphite. Cameron has a keen eye for developing detail in areas that bring out the true likeness of a person and has a skill for capturing this likeness after only a few minutes of working the surface of a painting. He takes great care to embrace the medium itself, too.

“It’s all about the paint; you need to see the brushstrokes,” said Cameron.

While he works from the full body at times, his focus always leads back to the face of his subjects, as this is the area where first impressions are gathered and where the identity of a person is read. With this, areas of less importance are purposely left with a sense of incompleteness, but the works themselves feel finished.

“You don’t always need to tend to those other areas,” said Loughlin. “Jo’s portraits keep the focus on parts of the face that bring life to that person and make them who they are. There are no fillers, so to speak. These portraits are of who they are.”

About the Artist

Josiah Mark Cameron was born in Kings Mountain, N.C., in 1989. In 2010, after a few years in community college, Cameron came to Appalachian State University to pursue a BFA degree in studio art.

His career as an artist began with an innate interest in drawing, an appeal that sparked Cameron to take up reading, drawing, and collecting comic books. While his interest in comics allowed him the ability to draw animated illustrations, he developed his skill even further with his paintings, which always capture a painterly, yet lively likeness of his subjects. Cameron enjoys delving in other mediums as well, including sculpture and printmaking, but is sticking to his roots and pursuing a BFA concentration in painting. 

Along with being a full time student and artist, Cameron holds a studio space and is an active member of the Nth Degree Gallery in Boone, N.C. He has exhibited his work in Art Expo 2012 at the Catherine J. Smith Gallery on campus and was awarded Students Choice for the category of “In/Out/On the Body,” as well as a purchase award for the Appalachian Artists Collection in the Plemmons Student Union. Cameron is set to graduate from Appalachian in May 2013.

The Looking Glass Gallery is located on the first floor of the Plemmons Student Union Gallery hours for Summer Session I, through June 30, are Monday and Thursday from 7 a.m. – 10 p.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 7 a.m. – 8 p.m.; Saturday from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.; and Sunday from 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. Gallery hours for Summer Session II, July 1 – Aug. 3, are Monday – Friday from 7 a.m. – 8 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., and Sunday from 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. Gallery admission is free.

A full schedule of summer hours for PSU is available at studentunion.appstate.edu/pagesmith/34. For more information about the gallery, visit www.LookingGlassGallery.appstate.edu.

For more information, contact Dianna Loughlin, Looking Glass Gallery, at 828-262-3032.