- By Tina Post
- Entertainment
Print 
Brett Scheifflee + Lana Purnell Teacup, 2009, oil on panel
“Affinity” is an exhibition of twenty-eight works. The paintings focus on everyday objects, examining the ways they’re tied to memory and identity. In their tone, the paintings seem to show a conflicting mixture of cool detachment and earnest, studious effort. This effect is gained, says String Room Gallery director William Ganis, by reinterpreting the “pop art” strategies of a past generation. “We may think we know this kind of work because of earlier artists such as Sigmar Polke and Andy Warhol, but Scheifflee and Purnell bring an unexpected quality,” he says.
In creating the works of “Affinity,” Scheifflee and Purnell have used intensive, gorgeously crafted layers of glazed oil to reveal singular objects on colorful fields. In other words, the artists have used a traditional technique within a style that usually breaks painting conventions. This allows the two artists to bridge the stylistic space between Dutch still-lifes and pop icons, explains Ganis.
Brett Scheifflee and Lana Purnell have worked collaboratively since 2008. Born in Buffalo, NY, in 1986, Brett Scheifflee studied illustration and art history at the Rochester Institute of Technology where he recieved a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2008. He has extensively studided the history and practices of oil painting and has subsequently devoted himself to fine arts. Brett is currently invloved with producing and showing independent and collaborative works, as well as painting and designing on commission.
Lana was born in Aurora, NY in 1986. She graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a BFA in 2008. She is enthusiastic about her diverse spectrum of influences and interests--from postmodern philosophy in art to graphic novels to techniques in classical painting.
Their work was recently exhibited in the “Made in NY 2009” exhibition at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn.
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