Eggshibition!

I used the egg to learn and experiment with oil paint. The press release for the Eggshibition is fabulous! 

Breaking News: Eggstravaganza Show at Art Institute Gallery

Wil Bosbyshell exhibits egg still life series with a dose of fun.

You’re invited to an eggstravaganza of an art show!  Wil Bosbyshell’s egg still life series breaks into the public realm with a show running from July 1, to July 31, 2003, at the Gallery of The Art Institute of Charlotte.  The opening reception will be held Wednesday, July 23, from 5:30-7:00 p.m. 

Wil Bosbyshell is eggstatic about unveiling dozens of his egg still life paintings to the art-hungry public of Charlotte and North Carolina.  “Until this series, my paintings focused on very detailed and realistic architecture and landscape.  This show is an eggscape from those roots into a simple, yet bold look at the ordinary egg.”  The show includes over 20 oil canvases, mixed media work on paper, and many pencil sketches.  “I am generally very serious about my work, but I departed from that with this show and had a little fun.”  The paintings include titles like: Eggs in Space (imitating the Muppet’s movie, Pigs in Space), Eggistentialism, Woman Contemplating an Egg, and Eggsuberant.  “Bosbyshell has really come out of his shell with this series,” comments Mike Watson, gallery curator.

“I wanted to simplify my subject matter; maybe I went too far!”  The paintings portray eggs in dramatic light with bold colors and deep-cast shadows.  The eggs are all painted balancing in an upright position, providing an unusual tension to the unlikely subjects.  Most works feature a single egg and its shadow, but several include other items in the background.  “Everyone wants to know how I got the eggs to stand up and not roll over.  Well, it’s hard to eggsplain.”

When asked how he came to this unusual subject, Bosbyshell eggsplained that another artist, Andy Braitman, suggested it to him.  What began as a single painting became a series after encouragement from Gabriella Shane, of Shane Fine Art Gallery in Charlotte.  Who knew the power of suggestion?

Bosbyshell painted all the works directly from actual professional nude egg models from a professional modeling agency.  “Some people in Charlotte were understandably horrified by the thought of nude eggs in my studio.  This is the buckle of the Bible belt, after all.  To that I say, let the person with no sin start the egg toss!  It was hard for the eggs to stand upright for so long.  I hired only the strongest eggs and allowed for frequent breaks while painting.”  It’s important to note that none of the eggs were captured, on canvas, lying down on the job, and none of Bosbyshell’s models cracked under the pressure of his hard-boiled studio atmosphere.

“With my subject decided, I eggsperimented with the oil medium.”  Bosbyshell egglspored many painting techniques in the series: alla prima, extended alla prima, glazing, and thin and thick impasto paint application.  Some of the paintings are smoothly blended, while others reveal the subject with a series of bold brush strokes.  “It’s eggsilerating to work with oil paint; its creamy texture is very different from the flat surface of watercolor.”

The egg has been the subject of many an artist.  Robert Mayhew, Art History instructor at the Art Institute of Charlotte, says, “Bosbyshell crosses the road to determine which came first: art or the egg?  He has cracked the banal wide open with these egg paintings.”

Bosbyshell maintains a studio at the Charlotte Art League on the Trolley Line in Charlotte’s Southend Cultural District.  He has eggshibited throughout the Southeastern U.S.  His paintings are included in the corporate collections of EnPro Industries, Kanuga Conference Center, Elliot & Warren, PLLC, ISPAT America, Carley & Rabon, PLLC, Channel 12 NBC in Florida, Chateau Szechney in Hungary, and The Vendue Inn in Charleston.  Currently, Bosbyshell is an instructor at The Art Institute of Charlotte, where he teaches color theory, illustration, life drawing, and fundamentals of design.  With the addition of a culinary program to The Art Institute of Charlotte and Bosbyshell’s recent subject matter, he feels a strange pull toward the kitchen.  Joe Bonaparte, head chief at the Art Institute states, “Thankfully, Bosbyshell, does not teach in the culinary program.”