Randall Yarbrough: Captivity
Artist Q & A
November 22, 2009 12-2 PM

Continental Gallery
400 S. Spring St. LA, CA 90013

Continental Gallery is pleased to present a Q & A with artist Randall Yarbrough regarding his latest show, Captivity, on November 22, 2009 from 12-2 PM in Downtown Los Angeles, CA.
Randall Yarbrough's latest cycle of work, Captivity, comprised of a narrative cycle of works on paper, canvas and wood, which includes assemblages of found and created objects, recounts the struggle of the individual to be true to himself within a conformist society.  Taking a playful approach to a serious theme, Yarbrough spins the tale of a man haunted by dark habits, who in search of his own liberty imprisons another creature, until he comes to see himself reflected in the animal's behavior.
The allegorical implications of this depression-era story are befitting to the present day.  In the wake of the current economic situation, many people have come to see themselves as owned by objects, rather than the other way around. The animal who the protagonist of Captivity imprisons mirrors the wild and most authentic part of the self; the soul attuned to nature.  Given civilization's worldly constraints, this part of ourselves is all too often imprisoned in the pursuit of material possessions.  Captivity  serves as a visual parable regarding the importance of living a life free from socially-driven and false imperatives.

In creating these works Yarbrough deliberately followed a similar trajectory to that of his protagonist.  The works thereby become more than a transmission of the main character's story, but through the deliberate incorporation of various objects of sentimental meaning and significance, a record of the artist's own journey.  Starting the work in Los Angeles, Yarbrough moved to a month long period of seclusion in the desert, ultimately reintegrating into society through residency in an artist's loft in New York City.   

Given the cinematic scope of the project Yarbrough chose to paint several of the pieces in the 16 x 9 aspect ratio.  The sweeping power of nature's immensity, and the small scale of individual life is especially apparent in these paintings. But this same sense of boundlessness comes through in all the works, as intentionally unfinished strokes and open spaces give way to a painterly pattern of gradient pastels, almost as if every image were superimposed against the open sky.  A larger, incredible truth, difficult to apprehend, seems to seep through the image depicted -- in the open fold of a curtain, fading line of a chair, or shadowy outline of an audience -- and it is in this commingling between object and infinity, where the human need to connect with the immensity of nature is laid bare,  that Yarbrough's work is at once both poignant and profound.

Born in Texas in 1976, and raised in the rural town of Weatherford, Yarbrough's childhood was spent immersed in the wide open vistas and wilderness of Texas.  An accomplished college athlete, he played football for Texas Tech and was an active in local rodeos.  After college he worked as a model in New York, London and Milan, before settling in Los Angeles where he has become a significant figure in the burgeoning downtown arts scene.  Having recently painted as resident artist with famed circus troupe Lucent Dossier, the body of work he created during this period sold out during his first solo show at Audis Husar in Beverly Hills.  He is presently at work on a new series of paintings exploring life from the perspective of childhood.

-Cole Godvin