The Gallery @ Barr Photographics announces the inaugural installment of the Corner Gallery’s 2020 exhibition series

The Gallery @ Barr Photographics announces the inaugural installment of the Corner Gallery’s 2020 exhibition series with a collection of oil and acrylic paintings entitled “Experiential Improvisations” a debut gallery exhibit, by emerging, outsider, Bristol, Virginia artist, David L. Browning, aka, The Mayberry Deputy.

David Browning was born in 1949 and raised in Bristol Virginia, the eighth of nine children, seven sisters and one brother.  After graduation from Virginia High School in 1967, David gravitated to performing arts. David began to hone acting and performing skills, discovered at Virginia High, as characters in stage plays for local and regional theatre groups, beginning with the Dogwood Theatre Youth Program on to Virginia Intermont  and  Sullins Colleges and eventually landing at Theatre Bristol. During the progression David was doing commercials for TV and parts for short corporate training films. As his career progressed David worked as a theatre administrator and director as well as an actor. All the while adding the tools he would need to perfect the role of The Mayberry Deputy as a tribute artist for the Don Knotts character “Barney Fife” as seen on the television program, The Andy Griffith Show..  Mr. Browning’s portrayal of The Mayberry Deputy has garnered critical acclaim and has been the “job” for Mr. Browning for over 26 years and will continue into the future, but this article is about a different set of talents that David possesses. Art as expressed with a paint brush on canvases using either acrylic or oil paints. David is, what is known in the art world as, an “outsider artist”, meaning someone who has had no formal training, yet is proficient with constructing images on two dimensional substrates like paper or canvas. In 2016 David began his journey as a painting artist by buying some art supplies, drawing and painting experimental creations, promptly discarding them and beginning the process over again. Watercolor painting gave way to acrylic paints, then, oil painting and with oils, David had discovered his medium.

            Mr. Browning reveals in his artist’s statement, “With a background of live performance for nearly fifty years, putting art on a canvas via painting never entered my mind until 2016, when I began experimenting with creating images using watercolors. I soon found that with no training as a visual artist, my lack of training showed up clearly, but I still wanted to paint.  I began to experiment with acrylic paints and enjoyed the experience very much, but still wasn’t completely satisfied with my creations. After acrylics, it didn’t take too long to move on to painting with oil, here I found a path to more joy of creating and going to the canvas.  As an “outsider artist”, I explored my own style, I watched videos on You-Tube of painting instruction, including many well know painters living and dead, and covered many canvasses with images, some of which I liked and many I did not.  The images I liked reflected my own ideas, feelings and approach to image creation incorporated with technical knowledge and techniques gleaned from instructional videos. A personal style of image creation emerged and this is where I have settled. I discovered my painting style reflects my live performance style, geared clearly toward improvisation and trial and error.  Creating the exhibit “Experiential Improvisations” has been a labor of joy, especially since I only began to paint in my sixth decade.  I am encouraged as I realize that the creative, visual arts are not limited to a certain age or status.  I have also discovered, through painting, that one can grow as an artist and express feelings, ideas and images, using multiple genres, throughout our entire lives.”

 “Experiential Improvisations” will be celebrated with a reception, gallery talk and demonstration of technique by David L. Browning, to which the public is cordially invited, on Friday, 14 February from 7 - 9:00 PM in The Gallery @ Barr Photographics, 152 E. Main Street, Abingdon, Virginia.  “Experiential Improvisations” will hang, and be offered for sale, through 31, March.   The Gallery @ Barr Photographics is housed in the Greenway Trigg Building, located in the heart of Abingdon’s main street historic district.  Please call 276- 628-1486 or visit https://barrphotographics.com/CornerGalleryFeatureArtist.aspx?cms=9386 for further information.