Elisa Contemporary Art: Our exhibit Immersion in Bridgehampton and artist Matt Story

Last few days to catch the Elisa Contemporary Art exhibit Immersion at The Design Studio in Bridgehampton, NY. Immersion is a deep dive into the Summer Season featuring the Swimmer artwork of Kaua’i artist Carol Bennett, New Orleans Hyperrealist Matt Story and San Francisco Minimalist, Jeffrey Palladini. The exhibit will run through July 27, 2015

We are thrilled to be debuting our newest gallery artist, hyperrealist Matt Story.

Here's a look at our installation:

Immersion is on exhibit at The Design Studio, 2393 Main Street in Bridgehampton NY.

The Design Studio hours are Monday-Thursday 10 am – 5 pm; Friday/Saturday 10am – 5:30pm; Sunday 11am – 4pm.

Each of our artists has a different relationship and significance for focusing on water and underwater movement.

For Matt Story, water serves as a metaphor for “a deeper self-birth, cleansing and baptism.” His paintings draw their inspiration from underwater photographs, including a recent shoot in New Orleans in 45 degree weather in an outdoor pool.

Matt Story studied art from an early age and demonstrated a unique skill for rendering verisimilitude, or hyper-realism. "I was lauded for 'photo-realistic' technique, but I was never after that, really, after what a camera impartially sees, because there's so much more there, captured only by the human filter of memory. We all possess these invisible imprints, through experience and living, but often its only artists who can play it back for us, to remind us. The paint surface needs to be a mirror for the viewer, reflecting back not his or her superficial self, but a deep shared humanness. This is the essence of looking at a piece that's totally unfamiliar to you and yet, being awed with a sense of recognition. "

Story has worked for over twenty years from his studio in Los Angeles but in mid-2013 began traveling with his wife, first with a long hiatus on the Isle of Palms near Charleston, South Carolina, and recently a long stint near Santa Fe, New Mexico and New Orleans where he paints today. His method of oil painting on canvas and panel closely resembles the classical method, used for centuries by masters such as Titian and Caravaggio, two of Story's heroes, fastidiously building up thin glazes, painting "fat over lean" with traditional materials. His work is included in private and corporate collections in the United States, Europe and Asia.