Please join us in June for new works by one of the gallery's favorite NW artists, Brad Caplis.

Caplis was busy during the Pandemic with a variety of small playful and whimsical pet oriented works which were all sold as they were completed during the past year.

His larger new works revolve around the adventure of weekend Excursions with the family pet and new found locations.

  

A native of Michigan and graduate of the University of Virginia, Caplis now resides in the Pacific Northwest.

He has explored a variety of landscapes across the country with a playful eye, yet still has fond remembrance of growing up in Michigan and his new home in the Northwest.

  

Growing up in rural Michigan, he was always in or around the woods where he dreamt of spotting flying saucers in a patch of sky just above the pine trees, or stumbling upon a clearing to witness some kind of bucolic supernatural ceremony. He never did witness such events however, but was always on the lookout for the extraordinary in nature.

    

As he began painting, images began to surface that best represented these more mystical yearnings. Before adolescence He was often sick with flu and high fevers which invariably let to hallucinations, some of which were terrifying and quite bizarre. There were times when he would lash out at them or run around the house in hopes of escaping. His mother would let him stay in his brother's room during these episodes as it seem to make him feel safer.

    

In his brother's room, along with all the cool stuff an older brother has, was a vintage 1940's radio. As he lay in bed in a delusional state, he would watch the radio rise up or grow and become speaking. It's voice (he assumed it was God's voice) would announce all kinds of catastrophe and miracles alike. Sometimes a crackling panicked voice like that of an on the street reporter and other times a booming great almighty voice from above, the radio belted out cryptic messages and spectacular occurrences. It was entirely hypnotic and at the time, he believed to be the most important discovery of his young life.

    

Age, maturity and better health eased the delusions transforming many of these images of the past into whimsical and playful paintings as seen in "Excursions".