LOS ANGELES, CA.- Thomas Paul Fine Art presents Johns Canyon, an exhibition of works by the artist, Harrison Storms. Storms’ recent collection encompasses monolithic panels, wherein the artist draws upon the figure of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man and other historical images of the human form, which he then repeatedly erases and reforms. The massive images are constructed with gesso, limestone sand, ink, and acrylic paint, only to have their layers ground, scraped, and rubbed away with brushes, rags, and pneumatic grinders. This ritual of creation and destruction of the human form serves as an analogue for the viewer’s place in the universe, thus eliciting inquiry into the barrier of internal and external experience. In manipulating the human form, Storms creates an image that is both personal and timeless, simultaneously echoing existential meditation and historical imagery.

Storms summarizes his works as follows: “Essentially, these paintings unify the image of the Body into the space that surrounds it. With the collapsed skin line, the contouring boundary that once graphically and psychologically separated the image from its universe, the images open into the true reality of limitless consciousness.” “Like the human body and the human being, these works are at once whole in themselves, but also integrated with their immediate environments and reaching out beyond the now and into the unknown depth of the metaphysical plane.” Through philosophical consideration of the barriers of human consciousness, Storms’ works expand the dialogue of contemporary figuration and contribute important implications toward the manner in which line and visual boundaries are interpreted.

Johns Canyon will be on display at Thomas Paul Fine Art, 7270 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036 from January 15th until February 19th, 2011.