statement

The practical imperative of my photorealistic drawings of people and natural phenomena is to facilitate the viewer's close inspection through their small, intimate scale, their wealth of discrete fragments of "information," and their insistence that even the ordinary is worthy of extreme scrutiny.  These works embody my belief that every diminutive, "missable" object is alive, singular, and "holy," and that everyday occurrences must be appreciated with care, reverence, and gratitude.  Aesthetically, the goal of a few of these pieces is to amplify the dialectical tension between abstract pattern and recognizable object, between actual photograph and crafted, illusionistic surface.  They touch upon the themes of anonymity, individuation, self-discovery, transience, artistic appropriation and originality.

bio

born:1980, Ojai, California

education:

Stanford University, B.A., 2003
University of Minnesota, M.F.A., 2007                                        

selected awards/honors

Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, 4th place, for the drawing, "Amos." Minneapolis, MN, 2009.
Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, 2nd place and People's Choice Award, for the drawing, "Maryanna." Minneapolis, MN, 2008.
Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, 1st place and People's Choice Award, for the drawing, "Patch of Earth."  Minneapolis, MN, 2007.
Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, 2nd place and People's Choice Award, for the drawing, "Freya Manfred." Minneapolis, MN, 2006.

selected publications

"Swimming with a Hundred Year Old Snapping Turtle." Poems by Freya Manfred, Red Dragonfly Press. Cover Illustration. Minneapolis, MN. 2007.
Liminal Magazine.  Cover painting. Minneapolis, MN. 2005.
"My Only Home." Poems by Freya Manfred, Red Dragonfly Press. Illustrations by Nicholas Bly Pope and Ethan Rowan Pope. Minneapolis, MN. 2003.
"Dark Fire." Poems by Nicholas Bly Pope, Giant Horse Printing. Illustrations by Nicholas Bly Pope and Ethan Rowan Pope. San Francisco, CA. 2003.

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Pope Brothers Art Exhibit, Uptown Art Fair, Minneapolis, MN, 2009.
Pope Brothers Art Exhibit, Edina Art Fair, Edina, MN, 2009.

selected group shows

Blake School Alumni Art Exhibition, Blake Upper School Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, 2009.
Robbin Gallery Exhibition, Robbin Gallery, Robbinsdale, MN, 2008.
MFA Thesis Exhibition, Katherine Nash Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, 2007.
North American Graduate Art Survey, Katherine Nash Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, 2006.