{9} The Gallery Presents "Emmett Graham: Life Connected Through Time"

PHOENIX - Aug. 21, 2020 - PRLog -- {9} The Gallery presents Emmett Graham: "Life Connected Through Time", a virtual exhibit for First Friday, September 4th, 2020 at 9thegallery.com and on Artsy.net. "Life Connected Through Time" takes the viewer on a journey from past to present, telling the story of a devastating turning point where two societies collide and create a stark and enduring duality of life into the present day.

Graham's pieces are richly symbolic and include a combination of historical, cultural and folkloric elements that have been passed down through generations.  Through contrasting imagery, Graham unveils the direct and indirect commonalities of humanity, unifying the works to tell a relatable story.

{9} will also release an interview with Graham in which he discusses his series across its social media accounts on Friday, September 4th, 2020 at 7:00 PM MST.

"My artistic vision comes from my interest in history, stories, and my Mexican Native and European heritage.  My process starts with research and with a concept in mind, I arrange and document various stages of a still life setup.  Once I find the image I will work from, I play with its color and lighting until I reach the desired look and emotion for the image.  From there, my process shifts to drawing and painting with oil paint on canvas wood panels.  My work expresses the duality of life, history and the stories we are leaving behind for future generations to learn from just as we look back and learn from generations before us." – Emmett Graham

Emmett Graham is a realist painter based in the Southwest.  He is a Marine Corps veteran, born in Warner Robins, Georgia and raised in Pueblo, Colorado. Graham received his formal training at Scottsdale Artists' School and holds a BFA in Painting from Arizona State University.

Graham's paintings center on issues of inherited cultural Identities, rendering indigenous and Meso-American historical iconography in the style of traditional Italian renaissance painting to mingle and confuse the visual languages of his own ancestral lineage. He keys in on the 15th century invasions of the Americas as the cataclysmic turning point where these two worlds collided to create the stark and enduring duality of pre- and post-Columbian cultures. Attempting to understand and express his own fanning lineage by juxtaposing cultural symbols, cues and tableaus, Graham goads the careful viewer to the same task.

{9} The Gallery is a contemporary art gallery committed to showing local, national, and international artists of the highest quality. For more information visit http://www.9thegallery.com.