Daniel Coston to Exhibit New Works at Cantrell Gallery

Contemporary painter Daniel Coston’s BEYOND THE PHOTOGRAPHS will open March 11 at Cantrell Gallery in Little Rock, Arkansas, and will continue through May 7th, 2016.  The opening night reception for BEYOND THE PHOTOGRAPHS will be on Friday, March 11, 6-8:00. Please join us! It will be a great opportunity to visit with the artist while viewing his works. If you can’t make it that evening, the show will continue through May 7. Cantrell Gallery is located at 8206 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, AR. Gallery hours are Monday ”“ Saturday, 10-5:00.  Call (501) 224-1335 for questions or directions.   Artist Statement, BEYOND THE PHOTOGRAPHS “Every year I take a lot of reference snapshots of Arkansas that I add to an ever-growing archive.  Many of the images are useless but a few remind me of things I saw as a kid in Southeastern Arkansas.  Some even seem iconic to me, expressing something about the geography we call home. So I work on these pictures…drawing the scenes until I think I can do something worthwhile.  These photos evoke memories in me.  I want to bring these memories back.  At times, the memories could be about the sunlight on a particular day…the sky in […]

Delta Rocket: Leaving the Past Behind

If it is a hot still day some where on the delta, a scene that will always catch your eye is a vehicle (it’s almost always a pickup) roaring along a dusty road just slightly ahead of a cloud of dust.  If it’s far enough away that you can’t hear it, the scene is all the more entrancing.  The pickup seems like a rocket blasting off for a space station when in reality it’s just heading for the nearest store. I have that overall idea in my head a lot of the time.  It is an iconic scene for the delta…any delta with crops in varying stages of growth.  It could be a pickup bumping along a turn row or blasting down a dirt road on the other side of a field.  If the weather is dry the dust will be deep and easily thrown up into the hot, still air. Some of these fields will have a family plot tucked away by a paved highway.  Maybe there will be a couple of trees.  If the tiny cemetery is really old the trees may be just stumps…or gone altogether.  So I put these two ideas together and liked the way […]

On Landscape Painting – Remember with Respect

I asked Daniel to share some thoughts on landscape painting, in conjunction with the publication of several of his artworks in the Landscapes issue of Artist Portfolio Magazine. It’s  an honor to have his work selected alongside so many great artists! 1. How has your landscape painting style changed or evolved over the last 5 or 10 years? For many years I was simply painting a portrait of “a place.” Maybe it was a home place, a well-known building, or perhaps a country church. I still seek to render the “location” as it was or maybe still is. But as time has gone by, I’m also interested in putting the “place” in the right atmosphere’ or weather’ to make it seem more realistic. This can have the effect of making the scene more dramatic. 2.  Is there a mood or feeling that your want viewers to take away from your landscape paintings? In many small towns and country crossroads, we find dilapidated churches, banks, and schools. I enjoy “renovating” some of these back to their original “glories.” But I also hope that the viewer will feel some sadness that these places are gone or going. Sometimes I try to find […]

New Video – Making “The Green Trim” by Daniel Coston

We took lots of photos as  Daniel worked on his paintings for his “Arkansas Weather Report” show in March at Cantrell Gallery. We thought it would be fun to create a video showing the progression of the paintings. Here is the first video, for the painting The Green Trim. The painting depicts an old country store, once thriving but now sitting abandoned by the roadside in Ladd, Arkansas. We are happy to say that the painting was purchased by an Arkansas fine art collector during the first week of the show. But if you like his work, Daniel has several other works for sale at Cantrell Gallery in Little Rock, Arkansas.   Hope you enjoy the video!  

“Arkansas Weather Report” Exhibition – Now Open at Cantrell Gallery

Daniel Coston’s “Arkansas Weather Report” opened March 7th at Cantrell Gallery in Little Rock, Arkansas, and will continue through  closed April 26th.  Cantrell Gallery is located at 8206 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, AR. Gallery hours are Monday ”“ Saturday, 10-5:00.  Call (501) 224-1335 for questions or directions. Though most of the paintings have sold, you can click here to view the web gallery for the exhibition. Daniel has several additional works at Cantrell Gallery still available! Artist Statement “It is a cliché that if you don’t like the weather in Arkansas, just wait until tomorrow because it will change. In this show, the weather will change when you step to the next painting. “Arkansas Weather Report” reflects the natural variability from day-to-day, hour-to-hour, painting-by-painting. As an artist, I record southeastern Arkansas through my landscapes. Quite often the scene emphasizes the architecture found throughout the region. Seemingly, that gives the paintings a historical aspect; however my intent is to convey the region as it exists in the present. The paintings in “Arkansas Weather Report” represent a subtle shift from the scenes of my previous exhibitions even though the subject matter is much the same. I started these paintings in 2013 and […]

Coy’s Castle Acquired by The Arts and Sciences Center for Southeast Arkansas

Great News! We are pleased to announce that Daniel’s painting ‘Coy’s Castle’ was acquired for the Permanent Collection by The Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas as part of the 2013 Rosenzweig Biennial!! From the press release announcing the purchase: “The landscape painting depicts gin operation buildings, a tower, and silos of the Coy Gin Co. of Coy, Arkansas, located approximately 30 miles northeast of Pine Bluff. The work preserves an iconic and pervasive scene in the Delta landscape that is disappearing rapidly; indeed, since the work’s creation, much of the gin depicted has been since demolished. Inspired by the form and prominence of the tower and connected silos, Coston was reminded of an Albrecht Durer watercolor of a modest European castle, hence the title, Coy’s Castle.”