"Painting Arizona: The Last West"

SEDONA, Ariz. - Feb. 24, 2019 - PRLog -- "Painting Arizona:  The Last West, Part 1" features New Work by Greg Heil at James Ratliff Gallery , Hillside Sedona, 671 State Route 179, Suites A-1 & A-2, Sedona, AZ 86336, debuting Friday, March 1, with an opening reception for the artist from 5-8 PM.  The artist will make a short presentation at 5:30 PM.  This exhibition will continue through March 16.

Greg Heil is well known for his magnificent Arizona landscapes distinguished by their brilliant color, dramatic composition creating beauty through oil on canvas. However, Greg has been haunted in recent months by what he sees in Arizona as clearly as those beautiful Arizona landscapes.  He wonders what people see as they travel, visit or live within Arizona's monumentally colorful and immense vistas.

In the attempt to invite viewers of his paintings to reflect how he uses his recognizable palette of colors and shapes to introduce another aspect of Arizona's reality, Greg simply asks viewers:  "Do you see what I see?"

"Painting Arizona:  The Last West" is the first in a new series.  In this exhibition, the gallery offers Greg's new works for consideration, discussion and a deeper insight into the mindset of the artist previously recognized exclusively for colorful scenes of Arizona's landscapes.

It seems that such an exhibition can offer an opportunity for gallery goers to engage with the artist on a new level.  It's apparent the artist's techniques might be the same in the palette, the shapes use of light and shadow, but the content is different.  In addition to further understanding similarities in such elements of a work, viewers will see the use of conscious choice to emphasize and present a different "landscape" as Arizona.

Greg Heil as a maturing artist sees his homeland impacted by the physical surroundings of its people, places and "things".  It's the totality of all this that defines Arizona and therefore calls out for inclusion in understanding its essence.

For Greg and the viewer, the challenge is to realize what "being there" is all about. "It's facing the truth and being human, in general," comments Greg.

From landscapes to trailers, broken down cars surrounded by people sitting outside.  It's powerful; it's a different sense of beauty.  It's truth.

Implications? Greg Heil, has expanded the tradition of plein air painting into a new territory of synthetic color canvas images made possible by his conversion of shapes, forms, and palettes suggested by American Southwest landscapes and manipulated through digital possibilities to become singular works on canvas with the artist's multi-faceted talent heralded by 21st century human and technological influences.

Greg Heil is an artist who specializes in Arizona landscapes and travels to the locations he paints to memorialize these areas.  He often sketches and/or takes photos and then returns to his studio to do the actual oil painting which is interpreted through his artistic sensibilities.   Heil's color choices are magical and his paintings can only be called "magical; realism".

Heil is an artist who not only looks and listens but also sees.  The French word, regard, explains how the now 40-year-old Arizona painter developed.  Heil respects the guidance and career direction offered by James Ratliff' which led to past and the upcoming exhibition.

The James Ratliff Gallery's provenance is the cultivation, exhibition and representation of contemporary art and artists like Greg Heil.

For further information about Heil, contact the James Ratliff Gallery: ph.  928-282-1404; e-mail:  FineArt@jamesratliffgallery.com;

www.jamesratliffgallery.com