That brief, electrically charged moment when a wild animal reveals itself; when time stops, and that beast seems to look not only at you but through you—this is what wildlife artists Amber Blazina and Matt Flint explore in an enchanting new exhibition at Gallery Wild. 
Amber Blazina, Aubergine, oil on linen, 72 x 40"
“We both have similar conceptual thoughts with different end results,” Blazina says of both Flint’s and her own artwork. “We both play with the animals’ environments, adding a layer of abstractness that enhances the feeling the viewer experiences.” Blazina’s highly painterly works feature animals like bison and deer peering directly at the viewer. Likewise, a portrait of a wolf by Flint, captivates the viewer with an intense, knowing gaze.
Matt Flint, In the Colors, mixed media on panel, 42 x 30"
“My artwork for this show will evolve around the meeting of two different ideas: chance encounters of animals/landscapes in the wild, and the juxtaposition of oil paint’s properties,” Blazina continues. “Most of my resource images come from just that—walking in secluded areas and snapping photos of the scenes we happen upon. Impressionism and abstract expressionism colliding, so to speak. The gracefulness of wildlife in their element, sometimes noticing the viewer, sometimes oblivious and engrossed in their instincts. All the while, honoring the medium’s natural characteristics—drips of looser paint, thick impasto, soft edges, hard edges—all the contrasts. I love the dance of layers and plains, giving the viewer’s eye room to move across the painting, noticing new facets to the story each time they look.” 
Matt Flint, Somewhere in the Sky, oil and mixed media on panel, 72 x 48"
Amber Blazina, Close Encounter, oil on linen, 36 x 36"
Flint lives in Wyoming at the base of the rugged, wild and isolated Wind River Mountains. He brings to the show a number of larger works on heavily textured, stretched canvas, which allows him to enhance his rough, highly textured brushwork. “My work has always been about the balance between abstraction and representation, expressive mark making contrasted by areas of refined, more classical leaning painting,” he says. “I am a restless wanderer, my painting process is about searching, painting, removing, overpainting, sanding, repainting, searching, refining etc. until I find a quality of surface, color and marks that are harmonious and unexpected…Because of my approach to painting, the images and subjects of my work seem to be in flux, shifting, coming in and out of focus, fragmenting and reassembling. There is an active yet quiet quality I am after.”
Encounters takes place June 16 to 30 with an artist reception kicking off the exhibition from 4 to 7 p.m. —
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