ANACHRONISTIC ODYSSEYS
FEATURED ARTIST TERRY ROWLETT

INTERVIEW + PHOTOGRAPHY ELIZABETH CASHOUR

Born in and raised in Green Forest, Arkansas, painter Terry Rowlett has recently moved from Athens, GA to Brooklyn, NY. A selection of his extraordinary paintings is currently on exhibit at ZIPPER in Brooklyn. We recently asked Terry a few questions about his work.

Q. At first glance, some of your paintings seem to have religious, specifically Christian, overtones. Are you using that iconography to express your religious beliefs?
A. No, the Christian religion or mythology that I was surrounded by and taught as a child is my square one, or jumping off point, as a developing being and artist. I've since, however, evolved spiritually and philosophically away from the absoluteness of that particular religion. I do find, though, the format and style of old Christian renaissance paintings desirable for my own personal artistic expression.

Q. Why have you chosen to add modern references, such as the Pepsi cup and webbed beach chair in Through the Garden, to your otherwise classical paintings?
A. The contemporary objects that I put into the paintings are devices that I use to “hook up” the past with the present. As a culture, we have advanced from papyrus to plastic, but we still struggle with the same human emotions and situations that have always confronted us.

Q. How do you choose models for your paintings? Do the personalities of the models relate to the characters in the paintings?
A. In general, I start a painting with a pretty firm idea of what I want to express. Then, I start looking at my friends and my friends’ friends to see who would best fit the part in the painting. It's always fun working with people at this stage in the developing process.

Q. Since critics perceive your work as distinctively influenced by the South, why have you chosen to move to Brooklyn?
A. I find life too rich to spend in just one place. After living in and visiting other parts of the world, I decided to move to New York to see what “life” I could glean from such a historically rich city. And I've not been disappointed.