The View from Here | Rod Massey.

Massey is a part of a group of contemporary Midwestern artists dedicated to continuing and re-examining the tradition of American Realist scene painting. Over the past 40 years, Massey’s subjects have included the houses and yards of his quiet Southwest Minneapolis neighborhood, abandoned industrial warehouses, gritty highways, and neglected grain elevators. In his artist’s statement Massey has written:

“I strive to reveal the underlying character of the mundane and unremarkable scenes that populate my world… and record them with unsentimental honesty and affection”.

Through his careful study of industrial artifacts and uninhabited urban spaces, Massey keenly describes the sometimes-awkward intersection between nature and industry that coexist in city life. Often revisiting the same sites, Massey’s sustained investigation of these ordinary places and objects illustrates his personal and sometimes exasperated affection for the urban landscape.

About the Artist:

Rod Massey was born in Minneapolis in 1949. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He also attended the Tanglewood Boston University Summer Art Program and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Massey was a Visiting Artist at Roger Williams College in Barrington, Rhode Island in 1986 and participated in the Walker Art Center Open Studio Program in 1987. He has been awarded numerous grants including a Bush Foundation Fellowship, a McKnight Foundation Fellowship and several Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grants. Massey’s commissions include paintings for Minnesota Life, the Minnesota Department of Transportation, Securian, Target, and Methodist Hospital

Presented alongside:  Annual/Perennial | Tim Tozer. 

Gallery Hours: 

Tuesday – Saturday, 12 to 5 pm