Reynolds Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Building a Theme, a solo exhibition by Barry Purcell at our 401 Libbie Avenue location. The exhibition opens Friday, October 21 with a public reception with the artist from 5-7 pm, and runs through November 23, 2022

Purcell’s newest body of photographic compositions investigates themes of aesthetics and  design, and their influence on the ways we interact with nature and built environments. 

Purcell states:

Building a Theme (2022—) is a recent and ongoing effort to capture unique perspectives of where we live, work, and strive to enjoy life. On the surface, Building a Theme leverages the colors, textures, and design features of manufactured structures to create tessellating geometric images that serve to abstract the static form of the underlying building. 

The origin of Building a Theme is adjacent to, and spun from, A Place and Time (2019—present), a series that illustrates the juxtapositon of being “present” or “in the moment” against “ruminating,” which is a repeated pattern of thoughts associated with depression.

In Building a Theme, the series looks at the relationship between the places we live and work on a daily, weekly, and annual basis. These spaces create a pattern of reoccurring activity against the value that is created in terms of interpersonal experience, work product, and self-worth inside these structures. The photographs are all snapshots—taken with the immediacy of iPhone photos—cropped and flipped into abstracted scenes with minimal manipulation.

About Barry Purcell 

Barry Purcell is a fourth-generation painter and photographer born in Virginia Beach, VA in 1973. He received his Bachelor of Science from James Madison University in 1996 and Juris Doctorate and Master of Business from the University of Richmond in 2000. He currently resides in Richmond, VA and Virginia Beach.