march exhibitions
spring is in the air and we are super excited to open 4 new solo exhibitions for page jones davis, scott duce, jeffrey reed and kim testone. the last few weeks have been filled with artist visits, studio pick ups, painting the gallery, laying out the shows, installing and lighting. it’s a big to do list but we love every step of the process. we were over the moon to see all the recent paintings our artists have worked on for the past year prepping for their shows and we look forward to sharing with our collectors.
page jones davis was born in atlanta and now resides in inman, south carolina. she recently received her ma from the savannah college of art and design. her abstract paintings were exhibited in a group exhibition entitled siblings at the spartanburg museum of art. page's color saturation and her compositions are mesmerising. her paintings are bursting with color and form.
the infinite color combinations in nature and in the material world alike are etched into my mind. that bright green patch of moss i saw on my walk that stood out so boldly against the dead winter leaves had such strength and grace. that wacky color combination in a gorgeous fabric was unapologetically loud. the nature of color and its complexities is the fuel for my work. the story that ensues as color becomes form is my fire.
-page jones davis
scott duce received his mfa from boston university and his bfa from the university of utah. his paintings reveal a fine-tuned understanding of archetypical landscape reinterpreted in an uncompromisingly individual way. dedicated to the universal rather than the particular, duce’s keen insight reinvigorates the tradition of landscape painting. among his awards and honors he has received a national endowment for the arts/secca artist grant. scott duce is on the faculty at sarah lawrence college. he paints in his studio in new york city and montana where he captures a lot of his subjects from the in public series by photographing people going about their every day activities.
waterways investigates the horizon line as a perceptual structure rather than a fixed geographical boundary. situated between water and sky, the horizon operates as a shifting optical event—formed through subtle variations in tone, value, and color that continuously recalibrate spatial depth and orientation. what appears as division becomes instead a site of relational tension.
landscape painting has historically relied on atmospheric perspective to construct illusionistic space. in this series, that convention is both engaged and destabilized. the horizon is sometimes rendered with near-symmetrical precision, sometimes blurred through expansions of color and light, and at times removed altogether, replaced by an implied or optical horizon generated through chromatic transition alone. depth emerges not through traditional modeling, but through perceptual vibration.
the paintings examine how minimal compositional elements can produce complex perceptual experiences. rhythms of waves—echoed in both water and sky—establish lateral movement across the picture plane, while moments of inversion between above and below disrupt fixed orientation. these shifts activate a tension between material presence and atmospheric indeterminacy.
drawing conceptually from the phenomenology of maurice merleau-ponty, the horizon is understood as the limit-structure of perception: a boundary that recedes as it is approached, always suggesting more than is immediately visible. in this sense, the water–sky horizon becomes a metaphor for perceptual openness. it reveals that vision is never complete or self-contained; it unfolds through anticipation, ambiguity, and embodied relation.
through restrained form and nuanced color systems, waterways proposes landscape not as depiction, but as an event of seeing — an encounter in which the viewer becomes aware of perception itself as fluid, contingent, and continually exceeding what is given.
-scott duce
jeffrey reed received his bfa from the maryland institute college of art, studied at the skowhegan school of art, and received his mfa from the university of pennsylvania. reed lives in philadelphia where he recently retired from teaching at the community college of philadelphia after 40 years where he was the head of the art department for many years. 25 years ago he was granted a fellowship and residency at the ballinglen arts foundation, ballycastle, county mayo, ireland. since then each summer he has returned to paint and teach at ballinglen on the western coast of ireland. reed has mastered the art of handling light and atmosphere within his delicate, lyrical compositions. when he is painting on site he feel a connection with the familiar and a sense of discovery at the same time. he paints in the same locations multiple times allowing him to focus on changes in the light and atmosphere. he is a en plein air painter typically working outside for three to four hours on a painting until he get the essence of a particular scene. then back in the studio, the work is focused on developing the forms and trying to resolve the design of the painting. his scale is small but what he captures is the vastness and beauty of the ever changing landscape.
i grew up on the shores of the magothy river just north of annapolis, maryland. the rhythm of the natural world was a large part of our lives. we were always outside, in the woods or on the water. when i developed an interest in art it was partnered with my interest in the natural world. it was an easy choice for me as to what i would paint. the landscape has always been the focus. the experience of working on location, when the light and weather are changing, is what i like the most.
i have lived in philadelphia since 1980. i do most of my painting locally, however twenty-five years ago i first traveled to the west coast of Ireland for a two-month fellowship at the ballinglen arts foundation. this experience had a huge impact on me and my painting. i continue to return to the ballinglen arts foundation, in county mayo ireland, to paint and teach for a month each summer. working on the west coast of ireland, with the dramatic changes of weather and coastal landscape, there is always the familiar combined with the surprise of the new. the new light, the new atmosphere and the new experiences are always right outside the door. it is this sense of the familiar coupled with the uniqueness of the moment, offered by the natural world, that intrigues me as a person and as an artist.
-jeffrey reed
new york-based artist kim hall-testone holds a bachelor’s degree in drawing from the university of central florida and a master’s degree in arts administration from savannah college of art and design. the acrylic still life and trompe l’oeil painter focuses on colorful dessert foods with a whimsical twist. a former art magazine editor and theme park caricature artist, kim paints subjects that range from highly realistic giant ice cream cones to her newest work featuring complex trompe l’oeil foodscapes of decorated cookies, frosting swirls and other sweet treats. she draws inspiration from an idyllic rural childhood mixed with a love of imagination and entertainment.
kim’s painting and design processes are incredibly time-consuming and entirely original, evolving from both formal art education and self-taught technique. her paintings are made from dozens of thin flat overlapping layers of acrylic paint, applied with small brushes, that visually merge together to create a unique sense of depth, illusion and texture, despite being completely flat. all of her image references are created in her kitchen, from spending days baking and decorating the elaborate foodscapes for her trompe l’oeil paintings to scooping her own ice cream cones. read more details about her in depth process on kim’s blog.
i take whimsy very seriously.
i’ve always loved art that makes someone stop, do a double-take, laugh or smile, and remember what it’s like to be a kid again. that’s why i enjoy painting trompe l’oeil-style pieces and what prompted me to create this new whimsical body of work.
from the five-foot-tall fudge ripple ice cream cone to the gingerbread, sugar cookie and frosting scenes, i aim for the illusion of dimension with my painting technique, despite all of the works being completely flat. whimsy is at the center of each design, and my hope is that many viewers from all walks of life can find something in the pieces that connects with them, and at the very least, makes them smile.
i keep a sketchbook filled with ideas of new sweet creations. these usually come to me in brief flashes, which i quickly sketch while they’re fresh in my mind and then refine later. i draw inspiration from many parts of my life, including an idyllic childhood growing up in a small rural town, fed by my imagination and surrounded by a lot of people who loved me. i think that foundation shines through, without drawing on any particular place, person or event.
every element of these works, including all of the models i use as references, are made by me. there is no AI or stock photography involved. i scoop my own ice cream and design, bake and decorate real-life cookie and frosting models. this model-making process ranges from a day to a week, but it gives me full control over how the design will look and provides me with much more detailed visual information than any artificially-generated design or airbrushed stock image would do.
i then dedicate dozens to hundreds of hours painting them in a convincing way using multiple translucent layers of acrylic paint. this layering approach contributes to creating a greater illusion of dimension and depth, relying on how light passes through the paint and bounces back at the viewer. i often share videos of my painting process online because i think it’s important for viewers to understand this very human process, rooted in a passion for creating something just a bit magical that lifts their spirits, even if they don’t quite know why.
if nothing else, i aim for joy, whether in the vibrant paint layers, the whimsical subjects or the three-dimensional illusions. it takes that moment of knowing that we are still capable of being surprised and filled with delight to help us see the possibilities all around us.
-kim testone
all available work by each artist can be viewed on our website under their individual tabs including sizing + pricing. hidell brooks gallery is by appointment. please call the gallery if you have any further questions.