Former design prof’s paintings are on display in MSC gallery this fall

Expressionist paintings reflecting the landscapes and colors of the American Southwest by award-winning artist Joe Hutchinson, a former architecture professor at Texas A&M, will be displayed in the Reynolds Gallery at the Memorial Student Center Sept. 16 – Oct. 24, 2015.

Hutchinson, who lives in Santa Fe, N.M., will attend an exhibit opening 7-9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17 at the gallery.

The exhibit will feature 19 paintings by Hutchinson in four themes: abstractions, landscapes, still life/interiors and figurative.

In his paintings, Hutchinson distorts perspectives to disturb the viewer and to question what he or she takes for granted. “This enhances the painting’s mystery and makes it reach into the viewer’s reservoir of human experience,” he said.

“The figures I paint are purposefully authentic in pose and body language but I often make their bodies melt into the background and their faces become almost anonymous in a kind of metamorphosis,” he said.

His art has been exhibited in approximately 100 major shows and has won numerous awards, including a purchase prize for painting from the Denver Art Museum.

Hutchinson’s work has also been featured in solo exhibitions in Denver, Houston, College Station, Dallas, Kansas City, Santa Fe, N.M. and Castliglion Fiorentino and Florence, Italy.

His work is in many private and corporate collections in the U.S., Australia, Italy, England, Germany, and France. He has also created murals, fountains and mosaic designs for banks, schools and businesses.

Hutchinson retired in 2005 after 31 years as a member of the Texas A&M College of Architecture faculty. He has taught and directed college art programs in Colorado, Kansas and Texas and led design studios in Italy, England and France.