Keystone Gallery is pleased to present new works by Santa Barbara landscape painter Andy Vogel.  Chasing the Light opens to the public May 23rd and can be viewed through May 31st. 

Andy Vogel searches his local area for atmospheric transformations, tidal ebbs and flows, changing temperatures and the motion of shadows.  Embracing these building blocks and following his paths to magnetic locations the light is observed and catalogued by work such as  East Ridge of El Capitan Canyon - perched high above the sea watching ocean and sun transform with time. Feeling the morning warm as light softens line in Hills of Happy Canyon. Exploding afternoon sunlight and swirling breezes captured in Peaks to Points. Vogel’s work shares these moments permanently in Chasing the Light. 

Vogel’s pursuit for natural light brings him to significant places. Some are known beauties. Places that magnetically draw people in on a regular basis. Others are rarer and valued by him personally. They all have meaning and importance and he feels that by painting them he is protecting them. They are listed and documented visually as delicate and threatened places to be preserved and appreciated. 

Chasing the Light is deeply influenced and connected to the California landscape movement and the tradition of California Impressionists. Painters such as Michael Drury, John Comer, Larry and John Iwerks, Hank Pitcher and Ray Strong have helped inspire his paintings both philosophically and physically. Their love of the environment and its elements are the roots Andy Vogel’s work. Atmosphere, Form, Mood, Temperature, Space and Light, Pigment, Oil, Water. 

As a collection Chasing the Light gathers together all those moments of natural beauty that coalesce when the elements are working together. Fog dissolves into sunlight which is then filled with sea spray. Green turns to olive then to sunburnt yellow. Vague California seasons blend and shift. Andy’s work explores and catalogues but mostly pauses, appreciates and enjoys. 

Andy Vogel has a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts from UCSB and has taught art/sculpture at San Marcos High School for the last 13 years. He is a member of Southern California Artists Painting for the Environment (SCAPE) and the Santa Barbara Art Association (SBAA).