This February, State-of-the-Arts Gallery is bringing to you the first solo exhibition of the year – Window of Paris by American painter Richard Ewen. This exhibition showcases a whole new series of Ewen’s watercolor paintings, inspired by his adventures on the street of Pairs and the striking window displays he found on the streets. The exhibition runs from 4th to 29th February, 2012.

Richard Ewen’s paintings of window displays on Paris streets are a contemporary version of the traditional still life paintings we used to know. To Ewen, still life paintings are the most intimate to humans; they reflect our daily life and represent the value and way of living we have chosen. His realistic paintings are partly based upon photographs and mostly upon his random wanderings on the streets of Paris. The artist looks for eye-catching window displays and transforms this kind of commercial art into fine art through his brush. Window displays are commercial goods made to impress people in this fast changing society; they thus have to be colorful, cheerful and fast changing as well. In order to communicate to the viewers, window displays employ different social symbols that help transmit their messages, reflecting a lot of culture and history of the country. Ewen, in his bright paintings, tries to tell the story of the present day Paris, as well as the influence history has on this beautiful city. The window display is the mirror of our urban life, with colors, chic and energy. Ewen is an artist that injects movement in still life paintings, redefining the genre itself.