Oil pastel portraits by Antony Aumann will be on display at the DEO Gallery through the end of September. The opening reception will occur Thursday, August 10th, from 6-8PM. An artist talk for this gallery will occur at 7pm.

Antony Aumann is an oil pastel artist working in Marquette, MI. He is also Professor of Philosophy at Northern Michigan University, and his teaching and research on existentialism and aesthetics inform his painting practice.

The contradictions of humanity have long preoccupied me. In this exhibition, I delve into the tensions between inner turmoil and outer beauty that exist for many of us. My oil pastel portraiture explores these “disagreements,” rendering them by way of a parallel contrast between hard and soft materials. The artistic challenge lies in finding the right expression. It must capture both sides of the model’s experience: their justified agitation at the state of the world and their attempt to conceal it beneath the placid demeanor that society expects of them. The intended result is a challenging but not off-putting image, one with enough beauty in the play of light and shadow across face and fabric to draw in even the most phlegmatic viewer.