Art: Up Close and Personal: The People of Las Vegas

People are the point: Up Close and Personal captures Las Vegans with Impressionist flair

By Erika Yowell

It is no exaggeration to say that Diane Eugster's show Up Close and Personal: The People of Las Vegas, currently on exhibit at the West Charleston Library gallery, contains some of the most accomplished contemporary Impressionist painting being created today. Impressionism gets a bad rap for being unchallenging and cheaply derivative, but when it's done properly, with an eye for engaging composition and the color complexities the style allows, very sophisticated paintings can result.

Eugster's virtuosity with color is, in fact, the first thing that becomes apparent when viewing her work. In "Pigtails (Caitland)", the young woman's skin reads as olive-toned, but is, in fact, rendered with the help of generous brushstrokes of the pink of her blouse and the purple of the painting's background. There really is no color called "flesh," after all, that can be applied without taking into account the reflective and harmony-inducing properties of neighboring colors. The original Impressionists were among the first to acknowledge this fact and seize upon it as a stylistic device. Interestingly, the greens, pinks, blues and yellows that found their way into the skin tones of Impressionistic human figures repelled these painters' first critics, who alleged the figures looked as though they were afflicted with gangrene. Of course, this interpretation didn't stick, and Impressionist paintings are generally viewed as the most digestible by the masses today.

Like her stylistic forebears, Eugster finds apt inspiration in entertainers, and "In the Studio (Elena)," "The Diver (Fei Long Las Vegas Performer)", and a Selena-esque Latina songstress performing on Fremont Street are among the Las Vegans she chooses to capture.

Several of Eugster's compositions feature windows with light pouring through them, and these allow her to show off her considerable skill for dramatic light and shadow. These paintings, which also make use of dynamic horizontals and oblique compositions, are her best. In "Last Light (Danielle)," Eugster uses a monochrome palette that ranges from rich amber to squinty lemon yellow to depict a woman (Danielle) reclining, spent, in front of a window in a room suffused with warm sunlight. Her exhausted body bisects the canvas in a dynamic V-shape, and you can practically see the last mote of energy seep out of her--an undeniable testament to Eugster's skill with a brush.