Color Lithographs: Billy Hassell
October 17-December 7, 2018
Hassell’s fondness for nature inspired his work for more than 25 years. Birds, indigenous plants and animal frequently appear as a subject matter for his prints and paintings. Robin Davidson, poet and professor of English at the University of Houston- Downtown wrote. “His work captures a sense of particular place whether that is Texas, the Northeast United States, or Canada…” There is a direct correlation between nature and Hassell’s art practice. He explains. “My work is a metaphorical response to nature and seeks a balance between realism and abstraction. I work primarily in oil paint but I also produce original hand-pulled color lithographs as well as watercolors and pencil drawings when I travel. I develop ideas from the watercolors and drawings, rather than from photographs, into the paintings I produce in my studio and the color lithographs I produce in collaboration with a master printmaker.”
