January 17 through February 21, 2013 Conversation with the Artist: Thursday, February 21 4:00pm Closing Reception: Thursday, February 21 from 5:00pm–7:00pm .

MSUB Department of Art’s Northcutt Steele Gallery features the work of Corey Drieth from January 17 through February 21. Drieth’s solo exhibition entitled “Devotional” consists of gouache paintings on wood that explore contemplative religious experiences through the manipulation of line, color, texture, and scale. Drieth’s seemingly minimal works create complex, meditative illusions of light and space that reward close viewing. Drieth’s works begin with basic design and construction materials of gouache and wood. Using an economical aesthetic, Drieth creates a visual dialogue between painted surface and wooden substrate, producing a resonance that is expansively mysterious yet intimately familiar. In our media-saturated existence of de-humanizing speed, clutter, and noise, Drieth’s works, filled with stillness, quietude, and subtlety, serve as both a foil to the frenetic activity of contemporary life and a method of sustenance within it.

Drieth is Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing, as well as the Co-Director of the Visual Arts Program, at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. He has an active exhibition record of solo and group exhibitions and is represented by the Jen Bekman Gallery in New York. He received his MFA from University of North Carolina and his BFA in Art and BA in Philosophy/Comparative Religious Studies from Colorado State University. A conversation with the artist will be held on Thursday, February 21 beginning at 4pm in the Northcutt Steele Gallery and a closing reception will follow from 5pm–7pm. The conversation, reception, and exhibition are all free and open to the public

Blue Abstraction, Gouache/Ink/Charcoal/Wood, 9 ½” x 9 ½” x 1”, 2011
Blue Abstraction, Gouache, Ink, Charcoal, Wood; 9 ½” x 9 ½” x 1”, 2011

Radha, Gouache/Aquarel/Wood, 9” x 9” x 1”, 2011
Radha, Gouache, Aquarel, Wood; 9” x 9” x 1”, 2011

Ox (for P.G.), Gouache, Ink, Aquarel, Wood; 10” x 10” x 1”, 2011
Ox (for P.G.), Gouache, Ink, Aquarel, Wood; 10” x 10” x 1”, 2011

Binary, Gouache, Ink, Charcoal, Wood; 9 ” x 9 ” x 1”, 2012
Binary, Gouache, Ink, Charcoal, Wood; 9 ” x 9 ” x 1”, 2012

Contact:

Leanne Gilbertson

Northcutt Steel Gallery Director

Montana State University Billings Leanne.gilbertson@msubillings.edu (406) 657-2903