Terry Rodgers

Terry Rodgers is a realist known for his contemporary character studies. While his earlier paintings often contemplated personal and family relationships in brightly lit outdoor settings wrought with pale, intense, high-keyed colors, his recent paintings conjure up a vision of the private nightlife of America’s privileged youth. Widely exhibited in the U.S. and Europe and noted for their subtle social commentary, Rodgers’s large-scale oil paintings (as much as 5 feet high and 6 feet wide) are often based on photographs and are meticulously laid out with computers.

The works recently on view at Fay Gold in “American Rhapsody” depict beautiful and rich young partygoers posing in a series of finely appointed settings. Paintings by Julian Schnabel, Francis Bacon and other darkly stylish artists haunt the walls of each opulent salon where revelers absently commune with each other over champagne and white wine, boutique beer and ruby-colored cocktails. The women are nonchalant about their silky hair, often-exposed breasts and lustrous skin, the hunky men seemingly unaware of both the women and their own perfection. Beneath the cool chic, a narcotic aura emanates from the tableaux.