The abandoned and forgotten landscapes of rural southwestern towns are the favored subjects of Rod Penner’s paintings. The artist’s keen eye combines photojournalism and Photorealism to create images of small- town America. His deft use of contrasts in his images—despondency and hope, isolation and nostalgia—evokes memories of The Last Picture Show and elicits complex responses from viewers. “I’m interested in the look of things and the quality of being there,” he says. “A moment that is completely frozen with all the variety of textures; rust on poles, crumbling asphalt, light hitting the grass.”

Penner’s works are based on his photographs, digital video stills, and his experience of the rural landscapes of Texas and New Mexico. He depicts desolate, often deserted locations, the character of old houses and abandoned buildings, weather, and unique geography. His chosen scenes are infused with a cinematic quality that is the result of the exquisite light that he captures with his meticulous process. “The finished paintings should evoke contrasting responses of melancholy and warmth, desolation and serenity,” he says.

Penner’s hyperrealistic technique meticulously records both the iconic imagery and the beauty in the ashes of these once-prosperous streets and neighborhoods that still endure. These incredibly poignant scenes evoke a universalism, a collective experience seen through the lens of Americana. “You won’t find any hidden or overt socio-political meaning in my work and at the same time I hope that by utilizing what I find in the American landscape I’m able to connect to viewers on a deeper psychological level.”

David Anfam is a curator, writer, and authority on modern American art. He is the senior consulting curator at the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, and the director of its Research Center. His publications include Abstract Expressionism (1990), the catalogue raisonné Mark Rothko: Works on Canvas (1998), and studies on Anish Kapoor, Edward Kienholz, and Wayne Thiebaud. Terrie Sultan is an independent curator, cultural consultant, and Principal Museum Strategist for Art Museum Strategies @ Hudson Ferris, a boutique consulting firm based in New York City. She was the director of the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, New York, as well as the director of The Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston in Texas. Louis Meisel is an American author, art collector, and dealer, as well as a proponent of the Photorealist art movement. He has contributed to four volumes documenting the genre, numerous monographs, and he continues to organize international museum exhibitions for leading Photorealist artists.