The Adrian Pickett Gallery at the Landing is celebrating its 2nd anniversary this month.
Pickett was one of the first artists to take advantage of the “Off the Grid” opportunity Downtown. Artists needing more affordable working and exhibit space are matched with property owners maintaining empty locations.
The artist receives storefront exposure to the public, the property owner replaces an open site with an active space and Downtown gains more vibrancy and creative flair.
Pickett and Elonya Davis, the gallery’s co-owner and curator, had been exhibiting Pickett’s large-scale charcoal portraits at the Riverside Arts Market every Saturday before moving to the space at the Landing.
They chose the location because they needed a lot of wall space. Pickett not only works on large canvases, he’s also a prolific artist.
“Adrian has done more than 150 new works since we came to the Landing,” said Davis.
A self-taught artist, Pickett said he started drawing as a child by recording cartoons on television.
“Then I’d stop the video and draw what was on the screen,” he said.
Pickett took some art classes at Raines High School, but found it didn’t inspire him as much as he hoped.
“It gave me the freedom to create, but I failed art class a couple of times because I didn’t follow the curriculum,” he said.
After high school, Pickett took a job at an airbrush shop on Lem Turner Road where he painted T-shirts. He learned techniques that would lead him to specialize in drawing charcoal portraits of people and animals.
“That’s where I learned about depth and transparency. Charcoal is a lot like airbrush,” said Pickett.
Davis said Pickett’s art has evolved in terms of style,
but she doesn’t forecast any changes in the medium.
“So much has changed in art in the past few years because of technology, but what Adrian does will always be different. It’s original and there’s only one. It can’t be reproduced and we wouldn’t even try,” she said.
Moving from under the bridge one day a week at the arts market and into a permanent gallery space Downtown has given him the opportunity to build a foundation and a following, said Pickett.
While his work has evolved to being about 75 percent private commissions in the past two years, having a gallery at Downtown’s retail and entertainment center also allows local residents and people visiting Jacksonville and staying in Downtown hotels to experience Pickett’s original art.
Davis said being part of Art Walk every month also has allowed a new market to discover the gallery and Pickett’s portraits. Events at the Landing also bring new faces to view the exhibits.
In celebration of the two-year milestone, Pickett and Davis are planning an open house and reception from 4-8 p.m. Jan. 29 at the gallery.
In addition to some new work on exhibit, live music and refreshments are on the schedule. The public is invited to help kick off the third year of the Adrian Pickett Gallery at the Landing, said Davis.
356-2466