Campfires and City Streets

For the month of December, City Gallery will exhibit Justin Vining and Travis Owens's paintings, which celebrate each of their unique creative practices and the city of Indianapolis. This exhibit, titled “Campfires and City Streets,” showcases both the iconic views and everyday beauty that these artists find in their lives.

Owens is heavily influenced by nature and finds himself exploring this in his work, often through celestial imagery and landscapes where the sky has a vast presence and evokes a sense of the fantastical. Owens describes himself as an avid hiker, and these experiences have inspired the motifs of campfires and sky interaction in his paintings. "I love looking at something and seeing something else involved with it," Says Owens, who includes some iconic Indianapolis views alongside campfires and epic skyscapes. “I want people to walk away feeling a nostalgic mood or have the work touch base with their inner creative side.”

Vining, who works plein air gets to know his city and the people within it intimately by being out in the world painting. From downtown views of the Murat Theatre to Ellenberger Park in Vining's Irvington neighborhood and even the Bottleworks parking lot, Vining's work reflects his daily life and the places that make Indy home to him. "Every single one of these paintings has a little story," says Vining. Some paintings have been weathered from rainy days or wind blowing them over so that every aspect of them, from the places they depict to the state of the landscape in which they were made, reflects the daily experiences Vining has in Indianapolis.

The show can be viewed anytime in the City Gallery through the month of December: Monday – Friday from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. The works can also be viewed and purchased on our online gallery through December.