Los Angeles artist Roy Thurston known for his minimal painted wall reliefs, opens a solo exhibition at Brian Gross Fine Art on Thursday, September 4, with a reception for the artist from 5:30-7:30 pm. In new work comprised of metal or wood, Thurston investigates pure abstraction and phenomenological experience using subtle color shifts on three-dimensional planes. The exhibition will continue through November 1.

Roy Thurston views himself first and foremost as a painter. His interests revolve around experiential shifts in light and color. Early in his career, Thurston was drawn to working with spare and geometric forms. Influenced by the perceptual experimentations of Turrell and other like-minded artists in the mid-1970Õs, he began painting on aluminum and other metals. Most recently, he has begun deeply milling the metal surfaces, an extremely labor-intensive process. Thurston considers the viewer an integral part of the work, as each piece entices the viewer to move around it and experience the changes in the play of light. ThurstonÕs sculptures are pristine with a purity that evokes a sense of the mystical and invites contemplation.

Thurston has exhibited his work extensively throughout the United States and in Europe. Born in Huntington, New York in 1949, Thurston studied sculpture, painting and photography at Colorado College and earned an MFA in painting at Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, California. His work was recently included in the exhibition, "SoCal: Southern California Art of the 1960's and 70's from LACMA's Collection," at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Thurston is in numerous collections both in the United States and abroad, including: Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Frederick Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Museo Cantonale dÕArte Lugano, Switzerland; and the Panza Collection, Milan, Italy. This is his first exhibition at Brian Gross Fine Art.