“Myths, Music & the Magic Palm!”

A palm tree can become an entire world in Redding’s paintings. Its trunk rises like a patterned column; its fronds spread across a night sky or fill a room. In one painting, a palm stands within a curved glass enclosure, accompanied by a chair, a table, and its own reflection. These familiar objects establish a sense of place, yet their proportions make the scene feel quietly improbable.

Redding’s fascination with palms gives this recurring subject a personal foundation. Across the exhibition, he returns to their distinctive structures while allowing color, scale, and setting to change. Golden leaves glow against deep blue. A multicolored crown opens against red. Knowledge of the natural world becomes a starting point for imagining beyond it.

The mythological paintings introduce a different intensity. In The Riddle of the Sphinx, a winged figure presides above a skull and an inscription, while a smaller human figure appears below in thought. In Prometheus Bound, exposed anatomy, raised hands, a suspended flame, and a bird give the ancient story a forceful physical presence. Beauty and discomfort occupy the same painted space.

Music and the seasons offer another way of organizing experience. Repeated curves, segmented circles, and broad passages of color create movement across the surface. The eye follows these forms as it might follow a phrase of music, noticing repetition, variation, and changes in pace.

Together, these paintings reveal an imagination that moves freely among subjects while remaining attentive to composition and detail. They invite us to look closely, make connections, and leave room for what we have yet to understand.