East Nashville
The Red Arrow Gallery. I recently read a description of
Paul Collins’ creative practice in which the word “diaristic” caught my eye it captures both Collins’ everyday subject matter and observational gaze so precisely. Collins’ point of view is the strongest aspect of his work, giving his paintings, drawings and sculptures conceptual depth while also informing a recognizable style that’s offhand, but always thoughtful and sincere. Again, that description of his art fits so well because his work always reads like notes he’s taken during the day stuff he saw, things he did. His new series of avian watercolors will look very familiar to Nashvillians who might have gotten a kick out of all the winter bird-watching the recent blizzards brought us. Collins also noticed the chromatic pop of crimson cardinals flitting through the falling white; the puffed-up orange chests of cold-weather robins; black squadrons of starlings lighting on bare branches.