The most striking painting in Paul Emory’s new collection, on view in the Sharon Weiss Gallery in the Short North, is “Old Town Toaster,” a huge picture of a metal toaster with a slice of bread popping out the top and buildings of downtown Zanesville, the artist’s home, reflected in the appliance’s shiny surface.
In addition to being fun and whimsical, the painting encapsulates the style of the 62-year-old artist who has been making art since he was a boy. Emory enjoys taking figures and scenes from real life and bending them to fit his expressionistic vision. In his artist statement, he writes that he “paints places he has never been and people he has never met.”