1Groveland Gallery is pleased to present The View from Here, an exhibition of new paintings by Minnesota artist Rod Massey.

Massey is a part of a group of contemporary Midwestern artists dedicated to continuing and re-examining the tradition of American Realist scene painting. Over the past 40 years, Massey’s subjects have included the houses and yards of his quiet Southwest Minneapolis neighborhood, abandoned industrial warehouses, gritty highways, and neglected grain elevators. In his artist’s statement Massey has written:

“I strive to reveal the underlying character of the mundane and unremarkable scenes that populate my world… and record them with unsentimental honesty and affection”.

Through his careful study of industrial artifacts and uninhabited urban spaces, Massey keenly describes the sometimes-awkward intersection between nature and industry that coexist in city life. Often revisiting the same sites, Massey’s sustained investigation of these ordinary places and objects illustrates his personal and sometimes exasperated affection for the urban landscape.