Christa Palazzolo paints super dope hyper-realistic portraits of people to “…confront formal aspects of painting with a contemporary voice…”. Boom. Mission accomplished.

My first encounter with Palazzolo’s work was the Ali Fitz’-curated fArt Palace show, Summer Fling, where she had two larger than life sized portraits with one of the subjects wearing a pink almost red but not quite magenta jacket with a sheen that upon seeing it my heart weep and my nose bleed at its subtle yet awesome execution. I’ve been a fan ever since.

So back in January, when we arrived at the Monarch Event Center to take in the sultry sounds of the Silver Pines I was crushed to found out they had already played but elated to find out that one of the Artists showing was indeed Palazzolo, and that she had done some pencil portraits of the band that went along well with soft and richly painted portraits of people we didn’t know, the colorful strangers.

Alongside Jeffrey Swanson, Ryan Davis, and David Lujan, Palazzolo will be showing her work again tonight (June 25th) at the Grand Opening of the Gallery Black Lagoon, which is located in the old video store at 4301 A. Guadalupe St. (ATX, 78751) from 7-10pm.

www.christapalazzolo.com/