LAST EDITED ON 15-Dec-00 AT 01:36 PM (PST)

Downs has consistently produced rich, poetic paintings. His small, intimate and highly polished works are meticulously rendered in fine detail. Downs' repertoire includes sleek, bright still lifes, dream-like landscapes and pseudo-comic caricatures. Many of these images contain elements which tend to hover in a empty, ambiguous space. Shapes seem to bulge slightly out of their two-dimensional confines. What makes these paintings work is precisely this sort of strange pictorial juxtaposition of color, form and sense of light. Working only by hand, applying layers of color, charcoal and glazes, Downs does not bother with technical wizardry or mechanical means to produce an original painting. http://www.toktumee.com/AAWS%20Frame%20Downs.htm http://www.palmbeachart.com/Downs/Downs_paintings.htm e-mail- dezart@webtv.net