Second Street Gallery is pleased to present OBJECTify, an exhibition of new work by artists Michael Fitts and Megan Read. This exhibition in SSG’s Main Gallery will explore each artist’s distinct use of the photorealistic style of painting. While working with different styles and subjects, both Fitts and Read tackle the boundary between the familiar and unfamiliar in their highly detailed works.

Michael Fitts works in the trompe l’oeil tradition, painting his subjects on reclaimed metal. The metal surfaces, in their worn and distressed states, lend themselves effectively to Fitts/ studies, also objects of a distinctly temporal nature. Fitts’ paintings focus on familiar and transitory items- such old spoons, alarm clocks, and childhood toys; relics of the past that appear real enough to touch, and yet, just out of reach. Fitts lives and works in Charlottesville, VA, and has exhibited in exhibitions across the United States and in Europe. He is an associate member of the McGuffey Art Center in Charlottesville and a member of the Washington Project for the Arts in Washington, D.C. Originally trained as a graphic designer, Fitts is a self-taught painter who began painting to explore his creativity outside of his work.

Megan Read’s wok is primarily figurative and often self reflective in nature. While her paintings are perceived as hyper-realistic, the viewer is not always given the full picture, with pieces of her figures obscured by fabric, or paired with incongruent objects, keeping a sense of reality and understanding just out of reach. Although the figures Read’s work are withdrawn and occupy dark spaces, they are not paintings of melancholy but of meditation and gestation. Read lives and works in Charlottesville, Virginia. Though largely self-taught she began drawing at a young age and was introduced to oil painting as a high school student. Read has exhibited nationally including multiple solo shows in her region and most recently has been included in Painting Today/Pintando Hoy in celebration of International Women's Day at the Museum of Modern Art MEAM in Barcelona, Spain.

An opening reception for the exhibition was held on First Friday, April 5 from 5:30-7:30pm with artist remarks at 6:30pm.

Read more about Megan Read and Michael Fitts in Cville Weekly's cover story here.