Huey Cooper

Gerard Erley has had over four dozen solo exhibits throughout the United States and has exhibited in over 300 juried shows. He has won over a hundred awards at the regional and national levels. The artist’s work has hung in museums and galleries from New York to California, and can be found in museum, corporate and private collections both in the United States and abroad. Gerard has won Best of Show at the South Carolina State Fair Professional Exhibition and received multiple grants from the South Carolina Arts Commission. He won top prize at the ArtFields portrait painting competition in 2019.

Erley is known for his imaginary landscapes in oil paint on canvas or panel. He rarely refers to photos or sketches, preferring to paint in the studio from memory and intuition. The artist is influenced by such 19th-century American and European painters as Inness, Corot, and Turner. Like them, he seeks a sublime quality of light in his romantic landscapes.

Painted during the 2019 ArtFields Festival Plein Air Competition, this work depicts Huey Cooper, a beloved local figure whose likeness is commemorated by a bronze statue in downtown Lake City. The painting captures both the character of its subject and the spirit of the community that inspired it.