Las Vegas Weekly

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The idea of something that is lost and then found calls to mind a pair of earrings, a cell phone, lovers, Jesus and pets.

But artist Casey Weldon’s new work at Trifecta Gallery is all about ideas, things he’s considered over the years, then rediscovered later.

In LOSE+FIND we see those ideas, rendered in paintings that continue a surreal sense of life for which the one-time Las Vegan is known: humans affected by different forms of aging—mold, rust and moss—his four-eyed cats and images of fruit painted to mimic raw meat.

The “With Age” series consists of close-up portraits of young men and women marked by cottony mold, moss in place of hair, and rust. Each figure portrays that wounded, distant or woebegone look often found in Weldon’s work.

His domestic cat portraits, part of a larger series of somewhat alarming but perfectly rendered animal paintings, move away from solid backdrops to incorporate patterned backgrounds, taking the subject from a studio setting into home environments and adding a sense of familiarity and documentation.

Additionally, Weldon works with past, present and future in “Homegoing,” a 36-by-24-inch acrylic-on-panel painting of a young woman walking with what appears to be a smaller, younger version of herself. The exhibit is quintessential Weldon—impeccable skill matched with a dry sense of humor, wit and a dreamlike, misty air.