* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Scott Prior lives and works in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he has been a resident since 1971. Born in Exeter, New Hampshire, he received a BFA in printmaking from the University of Massachusetts in 1971. He has artwork in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the DeCordova Museum, the Danforth Museum, the Rose Art Museum and other major public and private collections. He has shown extensively in one-person and group shows in the United States and abroad. In 2001 he had a mid-career retrospective at the DeCordova Museum.
Scott’s paintings can function on many levels. The first and most obvious is their lush beauty. One is compelled to rest in such lushness, but sometimes beauty alone cannot satisfy. Dig deeper to find true substance, for many meanings can exist within the same painting; a bucolic sunset becomes an omen… empty chairs become surrogates for the people who just moments ago sat in them. Ordinary moments are extended in his paintings; time is frozen so that the mystery can be discovered within the mundane.
"The first experience I had with Scott Prior's work was when I came upon Nanny and Rose, a very large painting that is part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. I was stunned. I felt like I was looking at a classical painting, rendered in a contemporary language. He can paint anything, but of all the genres he works in, his landscapes are my favorite. Using enhanced color, somehow he paints scenes in a very believable way. I feel like I'm on the beach or in the mountains, wherever he puts me as a viewer, I am there."
