Northwest Louisiana Art Gallery: Derek Sallis

For information on how to purchase a work of art, please contact the artist through the "e-mail" link, or contact the gallery at info@nwlaartgallery.com.

"21st Century War" - 29"x36" oil & acrylic on canvas

"Fighting Fear" - 18"x24" oil & acrylic on wood board

Theme: When frightened and faced with fear it is almost instinct to fight and lash out when trying to stand strong. Physical violence isn't always the way to fight back, intellectual power is overlooked.

A project painting inspired by the poem; Gargoyle, by Carl Sandburg (1878–1967). Cornhuskers. 1918.

I SAW a mouth jeering. A smile of melted red iron ran over it. Its laugh was full of nails rattling. It was a child’s dream of a mouth.

A fist hit the mouth: knuckles of gun-metal driven by an electric wrist and shoulder. It was a child’s dream of an arm.

The fist hit the mouth over and over, again and again. The mouth bled melted iron, and laughed its laughter of nails rattling.

And I saw the more the fist pounded the more the mouth laughed. The fist is pounding and pounding, and the mouth answering.

"Heritage" 18"x30" oil & acrylic on canvas

"Queen Nefertiti" - 29"x36" oil & acrylic on canvas

Theme: portrait of Queen Nefertitti. Divided into 12 9"x9" square boxes. Each box is the style of a different African-American artist. African-American themes surround the portrait that is of the most powerful woman in the world. Artists listed starting from top left to right and to the next bottom row down are... 1. Eugene Eda, 2. William H. Johnson, 3. Aaron Douglas, 4. Jacob Lawrence, 5. Reginald Gammon, 6. Faith Ringgold, 7. Norman Lewis, 8. Archibald J. Motley Jr., 9. John Biggers, 10. Lois Mailou Jones, 11. Hale A. Woodruff, 12. Nelson Stevens.

"The Ring of Life" - 33"x23" oil & acrylic on wood board

Bio:

My style of art thrives from inner perspective reality. Things I have seen, emotions felt, and obstacles endured. Art is an outlet where inner energy is channeled. I have a new line of work to be displayed early in 2008.

I am a graduate student in the Performance and Training Technology Masters program at the University of Northern Iowa. I earned my undergraduate degree from Centenary College in Shreveport, LA in 2005. My BA is in Liberal Arts with majors being Art (emphasis graphic design), Business Administration, and Psychology. I have specialized in graphic design, pencil sketching, and acrylic & oil painting. I was born and raised in Waterloo, IA.