A DOUBLE EXPOSURE.

Byline: Bob Keefer The Register-Guard

Adam Grosowsky is one of the most popular and prolific painters working in Eugene. His big, bold canvases - often of women's faces, in dramatic light and shadow that borders on being harsh - draw instant recognition from fans.

But despite the acclaim, Grosowsky, who sells most of his work in Portland, Seattle and San Francisco, has had only one solo show in Eugene in his career, and that was more than 15 years ago.

That changes this month as not one but two local art venues are mounting simultaneous one-man shows of the artist's work.

Karin Clarke Gallery in downtown Eugene and the Springfield Museum will both feature new work by Grosowsky this month.

The double header showings were entirely a coincidence, Grosowsky explained during a recent visit to his Whiteaker neighborhood studio.

He's worked there for more than 15 years - when not teaching painting at Lane Community College - in a slightly cramped upstairs room in an anonymous industrial building.

Kris Redmond, director of the Springfield Museum, is a former painting student of Grosowky's, and he had promised her a show of his work.

At the same time, the artist said, Clarke Gallery owner Karin Clarke had seen how quickly two of his paintings sold in a group show last spring at her gallery and asked if he could take an empty slot on her calendar in August.

The two obligations created a perfect storm for the energetic painter, who normally turns out 50 to 60 large canvases a year, and he's been putting in long studio hours in recent weeks to finish enough new work to fill two exhibitions.

``This last month ...'' he began. ``I like having pressure. But this last month has been a little overwhelming, painting for two shows at once. I feel pretty good about the work. It would be nice, in a perfect world, if I could quit teaching and paint full time. But, you know, paintings can be overworked.''

Grosowky, 46, began his art career studying printmaking at the University of Iowa with Mauricio Lasansky. He moved on to oil painting early on but kept the brooding expressionistic look that Lasansky taught.

Along the way Grosowsky's work has been influenced by such masters of light and shadow as Caravaggio and Rembrandt.

The breakthrough moment in his career came when he showed a Seattle gallery owner some studies he'd done of a woman's face in the style of Vermeer. "I did these Vermeer heads because I was learning how to paint," Grosowsky said. "Not because I wanted them in the show."

The gallery owner not only showed the work but offered it to a buyer from the Nordstrom department store chain, which became a regular customer for Grosowsky's paintings. Now, the artist says, he's sold more than 90 paintings to Nordstrom, which uses them to decorate stores across the country.

A small but muscular man - he enjoys rock climbing and windsurfing when he's not painting and teaching - Grosowsky has been working on variations of those Vermeer heads for about seven years, exploring the human face with the kind of detachment that a landscape painter might bring.

He paints quickly - an entire canvas might take him only three hours, if all goes well - and that lightness of touch is essential to balance the deep darkness that saturates his portrait work.

"When it goes well, it feels really godlike," he said. "You're in the zone."

His failed paintings - they are few and quickly overpainted, he says - come from being overworked. Lately, the artist has been varying his subject, doing a few landscapes.

The Clarke Gallery show will include three of them, all square canvases, all done in Grosowsky's distinctive dark style. They provide a counterpoint to the portraits and figures, which tend to come from the same group of models.

``Some of these models I don't know at all. Some are dear friends. It's like living in a room with the same small bunch of people,'' he said. ``When you do landscapes, they come as a relief. They're new places.''

ART EXHIBIT PREVIEWS

Adam Grosowsky: New Paintings

Where: Karin Clarke Gallery, 760 Willamette St.

When: Through Sept. 3

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Paintings by

Adam Grosowsky

Where: Springfield Museum, 590 Main St., Springfield

When: Tuesday through Sept. 10

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; noon to 4 p.m. Saturday

Reception: 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday

Admission: $2 for adults 19 and older

CAPTION(S):

``Girl with Cockatoo'' by Adam Grosowsky is an oil on canvas, 30 inches by 48 inches. It is among the paintings being shown at his solo exhibition at the Karin Clarke Gallery in downtown Eugene.