SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Paul Thiebaud gallery announced the opening of Four Friends: Works by David Fertig, Robert M. Kulicke, Robert Andrew Parker, and Pam Sheehan, on Saturday, January 17, 2026, from 3-5 pm, with a gallery talk at 3:30pm. Exhibiting together for the first time, on view will be fifteen works, including paintings, works on paper, and a hand-colored fine artist book, selected from key areas of each artist’s career. Diverse in their areas of artistic interest, the throughline underpinning each of their careers is an exploration of the limits and possibilities of American Realism. The exhibition will be on view through March 14, 2026.
Steeped in the worlds of the past, David Fertig (b. 1946) paints scenes from the Napoleonic era and French Revolution employing loose and dynamic brushstrokes to convey the drama of his subjects – whether an aristocratic lady, soldiers in motion, or a still life of bountiful roses – creating compositions that feel like a captured memory rather than simply historical documentation.
Known as a master frame maker and painter, Robert M. Kulicke (1924-2007) believed his paintings were ideal when it looked like the paint fell off the brush. Still lifes of flowers, the beloved pear, and other fruits are not idealized in his execution. Rather, the essential parts of these subjects are synthesized with a delicately deft hand. This looseness is influenced by Kulicke’s interpretation of American Realism in elevating humble objects to the realm of aesthetics, especially when paired with his hand-made frames to form a complementary unit.
A painter and an illustrator, Robert Andrew Parker (1927-2023) drew inspiration from his travels, observations and the natural world. In this show, Parker’s colorful and whimsical watercolor paintings of a Cairn Terrier (2004), an arrangement of Irises and a rare hand-colored alphabet book (Amazons to Zapata, 2009) highlight his mastery of line and how his simplified forms metamorphose into expressive compositions with energy and bold palettes.
Working en plein air and from direct visual observation, Pam Sheehan’s ( b. 1956) landscapes convey a deep sensitivity to the subtle interplay of shifting light and atmospheric conditions on the terrain. Sheehan’s pieces are typically small oil on panel works, that offer the possibility of completing a painting in a single sitting. Her landscapes offer a quiet presence where tactile brushwork emphasizes the immediacy of her connection between the observed and the painted composition.
With a varied range in paint handling, subject matter and intention, this exhibition highlights how artists working in different contexts can arrive at a shared commitment to realism while simultaneously reaffirming its enduring relevance.
