Carmel Magazine

Bohemian Rhapsody T h e J o a q u i n Tu r n e r G a l l e r y E vo ke s C a r m e l 's Pa s t B Y B R E T T W I L B U R T his June, local land- scape painter Joaquin Turner opened his first gallery on Dolores Street in Carmel. Located in the historic Pantiles Cour t, which was built in the 1920s to resemble an English shopping district, the intimate Joaquin Turner Gallery resides in the same space that 1920s and '30s artists once exhibited in and also features works by land- scape painter David Seibert. Decorated in period-appro- priate furnishings, the gallery showcases early-California- influenced art that looks as if it could have been painted at the turn of the century. "A lot of people look at my work and think it looks like it's from that period," Turner says. "I take it as a compliment. I don't try to make it look antique, but I hold the same ideology as those Northern California artists." Turner was born on Fort Ord to a military family, and grew up in Germany before returning as a teen to Monterey County. "Luckily my parents were big travelers, and we drove to other coun- tries to visit museums, old churches and ruins," he says. "I was inspired by the Old Masters' paintings and as an early teenager, started reading and studying their works." In the 1990s, Turner's father retired to Pacific Grove, and he enrolled in PG High. "As a naïve teenager, I thought everything about art came from Europe," he says. "Then I found out about the early California artists…and it's been my influence, along with the Old Masters, since then." Having painted and drawn since a child, Turner announced upon graduation that he was going to be an artist. "My teachers said, 'No, what do you really want to do?'" he recalls. "It sort of broke my heart." Resigned to finding a more practical vocation, Turner worked as a graphic designer in the Bay Area for the next 14 years. "I still learned composition and color, but I got sick of sitting all day star- ing at a computer screen making someone else money and not moving up," he says. "I didn't want to be 70 years old and regret my life. I took a leap of faith and started painting." His career as an ar tist took off right away, and he quickly sold his first two landscapes. Six years ago, Turner and wife Amy, now the parents of a 3-year-old daughter, moved to Salinas. Turner's impressionistic, Tonalist style, using a limited palate of oils and producing a moody, romantic "When you see a painting of Monterey, it's instantly recognizable," artist Joaquin Turner says. "Land's End" is one of those works. 260 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R / F A L L 2 0 1 5

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