COURTESY MARVIN ESPY

Artist Marvin Espy's work with cityscapes is part of Sozo Gallery's exhibit "Gather."

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Gather around the cityscape.

Artist Marvin Espy’s seven works in Sozo Gallery’s exhibit “Gather” highlight exactly that. An opening reception will take place at the gallery (214 N. Tryon St.) on Aug. 1 from 5:30-8 p.m.

“I love the theme around the idea of people gathering together, and the kinds of things that bring people across cultures — different groups — to come together,” Espy said. “I paint cityscapes, and it was natural for me to think about how people come together in the city, whether it’s in their commute or the comings and goings around urban environments. It was a fun adventure just considering how people feel, think and experience the city.”

Said Sozo Gallery owner and director Hannah Blanton: “Gather is about people coming together, and Marvin Espy’s work really exudes that warmth and that feeling of when you see his work, you are immediately pulled in, and you can really examine all the different ways that he paints people or community coming together.”

Espy’s own commute inspired his work.

“I’ve really enjoyed the idea of considering the moon and the experiences and the thoughts I have as I commute in and around urban environments,” Espy said.

Marvin Espy’s “Yellow Light.”

Which is his favorite?

“Of the seven I think my favorite is ‘Routine Daydream,’” Espy said. “The idea is that sometimes we land in our driveway after a long day, and don’t remember the commute coming home, just because it has become so routine. In that particular image, I’ve tried to capture just the subtle vagueness that you sometimes experience in your drive.”

His second favorite is titled “Coming Home.”

“I feel a lot of nostalgia when I’m able to go back to my hometown,” Espy said of returning to Cincinnati, Ohio. “As I approach the city, and approach my neighborhood, I get that warm feeling about seeing my family and being home, and the great experiences I’ve had in my home town. I tried to communicate that.”

A view of downtown Cincinnati in the evening is one of Espy’s earliest memories of how he fell in love with cityscapes.

“It was always such a dazzling experience seeing all the lights, and wondering what’s behind those lights, and who the people are,” Espy said. “That kind of stuck with me, and landed in the work that I do now.”

Espy met his wife Tracy in Cincinnati. They followed her education to Syracuse, New York where she completed her doctorate before landing in Charlotte to escape the snow.

“We’ve been here now since 1999,” Espy said. “We raised our daughter [Sydney] here, and we call Charlotte our home.”

Espy always kept a sketchbook close, despite spending over 25 years in business development and sales.

After 2010, he began posting his art on social media.

“A lot of people at that time, if they didn’t know me from high school, they didn’t know I was an artist,” said Espy, whose earliest art memories stem from his mother growing impatient with buying sketchbooks from the drug store because he flew through them, which inspired him to draw on any piece of paper lying around the house.

Since 2013, creating and showcasing more art has become a priority for Espy, who is a member of the 2019 ArtPop Charlotte class.

“In 2013, I entered a contest at a gallery in Charlotte [Hart Witzen] and won Best of Show out of about 60 artists,” said Espy, who attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, earning a degree in visual communications. “That really made me feel like I had something to offer. Since then I’ve had a number of publications and awards.”

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