Looking Under the Covers : Artist Roger Campbell uses realistic paintings of old, discarded mattresses to reveal his insights into people and relationships

The art currently on view at the Koplin Gallery in Santa Monica comes in two sizes--twin and full.

It’s artist Roger Campbell’s “The Mattress Series,” eight oil portraits of discarded mattresses he found in his Los Angeles neighborhood. The exhibit opened this weekend and will be at the gallery until July 11.

Some of the paintings are almost life-size and made to lean against the walls; others are folded over and hung. A few are striped. One has a floral pattern and another, in a garden setting, features a romantic scene of a couple in formal wear.

The paintings recall a time, only a few decades ago, when mattress covers had ornate designs or were even embroidered.

Campbell spotted most of the mattresses that are the subject of the paintings while riding his bicycle. When he found one he liked, he hauled it home on top of his station wagon and then let it air out before “posing” it in his studio. His paintings of the forlorn mattresses are highly realistic, down to the rips, creases, stains and buttons.

If it sounds odd, that’s part of the idea.

“I am always competing in this field with many other artists,” said Campbell, 36, who grew up in Riverside. “I wanted to do something that was different, something bold.”

Campbell, who speaks softly and with intense seriousness about his art, has indeed succeeded in attracting attention to his work.

“People who wander in and see them at first think I have just put up a bunch of real mattresses,” said gallery owner Marti Koplin, who began representing Campbell in 1988. “They are so lifelike, they can’t believe they are paintings.

“They want to go right up and touch them to convince themselves that he did not at least stick on real buttons or use bits of cloth. But it’s all paint.”

The “Mattress Series” is not, however, just an exercise in trompe l’oeil . Campbell’s intricate paintings are to him at least partly about relationships, and they all have elements of autobiography. They are named for people in his life.

“This one is ‘Bill,’ ” said the curly haired Campbell, walking over to a painting of a striped mattress that has several creases (made by using different shadings of paint). “It reminded me of an older person. It’s a strong design, a strong mattress.”

“Bill” is named for Louis William Fox, a junior high school teacher Campbell said was the most important influence on his art and career.

“I can remember I was teaching oil painting to the eighth grade in junior high,” said Fox, 62, who is retiring this year after 31 years of teaching. He spoke from his home in Riverside. “Roger was in the class, but I had not paid much attention to him. He was so quiet.

“One day he brought this picture up to show me, and I was stunned by the quality of the work. It did not look anything like an eighth-grade painting. I wondered, ‘Where in hell did this kid come from?’ ”

Fox, whose own drawings have been featured in several gallery shows, taught Campbell in other classes, including art history, where he introduced pop art and minimalism, both of which influenced Campbell’s work. “If it wasn’t for his art classes,” Campbell said, “I would have probably dropped out of school.”

Teacher and student stayed in touch after Campbell graduated and moved to several different cities, working at low-paying jobs while trying to further his art and his art career.

“Roger made a decision early on that he was not going to take a good job,” Fox said. “He didn’t want to get involved in any job that would take time away from his painting.”

Except for one course at a community college and a drawing class, Campbell received no additional formal training. When he landed in Los Angeles in the mid-1980s, Fox introduced him to Koplin, and the artist had his first gallery show.

Several of the mattresses in the current show are named for Campbell’s relatives.

“This one is ‘Ella,’ ” he said, pointing to one with light stripes and a down-home kind of look. It’s named for his grandmother. “I remember her from her visits, when she would come out from Illinois. She was short and small, very warm, very simple, but relationships with someone like that can be delicate and complex.”

Ella’s son, Campbell’s father, had left the family when Campbell was 2 and almost completely disappeared. Even Ella did not know where her son was most of the time.

Family is a theme that runs through the show. A mattress with a floral design is named for a “real good family” with a garden with whom Campbell spent time as a boy. A Beautyrest model (he included the tag in the painting) is named for a couple who were kind to him when he worked in the Sierra as a house caretaker.

The most elaborate painting is “Franklin and Julia,” named for his parents. It has the embroidered romantic scene, but also has a large tear exposing the stuffing and springs.

“It goes right through the cottage,” Campbell noted, speaking of the tear. “I guess it’s clear what it’s about. Maybe too clear, but sometimes you have to make a plain statement.”

The elaborate mattress is also the most expensive in the show, with a price tag of about $9,000. The least expensive is about $5,000.

Campbell has previously changed subject matter for his paintings every couple of years. His other two shows at the Koplin Gallery were mostly of kitchen environments. But he plans to stick with mattresses at least for a while.

“I have about nine of them sitting at home right now that I want to get started on,” he said. “I guess I feel like I have a lot more to do with these.”

But sometimes the mattress painter goes without a mattress. “Mostly, I sleep on the floor,” he said with a laugh. “I enjoy that. I’ve been sleeping on the floor since I was a boy.”

“The Mattress Series” is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturdays at the Koplin Gallery, 1438 9th St., Santa Monica, until July 11. Call (310) 319-9956.