Monday, May 29, 2006

New Art from San Francisco - ALISON BLICKLE

New Art from San Francisco


ALISON BLICKLE


"Enjoying the Caviar of Potential Power"





"You Know I'm Yours First"





ARTIST'S STATEMENT

My latest work is about the intense intimacy we can feel with someone we are in love with, and how we sometimes place these people on pedestals, deny their flaws, and see them as perfect. Falling in love can also change the way we view ourselves, as we are suddenly seen as wonderful in the eyes of someone else. At the same time, our desire to be loved can make us attempt to present an idealized version of ourselves to others, whether it be to a lover, or to the world when you leave your house.

With these ideas in mind, my figures are shiny and beautiful, almost doll-like. My love for the people and relationships that I paint is sincere, and I want to paint them as beautifully as I experience them. The impossible loveliness of the world within the paintings adds a strange feeling of romanticism to the work. The glossy figures are alluring and glamorous, but also feel unbelievable, as they are too flawless to exist in reality. The push and pull between these two elements is a common thread throughout my work.

I keep the explicit narrative in my work to a minimum in order to focus more attention on the way in which the figures are painted. I’m concerned with color, composition, light, and space, and how I can use these elements to add content to my work.

New Art from DFN GALLERY in New York


New Art from DFN gallery in New York
www.dfngallery.com


ALYSSA MONKS

"Dissolve"


REVIEW

Sunday, May 28, 2006

New Art from LYONS WIER GALLERY

New Art from Lyons Wier Gallery.

AMANDA BESL




"Meghan"




"Outlet"




ARTIST'S INFORMATION

Placed precariously between desire and detachment, Amanda Besl's paintings are provocative portraits of coquettish young girls. These alluring narratives seemingly capture a private moment of sexual awareness and self-consciousness.

This voyeuristic glimpse into the burgeoning sexual currency of female adolescence allows the viewer a participatory perspective yet somehow leaves one feeling anxious. Based on images taken from teen fashion magazines or posed snap-shots of the artist's friends, this work embraces a youthful awareness of seduction inviting the viewer into an arena of longing and drama.

Ms. Besl approaches her tiny oil paintings like a teenage crush- they are immediately wanting yet somehow awkward. Standing in front of these obsessively painted jewel-like vignettes of flirtations, one cannot help but feel an immediate connection with the sensuality of the subject, but the psychological seduction is open ended and leaves much room for discussion about the perceived power of youth. These young vixens are powerfully aware of our gaze and some models make eye contact with us while others merely allow us a fleeting view into their private world.

Amanda Besl received her MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2001. She currently lives and paints in New York.





CHERYL KELLEY



"Speed Racer"





Artist's Information

In Kelley's particular approach to creating art from this subject,there is an element of Pop Art influence that cannot be denied. Mel Ramos, Peter Phillips and James Rosenquist are several that are alluded to, but her intent and approach to the subject sets this work apart from the traditional Pop genre. As the Pop artist was concerned with bringing mundane objects into sharp focus, making us see these familiar objects and subjects extracted from everyday life as high art; she intends to utilize this icon of 20th century speed and power, and preserve that unique moment in time through painting the feeling of motion and energy that light reflected off the curves of the cars body surfaces produces. The use of oil on canvas allows her to bring out the sensuous contour of the auto body, rather than trying to duplicate it’s actual surface texture and appearance.


Instead of a photo realistic approach, which would have a colder, more detached feeling as in the work of Ralph Goings or Richard Estes, Kelley has kept the brush strokes in a somewhat more flowing manner to elicit a feeling of motion and speed. The powerful colors of the paintings triggers an emotional response similar to that of being behind the wheel of one of these awesome vehicles. Kelley states, "The scale of the work alludes to the memory of the sound of the big 8 cylinder engine. These paintings are about first loves... a lifelong love of painting coupled with the collective memory and admiration of the American Muscle Car."



JAMES RIECK



"The Shareholders"





Artist's Information

The primary sources for James Rieck’s imagery are retail advertisements or photographs that have a consumer agenda of selling (ideas, people or things). By extreme cropping and altering the scale of the images, the artist heightens the commercial posturing of the initial subject yet negates its benign commercial aspects by re-contextualizing the composition without the lexicon of the “sale.” This process necessitates a reevaluation both aesthetically and psychologically of how commercialism invades our personal space.

The artist states, “My interest in pop culture and the ‘culture of the sale’, is both personal and social. I sometimes question (as may most of us) whether I am choosing the things I consume or if they are choosing me. I am constantly feeling overwhelmed by the mass and size of the advertisements that attract my eyes. Scale is a very important aspect to my work. It can make even the most benign image seem menacing and overpowering, at the same time feel embracing and comforting. This tension interests me for the anxiety it creates.”Throughout time, painting can be seen as a reflection of culture. Today this is perhaps better seen in magazines, TV, movies, and the Internet. By painting the images from these sources, it slows down the processing of their intended use and allows room for another look.

Mr. Rieck received his MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Mount Royal School of Art in 2003 and BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art in 1987.




JARED JOSLIN


"WHISPER"







L.LOCKWOOD

"EPILOGUE"




Janet Bloch

"Conjure"



"If at First"



TULLMAN COLLECTION TULLMAN COLLECTION TULLMAN COLLECTION

Sunday, May 21, 2006

New Art from LINDA WARREN GALLERY in Chicago

Linda Warren Gallery in Chicago. http://www.lindawarrengallery.com


New Work in the Collection from this Gallery includes pieces by:


ZACH TAYLOR


"MISS MEND"





LORA FOSBERG

http://www.lorafosberg.com


"I Love Chocolate"






ARTIST STATEMENT

In an attempt to utilize metaphor, memory, iconography, and narrative, my work expresses conscious life in its most banal forms. My attempt is to transform objects and events of every day life into symbols of the universal, thus enabling me to participate within a large and complex audience.

My process is that of the historian: experiencing, assembling, and finally, recording into history, vague and seemingly impenetrable information. The intent is to utilize a vocabulary of routine images or vignettes that suggest the familiar while maintaining ambiguity.

The subjects of my work are the subtle intricacies and intimacies of life. The memories of a universal yet personal childhood, the interrelationships of emotions, and the perceptions of the mundane aspects of everyday life. The specific and the generalized, the personal and the universal, all hold equal importance in my work.

The work is attempting to bring the viewer into a place where I am able to disarm them with imagery allowing them to regress back to a particular memory; a specific moment forever embedded in the brain......whether it be truth or a complete fabrication of the subconscious, the memory has created it nonetheless.

The artwork is not to be a part nor copy of the real world, but a world in itself: independent, complete, autonomous; to understand it fully the viewer must enter that reality or world and conform to its laws.

Connection to the individual is what I seek, and what the individual viewer seeks from me. Connection to the past, to one another, to the physical world, to the spiritual. To remind the viewer of feelings, thoughts one didn't even know they had forgotten, thus enlarging emotional possibility.

Lora Fosberg 2005


New Piece from LORA FOSBERG:

“The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell”







Yes to Everything! in which she continues her exploration of the contemporary human condition and further develops her language as a visual artist/social commentator/shrink. (Not literally… though Fosberg sometimes does draw on actual doctor’s prescription notepads to seemingly offer up remedies, though definitely no cure, to the sickness and dysfunction of our lives). Using the recognizable language of the comic world as the basis of her well-crafted work, Fosberg cleverly and unpretentiously matches form with content and gives a fresh look at familiar ground – the “stuff” of our every day lives; the trials and tribulations; the foibles and frailties of our being; the interrelationships of diverging and contradictory emotions; the universal. She reassembles her drawings and text into collages mounted on panels, or a series mounted together as an installation (that could be hung innumerable ways) that allows her work to be read like a visual journal, one in which all the pages become visible at once but are undetermined by the traditional narrarative set by the linear passage of time. Small vignettes are enough to elicit a stream of consciousness of unpredictable associations. And hence, the designation of shrink – she won’t give you the answers - she raises the issues and obliges us to figure it out for ourselves.


In the piece entitled “The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell” (though hopefully there may still be a sequel in store) Fosberg takes off from where she left off after her recent exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago’s 12 x 12 space in January 2006 where a large piece (4’ x 12”) entitled “The First True Story I’ve Ever Told” was on display. As before, the piece is comprised of phrases Fosberg has jotted down over the years in her journals, whether of simple (though profound and often very witty) observations she has made of life, conversations she has had or overheard, lyrics of songs that ring true to her, are all rewritten, collaged and rearranged randomly to create an extremely engaging composition (that nonetheless connects to the familiar and universal of the viewer).

The notion of exposure and exposing oneself runs rampart throughout Fosberg’s work. Beyond the occasional nudity, both spiritually and psychologically, layers of ideas and emotions are laid bare. To further this point, Fosberg continues to utilize a newer technique in which she pours paint over raw silk on stretchers. The silk’s translucence suggest skin to the visible skeleton of the stretcher bars and a peeling back of the onion making the “self” more revealed. The information in much of these works is pared down to a minimal, as in “The Silent Mushrooms Call Us Into the Forest” were the open space, removed from human drama, suggest the best cure of all – refuge from the deluge of all the “stuff” of our lives.

Lora Fosberg, who resides in Chicago, received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute in 1992. She has exhibited in galleries throughout the country and her work is in many private and corporate collections.


PETER DRAKE

http://www.peterdrakeartist.com


"Out of Place"




Artist's Statement:

"I believe that all pictures have various levels of meaning; there is the original intention and then everything beyond that intention. The most magical aspect of pictures is the degree to which they exceed their original intentions.

Lately I've been going through a large collection of images from the 50's, 60's, and 70's looking for pictures whose meanings have shifted with time. I am drawn to the ones where what might have been a "hidden subtext" has emerged over the years as the primary text. I find myself thinking, " this shouldn't be happening here." It's the sense that as time progressed, so did the image and that its' true meaning has only now become clear. To heighten their new meaning, I then take those images and combine them with others from the same era. As a procedure this has obvious surrealist precedents but unlike the surrealists who chose complimentary or oppositional motifs to make you aware of their disruptions, I choose from analogous or like-minded motifs so that the rents in the fabric are barely noticeable.

An image of a father and a daughter playing "horsey" can seem completely innocent to one generation and laced with malignant overtones to another. The giddy laughter of little girls from one era can seem maniacal to the next. What was a simple act of spraying pesticides on a front lawn can seem insanely threatening to a more organic world. My thinking is that if my interventions are too obvious it will be too easily categorized and the painting will loose its ability to disrupt. Ultimately I feel the strangest and strongest paintings are the ones where you know something is wrong but you just aren't sure what it is."

Artist's Website: http://peterdrakeartist.com



JENNIFER PRESANT


"Projection Memory Desire"





Artist's Statement:


Jennifer Presant draws us into dreamlike interiors which are highly evocative, richly painted and dramatically illuminated. The scale, staging of the figures and multiple layers of reality simulate the cinematic experience. Each interior space becomes a physical manifestation of the character’s psyche. Conscious and unconscious desire, memory and projection unfold pictorially. Through the merging of both real and fictitious elements, the artist also investigates the conflation between our media filled lives, and our lived reality. By depicting the subject through the female perspective, Presant represents the female nude as a figure of empowerment, not the object of the male gaze.

The artist mimics the process of reconstructing memory in the development of the composition for the painting. Objects and figures, part real, part imaginary are combined to feel fragmented and pieced together. Once a composition is finalized, at times, using digital technology, Presant meticulously paints the image in oil, adding a new level of coherence and reinterpretation achieved through the hand-made process. The treatment of light unifies the painted surface and plays an important role in the psychological content of the artist’s work. Light and shadow both reveal and conceal. The human form of both subject and viewer defines how each perceives and experiences reality.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

New Art from PLUS GALLERY in Denver

New Art from PLUS GALLERY in Denver

http://www.plusgallery.com/

JENNY MORGAN



"Fixated Flux"




ARTIST'S INFORMATION:

March 8, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jenny Morgan has been selected for inclusion in the Outwin Boochever 2006 Portraiture Competition sponsored by Washington D.C’s Smithsonian Institution. Morgan's portrait "Falling Into," which was first presented to the public in November of 2005 as part of the artist's exhibition "Mine Not Yours," is an oil painting that was selected from a semifinalist pool of 100 artists culled from an entry base of over four thousand artists from across the United States in 2005. The Exhibition associated with the competition will be on view at Washington D.C.'s National Portrait Gallery from July 1, 2006 until February 18, 2007, and will be the lead exhibition for the grand opening of the Gallery.

The jury for the competition included Carolyn K. Carr, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, National Portrait Gallery; Trevor Fairbrother, Independent Scholar and Curator, Boston, Mass; Brandon Fortune, Associate Curator of Painting & Sculpture, National Portrait Gallery; Thelma Goodman; Deputy Director, Exhibitions and Programs, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY; Sidney Goodman, Artist, Philadelphia, Pa; Marc Pachter, Director, National Portrait Gallery and Katy Siegel, Associate Professor, Hunter College, CUNY, and Contributing Editor, Artforum

About the artist Jenny Morgan

Jenny Morgan emerged onto the Denver art scene in a manner that is both rare and respected. A 2003 graduate and Valedictorian of Denver's prestigious Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, Morgan utilizes oil paints to create dramatic realist portraits that resonate with deep emotional impact. Minimal in style, her works are uniquely cropped to reveal parts of the body, sometimes in motion, other times static. The figures are commonly intertwined with a fabric element that creates a powerful, emotional symbol with strong historic traditions but framed with a signature style. The 24 year old artist often works in diptychs and triptychs that create a unique visual flow while also promoting a sense of separation of the body.

"Through the self-portrait, I use the body as a vehicle for self-examination, but also a way to connect the human experience of one person to a wide audience. I hope to communicate my world in a way that the viewer can react and relate." - J. Morgan

Morgan's talent as a painter was quickly recognized by + gallery owner Ivar Zeile as well as local art-legend Phil Bender, director of renowned local artist run gallery Pirate. Morgan's first exhibitions at Pirate served as a proving ground for her skills and innate ability to put together fluid and consistent bodies of work, immediately delivering a signature style through her figurative works that drew both praise and local collector interest. Following her ground-breaking exhibition "Soliloquies" at Pirate in 2004, Zeile determined that Morgan was more than ready to move into the commercial realm and become one of the galleries youngest represented artists.

In May of 2005, Morgan debuted a new body of work "First Person" at + gallery alongside two of the cities most recognized local artists, Peter Illig and John McEnroe. Success was not immediate within the new environment, but Morgan concluded the year with tremendous success. Her artwork was selected for inclusion into the prestigious national juried publication "New American Paintings," along with three other artists from the + gallery stable. The publication brought immediate attention to the young artist from a larger market, securing her first sales outside of Colorado, including a significant purchase of three canvases by the Museum of Fine Arts Key West in Florida. Morgan and the gallery were notified of her acceptance as a semifinalist in the Outwin Boochever 2006 Portraiture Competition in October of 2005, ultimately leading to her selection as a finalist this year. Morgan is currently producing a new series of paintings that will serve as her first solo-exhibition at + gallery, scheduled for September 2006.




WES MAGYAR


"Study of Lucas"

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

New Art from BERNARDUCCI MEISEL GALLERY in New York

Bernarducci Meisel Gallery in New York. http://www.bernarduccimeisel.com

Recent art purchases from this Gallery:

BERNARDO TORRENS

http://www.bernardotorrens.com

"TRIPTYCH"




Artist's Website: http://www.bernardotorrens.com


RAPHAELLA SPENCE

"THE JUDGE"




Artist Information:

British born artist Raphaella Spence is best known for her precise and evocative renderings of Italian landscapes and mountain towns, Spence explores the tactile and visceral beauty of the region in this much awaited exhibition entitled, “Bridge of Colours.”

Edward Lucie-Smith, in his essay Raphaella Spence and Optical Magic, writes,

"Essentially what Raphaella Spence is trying to do is to intensify the perceptions of the spectator until his or her perception bursts through the boundaries of what is conventionally thought of as realism and becomes an intense and perhaps disorienting celebration of the powers of sight."

Painted in the precisionist style of the Old European Masters and influenced by the American Photorealist Art Movement, Spence combines her painting style with the most recent digital photographic technology to make the photographs on which these meticulous and engaging works are based.

Born in London in 1978, Raphaella carries with her a distinguished artistic heritage. Both her father and grand-father were architects and her attention to detail and emotional understanding of beauty, meld seamlessly with her technical skill and her innate artistic gift.

Undeniably bucolic, her land and cityscapes go beyond the traditional boundaries of transcription. In her Venice scene Mirror of Hope, by focusing as faithfully on the crowded and at first unseemly delivery barges, as she does to the picturesque crumbling façade of an ancient canal house.

Spence celebrates and in turn elevates every aspect of her composition. She relishes in capturing the magnificence of the old, while discovering the beauty of the new.

Continuously combining past and present is a constant that runs throughout Spence's artistic work. Drawing as easily from the Old Italian masters as from her own very contemporary aesthetic sensibilities, her paintings are rooted in the traditional, but unmistakably her own. Her images transcend time, becoming collages of centuries where beauty above all things, is salient.


CLIVE HEAD

"STUDY FOR NEW YORK, OCTOBER 2001"





ROBERT GNIEWEK

"ELWOOD GRILL #2"





MEL RAMOS

"CHIMPANZEE"





GUY JOHNSON

"INTERIOR #6196"





PATRICK S. GORDON

"A FISH OUT OF WATER"





DAVID DEWEY

"MCCALLISTER HOUSE"




CHARLES BELL

"STUDY FOR BUNNY CYCLE"




HILO CHEN

"BEACH #120"




Friday, May 12, 2006

NEW ART FROM METAPHOR CONTEMPORARY ART

New Art from Metaphor Contemporary Art includes a great new piece by
www.metaphorcontemporaryart.com

RENE LYNCH

www.renelynch.com




"ALICE"







Artist's Statement:

My work explores that period of puberty that embodies pure spirit and an inchoate knowledge of power and vulnerability, when a child begins to break free and desires, like Alice in Wonderland, to see what is beyond the looking glass.

My images depict the blurred boundary dividing innocence and experience, and provide an intense examination of that nexus where childish fantasy collides with a growing realization of the body, of sexuality and its power. That cusp in life between the unselfconscious exuberance of childhood, and adulthood with its inevitable series of responsibilities and regrets. In that middle period the individual's savage, reckless, and extravagant traits are not yet tamed, before they are encultrated to society's expectations and limits. The adolescent's instincts are honed and sharp. There is a certain honesty to this time in life when intuitive nature is ascendant and the true nature with its raw emotions and untapped and confusing desires are on the surface. I am fascinated at how the body of a young teen reveals its inner vulnerability by the awkward turn of the shoulders, the inward turn of the foot or the expression on the lip. Smoothly worked with a glowing translucence, my watercolor and oil paintings are composed in a large empty field stripped of all that is superfluous, and in this way the central figure becomes iconic.

I draw inspiration from my own interpretations of the violent struggles, curiosity and coming of age stories of classic fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and mythology.

-Rene Lynch, 2005

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