As part of the citywide PhotoNOLA program, abstract paintings on photographs by Randy Asprodites and photos of New Iberia sugar mills by David Armentor will be on display at the Cole Pratt Gallery at 3800 Magazine Street, beginning with an opening reception Saturday.
From an emailed news release:
Cole Pratt Gallery will show the work of local artists Randy Asprodites and David Armentor for the month of December. In the main gallery, abstract oil and mixed media paintings on both canvas and photographs will represent Asprodites. The rear gallery will house Armentor’s exhibition of photography, “The Sugar Mill Sessions.” Their shows coincide with the citywide photography showcase, PhotoNOLA. Cole Pratt Gallery will hold an opening reception for both artists on Saturday, December 3rd from 6 to 8 pm.
For New Orleans artist Randy Asprodites, painting has long been an exploration of the textural qualities of oil paint. His signature style is marked by the use of enigmatic shapes that float on a soft, highly glazed color field. Asprodites’ compositions are extremely minimal with no concern for three-dimensionality or natural space. His cloudlike backgrounds provide a foundation for the quirky designs that find their way into the picture plane. Asprodites concentrates most on the varied surfaces of his canvases, and in this recent body of work, he has focused on the manipulation of a brighter color palette as well. This recent use of color as a major player in his paintings is a result of the artist’s time with his late mentor, New Orleans artist Ida Kohlmeyer. Asprodites, who began working for Kohlmeyer in 1974, always tried his hardest to produce work that no one could connect with hers, but he sees now that Kohlmeyer’s use of bright color may be seeping in his oeuvre. High-key, saturated colors are also evident in his trompe l’oeil photographic works. The artist’s “Cover” series teases the eye with images of the rags and paper towels that he uses to clean his brushes. Asprodites’ photographic prints appear to be three-dimensional, and the viewer struggles to distinguish real globs of paint from the illusionistic paint in each picture. After some collegiate work at the University of New Orleans, Asprodites earned his M.F.A. from Indiana University in 1978. He has taught studio art at Brother Martin High School in New Orleans for over 30 years.
In our rear space, Cole Pratt Gallery is please to show the documentary photography of New Orleans artist David Armentor in an exhibition called “The Sugar Mill Sessions.” Armentor, who was born and raised in New Iberia, refers to Louisiana’s sugar cane fields and mills as the “passive backdrop” of his childhood. In 2004, he began documenting the mills after hours and during harvest season to capture a contemporary view of the industry as we know it today. Armentor’s project continues with behind-the-scenes pictures of the Cajun Co-op, Louisiana Sugar Cane Co-op and Enterprise mills. His picturesque, modernistic compositions are traditional photographs captured on film and developed in a dark room. Armentor has an amazing talent for portraying a very laborious and industrial environment with atmospheric, theatrical drama. With a B.A. from Louisiana State University, the artist, who works as a digital imaging specialist at Tulane’s School of Architecture, plans to eventually write a book about his experiences with Louisiana’s sugar farmers.
2011年11月29日星期二
Exhibition “Travel Pakistan” amuses art lovers
“This exhibition is actually a humble effort to project and cherish different colours of Pakistan and to give a glimpse of its rich culture and art through the medium of oil painting, calligraphy, illustrations and posters”, sated the programme coordinator Amina Zulfiqar in an exhibition held at Iqbal Block by Department of Mass Communication at National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Islamabad.
The art exhibition “Travel Pakistan” which was organized by the students of Mass Communication department today at NUML was true reflection of their talent and it would speak volume of the fact that with a little more effort and guidance these amateur strokes of brushes, calligraphy and imagination could become professional. By capitalizing on this talent, a lot of applause and admiration could be earned for the country and countrymen. The exhibition “Travel Pakistan” was basically the work of latest graphics, traditional art and calligraphy. It aimed to provide hues and colours of all provinces of Pakistan by using the graphics and latest tools of digital media. Paintings, calligraphy, posters, photographs and illustrations were contributed by the students of Mass Communication.
The beautiful oil paintings of interior Lahore and traditional Islamic calligraphy in medium of gold by Wasif Shahid were displayed in the exhibition. Moreover, pictorial illustration of a poem “Taut Batot” by Sufi Tabsum was published in Adobe Photoshop by Noor-e-Sehr, a student of Mass Communication, while posters depicting a gate way to the rest of Pakistan, Balochistan, a place where people live truly, Punjab, history lives in the heat of Sindh, land of extraordinary people, Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa and then land of celebrations, Gilgit were also adding colour to the exhibition. The students told the scribe that they couldn’t expect that their amateur work would draw such a great response from students and other audience and all that applauses have encouraged them for more efforts and hard work.
Some students appreciated the idea of establishing such exhibition within departments as it would lead them displaying their talent at larger platform. Earlier, the exhibition “Travel Pakistan” was inaugurated by the Rector Maj Gen (Red) Masood Hasan.
Moreover, Rector and Director General Brig Azam Jamal also witnessed the paintings and other things at display. Programme Coordinator briefed the Rector and other guests about the exhibition and student painters briefed guests about their paintings.
The art exhibition “Travel Pakistan” which was organized by the students of Mass Communication department today at NUML was true reflection of their talent and it would speak volume of the fact that with a little more effort and guidance these amateur strokes of brushes, calligraphy and imagination could become professional. By capitalizing on this talent, a lot of applause and admiration could be earned for the country and countrymen. The exhibition “Travel Pakistan” was basically the work of latest graphics, traditional art and calligraphy. It aimed to provide hues and colours of all provinces of Pakistan by using the graphics and latest tools of digital media. Paintings, calligraphy, posters, photographs and illustrations were contributed by the students of Mass Communication.
The beautiful oil paintings of interior Lahore and traditional Islamic calligraphy in medium of gold by Wasif Shahid were displayed in the exhibition. Moreover, pictorial illustration of a poem “Taut Batot” by Sufi Tabsum was published in Adobe Photoshop by Noor-e-Sehr, a student of Mass Communication, while posters depicting a gate way to the rest of Pakistan, Balochistan, a place where people live truly, Punjab, history lives in the heat of Sindh, land of extraordinary people, Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa and then land of celebrations, Gilgit were also adding colour to the exhibition. The students told the scribe that they couldn’t expect that their amateur work would draw such a great response from students and other audience and all that applauses have encouraged them for more efforts and hard work.
Some students appreciated the idea of establishing such exhibition within departments as it would lead them displaying their talent at larger platform. Earlier, the exhibition “Travel Pakistan” was inaugurated by the Rector Maj Gen (Red) Masood Hasan.
Moreover, Rector and Director General Brig Azam Jamal also witnessed the paintings and other things at display. Programme Coordinator briefed the Rector and other guests about the exhibition and student painters briefed guests about their paintings.
2011年11月28日星期一
Registration Now Open For Winter 2012 Classes At Arts Guild NJ
Registration is now open for winter classes for adults, teens , and children at Arts Guild New Jersey . Winter classes begin the week of Jan. 14, including several new options, in addition to many familiar classes. Whether students are challenging themselves by taking their skills to the next level, or trying a new technique for the first time, there is something for people of all skill levels at Arts Guild New Jersey.
In addition to new classes, the Arts Guild will be utilizing a newly renovated studio classroom space on the corner of Esterbrook and Milton avenues in Rahway.
For complete course descriptions and class schedules, access the online course catalog request a printed flyer. You will notice class locations specified next to each class description: either 1670 Irving for the traditional Arts Guild building on Irving Street, or 125 W. Milton, for the brand new Annex space on Milton Avenue.
Registration is accepted online, as well as in-person or by mail. To register in person, visit the office at 1670 Irving Street in Rahway, on Monday, Tuesday or Thursday, from 9 a.m. – noon or from 1 – 4 p.m. (use parking lot entrance). Cash and check payments are accepted in person or by mail; credit card payments are accepted online only.
Daytime adult classes include Drawing from Life & Photos, an introduction to the fundamentals of composition, perspective, proportion, positive/negative space, value, and texture, using still life and reference materials; Expressive Watercolor, in which students create vibrant paintings in their own personal style; and Oil Painting: Basics & Beyond, where students focus on composition/design, under-painting, color theory and color mixing, and using transparent glazes. Daytime adult classes run weekly for two and a half hours each morning (10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.), for eight weeks. All levels welcomed.
Two choices for adult drawing classes are offered in the evening: Drawing the Human Figure, a class for artists who want to improve observational drawing skills and understand the basic anatomy and proportions of the human figure by working from a live model, and Open Studio Life Drawing, sessions in which artists work, without an instructor, from different live male and female models each week, in short and long poses.
The Arts Guild offers evening adult painting classes in various mediums. Watercolor teaches students to create vivid, original works of art with an emphasis on color, blending, composition, precision, form, light, shade and the use of brushes. Acrylic Painting demonstrates traditional methods, from washes and glazing with acrylic medium, to the use of gels and additives for texture. Painting with Oils is a study of technical, formal, and creative aspects of painting original artworks with oils from still life displays, landscape, and other inspirational sources.
Beginning Stained Glass and Intermediate/Advanced Stained Glass emphasize the skills of glass-cutting, foil wrapping, soldering and finishing techniques to make lampshades, stained glass window panels or even stained glass sculptural pieces and holiday ornaments, in two separate classes designed for your skill level.
The Arts Guild will also be offering two exciting new adult classes in the evening: 3-D Design and 2-D Design Fundamentals. 3-D Design examines the relationship between objects and the space in which they exist, through the construction of three-dimensional projects employing a variety of media. In 2-D Design students will broaden their understanding of visual organization, from concepts like form and color to more complex issues of perception, abstraction, and pattern.
For adult classes, students are responsible for their own materials. Supply lists are distributed upon registration. Most evening classes run for 2.5 hours weekly, for eight weeks.
Teen classes at Arts Guild New Jersey include Drawing, with a curriculum designed to build skills in drawing still life objects, landscapes, and basic figure drawing, and Sculpture/3-D Art, where students use wood, cardboard and found materials to create sculpture while learning about design and composition of forms in space. On Saturdays students can choose Painting for Teens, which covers everything from composition to color mixing, working from various subjects using acrylic paint, or Japanese Anime/Manga Style Cartooning, where students learn the techniques of this popular cartooning and animation style to make their own comic art. All teen classes include materials.
Kids classes include Sculpture for Kids, where students build three-dimensional objects out of cardboard, paper maché, wire, modeling clay and other materials and the popular Drawing Exploration, which builds students’ skills in drawing realistic and imaginary objects, people and landscapes, while tapping into their creativity and imagination. These children’s classes run weekly during after school hours The Arts Guild now also offers a Saturday class for kids: Cartooning, where students tell a simple story in pictures, creating a comic panel or comic strip page. Materials for all children’s classes are provided.
The Arts Guild will offer three in-depth one-day adult workshops this Winter on Saturdays. Encaustic Painting will be held on Feb. 25, 2012, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and will include collage, stenciling, painting, and a variety of other uses for this wax medium to create several original pieces. Quick, gestural, and full of vibrant energy, Alla Prima Painting Technique captures the essence of the subject matter with just a few well-placed strokes. Students will learn to paint with ‘bravura’ during this workshop on March 3, 2012, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Intended for students with some life drawing experience, Dynamic Figure Drawing and Anatomy will push student’s drawing abilities to the next level by learning to capture the essence of the model’s gesture on paper. Some anatomy will also be addressed during this workshop on March 10, 2012, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
In addition to new classes, the Arts Guild will be utilizing a newly renovated studio classroom space on the corner of Esterbrook and Milton avenues in Rahway.
For complete course descriptions and class schedules, access the online course catalog request a printed flyer. You will notice class locations specified next to each class description: either 1670 Irving for the traditional Arts Guild building on Irving Street, or 125 W. Milton, for the brand new Annex space on Milton Avenue.
Registration is accepted online, as well as in-person or by mail. To register in person, visit the office at 1670 Irving Street in Rahway, on Monday, Tuesday or Thursday, from 9 a.m. – noon or from 1 – 4 p.m. (use parking lot entrance). Cash and check payments are accepted in person or by mail; credit card payments are accepted online only.
Daytime adult classes include Drawing from Life & Photos, an introduction to the fundamentals of composition, perspective, proportion, positive/negative space, value, and texture, using still life and reference materials; Expressive Watercolor, in which students create vibrant paintings in their own personal style; and Oil Painting: Basics & Beyond, where students focus on composition/design, under-painting, color theory and color mixing, and using transparent glazes. Daytime adult classes run weekly for two and a half hours each morning (10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.), for eight weeks. All levels welcomed.
Two choices for adult drawing classes are offered in the evening: Drawing the Human Figure, a class for artists who want to improve observational drawing skills and understand the basic anatomy and proportions of the human figure by working from a live model, and Open Studio Life Drawing, sessions in which artists work, without an instructor, from different live male and female models each week, in short and long poses.
The Arts Guild offers evening adult painting classes in various mediums. Watercolor teaches students to create vivid, original works of art with an emphasis on color, blending, composition, precision, form, light, shade and the use of brushes. Acrylic Painting demonstrates traditional methods, from washes and glazing with acrylic medium, to the use of gels and additives for texture. Painting with Oils is a study of technical, formal, and creative aspects of painting original artworks with oils from still life displays, landscape, and other inspirational sources.
Beginning Stained Glass and Intermediate/Advanced Stained Glass emphasize the skills of glass-cutting, foil wrapping, soldering and finishing techniques to make lampshades, stained glass window panels or even stained glass sculptural pieces and holiday ornaments, in two separate classes designed for your skill level.
The Arts Guild will also be offering two exciting new adult classes in the evening: 3-D Design and 2-D Design Fundamentals. 3-D Design examines the relationship between objects and the space in which they exist, through the construction of three-dimensional projects employing a variety of media. In 2-D Design students will broaden their understanding of visual organization, from concepts like form and color to more complex issues of perception, abstraction, and pattern.
For adult classes, students are responsible for their own materials. Supply lists are distributed upon registration. Most evening classes run for 2.5 hours weekly, for eight weeks.
Teen classes at Arts Guild New Jersey include Drawing, with a curriculum designed to build skills in drawing still life objects, landscapes, and basic figure drawing, and Sculpture/3-D Art, where students use wood, cardboard and found materials to create sculpture while learning about design and composition of forms in space. On Saturdays students can choose Painting for Teens, which covers everything from composition to color mixing, working from various subjects using acrylic paint, or Japanese Anime/Manga Style Cartooning, where students learn the techniques of this popular cartooning and animation style to make their own comic art. All teen classes include materials.
Kids classes include Sculpture for Kids, where students build three-dimensional objects out of cardboard, paper maché, wire, modeling clay and other materials and the popular Drawing Exploration, which builds students’ skills in drawing realistic and imaginary objects, people and landscapes, while tapping into their creativity and imagination. These children’s classes run weekly during after school hours The Arts Guild now also offers a Saturday class for kids: Cartooning, where students tell a simple story in pictures, creating a comic panel or comic strip page. Materials for all children’s classes are provided.
The Arts Guild will offer three in-depth one-day adult workshops this Winter on Saturdays. Encaustic Painting will be held on Feb. 25, 2012, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and will include collage, stenciling, painting, and a variety of other uses for this wax medium to create several original pieces. Quick, gestural, and full of vibrant energy, Alla Prima Painting Technique captures the essence of the subject matter with just a few well-placed strokes. Students will learn to paint with ‘bravura’ during this workshop on March 3, 2012, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Intended for students with some life drawing experience, Dynamic Figure Drawing and Anatomy will push student’s drawing abilities to the next level by learning to capture the essence of the model’s gesture on paper. Some anatomy will also be addressed during this workshop on March 10, 2012, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
2011年11月27日星期日
An artist with real public concerns considers a new generation
Chinese painter Shi Zidong believes that artists can reflect real public concerns and inspire people to think.
In one of his sculptural installations, for instance, a young man lowers his head and meditates. Strips of newspapers swirl around him, including an old photo of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, with a headline saying, "Why Marx is Right", a report about a Chinese businessman who paid 1.25 million yuan ($193,250) for a bottle of whisky, and an advertisement for cosmetic surgery.
"I collected the newspaper clippings at the beginning of October. They epitomize readers' interests," the 49-year-old Shi says.
"Something is wrong," he says, pointing at the advertisement. "You may find it hard to understand why most of the customers are young and good-looking girls. They want to change into somebody else because they want to be more beautiful."
Shi thinks that people are surrounded by information, but there is a paucity of values.
"The result is we desire more and more," he says, "It is very dangerous, so I painted this sculpture yellow to warn people about the problems caused by a blooming economy."
This is one of the four installations Shi made for the 100th anniversary of the 1911 Revolution, which put an end to more than 2,000 years of feudal rule in China. Shi's intention was to trace changing mainstream social values in China over the past century.
Shi's exhibition began in October and has been held in Dalian, Liaoning province, and Beijing. It will also be shown in Paris.
Who Am I? A Close Scrutiny on the Chinese Cultural Values after 1978, exhibits nearly 200 of Shi's works, including the New Citizens series of sculpture installations and his oil painting, Wildflowers and Roses, that won the Carrousel du Louvre Salon 2010 prize.
"Shi's exhibition reflects his creative progress and exemplifies the history of the artistic styles of contemporary Chinese oil paintings," says Daozi, an Academy of Arts and Design of Tsinghua University professor.
"In recent years, Shi has been trying to construct a unique style of artistic spirituality. His New Citizens series, which combines painting, sculpture, photography, textile art, diary and fragmented texts, encode both aesthetic purity and cultural criticism."
Shi, meanwhile, says the computer and Internet have revolutionized the way we understand the world. Young people, he thinks, know more and claim more rights than previous generations.
Shi says his work is for the new generation and often features youths gazing, or appearing to think.
"The majority can't do much when it comes to problems such as pollution and excessive consumption of resources," he says. "But the gaze is a kind of concern. It might be the start for a new solution."
Born in Heilongjiang province, 1962, Shi started studying oil painting when he was 16.
Yang Feiyun, dean of the Oil Painting School at the Chinese National Academy of Arts, who instructed Shi in 1993, says he has a talent for painting.
"He is capable of drawing a unique artistic context and structure from various natural objects and making his paintings full of brightness and beauty," he says.
Shi is dean of the International Art and Design School at Dalian University of Foreign Languages.
"When I was young, I thought artists had no obligation other than to strive for beauty. With time and added experience, I consciously ... tried to reflect social problems," he says.
"A conscientious artist can create works not only for decoration but also to contribute to social changes."
In one of his sculptural installations, for instance, a young man lowers his head and meditates. Strips of newspapers swirl around him, including an old photo of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, with a headline saying, "Why Marx is Right", a report about a Chinese businessman who paid 1.25 million yuan ($193,250) for a bottle of whisky, and an advertisement for cosmetic surgery.
"I collected the newspaper clippings at the beginning of October. They epitomize readers' interests," the 49-year-old Shi says.
"Something is wrong," he says, pointing at the advertisement. "You may find it hard to understand why most of the customers are young and good-looking girls. They want to change into somebody else because they want to be more beautiful."
Shi thinks that people are surrounded by information, but there is a paucity of values.
"The result is we desire more and more," he says, "It is very dangerous, so I painted this sculpture yellow to warn people about the problems caused by a blooming economy."
This is one of the four installations Shi made for the 100th anniversary of the 1911 Revolution, which put an end to more than 2,000 years of feudal rule in China. Shi's intention was to trace changing mainstream social values in China over the past century.
Shi's exhibition began in October and has been held in Dalian, Liaoning province, and Beijing. It will also be shown in Paris.
Who Am I? A Close Scrutiny on the Chinese Cultural Values after 1978, exhibits nearly 200 of Shi's works, including the New Citizens series of sculpture installations and his oil painting, Wildflowers and Roses, that won the Carrousel du Louvre Salon 2010 prize.
"Shi's exhibition reflects his creative progress and exemplifies the history of the artistic styles of contemporary Chinese oil paintings," says Daozi, an Academy of Arts and Design of Tsinghua University professor.
"In recent years, Shi has been trying to construct a unique style of artistic spirituality. His New Citizens series, which combines painting, sculpture, photography, textile art, diary and fragmented texts, encode both aesthetic purity and cultural criticism."
Shi, meanwhile, says the computer and Internet have revolutionized the way we understand the world. Young people, he thinks, know more and claim more rights than previous generations.
Shi says his work is for the new generation and often features youths gazing, or appearing to think.
"The majority can't do much when it comes to problems such as pollution and excessive consumption of resources," he says. "But the gaze is a kind of concern. It might be the start for a new solution."
Born in Heilongjiang province, 1962, Shi started studying oil painting when he was 16.
Yang Feiyun, dean of the Oil Painting School at the Chinese National Academy of Arts, who instructed Shi in 1993, says he has a talent for painting.
"He is capable of drawing a unique artistic context and structure from various natural objects and making his paintings full of brightness and beauty," he says.
Shi is dean of the International Art and Design School at Dalian University of Foreign Languages.
"When I was young, I thought artists had no obligation other than to strive for beauty. With time and added experience, I consciously ... tried to reflect social problems," he says.
"A conscientious artist can create works not only for decoration but also to contribute to social changes."
2011年11月24日星期四
Art and soul
JOHN Hatton came to Goulburn yesterday on a mission. Equipped with a large oil painting he’d poured his heart into, he and wife Vera drove straight to John Edlund’s home.
The former independent MP for the South Coast wanted to express his appreciation to the man, who like himself had fought police corruption and been victimised for having the courage.
“The reason I want to give this to John is my extreme admiration for him,” he told the Post.
“I want to leave for him and his family an expression of gratitude for what he’s done for the people of NSW. It’s my way of recognising him.”
The landscape work doesn’t depict any particular rural scene, but one in Mr Hatton’s head. The sweeping hills represent the countryside in which the MP and Mr Edlund regularly seek solace, healing and perspective. Granite rocks in the foreground symbolise integrity.
Mr Hatton has a wealth of respect for Mr Edlund. Together they worked to expose police corruption in the 1980s and 1990s, leading to the Wood Royal Commission.
Former Detective Sergeant Edlund was medically discharged from the NSW Police Academy in December 1998 suffering severe stress. He says he was the victim of a string of trumped up charges and allegations after airing his concerns about corruption in senior NSW police ranks, uncovered in Operation Seville, a drug operation involving mafia.
NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione has only this year apologised for Mr Edlund’s treatment.
“It’s not an anger that boils but I feel outrage when people are treated badly by the very organisation they’re serving, and which should be looking after them,” Mr Hatton said.
Mr Hatton has been interested in painting since 1970 but took it up seriously 16 years ago. Mr Edlund is a painter too, with a penchant for landscapes, kookaburras and horses. Only when he moved to Goulburn did he find the time for art classes.
Cancer in his lung and shoulder has since restricted his movement. The disease has already cost him an eye and the stress of fighting his case hasn’t helped, he says. He was overwhelmed by Mr Hatton’s gesture.
“It’s one of the few moments in my life that someone has done something for me in gratitude for what I did as a police officer,” he told the Post.
“My experience with John Hatton is that from the first moment I looked for help, he was there.” Mr Edlund said it had been a long journey and thanked Mr Hatton and former Detective Sergeant Matt Casey for their enduring support. The painting has taken pride of place in his lounge room.
The former independent MP for the South Coast wanted to express his appreciation to the man, who like himself had fought police corruption and been victimised for having the courage.
“The reason I want to give this to John is my extreme admiration for him,” he told the Post.
“I want to leave for him and his family an expression of gratitude for what he’s done for the people of NSW. It’s my way of recognising him.”
The landscape work doesn’t depict any particular rural scene, but one in Mr Hatton’s head. The sweeping hills represent the countryside in which the MP and Mr Edlund regularly seek solace, healing and perspective. Granite rocks in the foreground symbolise integrity.
Mr Hatton has a wealth of respect for Mr Edlund. Together they worked to expose police corruption in the 1980s and 1990s, leading to the Wood Royal Commission.
Former Detective Sergeant Edlund was medically discharged from the NSW Police Academy in December 1998 suffering severe stress. He says he was the victim of a string of trumped up charges and allegations after airing his concerns about corruption in senior NSW police ranks, uncovered in Operation Seville, a drug operation involving mafia.
NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione has only this year apologised for Mr Edlund’s treatment.
“It’s not an anger that boils but I feel outrage when people are treated badly by the very organisation they’re serving, and which should be looking after them,” Mr Hatton said.
Mr Hatton has been interested in painting since 1970 but took it up seriously 16 years ago. Mr Edlund is a painter too, with a penchant for landscapes, kookaburras and horses. Only when he moved to Goulburn did he find the time for art classes.
Cancer in his lung and shoulder has since restricted his movement. The disease has already cost him an eye and the stress of fighting his case hasn’t helped, he says. He was overwhelmed by Mr Hatton’s gesture.
“It’s one of the few moments in my life that someone has done something for me in gratitude for what I did as a police officer,” he told the Post.
“My experience with John Hatton is that from the first moment I looked for help, he was there.” Mr Edlund said it had been a long journey and thanked Mr Hatton and former Detective Sergeant Matt Casey for their enduring support. The painting has taken pride of place in his lounge room.
2011年11月23日星期三
AVAM covers fertile ground
Going around the exhibit at the American Visionary Art Museum is a thematically circular exercise. That's because this show is true to its title: "All Things Round: Galaxies, Eyeballs and Karma."
As in most of its previous, long-running, museum-filling exhibits, some of the artworks in the current show closely adhere to the overall theme and others barely relate to it at all. In any event, there are so many neat things on display that your eyes will be wide-open circles as you explore the offerings.
Among the artists working with conventional mediums and formats, Tennessee artist Paul Lancaster exemplifies how painters traditionally have relied upon circular forms in their compositions. His 1987 oil painting "Night Bathers" depicts five female nudes resting beside a natural pool at night.
Not only is the moon an illuminated circle at the top of the composition, but this quasi-surreal scene includes small white orbs sprinkled throughout the vegetation. The resulting landscape has a fairyland quality to it. And, of course, the women themselves have rounded forms that make them seem right at home in this setting.
Lancaster's 1998 oil painting "Madonna and Child" similarly emphasizes rounded forms in everything from Mary's face to the halo behind her. Indeed, the backing vegetation and the landscape itself are made up of curving shapes.
Another artist who seems to be on the same curvy wavelength is Stephanie Lucas. This French artist's 2011 acrylic painting "Mother" is an intricately detailed composition in which numerous figures are surrounded by such lush plant life that they verge on completely merging into it.
Although you'll find some straight lines in this painting, more often you'll encounter organic swirls that symbolically emit natural energy.
Among the exhibit's artists circling around the overall topic in more unconventional ways, one of the most interesting examples is Texas artist Grace Bashara Greene. Her "The Button Lady" (circa 1994) is an actual antique dress form whose feminine shape has been covered with buttons of various sizes and colors. This "button lady" also supports spools of thread. She's basically all circles and cylindrical shapes.
The women in the paintings by Lancaster and Lucas literally are shown in natural states, while this altered dress form speaks to venerable domestic arts. In both cases, rounded forms have emotional associations with female identity.
Just as the world itself is round, this exhibit demonstrates how various cultures around the world share an interest in circular imagery and, arguably, circular thinking. There is, for instance, an exhibited Mayan stone sphere made sometime between 400 and 600 AD. This sphere is related to the cyclical time found in the Mayan calendar.
The exhibit also contains an assortment of mandala-themed artwork by several artists. These works serve as a reminder that the word "mandala" itself is derived from the Sanskrit word for "circle."
On our own continent, the Native American artist Shawn Ware's "Dream Catcher" is a 2001 sculptural assemblage made from a wagon wheel, horseshoes and leather. Painted red, yellow and black, this wall-hanging object is a rawhide web designed to catch one's thoughts.
Also circling around topics with spiritual or, in any case, esoteric associations, an English married couple, Karen and Steve Alexander, have photographs and related texts documenting the mysterious crop circles that suddenly appear in wheat fields.
If your thoughts are being encouraged to make universal linkages between otherwise disparate cultures, you won't be surprised to see that the exhibit includes a book by Carl Jung. It's that kind of show.
As in most of its previous, long-running, museum-filling exhibits, some of the artworks in the current show closely adhere to the overall theme and others barely relate to it at all. In any event, there are so many neat things on display that your eyes will be wide-open circles as you explore the offerings.
Among the artists working with conventional mediums and formats, Tennessee artist Paul Lancaster exemplifies how painters traditionally have relied upon circular forms in their compositions. His 1987 oil painting "Night Bathers" depicts five female nudes resting beside a natural pool at night.
Not only is the moon an illuminated circle at the top of the composition, but this quasi-surreal scene includes small white orbs sprinkled throughout the vegetation. The resulting landscape has a fairyland quality to it. And, of course, the women themselves have rounded forms that make them seem right at home in this setting.
Lancaster's 1998 oil painting "Madonna and Child" similarly emphasizes rounded forms in everything from Mary's face to the halo behind her. Indeed, the backing vegetation and the landscape itself are made up of curving shapes.
Another artist who seems to be on the same curvy wavelength is Stephanie Lucas. This French artist's 2011 acrylic painting "Mother" is an intricately detailed composition in which numerous figures are surrounded by such lush plant life that they verge on completely merging into it.
Although you'll find some straight lines in this painting, more often you'll encounter organic swirls that symbolically emit natural energy.
Among the exhibit's artists circling around the overall topic in more unconventional ways, one of the most interesting examples is Texas artist Grace Bashara Greene. Her "The Button Lady" (circa 1994) is an actual antique dress form whose feminine shape has been covered with buttons of various sizes and colors. This "button lady" also supports spools of thread. She's basically all circles and cylindrical shapes.
The women in the paintings by Lancaster and Lucas literally are shown in natural states, while this altered dress form speaks to venerable domestic arts. In both cases, rounded forms have emotional associations with female identity.
Just as the world itself is round, this exhibit demonstrates how various cultures around the world share an interest in circular imagery and, arguably, circular thinking. There is, for instance, an exhibited Mayan stone sphere made sometime between 400 and 600 AD. This sphere is related to the cyclical time found in the Mayan calendar.
The exhibit also contains an assortment of mandala-themed artwork by several artists. These works serve as a reminder that the word "mandala" itself is derived from the Sanskrit word for "circle."
On our own continent, the Native American artist Shawn Ware's "Dream Catcher" is a 2001 sculptural assemblage made from a wagon wheel, horseshoes and leather. Painted red, yellow and black, this wall-hanging object is a rawhide web designed to catch one's thoughts.
Also circling around topics with spiritual or, in any case, esoteric associations, an English married couple, Karen and Steve Alexander, have photographs and related texts documenting the mysterious crop circles that suddenly appear in wheat fields.
If your thoughts are being encouraged to make universal linkages between otherwise disparate cultures, you won't be surprised to see that the exhibit includes a book by Carl Jung. It's that kind of show.
2011年11月22日星期二
Oil and Water Mix at Mineola Library Art Exhibit
Whoever said that oil and water don’t mix has not been to the art exhibit at the Mineola Library this month.
Showcasing the artwork of Carol Bruder and Nancy Wernersbach, both of whom are members of the National Art League of Nassau County, the November exhibition mixes watercolor paintings with traditional oils.
Although Bruder specializes in other mediums such as acrylics and black and white ink drawings, all of her work in this exhibit is oil paintings, while Wernersbach has works in both mediums.
“Oil paintings are my favorite because of the color, it’s vibrant,” Bruder said.
Wernersbach feels that “oil is nice for landscapes because it gives it a softer look (however) most of my illustration work is in watercolor because it’s faster,” adding “I like the detail I could get; oil sits there, (but) water flows and moves around and almost paints itself sometimes.”
Both Bruder and Wernersbach have taken trips to different locations on their own and with art groups to practice “plein air” painting, which captures the moment of a specific object or landscape.
“It’s a good exercise to paint outdoors because there’s a different set of rules; you have to get it right the first time,” Bruder said.
Plein air artists have a maximum of 3 hours to complete their painting before the natural light and shadows change.
“Outdoor paintings are the best because photo color is sometimes not 100%, especially in distant landscape.” Bruder said. “I could get cheerful paintings from outdoors.”
However, some artists still have to take the photo of the scene and finish their piece at home, since it is almost impossible to master a piece in such short time. Bruder was able to finish her piece, Old Westbury Cottage, in the short time allowed. In regards to this Wernersbach said, “She’s [Carol] the Plein air Queen.”
On a trip to Oyster Bay Planting fields with a few friends, Wernersbach painted her plein air piece, Italian Gardens, Planting Fields.
“There are so many beautiful places in Long Island that people don’t get to see,” she said. “Through the paintings, it helps people to see the beauty of Long Island.”
Showcasing the artwork of Carol Bruder and Nancy Wernersbach, both of whom are members of the National Art League of Nassau County, the November exhibition mixes watercolor paintings with traditional oils.
Although Bruder specializes in other mediums such as acrylics and black and white ink drawings, all of her work in this exhibit is oil paintings, while Wernersbach has works in both mediums.
“Oil paintings are my favorite because of the color, it’s vibrant,” Bruder said.
Wernersbach feels that “oil is nice for landscapes because it gives it a softer look (however) most of my illustration work is in watercolor because it’s faster,” adding “I like the detail I could get; oil sits there, (but) water flows and moves around and almost paints itself sometimes.”
Both Bruder and Wernersbach have taken trips to different locations on their own and with art groups to practice “plein air” painting, which captures the moment of a specific object or landscape.
“It’s a good exercise to paint outdoors because there’s a different set of rules; you have to get it right the first time,” Bruder said.
Plein air artists have a maximum of 3 hours to complete their painting before the natural light and shadows change.
“Outdoor paintings are the best because photo color is sometimes not 100%, especially in distant landscape.” Bruder said. “I could get cheerful paintings from outdoors.”
However, some artists still have to take the photo of the scene and finish their piece at home, since it is almost impossible to master a piece in such short time. Bruder was able to finish her piece, Old Westbury Cottage, in the short time allowed. In regards to this Wernersbach said, “She’s [Carol] the Plein air Queen.”
On a trip to Oyster Bay Planting fields with a few friends, Wernersbach painted her plein air piece, Italian Gardens, Planting Fields.
“There are so many beautiful places in Long Island that people don’t get to see,” she said. “Through the paintings, it helps people to see the beauty of Long Island.”
2011年11月21日星期一
US returns stolen painting to Germany
An American university returned a 15th century painting to a Berlin museum on Monday, more than six decades after the valuable piece was stolen in the chaotic aftermath of World War II.
The Flagellation of Christ was one of more than a dozen paintings that disappeared from Berlin's Jagdschloss Grunewald museum during the summer of 1945, looted by British and Russian soldiers.
The painting, which originally formed a wing of an altarpiece, was later sold and ended up in the Indiana University Museum of Bloomington.
"One of the many tragedies associated with World War II was the loss of countless works of art that were stolen, confiscated, looted, pillaged or destroyed," Michael McRobbie, the president of Indiana University, said during a handover ceremony at the German capital's Charlottenburg Palace.
The university returned the oil-on-oak painting voluntarily to what it called "its rightful owners" after it was first contacted in 2004 by the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation which oversees the Jagdschloss Grunewald museum.
The 19.7 inches x 19.7 inches (50cm x 50cm) panel, depicts Jesus, blood-covered and bound to a pillar, surrounded by four men who are beating him with whips. It was created by an unknown artist of the "Cologne School" in the 1480s. Experts consider work attributed to the artist to be the best of the period.
The painting was stolen from the German museum by a British soldier in 1945 and bought by the former president of the University of Indiana, Herman Wells, from a London art gallery in 1967. Wells, who was not aware that he had bought a stolen painting, donated the work to the university's museum in 1985.
In 2004 and 2010, the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation published two catalogues of art lost during and after World War II, with The Flagellation of Christ among the 3,000 pieces listed.
On being contacted in 2004, the Americans immediately agreed to return the painting, said Harmut Dorgerloh, the general director of the foundation.
"This painting is one of our important works and we are happy to have it back — it closes a big gap in our collection of old German paintings," Dorgerloh said.
Both the Indiana museum and its German counterpart refused to give the exact value of the painting, but said the work was very valuable and priceless in its importance to art history.
The Flagellation of Christ was one of more than a dozen paintings that disappeared from Berlin's Jagdschloss Grunewald museum during the summer of 1945, looted by British and Russian soldiers.
The painting, which originally formed a wing of an altarpiece, was later sold and ended up in the Indiana University Museum of Bloomington.
"One of the many tragedies associated with World War II was the loss of countless works of art that were stolen, confiscated, looted, pillaged or destroyed," Michael McRobbie, the president of Indiana University, said during a handover ceremony at the German capital's Charlottenburg Palace.
The university returned the oil-on-oak painting voluntarily to what it called "its rightful owners" after it was first contacted in 2004 by the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation which oversees the Jagdschloss Grunewald museum.
The 19.7 inches x 19.7 inches (50cm x 50cm) panel, depicts Jesus, blood-covered and bound to a pillar, surrounded by four men who are beating him with whips. It was created by an unknown artist of the "Cologne School" in the 1480s. Experts consider work attributed to the artist to be the best of the period.
The painting was stolen from the German museum by a British soldier in 1945 and bought by the former president of the University of Indiana, Herman Wells, from a London art gallery in 1967. Wells, who was not aware that he had bought a stolen painting, donated the work to the university's museum in 1985.
In 2004 and 2010, the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation published two catalogues of art lost during and after World War II, with The Flagellation of Christ among the 3,000 pieces listed.
On being contacted in 2004, the Americans immediately agreed to return the painting, said Harmut Dorgerloh, the general director of the foundation.
"This painting is one of our important works and we are happy to have it back — it closes a big gap in our collection of old German paintings," Dorgerloh said.
Both the Indiana museum and its German counterpart refused to give the exact value of the painting, but said the work was very valuable and priceless in its importance to art history.
2011年11月20日星期日
New DIA exhibit explores Rembrandt's unconventional approach
If you were an artist in northern Europe in the middle of the 17th Century and wanted to paint a picture of Jesus, what would he look like?
You likely would have given him light-brown hair, perhaps with blond highlights, a high forehead, pink-tinged cheeks, a long, thin nose, narrow lips and a faraway look in his eyes. These traits were drawn from standard images rooted in Byzantine sources and the apocryphal "Lentulus letter" that detailed Jesus' appearance in such phrases as "hair the color of a ripe hazelnut," "no wrinkles or marks on his face," "the most beautiful of all mortals."
What you would not have done is what Rembrandt van Rijn almost certainly did in the 1640s, which was to find a young Sephardic man in the Jewish Quarter of Amsterdam where the artist lived and paint his portrait based on real life. Rembrandt created a naturalistic Jesus, with dark hair and dark complexion, a lower forehead, wider face and brow and gentle eyes that meet a viewer's gaze.
This radical redefinition of Jesus in Western art -- its origins, development and meaning -- stands at the center of "Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus," an astonishing, often breathtaking exhibition opening today at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Rembrandt transforms the image of Christ from a figure of godly measure and heroic suffering into a more human-scaled embodiment of divine spirituality.
Organized by the DIA with the Louvre Museum in Paris and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, "Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus" includes 64 paintings, drawings and prints, 52 of them by Rembrandt and his immediate circle. While the show is not large compared to the DIA's previous blockbusters devoted to Van Gogh or Degas, it packs an intense wallop borne of its tight focus, meticulous scholarship and, not least of all, because it delivers a number of masterpieces that rarely travel, among them the landmark "The Supper at Emmaus" lent by the Louvre.
The Dutch-born Rembrandt belongs on the shortlist of the greatest artists in the canon, and the DIA chronicles his flowering genius as expressed through the singularly potent subject of his depiction of Jesus.
As the show reveals -- and DIA curator emeritus of European paintings George Keyes and Philadelphia's then curator Lloyd DeWitt emphasize in their trenchant individual essays in the hefty, first-rate exhibition catalog -- more conventional portrayals of Jesus echo through Rembrandt's earlier works: Jesus raises his hand emphatically in the 1632 engraving and etching "The Raising of Lazarus" and he appears light-haired and shallow-featured in the major painting "Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery" (1644) from the National Gallery of London.
But in the seven remarkable small oil sketches of the heads of Christ that Rembrandt and his studio began producing around 1648 -- and which form the nucleus of the exhibition -- a new vision emerges. Here is a realistic Jesus wearing a contemplative expression evoking goodness, compassion and a richly textured inner life.
He is both the picture of a man meditating on quotidian existence and an object for a viewer's own quiet meditation. He appears to not be providing answers but, like us, seeking them. On the deepest frequencies, Rembrandt's Jesus is the embodiment of the Dutch master's search for the meaning of Christ in a language as mysterious and profound as religion itself -- the language of art.
The Louvre's serene "The Supper at Emmaus," one of several works illustrating the post-resurrection moment in which Christ is recognized by two of his disciples, immediately before he disappears in a flash of light, crystallizes the transformation. The painting is displayed next to the DIA's "Head of Christ," attributed to Rembrandt, whose tilted head and visage have long been recognized as a study for the Louvre's painting.
As Keyes writes in his essay, the painting culminated Rembrandt's "increasing sense of quietude" in depicting religious subjects. Christ's subtle radiance marries with the restrained reaction of his disciples and the simple architectural setting to create a scene of striking tranquility. What a contrast to the anguished suffering portrayed in the paintings by Rembrandt's contemporaries Guido Reni and Valentin de Doulogne shown in the opening gallery as examples of the Catholic house style.
The Louvre's "Supper" is far from the only stunner, and while the paintings are the flashiest pieces, the pleasures of the works on paper are often just as rewarding. Take your time, look closely. The seminal "The Hundred Guilder Print" ("Christ Preaching"), seen in an extraordinarily fine impression from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, catalogs all of Rembrandt's gifts -- virtuoso draftsmanship, masterful storytelling, innovative use of light and shade, compositional subtleties and the ability to wring maximum emotion with a minimum of fuss.
Like all of the DIA's special exhibitions these days, "Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus" is aggressively installed and interpreted. It's organized thematically and offers a full battalion of silent video projections, photo screens, a sprawling tabletop relief map of the Amsterdam in which the artist lived and generous, generally smart labeling that offers a deep dive into individual pieces of art, Rembrandt's sources and influences, his innovations and several broad cultural narratives.
Still, there are times when the bells and whistles overwhelm the sublimity of the art, and it's a relief that the key central gallery boasting the seven heads of Christ and the Louvre's "Supper" unfolds with greater restraint and intimacy, which intensifies their knee-buckling beauty and drama.
Given that the DIA recently devoted an exhibition to exploring issues of authenticity in the museum world, it's a little surprising that the current show ignores the fact that there is no consensus on whether Rembrandt or his students were primarily responsible for the heads of Christ. The catalog essays, by contrast, include a summary of heroic forensic work by a team from Philadelphia and make a strong case that at least some of these heads, including Detroit's, are Rembrandt autographs.
The exhibition is particularly strong on placing Rembrandt in the social context of Dutch society -- the wealthiest, most mercantile and cosmopolitan and the most religiously tolerant in Europe at the time. Jews were not restricted to ghettos and were allowed to worship freely.
You likely would have given him light-brown hair, perhaps with blond highlights, a high forehead, pink-tinged cheeks, a long, thin nose, narrow lips and a faraway look in his eyes. These traits were drawn from standard images rooted in Byzantine sources and the apocryphal "Lentulus letter" that detailed Jesus' appearance in such phrases as "hair the color of a ripe hazelnut," "no wrinkles or marks on his face," "the most beautiful of all mortals."
What you would not have done is what Rembrandt van Rijn almost certainly did in the 1640s, which was to find a young Sephardic man in the Jewish Quarter of Amsterdam where the artist lived and paint his portrait based on real life. Rembrandt created a naturalistic Jesus, with dark hair and dark complexion, a lower forehead, wider face and brow and gentle eyes that meet a viewer's gaze.
This radical redefinition of Jesus in Western art -- its origins, development and meaning -- stands at the center of "Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus," an astonishing, often breathtaking exhibition opening today at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Rembrandt transforms the image of Christ from a figure of godly measure and heroic suffering into a more human-scaled embodiment of divine spirituality.
Organized by the DIA with the Louvre Museum in Paris and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, "Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus" includes 64 paintings, drawings and prints, 52 of them by Rembrandt and his immediate circle. While the show is not large compared to the DIA's previous blockbusters devoted to Van Gogh or Degas, it packs an intense wallop borne of its tight focus, meticulous scholarship and, not least of all, because it delivers a number of masterpieces that rarely travel, among them the landmark "The Supper at Emmaus" lent by the Louvre.
The Dutch-born Rembrandt belongs on the shortlist of the greatest artists in the canon, and the DIA chronicles his flowering genius as expressed through the singularly potent subject of his depiction of Jesus.
As the show reveals -- and DIA curator emeritus of European paintings George Keyes and Philadelphia's then curator Lloyd DeWitt emphasize in their trenchant individual essays in the hefty, first-rate exhibition catalog -- more conventional portrayals of Jesus echo through Rembrandt's earlier works: Jesus raises his hand emphatically in the 1632 engraving and etching "The Raising of Lazarus" and he appears light-haired and shallow-featured in the major painting "Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery" (1644) from the National Gallery of London.
But in the seven remarkable small oil sketches of the heads of Christ that Rembrandt and his studio began producing around 1648 -- and which form the nucleus of the exhibition -- a new vision emerges. Here is a realistic Jesus wearing a contemplative expression evoking goodness, compassion and a richly textured inner life.
He is both the picture of a man meditating on quotidian existence and an object for a viewer's own quiet meditation. He appears to not be providing answers but, like us, seeking them. On the deepest frequencies, Rembrandt's Jesus is the embodiment of the Dutch master's search for the meaning of Christ in a language as mysterious and profound as religion itself -- the language of art.
The Louvre's serene "The Supper at Emmaus," one of several works illustrating the post-resurrection moment in which Christ is recognized by two of his disciples, immediately before he disappears in a flash of light, crystallizes the transformation. The painting is displayed next to the DIA's "Head of Christ," attributed to Rembrandt, whose tilted head and visage have long been recognized as a study for the Louvre's painting.
As Keyes writes in his essay, the painting culminated Rembrandt's "increasing sense of quietude" in depicting religious subjects. Christ's subtle radiance marries with the restrained reaction of his disciples and the simple architectural setting to create a scene of striking tranquility. What a contrast to the anguished suffering portrayed in the paintings by Rembrandt's contemporaries Guido Reni and Valentin de Doulogne shown in the opening gallery as examples of the Catholic house style.
The Louvre's "Supper" is far from the only stunner, and while the paintings are the flashiest pieces, the pleasures of the works on paper are often just as rewarding. Take your time, look closely. The seminal "The Hundred Guilder Print" ("Christ Preaching"), seen in an extraordinarily fine impression from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, catalogs all of Rembrandt's gifts -- virtuoso draftsmanship, masterful storytelling, innovative use of light and shade, compositional subtleties and the ability to wring maximum emotion with a minimum of fuss.
Like all of the DIA's special exhibitions these days, "Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus" is aggressively installed and interpreted. It's organized thematically and offers a full battalion of silent video projections, photo screens, a sprawling tabletop relief map of the Amsterdam in which the artist lived and generous, generally smart labeling that offers a deep dive into individual pieces of art, Rembrandt's sources and influences, his innovations and several broad cultural narratives.
Still, there are times when the bells and whistles overwhelm the sublimity of the art, and it's a relief that the key central gallery boasting the seven heads of Christ and the Louvre's "Supper" unfolds with greater restraint and intimacy, which intensifies their knee-buckling beauty and drama.
Given that the DIA recently devoted an exhibition to exploring issues of authenticity in the museum world, it's a little surprising that the current show ignores the fact that there is no consensus on whether Rembrandt or his students were primarily responsible for the heads of Christ. The catalog essays, by contrast, include a summary of heroic forensic work by a team from Philadelphia and make a strong case that at least some of these heads, including Detroit's, are Rembrandt autographs.
The exhibition is particularly strong on placing Rembrandt in the social context of Dutch society -- the wealthiest, most mercantile and cosmopolitan and the most religiously tolerant in Europe at the time. Jews were not restricted to ghettos and were allowed to worship freely.
2011年11月17日星期四
A wonderful ‘pARTner-ship’
By pairing emerging artists with established artists, a unique exhibit has been created that will find a home in the Woodstock Art Gallery for the next eight weeks.
This year marks the 140th anniversary of the Ontario Society of Artists (OSA), and to celebrate this monumental year, a partnership between the Woodstock gallery and the society emerged.
"Both have a mandate, the art gallery and the society, to try to encourage and assist new graduates," OSA member Cathy Groulx said. "We want to help so they don't have to float along and try to make their way in the world on their own."
Maria Ricker, curator of the gallery, approached OSA to see if a partnership could be developed several years ago.
And it finally has. In fact, the name of the show is pARTners.
Eleven established artists, like Groulx, who is an oil painter, were partnered with 11 recent art program graduates from across the province.
"We work with new art graduates to help mentor them and answer questions they might have and they show us new skills," Groulx said.
For about three months Groulx and her partner, Laura Bydlowska, a Woodstock native living in Toronto, worked together to develop their collaborative piece.
Each artist submits a piece of their own. For Groulx, it will be an oil painting, and for Bydlowska, she will submit a print she etched. Then the two artists work together to create something.
"Totally different way of working for me. It's exciting. The graduates come with such vibrancy and enthusiasm and we get to learn a new art form," she said.
A larger friendship has blossomed between Groulx and Bydlowska. Groulx helped the emerging artist get her first commercial show venue, which resulted in the sale of her work. Groulx also helped Byldowska find a spot in a show last spring in Ingersoll and the two have even talked about business cards.
"I had nothing – no help when I started. So it's totally different. I enjoy helping. It's tricky getting your foot in the door," she said.
This year marks the 140th anniversary of the Ontario Society of Artists (OSA), and to celebrate this monumental year, a partnership between the Woodstock gallery and the society emerged.
"Both have a mandate, the art gallery and the society, to try to encourage and assist new graduates," OSA member Cathy Groulx said. "We want to help so they don't have to float along and try to make their way in the world on their own."
Maria Ricker, curator of the gallery, approached OSA to see if a partnership could be developed several years ago.
And it finally has. In fact, the name of the show is pARTners.
Eleven established artists, like Groulx, who is an oil painter, were partnered with 11 recent art program graduates from across the province.
"We work with new art graduates to help mentor them and answer questions they might have and they show us new skills," Groulx said.
For about three months Groulx and her partner, Laura Bydlowska, a Woodstock native living in Toronto, worked together to develop their collaborative piece.
Each artist submits a piece of their own. For Groulx, it will be an oil painting, and for Bydlowska, she will submit a print she etched. Then the two artists work together to create something.
"Totally different way of working for me. It's exciting. The graduates come with such vibrancy and enthusiasm and we get to learn a new art form," she said.
A larger friendship has blossomed between Groulx and Bydlowska. Groulx helped the emerging artist get her first commercial show venue, which resulted in the sale of her work. Groulx also helped Byldowska find a spot in a show last spring in Ingersoll and the two have even talked about business cards.
"I had nothing – no help when I started. So it's totally different. I enjoy helping. It's tricky getting your foot in the door," she said.
2011年11月16日星期三
Lowry's Piccadilly Circus equals artist's 5.6m record at major auction
He is best known for his paintings of matchstick men walking against a background of bleak northern mill towns.
But one of LS Lowry's few paintings of London became the most expensive of the artist’s work in the world yesterday after it was sold for a record 5.6million.
The 1960 oil painting of London’s bustling Piccadilly Circus, which had not been seen in public for nearly 30 years, was last night sold at Christie’s auction room just a stone's throw from the iconic junction.
It shares the record for the most expensive Lowry piece to be sold, matching the one set by ‘The Football Match’ when it was sold in May.
The artwork, which was part of hotel tycoon Lord Forte’s collection for almost three decades and has never been auctioned before, was sold to a mystery telephone bidder.
It depicts Piccadilly's famous fountain, topped by the famous statue of Eros amid a throng of red buses and scurrying figures.
The painting shows advertisements for Coca-Cola, Bovril, Max Factor and Wrigley’s on the famous hoardings overlooking the junction.
It was one of 14 Lowry oil paintings from the late Lord Forte’s collection to be sold for a total of 17.7million last night by his descendants.
The auction house described the selection as ‘undoubtedly the highest quality group of works by the artist to come to the market’.
Three other paintings were auctioned off for more than a million pounds.
‘Fun Fair at Daisy Nook’ from 1953, which depicts mill workers in Lancashire celebrating Good Friday, sold for 3.4million and ‘Saturday Afternoon’ from 1941, which shows figures playing football and cycling at the weekend in front of an imposing factory building, went for 2million.
An unnamed 24x36in industrial landscape sold for 2.6million.
Lowry painted only five London scenes, of which two depict Piccadilly Circus.
An earlier painting of the junction dating from 1959 was sold in June 1998 for 562,000, which was at the time a record price for the artist.
But at 20x24in, the artwork was much smaller than the 30x40in painting sold yesterday.
Although the scene of Piccadilly Circus looks very familiar, much of what is in the painting has changed in the past five decades.
The area underwent reconstruction in the late 1980s when the fountain at the centre of the junction was moved to its present location on the south-west corner.
The only company depicted in the painting to be still advertising on the famous hoardings, is Coca-Cola, which has now taken the place that Bovril takes in the painting.
Lord Forte, who died in 2007, built up his worldwide leisure empire after opening a milk bar on London's Regent Street in 1935, at the age of 26.
The peer, who died in 2007, had held many of the paintings for decades.
Lowry lived in Greater Manchester, and became famous for painting industrial landscapes peopled by distinctive figures with thin bodies and large heads.
Lowry, who died in 1967, claimed to be a 'simple man' who could not understand modern art, but is now treated as a major artist, with much of his work exhibited in a purpose-built museum in Salford.
He was a notoriously private man who hated publicity, and was secretive about his job at the Pall Mall Property Company, where he worked for decades to support his artistic career.
The sale comes at a buoyant time for the art market, which is seen as a relatively safe place to invest money during this period of turmoil in other markets.
But one of LS Lowry's few paintings of London became the most expensive of the artist’s work in the world yesterday after it was sold for a record 5.6million.
The 1960 oil painting of London’s bustling Piccadilly Circus, which had not been seen in public for nearly 30 years, was last night sold at Christie’s auction room just a stone's throw from the iconic junction.
It shares the record for the most expensive Lowry piece to be sold, matching the one set by ‘The Football Match’ when it was sold in May.
The artwork, which was part of hotel tycoon Lord Forte’s collection for almost three decades and has never been auctioned before, was sold to a mystery telephone bidder.
It depicts Piccadilly's famous fountain, topped by the famous statue of Eros amid a throng of red buses and scurrying figures.
The painting shows advertisements for Coca-Cola, Bovril, Max Factor and Wrigley’s on the famous hoardings overlooking the junction.
It was one of 14 Lowry oil paintings from the late Lord Forte’s collection to be sold for a total of 17.7million last night by his descendants.
The auction house described the selection as ‘undoubtedly the highest quality group of works by the artist to come to the market’.
Three other paintings were auctioned off for more than a million pounds.
‘Fun Fair at Daisy Nook’ from 1953, which depicts mill workers in Lancashire celebrating Good Friday, sold for 3.4million and ‘Saturday Afternoon’ from 1941, which shows figures playing football and cycling at the weekend in front of an imposing factory building, went for 2million.
An unnamed 24x36in industrial landscape sold for 2.6million.
Lowry painted only five London scenes, of which two depict Piccadilly Circus.
An earlier painting of the junction dating from 1959 was sold in June 1998 for 562,000, which was at the time a record price for the artist.
But at 20x24in, the artwork was much smaller than the 30x40in painting sold yesterday.
Although the scene of Piccadilly Circus looks very familiar, much of what is in the painting has changed in the past five decades.
The area underwent reconstruction in the late 1980s when the fountain at the centre of the junction was moved to its present location on the south-west corner.
The only company depicted in the painting to be still advertising on the famous hoardings, is Coca-Cola, which has now taken the place that Bovril takes in the painting.
Lord Forte, who died in 2007, built up his worldwide leisure empire after opening a milk bar on London's Regent Street in 1935, at the age of 26.
The peer, who died in 2007, had held many of the paintings for decades.
Lowry lived in Greater Manchester, and became famous for painting industrial landscapes peopled by distinctive figures with thin bodies and large heads.
Lowry, who died in 1967, claimed to be a 'simple man' who could not understand modern art, but is now treated as a major artist, with much of his work exhibited in a purpose-built museum in Salford.
He was a notoriously private man who hated publicity, and was secretive about his job at the Pall Mall Property Company, where he worked for decades to support his artistic career.
The sale comes at a buoyant time for the art market, which is seen as a relatively safe place to invest money during this period of turmoil in other markets.
2011年11月15日星期二
Love of art can be shared at last
In a brightly lit room next to the great room at the spacious Meadows of Dorchester long-term care home in Niagara Falls last Friday afternoon, dozens of eye catching landscape paintings were there for all the world to view — and purchase, should they desire them.
A great many of the lovely oil paintings featured lakes, rivers, streams, waves and waterfalls. They were all the handiwork of Udo Kupper, at age 89 a man as spry as they come.
That the paintings were there are all was thanks to serendipity.
Kupper could well have spent his life under the heel of communism, when the Soviet Union invaded his native Estonia in the last 1940s. That country remained in the iron fist of its invaders for nearly half a century, until the Iron Curtain finally fell in the 1990s.
Lucky for Kupper, he was able to escape — barely. Along with a few others, he hopped into a wobbly little rowboat towed by another boat, heading across the stormy Baltic Sea to refuge in Sweden.
The harrowing journey saw the rope break, and Kupper bailing out water as it splashed into the rickety craft. Even that close call wasn’t enough to dampen his love of water featured in his many paintings.
Once in the safety of Sweden, he met a young lady named Grace who’d also fled Estonia. The two married and are still together 64 years later.
They eventually made their way to Welland, where Udo launched a business hand painting large advertising billboards. But his love for art stretched into his spare time: for about half a century, he toiled away making his beloved oil paintings. And for half a century, most of them collected in his basement.
When the administrator of the Meadows home caught wind of his collection which had never been seen by the public, she arranged for the octogenarian to have his first-even solo exhibit. Within hours of the two-day exhibit, he’d already sold some of his paintings to admirers.
Colleen Tufts, the administrator, beamed as Kupper basked in the spotlight.
Thanks to a daring escape and the sharp eye of one woman, Kupper’s love of painting is something he can finally share with the world. No doubt, some of those paintings he sold — many done from memories of being a boy in Estonia — will be treasured by people in their new-found homes in living rooms in Niagara.
A great many of the lovely oil paintings featured lakes, rivers, streams, waves and waterfalls. They were all the handiwork of Udo Kupper, at age 89 a man as spry as they come.
That the paintings were there are all was thanks to serendipity.
Kupper could well have spent his life under the heel of communism, when the Soviet Union invaded his native Estonia in the last 1940s. That country remained in the iron fist of its invaders for nearly half a century, until the Iron Curtain finally fell in the 1990s.
Lucky for Kupper, he was able to escape — barely. Along with a few others, he hopped into a wobbly little rowboat towed by another boat, heading across the stormy Baltic Sea to refuge in Sweden.
The harrowing journey saw the rope break, and Kupper bailing out water as it splashed into the rickety craft. Even that close call wasn’t enough to dampen his love of water featured in his many paintings.
Once in the safety of Sweden, he met a young lady named Grace who’d also fled Estonia. The two married and are still together 64 years later.
They eventually made their way to Welland, where Udo launched a business hand painting large advertising billboards. But his love for art stretched into his spare time: for about half a century, he toiled away making his beloved oil paintings. And for half a century, most of them collected in his basement.
When the administrator of the Meadows home caught wind of his collection which had never been seen by the public, she arranged for the octogenarian to have his first-even solo exhibit. Within hours of the two-day exhibit, he’d already sold some of his paintings to admirers.
Colleen Tufts, the administrator, beamed as Kupper basked in the spotlight.
Thanks to a daring escape and the sharp eye of one woman, Kupper’s love of painting is something he can finally share with the world. No doubt, some of those paintings he sold — many done from memories of being a boy in Estonia — will be treasured by people in their new-found homes in living rooms in Niagara.
2011年11月14日星期一
Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven, Dulwich Picture Gallery
Alastair Sooke applauds Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven, a new show at the Dulwich Picture Gallery devoted to pioneering painters who changed the face of Canadian art.
Tom Thomson wasn’t even 40 when he died in mysterious circumstances in the summer of 1917. Whether the Canadian artist was murdered, committed suicide or accidentally bashed his head while falling out of his canoe when drunk, we don’t know: what’s certain is that his body surfaced nine days later in Algonquin Park’s Canoe Lake, around 185 miles north of Toronto.
Thomson only started painting in his thirties (he had little if any formal training as an artist). Yet in the years leading up to his death, a talent for capturing the great outdoors of his homeland emerged. Between 1912 and 1917, he painted around 300 oil sketches of the lakes and woods he encountered during expeditions into the Canadian wilderness. These vigorous works consist of dabs and jabs of vibrant pigment painted on to unprimed board so hurriedly that in places the wooden backing is still visible.
Thomson didn’t appear to value his sketches very highly (he gave many of them away to friends and admirers), but they transformed Canadian art.
Shortly after his death, galvanised by his pioneering efforts, a band of like-minded artist friends formed an alliance called the Group of Seven. Their work provides the focus of an exhibition of more than 120 paintings at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in south London.
Thomson and the Group of Seven are household names in Canada; here, however, they are almost unknown. The Dulwich show is the first exhibition devoted solely to them ever mounted in Britain. Accordingly, Ian Dejardin, the gallery’s director, who fell in love with the artists after stumbling across a book about them in the library of the Royal Academy in the late Eighties, should be congratulated for adventurous programming.
Their work can be easily characterised: they specialised in expansive vistas full of tempest-lashed pine trees, dense woods of maple, birch and tamarack, wind-whipped lakes, and awesome skies illuminated by the Northern Lights — all painted in a high-keyed palette reminiscent of Post-Impressionists such as Gauguin and Van Gogh. Their canvases radiate rugged authenticity (the British painter and critic Wyndham Lewis once observed that “they chopped out their paintings as if they had been chopping wood”), and appear animated by an almost mystical reverence for Mother Nature’s sublime immensity.
Most of the group worked as commercial artists, and this inflected their paintings. Franklin Carmichael and JEH MacDonald, for instance, both employed bold and graphic compositions, as though designing ready-made posters for the Canadian tourist board. Poster-like immediacy also defines the work of Lawren Harris, who painted icebergs and mountain peaks with an austere, almost surreal presence.
In general, though, those paintings completed in the studio feel stilted compared with the spontaneous oil sketches completed out in the wilds. Moreover, while many of the landscapes in this exhibition have a pleasingly “modern” feel (thick, expressionistic brushwork; intense, apparently unnatural colours), one senses that this styling is little more than skin-deep.
It’s hard not to compare these Canadian artists communing with nature with their avant-garde contemporaries in the cities of Europe, and conclude that the former’s concerns were retrograde – a byway of modern art, rather than an important thoroughfare. Their misty-eyed love of nature was ultimately a
19th- rather than a
20th-century preoccupation: though perfectly pleasant, the pantheistic paintings they produced express nothing of the new era of metropolises and mechanised conflict.
Significantly, none of the artists visited the notorious Armory show of 1913 in New York, which introduced the work of Picasso, Duchamp and other members of the European avant-garde to North America: offered the opportunity to engage with modern art at first hand, the Canadians passed it up.
Tom Thomson wasn’t even 40 when he died in mysterious circumstances in the summer of 1917. Whether the Canadian artist was murdered, committed suicide or accidentally bashed his head while falling out of his canoe when drunk, we don’t know: what’s certain is that his body surfaced nine days later in Algonquin Park’s Canoe Lake, around 185 miles north of Toronto.
Thomson only started painting in his thirties (he had little if any formal training as an artist). Yet in the years leading up to his death, a talent for capturing the great outdoors of his homeland emerged. Between 1912 and 1917, he painted around 300 oil sketches of the lakes and woods he encountered during expeditions into the Canadian wilderness. These vigorous works consist of dabs and jabs of vibrant pigment painted on to unprimed board so hurriedly that in places the wooden backing is still visible.
Thomson didn’t appear to value his sketches very highly (he gave many of them away to friends and admirers), but they transformed Canadian art.
Shortly after his death, galvanised by his pioneering efforts, a band of like-minded artist friends formed an alliance called the Group of Seven. Their work provides the focus of an exhibition of more than 120 paintings at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in south London.
Thomson and the Group of Seven are household names in Canada; here, however, they are almost unknown. The Dulwich show is the first exhibition devoted solely to them ever mounted in Britain. Accordingly, Ian Dejardin, the gallery’s director, who fell in love with the artists after stumbling across a book about them in the library of the Royal Academy in the late Eighties, should be congratulated for adventurous programming.
Their work can be easily characterised: they specialised in expansive vistas full of tempest-lashed pine trees, dense woods of maple, birch and tamarack, wind-whipped lakes, and awesome skies illuminated by the Northern Lights — all painted in a high-keyed palette reminiscent of Post-Impressionists such as Gauguin and Van Gogh. Their canvases radiate rugged authenticity (the British painter and critic Wyndham Lewis once observed that “they chopped out their paintings as if they had been chopping wood”), and appear animated by an almost mystical reverence for Mother Nature’s sublime immensity.
Most of the group worked as commercial artists, and this inflected their paintings. Franklin Carmichael and JEH MacDonald, for instance, both employed bold and graphic compositions, as though designing ready-made posters for the Canadian tourist board. Poster-like immediacy also defines the work of Lawren Harris, who painted icebergs and mountain peaks with an austere, almost surreal presence.
In general, though, those paintings completed in the studio feel stilted compared with the spontaneous oil sketches completed out in the wilds. Moreover, while many of the landscapes in this exhibition have a pleasingly “modern” feel (thick, expressionistic brushwork; intense, apparently unnatural colours), one senses that this styling is little more than skin-deep.
It’s hard not to compare these Canadian artists communing with nature with their avant-garde contemporaries in the cities of Europe, and conclude that the former’s concerns were retrograde – a byway of modern art, rather than an important thoroughfare. Their misty-eyed love of nature was ultimately a
19th- rather than a
20th-century preoccupation: though perfectly pleasant, the pantheistic paintings they produced express nothing of the new era of metropolises and mechanised conflict.
Significantly, none of the artists visited the notorious Armory show of 1913 in New York, which introduced the work of Picasso, Duchamp and other members of the European avant-garde to North America: offered the opportunity to engage with modern art at first hand, the Canadians passed it up.
2011年11月13日星期日
Aberdeen artist Sandra Jackowski left administrative career behind
After some 30 years of working in the administrative/management industry and leaving seven years ago as human resources administrator of a large, prestigous law firm, I decided to pursue a career within the art world of oil painting.
My husband, Tom, was extremely supportive and helpful in making my decision a reality. In learning how my paintings were selling, he encouraged me to proceed further and was very instrumental in foreseeing my dream and goals.
I have always enjoyed painting or drawing, selling my artwork either to staff where I worked or for those requesting a painting. I had designed and drawn my own Christmas cards many years ago for a few friends and, after all this time, they have still kept each card as a momento. People seem to appreciate homemade items which they can cherish.
I originally began by attending craft and artistic events. With such an overwhelming response in buying my smaller oil paintings, which were more affordable, I was encouraged to move forward to painting on larger canvases.
With paintings in hand, I approached up-cale stores throughout New Jersey. Many, after looking at them, were extremely interested in having them placed in their shops. After seeing my first oil painting of sunflowers and birds on display in a storefront window in Red Bank, I knew I had made the right decision. Since then, I have had many of my artwork shown at shops in Chester, Metuchen, Point Pleasant, Summit, Chatham, Frenchtown, Fair Haven, Westfield, Brielle and Lambertville. I then expanded my horizons to Pennsylvania, having my art in Chadds Ford, Lahaska and Lancaster.
Since I gravitate to country folk-art, I also paint florals and landscapes. The simplicity and vintage of rustic, primitive-type art apparently appeals to many. With encouragement and assertiveness, I met with the owner of an art gallery in Rumson and was given the opportunity of becoming the featured artist three years ago. I also participate in the Bayonet Farm’s Plein Air Art Show in Holmdel each September.
I have since participated in many more art shows, including the prestigious Christian Brothers Academy’s Art Show in February, representing numerous high-profile artists. A few months ago, I won “honorable mention” for my painting at the Middletown Art Center’s Art Show. In May, I was art demonstrator for an event called “Ask The Experts” at a store in Chester called Better With Tyme, featuring presentations by experienced professionals on various home and decorating topics. Helping interested people to perhaps become artists themselves or to pursue their own dreams is rewarding and challenging. I have met so many wonderful and creative people during the past few years, and I’m hoping to meet many more in the future. Meeting such a variety of artisans offering an array of different mediums, as well as learning their aspirations, is inspirational in itself.
My husband has been a crucial part of my new career from the beginning, helping me display and set-up at shows, taking photographs and having input in numerous endeavors. To be afforded the opportunity of fulfilling a goal is certainly beneficial and exceptional.
My husband, Tom, was extremely supportive and helpful in making my decision a reality. In learning how my paintings were selling, he encouraged me to proceed further and was very instrumental in foreseeing my dream and goals.
I have always enjoyed painting or drawing, selling my artwork either to staff where I worked or for those requesting a painting. I had designed and drawn my own Christmas cards many years ago for a few friends and, after all this time, they have still kept each card as a momento. People seem to appreciate homemade items which they can cherish.
I originally began by attending craft and artistic events. With such an overwhelming response in buying my smaller oil paintings, which were more affordable, I was encouraged to move forward to painting on larger canvases.
With paintings in hand, I approached up-cale stores throughout New Jersey. Many, after looking at them, were extremely interested in having them placed in their shops. After seeing my first oil painting of sunflowers and birds on display in a storefront window in Red Bank, I knew I had made the right decision. Since then, I have had many of my artwork shown at shops in Chester, Metuchen, Point Pleasant, Summit, Chatham, Frenchtown, Fair Haven, Westfield, Brielle and Lambertville. I then expanded my horizons to Pennsylvania, having my art in Chadds Ford, Lahaska and Lancaster.
Since I gravitate to country folk-art, I also paint florals and landscapes. The simplicity and vintage of rustic, primitive-type art apparently appeals to many. With encouragement and assertiveness, I met with the owner of an art gallery in Rumson and was given the opportunity of becoming the featured artist three years ago. I also participate in the Bayonet Farm’s Plein Air Art Show in Holmdel each September.
I have since participated in many more art shows, including the prestigious Christian Brothers Academy’s Art Show in February, representing numerous high-profile artists. A few months ago, I won “honorable mention” for my painting at the Middletown Art Center’s Art Show. In May, I was art demonstrator for an event called “Ask The Experts” at a store in Chester called Better With Tyme, featuring presentations by experienced professionals on various home and decorating topics. Helping interested people to perhaps become artists themselves or to pursue their own dreams is rewarding and challenging. I have met so many wonderful and creative people during the past few years, and I’m hoping to meet many more in the future. Meeting such a variety of artisans offering an array of different mediums, as well as learning their aspirations, is inspirational in itself.
My husband has been a crucial part of my new career from the beginning, helping me display and set-up at shows, taking photographs and having input in numerous endeavors. To be afforded the opportunity of fulfilling a goal is certainly beneficial and exceptional.
2011年11月10日星期四
Still Painting Fetches $61.7 Million as Protesters Cry ‘Shame’
An abstract painting by Clyfford Still sold for a record $61.7 million last night, headlining Sotheby’s biggest New York contemporary art sale in three years, while protesters outside chanted “Shame on you!”
The $315.8 million auction at Sotheby’s York Avenue headquarters also broke artist records for Gerhard Richter and Joan Mitchell. Six floors below in the street, picketing art handlers were joined by Occupy Wall Street protesters and unionized musicians playing high-decibel Latin rhythms. Since July 29, 42 handlers have been locked out by the publicly traded auction company over a contract dispute.
“It demonstrates the growing gap between the haves and the have-nots,” said New York art dealer Richard Feigen. “You see people demonstrating out there, people are out of jobs and their houses. And people in here are dumping millions into art.”
The sale, the biggest for Sotheby’s since May 2008, beat the presale high estimate of $270 million, which excludes commissions. Earlier in the day, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 3.7 percent.
“Blue-chip global artists are properly recognized as part of the diversification strategy,” said New York-based art collector Larry Warsh. “Because of the supply and demand issues, we see this tremendous pressure on pricing.’
The Still painting, “1949-A-No. 1,” shattered the artist’s previous record of $21.3 million, achieved at a Christie’s International sale in 2006. It sold to a telephone bidder, represented by Lisa Dennison, Sotheby’s chairman of North and South America. She won a bidding war against Christopher Eykyn, a New York dealer who had a mobile phone to his ear and his hand covering his mouth.
The work was one of four Stills consigned by the City of Denver that raised a total of $114.1 million for the endowment of the Clyfford Still Museum, which opens in Denver next week. The reclusive artist died in 1980.
Three of the works were completed in the 1940s and one in 1976. The top lot, in deep reds and velvety blacks, more than doubled its presale low estimate of $25 million.
During his life, Still sold very little and frequently rejected exhibition opportunities. His will stipulated that the estate be given in its entirety to a U.S. city willing to establish a permanent museum housing his work alone.
Richter’s “Abstraktes Bild” (1997) sold for $20.8 million, beating his $16.5 million auction record set last month at Christie’s in London. The 8.5-by-11-foot oil canvas, rich in purple, red and blue, was one of eight abstract paintings by the German artist from a private collection. Every painting exceeded its high estimate.
“I wish I had some Richters,” said Miami-based contemporary art collector Mera Rubell.
Francis Bacon’s 1967 “Three Studies for a Self Portrait” on a deep-green background fetched $19.7 million. Mitchell’s vibrant 1960 abstract canvas went for $9.3 million.
John Elderfield, chief curator emeritus of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, placed the winning bid for Donald Judd’s fluorescent red Plexiglas and stainless steel sculpture, which fetched $4.7 million.
Sotheby’s charges buyers 25 percent of the hammer price up to $50,000, plus 20 percent from $50,000 to $1 million, and 12 percent above $1 million. Pre-sale estimates don’t include the buyer’s premium.
One of the evening’s high-profile casualties was Mark Rothko’s “Untitled (Plum and Dark Brown)” painting from 1964. Estimated between $8 million and $12 million, it found no takers.
Only in the rear of the salesroom last night, where bottled water, brownies and cookies were dispensed to clients, could the protesters’ drumming, whistling and chanting be heard.
Michael Sovern, Sotheby’s Chairman and a former president of Columbia University, called the gap between the U.S. rich and poor “outrageous,” but disagreed that the sale and protest were a reflection of the divide.
“It’s a conventional labor dispute,” he said in an interview at the sale. “It isn’t affected by the gap between the rich and poor.”
Dealers and collectors were confronted by several dozen protesters, who screamed “shame on you” at those who entered the building.
“Nothing can a stop a collector,” said Barbara Annis, a New York private dealer. “People believe in art and it goes up and up and up.”
The $315.8 million auction at Sotheby’s York Avenue headquarters also broke artist records for Gerhard Richter and Joan Mitchell. Six floors below in the street, picketing art handlers were joined by Occupy Wall Street protesters and unionized musicians playing high-decibel Latin rhythms. Since July 29, 42 handlers have been locked out by the publicly traded auction company over a contract dispute.
“It demonstrates the growing gap between the haves and the have-nots,” said New York art dealer Richard Feigen. “You see people demonstrating out there, people are out of jobs and their houses. And people in here are dumping millions into art.”
The sale, the biggest for Sotheby’s since May 2008, beat the presale high estimate of $270 million, which excludes commissions. Earlier in the day, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 3.7 percent.
“Blue-chip global artists are properly recognized as part of the diversification strategy,” said New York-based art collector Larry Warsh. “Because of the supply and demand issues, we see this tremendous pressure on pricing.’
The Still painting, “1949-A-No. 1,” shattered the artist’s previous record of $21.3 million, achieved at a Christie’s International sale in 2006. It sold to a telephone bidder, represented by Lisa Dennison, Sotheby’s chairman of North and South America. She won a bidding war against Christopher Eykyn, a New York dealer who had a mobile phone to his ear and his hand covering his mouth.
The work was one of four Stills consigned by the City of Denver that raised a total of $114.1 million for the endowment of the Clyfford Still Museum, which opens in Denver next week. The reclusive artist died in 1980.
Three of the works were completed in the 1940s and one in 1976. The top lot, in deep reds and velvety blacks, more than doubled its presale low estimate of $25 million.
During his life, Still sold very little and frequently rejected exhibition opportunities. His will stipulated that the estate be given in its entirety to a U.S. city willing to establish a permanent museum housing his work alone.
Richter’s “Abstraktes Bild” (1997) sold for $20.8 million, beating his $16.5 million auction record set last month at Christie’s in London. The 8.5-by-11-foot oil canvas, rich in purple, red and blue, was one of eight abstract paintings by the German artist from a private collection. Every painting exceeded its high estimate.
“I wish I had some Richters,” said Miami-based contemporary art collector Mera Rubell.
Francis Bacon’s 1967 “Three Studies for a Self Portrait” on a deep-green background fetched $19.7 million. Mitchell’s vibrant 1960 abstract canvas went for $9.3 million.
John Elderfield, chief curator emeritus of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, placed the winning bid for Donald Judd’s fluorescent red Plexiglas and stainless steel sculpture, which fetched $4.7 million.
Sotheby’s charges buyers 25 percent of the hammer price up to $50,000, plus 20 percent from $50,000 to $1 million, and 12 percent above $1 million. Pre-sale estimates don’t include the buyer’s premium.
One of the evening’s high-profile casualties was Mark Rothko’s “Untitled (Plum and Dark Brown)” painting from 1964. Estimated between $8 million and $12 million, it found no takers.
Only in the rear of the salesroom last night, where bottled water, brownies and cookies were dispensed to clients, could the protesters’ drumming, whistling and chanting be heard.
Michael Sovern, Sotheby’s Chairman and a former president of Columbia University, called the gap between the U.S. rich and poor “outrageous,” but disagreed that the sale and protest were a reflection of the divide.
“It’s a conventional labor dispute,” he said in an interview at the sale. “It isn’t affected by the gap between the rich and poor.”
Dealers and collectors were confronted by several dozen protesters, who screamed “shame on you” at those who entered the building.
“Nothing can a stop a collector,” said Barbara Annis, a New York private dealer. “People believe in art and it goes up and up and up.”
2011年11月9日星期三
Da Vinci Masterpieces Reunited In London
Visitors to the National Gallery hoping to find the Leonardo of Dan Brown novels and printed tea towels will leave this exhibition disappointed. With only 9 of Leonardo’s oil paintings on display, ‘The Painter at the Court of Milan’ provides a radically different encounter with the quintessential celebrity artist, in a much more intimate and engaging exploration of one of the most fruitful periods of his career.
As in past times, the queues for this exhibition stretch well around the corner of the National Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing, with visitors eager to encounter so many of Leonardo’s masterpieces in one place. Upon entering the show we are told that Leonardo’s time in Milan was ‘the most productive period of his career . . . it transformed his ideas on the status and purpose of art.’ Indeed in Leonardo’s introductory letter to his great patron, ‘il Moro’ - Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, he advertised himself first as a military strategist and last as a painter. Certainly, by the end of this exhibition, we are left in no doubt about his transformed priorities.
The exhibition is dimly lit, existing on a plane somewhere between a church atmosphere and a private study – a reverential space that seems appropriate for one of art’s most venerated masters. We are struck repeatedly by the level of close engagement with Leonardo’s work that this exhibition offers, beginning not with a large canvas but with a diminutive notebook leaf showing only ‘Studies of the Head.’ Almost proleptic of the entirety of Leonardo’s period in Milan, the head studies combine anatomy with imagination, framed with direct observation but coloured with fanciful creativity and restless exaggeration.
One of this exhibition’s greatest successes must be seen in the intimacy created with Leonardo’s work. We are not standing in La Louvre, craning our necks to see a painting masked by 3 inches of glass and several security guards, and accordingly one is able to enjoy these works on a personal level. The first major work to be shown, after an early portrait titled ‘The Musician’, is Leonardo’s ‘Belle Ferroniere.’ In a departure from the harsher contrasts of ‘The Musician’, this portrait captures the impossible likeness, gaze, character and poise of its subject. In Leonardo’s combination of mathematical precision and audacious painterly ability we find his vision of ‘perfect beauty’ and a model so lifelike that the parapet against which she leans becomes an almost Brechtian reminder that this is oil on walnut, not living flesh.
Competing only with the Mona Lisa as Leonardo’s most accomplished work, the ‘Portrait of Cecilia Gallerani’ hangs on the adjacent wall and demonstrates succinctly the painter’s extraordinary ability in its harmony with the ‘Belle Ferroniere’. In this work Leonardo captures perfectly the distracted glance of Ludovico Sforza’s mistress as she cradles an ermine in her arms. The portrait is well supported by a series of studies of hands, detailing Leonardo’s growing fascination with the correlation between anatomy and perfect beauty.
This theme is developed by Leonardo’s ‘Saint Jerome’, the first religious subject presented in this exhibition. We are told that this work was ‘profoundly informed’ by anatomical research and the struggle between the depiction of beauty and the anguished subject is plain to see. The elderly face of ‘Saint Jerome’ is discordant with the muscular youth of his body, presenting a conflict of interests between imagination and reality, observation and fantasy, a conflict that remains unresolved in this, an unfinished work.
In further recognition of the diversity of works brought together for this exhibition, the combination, for the first time, of both versions of ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’ must be praised. Seen individually we would consider both works to be infallible masterpieces, but together we are allowed the luxury of a more subjective comparison. Between the two works we see the development of ideas and forms, with the more successful ventures of the first composition continued in to the second and the less pleasing aspects simply dropped. In the later of the two works, Leonardo turns the head of his supporting angel away from the viewer, closing the scene and making us privy to its sacrality. An atmosphere of intimacy again pervades the composition and obscures the busyness of the gallery in which it is situated.
It is in the religious works of Leonardo that the artist seems most comfortable with the development of the style for which he was to become most celebrated. The hazy and smoky sfumato of the Mona Lisa is noticeable in several of his Milanese versions of the Virgin and Child. In these works Leonardo seems more mature, allowing allegory and narrative to inform his compositions, punning the yarnwinder in Christ’s chubby, infant hand with the crucifix of his destined Passion in ‘Madonna of the Yarnwinder.’ In the exhibition’s penultimate room we find the most infamous Leonardo in the National Gallery’s permanent collection, ‘The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and John the Baptist’, or the ‘Burlington House Cartoon’, all but destroyed by a the blast of a vandal’s shotgun in 1987. Questions of restoration and of how present Leonardo’s original brushstrokes are in these conserved works will mar any serious enjoyment of their palpable beauty and are, in this instance, better left unstated.
All too often it seems that works by Leonardo are considered in isolation but, as evidenced by this exhibition, they are given an entirely new significance and relevance when shown together. One of the final works on display, and for many the most controversial, is Leonardo’s ‘Salvator Mundi’, only this year recognised as an original Leonardo and displayed for the first time in this exhibition. Any doubts one harbours about this work’s authenticity should be discarded when it is seen hanging with other examples of Leonardo’s painting. Even considered in isolation the work would show clearly the distinctive geometric undercurrent and hazy use of paint that has been celebrated in a number of other works, but in the context created by this exhibition, the painting is given new relevance, new significance and surely myriad reasons to confirm its authorship.
The exhibition addresses, in its final collection, the deterioration of the rapidly-deteriorating ‘Last Supper’ in the Santia Maria della Grazie chapel in Milan. A high-resolution image of the original is contrasted with a sixteenth-century copy of the ‘Last Supper’ and allows one the novelty of some comprehension of Leonardo’s original intention for the work. Again it is bolstered by countless studies and drawings and again we are struck by the sense of intimacy these insights create. At times it almost feels invasive.
As in past times, the queues for this exhibition stretch well around the corner of the National Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing, with visitors eager to encounter so many of Leonardo’s masterpieces in one place. Upon entering the show we are told that Leonardo’s time in Milan was ‘the most productive period of his career . . . it transformed his ideas on the status and purpose of art.’ Indeed in Leonardo’s introductory letter to his great patron, ‘il Moro’ - Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, he advertised himself first as a military strategist and last as a painter. Certainly, by the end of this exhibition, we are left in no doubt about his transformed priorities.
The exhibition is dimly lit, existing on a plane somewhere between a church atmosphere and a private study – a reverential space that seems appropriate for one of art’s most venerated masters. We are struck repeatedly by the level of close engagement with Leonardo’s work that this exhibition offers, beginning not with a large canvas but with a diminutive notebook leaf showing only ‘Studies of the Head.’ Almost proleptic of the entirety of Leonardo’s period in Milan, the head studies combine anatomy with imagination, framed with direct observation but coloured with fanciful creativity and restless exaggeration.
One of this exhibition’s greatest successes must be seen in the intimacy created with Leonardo’s work. We are not standing in La Louvre, craning our necks to see a painting masked by 3 inches of glass and several security guards, and accordingly one is able to enjoy these works on a personal level. The first major work to be shown, after an early portrait titled ‘The Musician’, is Leonardo’s ‘Belle Ferroniere.’ In a departure from the harsher contrasts of ‘The Musician’, this portrait captures the impossible likeness, gaze, character and poise of its subject. In Leonardo’s combination of mathematical precision and audacious painterly ability we find his vision of ‘perfect beauty’ and a model so lifelike that the parapet against which she leans becomes an almost Brechtian reminder that this is oil on walnut, not living flesh.
Competing only with the Mona Lisa as Leonardo’s most accomplished work, the ‘Portrait of Cecilia Gallerani’ hangs on the adjacent wall and demonstrates succinctly the painter’s extraordinary ability in its harmony with the ‘Belle Ferroniere’. In this work Leonardo captures perfectly the distracted glance of Ludovico Sforza’s mistress as she cradles an ermine in her arms. The portrait is well supported by a series of studies of hands, detailing Leonardo’s growing fascination with the correlation between anatomy and perfect beauty.
This theme is developed by Leonardo’s ‘Saint Jerome’, the first religious subject presented in this exhibition. We are told that this work was ‘profoundly informed’ by anatomical research and the struggle between the depiction of beauty and the anguished subject is plain to see. The elderly face of ‘Saint Jerome’ is discordant with the muscular youth of his body, presenting a conflict of interests between imagination and reality, observation and fantasy, a conflict that remains unresolved in this, an unfinished work.
In further recognition of the diversity of works brought together for this exhibition, the combination, for the first time, of both versions of ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’ must be praised. Seen individually we would consider both works to be infallible masterpieces, but together we are allowed the luxury of a more subjective comparison. Between the two works we see the development of ideas and forms, with the more successful ventures of the first composition continued in to the second and the less pleasing aspects simply dropped. In the later of the two works, Leonardo turns the head of his supporting angel away from the viewer, closing the scene and making us privy to its sacrality. An atmosphere of intimacy again pervades the composition and obscures the busyness of the gallery in which it is situated.
It is in the religious works of Leonardo that the artist seems most comfortable with the development of the style for which he was to become most celebrated. The hazy and smoky sfumato of the Mona Lisa is noticeable in several of his Milanese versions of the Virgin and Child. In these works Leonardo seems more mature, allowing allegory and narrative to inform his compositions, punning the yarnwinder in Christ’s chubby, infant hand with the crucifix of his destined Passion in ‘Madonna of the Yarnwinder.’ In the exhibition’s penultimate room we find the most infamous Leonardo in the National Gallery’s permanent collection, ‘The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and John the Baptist’, or the ‘Burlington House Cartoon’, all but destroyed by a the blast of a vandal’s shotgun in 1987. Questions of restoration and of how present Leonardo’s original brushstrokes are in these conserved works will mar any serious enjoyment of their palpable beauty and are, in this instance, better left unstated.
All too often it seems that works by Leonardo are considered in isolation but, as evidenced by this exhibition, they are given an entirely new significance and relevance when shown together. One of the final works on display, and for many the most controversial, is Leonardo’s ‘Salvator Mundi’, only this year recognised as an original Leonardo and displayed for the first time in this exhibition. Any doubts one harbours about this work’s authenticity should be discarded when it is seen hanging with other examples of Leonardo’s painting. Even considered in isolation the work would show clearly the distinctive geometric undercurrent and hazy use of paint that has been celebrated in a number of other works, but in the context created by this exhibition, the painting is given new relevance, new significance and surely myriad reasons to confirm its authorship.
The exhibition addresses, in its final collection, the deterioration of the rapidly-deteriorating ‘Last Supper’ in the Santia Maria della Grazie chapel in Milan. A high-resolution image of the original is contrasted with a sixteenth-century copy of the ‘Last Supper’ and allows one the novelty of some comprehension of Leonardo’s original intention for the work. Again it is bolstered by countless studies and drawings and again we are struck by the sense of intimacy these insights create. At times it almost feels invasive.
2011年11月8日星期二
Rare Clyfford Still paintings likely to earn millions for Denver museum
The eyes of the international art world will be on the work of painter Clyfford Still on Wednesday evening, when four of the late artist's rare paintings are expected to earn millions at a New York auction, with the proceeds to benefit a new Denver museum devoted to him.
Sotheby's estimates that the works, which date from 1940 to 1976 and offer a cross-section of the abstract expressionist's output, could bring in somewhere between $51 million and $71.5 million.
Fifteen percent of the proceeds or $15 million — whichever is less — will be taken by Sotheby's as a commission.
The rest will go to an endowment that will assure the financial viability of the privately funded Clyfford Still Museum, which opens Nov. 18. The money will be used for everything from research to general operations.
The four works were bequeathed to the city by Patricia Still, the artist's widow, who died in 2005. She endowed about 2,000 pieces from her husband's collection to Denver in 2004 on the agreement that the city would oversee the construction of a museum to house them. After her death, about 400 more works from her estate, including the four up for sale, also went to Denver.
Still is considered one of the most important artists in abstract expressionism, in the company of Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko.
According to the November issue of Art + Auction magazine, the quartet of works is the "most impressive offering" in this week's contemporary sales at the major auction houses in New York.
"The audience has been responsive to these paintings," Tobias Meyer, worldwide head of contemporary art and principal auctioneer for Sotheby's, said Monday. "They've been very much admired, and we expect a very good result for Wednesday night."
After showings in London and Hong Kong in October, the four paintings have been on view for two weeks in Sotheby's New York galleries in anticipation of the sale.
The big question, emblazoned on Art + Auction's cover, is whether the largest of the four works, "1949-A-No. 1," will top the record for a Still painting of $21,296,000, which was set in 2006. Noting that the 1949 piece is estimated to sell for $25 million to $35 million, Meyer is confident that will happen.
Driving the market for Still's works is simple supply and demand. About 94 percent of the works he produced will be housed in the Still Museum, and, according to director Dean Sobel, only about 40 pieces by the artist remain in private hands.
"We gave them auction estimates that we felt were appropriate for what has happened in the market before," Meyer said of the four works to be sold. "But it's hard to say what will happen that night because it is such a rare event."
Sotheby's estimates that the works, which date from 1940 to 1976 and offer a cross-section of the abstract expressionist's output, could bring in somewhere between $51 million and $71.5 million.
Fifteen percent of the proceeds or $15 million — whichever is less — will be taken by Sotheby's as a commission.
The rest will go to an endowment that will assure the financial viability of the privately funded Clyfford Still Museum, which opens Nov. 18. The money will be used for everything from research to general operations.
The four works were bequeathed to the city by Patricia Still, the artist's widow, who died in 2005. She endowed about 2,000 pieces from her husband's collection to Denver in 2004 on the agreement that the city would oversee the construction of a museum to house them. After her death, about 400 more works from her estate, including the four up for sale, also went to Denver.
Still is considered one of the most important artists in abstract expressionism, in the company of Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko.
According to the November issue of Art + Auction magazine, the quartet of works is the "most impressive offering" in this week's contemporary sales at the major auction houses in New York.
"The audience has been responsive to these paintings," Tobias Meyer, worldwide head of contemporary art and principal auctioneer for Sotheby's, said Monday. "They've been very much admired, and we expect a very good result for Wednesday night."
After showings in London and Hong Kong in October, the four paintings have been on view for two weeks in Sotheby's New York galleries in anticipation of the sale.
The big question, emblazoned on Art + Auction's cover, is whether the largest of the four works, "1949-A-No. 1," will top the record for a Still painting of $21,296,000, which was set in 2006. Noting that the 1949 piece is estimated to sell for $25 million to $35 million, Meyer is confident that will happen.
Driving the market for Still's works is simple supply and demand. About 94 percent of the works he produced will be housed in the Still Museum, and, according to director Dean Sobel, only about 40 pieces by the artist remain in private hands.
"We gave them auction estimates that we felt were appropriate for what has happened in the market before," Meyer said of the four works to be sold. "But it's hard to say what will happen that night because it is such a rare event."
2011年11月6日星期日
Family bank on mini Monet
Kieron Williamson, nine, lived with his parents and sister in a rented flat next to a petrol station in Holt, Norfolk, before using his profits to buy a new £150,000 home in the summer.
The house which was a former 19th century bank in Ludham, Norfolk, will remain in trust until his 18th birthday when the title deeds will be registered in his name.
The Norfolk Broads village of Ludham is especially significant for Kieron as it was the home of his painting hero Edward Seago who died in 1974.
Kieron has become an internationally known art prodigy since he began to paint landscapes on a family holiday in Devon and Cornwall in 2008.
His last major exhibition of 33 paintings sold for £150,000 within half an hour in July last year and he set a new record by selling two paintings for £21,000 each the following month.
Kieron's earnings are due to be boosted further when his latest 12 landscape paintings go on sale next Friday for between £1,250 and £15,595 at the Picturecraft gallery in Holt.
The exhibition is expected to be another instant sell out with buyers pledging to camp overnight outside the gallery to ensure that they get one of his works.
His latest pictures include two views of St Benet's Abbey on the Norfolk Broads the Suleymaniye mosque in Istanbul.
Kieron's parents Keith, 44, and Michelle, 38, have made sure that his earnings have been held in trust for him until he is older.
Former builder Mr Williamson said: "He already has his own house so if he decides he wants to do something completely different when he is older, at least he won't have to worry about a mortgage."
Picturecraft gallery owner Adrian Hill said: "He is unrivalled. There isn't any other child out there who can paint as well in three different media -watercolour, oil and pastel.
"His grasp of the technical elements of working with them really is a wonderful thing."
Kieron's expertise was only recognised when he started art lessons after taking up painting in 2008. His previous artistic talents were limited to colouring in dinosaurs which his parents had drawn for him.
His skill with a brush has amazed art experts who believe his detailed pictures of mainly Norfolk landscapes are way beyond his years.
Kieron's work first came on the market in the summer of 2009 when 19 of his paintings were sold for £14,000 in a sealed bid auction.
Three months later another 16 of his paintings were up snapped for £17,000 in just 14 minutes in his second exhibition at the Picturecraft gallery.
Buyers flew in from as far away as Arizona, New York and South Africa to buy his oils, watercolours and pastels at his third exhibition in July last year.
Some fans camped outside the gallery for up to 48 hours to make sure they did not miss out on one of his paintings priced between £1,825 and £7,995.
Other telephone bidders from Tokyo, Canada and Germany as well as from across the UK ensured the exhibition sold out instantly in 30 minutes.
Kieron later set a new record price for his work by selling two landscape paintings for around £21,000 in a sealed bid auction which attracted interest from around the world.
The pictures had special significance as one was the last he painted when he was aged seven and the other was his first work after his eighth birthday.
The first picture, an oil painting of a Suffolk scene showing rolling fields and a church, was snapped up by a collector in California.
The other was a pastel painting of the desolate shoreline at Winterton, Norfolk, which was bought by a fan from Slovinia.
Many of Kieron's paintings feature iconic locations on the north Norfolk coast such as Morston, Blakeney, Cley, Holkham and Brancaster.
The house which was a former 19th century bank in Ludham, Norfolk, will remain in trust until his 18th birthday when the title deeds will be registered in his name.
The Norfolk Broads village of Ludham is especially significant for Kieron as it was the home of his painting hero Edward Seago who died in 1974.
Kieron has become an internationally known art prodigy since he began to paint landscapes on a family holiday in Devon and Cornwall in 2008.
His last major exhibition of 33 paintings sold for £150,000 within half an hour in July last year and he set a new record by selling two paintings for £21,000 each the following month.
Kieron's earnings are due to be boosted further when his latest 12 landscape paintings go on sale next Friday for between £1,250 and £15,595 at the Picturecraft gallery in Holt.
The exhibition is expected to be another instant sell out with buyers pledging to camp overnight outside the gallery to ensure that they get one of his works.
His latest pictures include two views of St Benet's Abbey on the Norfolk Broads the Suleymaniye mosque in Istanbul.
Kieron's parents Keith, 44, and Michelle, 38, have made sure that his earnings have been held in trust for him until he is older.
Former builder Mr Williamson said: "He already has his own house so if he decides he wants to do something completely different when he is older, at least he won't have to worry about a mortgage."
Picturecraft gallery owner Adrian Hill said: "He is unrivalled. There isn't any other child out there who can paint as well in three different media -watercolour, oil and pastel.
"His grasp of the technical elements of working with them really is a wonderful thing."
Kieron's expertise was only recognised when he started art lessons after taking up painting in 2008. His previous artistic talents were limited to colouring in dinosaurs which his parents had drawn for him.
His skill with a brush has amazed art experts who believe his detailed pictures of mainly Norfolk landscapes are way beyond his years.
Kieron's work first came on the market in the summer of 2009 when 19 of his paintings were sold for £14,000 in a sealed bid auction.
Three months later another 16 of his paintings were up snapped for £17,000 in just 14 minutes in his second exhibition at the Picturecraft gallery.
Buyers flew in from as far away as Arizona, New York and South Africa to buy his oils, watercolours and pastels at his third exhibition in July last year.
Some fans camped outside the gallery for up to 48 hours to make sure they did not miss out on one of his paintings priced between £1,825 and £7,995.
Other telephone bidders from Tokyo, Canada and Germany as well as from across the UK ensured the exhibition sold out instantly in 30 minutes.
Kieron later set a new record price for his work by selling two landscape paintings for around £21,000 in a sealed bid auction which attracted interest from around the world.
The pictures had special significance as one was the last he painted when he was aged seven and the other was his first work after his eighth birthday.
The first picture, an oil painting of a Suffolk scene showing rolling fields and a church, was snapped up by a collector in California.
The other was a pastel painting of the desolate shoreline at Winterton, Norfolk, which was bought by a fan from Slovinia.
Many of Kieron's paintings feature iconic locations on the north Norfolk coast such as Morston, Blakeney, Cley, Holkham and Brancaster.
2011年11月3日星期四
‘Cellini’ & Abe painting to stay in Springfield Lincoln museum
Convicted power broker Bill Cellini undoubtedly whispered in the ear of many a politician during his era of influence in state politics, but none is more famous than Abraham Lincoln.
An uncanny likeness of Cellini is pictured alongside the 16th president in an oil painting at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, and the painting is going to remain hanging despite Cellini’s corruption convictions Tuesday, the museum said Wednesday.
“It’ll stay,” museum spokesman Dave Blanchette said.
Cellini is wearing a black suit and peering over Lincoln’s shoulder while the president sits in a chair and inspects votal totals from the 1864 election. Cellini is gesturing in the painting, as if to make a point to Lincoln.
“The artist never officially told us who the people he used for models in the picture are, so we don’t have confirmation from the person who knows whether that’s him or not,” Blanchette said when asked the rationale behind keeping the painting.
“And second, there’s no reason to change anything in the museum. It’s great the way it is. It’s almost 3 million people who have been through, and it’s the world’s most popular presidential museum. We think everything was done right in the museum.”
State lawmakers took an entirely different tack with convicted ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, passing a law last year that barred the expenditure of any state funds on any oil painting of the impeached ex-governor.
That law effectively barred Blagojevich’s likeness from being hung in the state Capitol’s Hall of Governors, where an oil painting of every chief executive except him is hanging.
An uncanny likeness of Cellini is pictured alongside the 16th president in an oil painting at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, and the painting is going to remain hanging despite Cellini’s corruption convictions Tuesday, the museum said Wednesday.
“It’ll stay,” museum spokesman Dave Blanchette said.
Cellini is wearing a black suit and peering over Lincoln’s shoulder while the president sits in a chair and inspects votal totals from the 1864 election. Cellini is gesturing in the painting, as if to make a point to Lincoln.
“The artist never officially told us who the people he used for models in the picture are, so we don’t have confirmation from the person who knows whether that’s him or not,” Blanchette said when asked the rationale behind keeping the painting.
“And second, there’s no reason to change anything in the museum. It’s great the way it is. It’s almost 3 million people who have been through, and it’s the world’s most popular presidential museum. We think everything was done right in the museum.”
State lawmakers took an entirely different tack with convicted ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, passing a law last year that barred the expenditure of any state funds on any oil painting of the impeached ex-governor.
That law effectively barred Blagojevich’s likeness from being hung in the state Capitol’s Hall of Governors, where an oil painting of every chief executive except him is hanging.
2011年11月2日星期三
Rico Solinas' Saw-Blade Paintings Elevate a Folksy Tradition
My grandfather died, quickly and unexpectedly, on Thanksgiving Day in 1987. My mother returned from his Ohio funeral with a suitcase full of Grandpa's circular saw blades. Mom, a prolific oil painter, gessoed the blades and used them as canvases for landscapes that she gave to each of her five children as a remembrance of her father-in-law, a career carpenter who'd loved making things with wood.
I thought she was mad. I didn't know then that saw-blade painting has a long history, dating back to the 18th century, and is among the earliest versions of tole painting, which for a very long time was limited to folk art renderings on tin and other metal ware. (Somehow, tole painting has grown over the years to include any kind of folksy painting on wooden objects and furniture.) I've run across saw-blade paintings since, always done on circular blades and always too pastoral for my taste.
Rico Solinas' saw-blade paintings, now on display at the ASU Art Museum, are neither folksy nor circular. His "100 Museums: Paintings of Buildings That Have Paintings Inside" is a stunning collection of architectural portraits done on old hand saws, and may — if the exhibit travels and receives the acclaim it deserves —elevate saw painting's folksy reputation.
Solinas is a native of Oakland, California, who studied at Corcoran School of Art and who's best known as a painter of figuratives and landscapes. In the late '80s, he created a series of saw-blade paintings of trucks and service vehicles that paid homage to the American work ethic; a later series depicted the homes of fellow California artists. The new series, despite its title, is an exhibit of 102 paintings and features stunning, photo-realistic depictions of the world's museums, painted over a 13-year period. Some are solemn in muted grays and tans, like Rome's majestic Galleria Borghese; others pop with joyous splashes of color, as with the hyper-moderne Museum Ludwig in Cologne (home to Gottfried Helnwein's shocking Last Supper).
Solinas, a preparator at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, brings the genius of a gifted miniaturist to each painting: here, the minute detail of a wee outbuilding of the Stedeljik in Amsterdam; there, the tiny scrolling on the pillars of the Museo Morandi in Bologne. There's some playful irony in these paintings, too — the tension between the rough, old-fashioned hand saws painted with depictions of modern glass-and-chrome structures, the paradox of a hallowed home of exquisite fine art depicted on a homely hand tool.
Those tools — or their gorgeous, often ornate handles, at least — nearly steal Solinas' thunder. Hand-carved, paint-chipped, and rubbed smooth by sweat and a firm grip, the saw handles are themselves a kind of art. I resisted the urge to discuss the collecting of saws when I briefly met Solinas at the exhibit's opening-night party last month. Instead, I asked why he paints on saw blades. "I don't want to make something that's already showing in a museum," he told me. "I wanted something unique that would make sense hanging there, but that you wouldn't find around the next corner."
He's succeeded. Presented in a more traditional manner, these would merely be neat, accurate oil paintings of a lot of interesting buildings. And while their presentation is quite dramatic — five groupings of roughly 20 saws each — it's an up-close inspection of the paintings that reveals their genius.
I thought she was mad. I didn't know then that saw-blade painting has a long history, dating back to the 18th century, and is among the earliest versions of tole painting, which for a very long time was limited to folk art renderings on tin and other metal ware. (Somehow, tole painting has grown over the years to include any kind of folksy painting on wooden objects and furniture.) I've run across saw-blade paintings since, always done on circular blades and always too pastoral for my taste.
Rico Solinas' saw-blade paintings, now on display at the ASU Art Museum, are neither folksy nor circular. His "100 Museums: Paintings of Buildings That Have Paintings Inside" is a stunning collection of architectural portraits done on old hand saws, and may — if the exhibit travels and receives the acclaim it deserves —elevate saw painting's folksy reputation.
Solinas is a native of Oakland, California, who studied at Corcoran School of Art and who's best known as a painter of figuratives and landscapes. In the late '80s, he created a series of saw-blade paintings of trucks and service vehicles that paid homage to the American work ethic; a later series depicted the homes of fellow California artists. The new series, despite its title, is an exhibit of 102 paintings and features stunning, photo-realistic depictions of the world's museums, painted over a 13-year period. Some are solemn in muted grays and tans, like Rome's majestic Galleria Borghese; others pop with joyous splashes of color, as with the hyper-moderne Museum Ludwig in Cologne (home to Gottfried Helnwein's shocking Last Supper).
Solinas, a preparator at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, brings the genius of a gifted miniaturist to each painting: here, the minute detail of a wee outbuilding of the Stedeljik in Amsterdam; there, the tiny scrolling on the pillars of the Museo Morandi in Bologne. There's some playful irony in these paintings, too — the tension between the rough, old-fashioned hand saws painted with depictions of modern glass-and-chrome structures, the paradox of a hallowed home of exquisite fine art depicted on a homely hand tool.
Those tools — or their gorgeous, often ornate handles, at least — nearly steal Solinas' thunder. Hand-carved, paint-chipped, and rubbed smooth by sweat and a firm grip, the saw handles are themselves a kind of art. I resisted the urge to discuss the collecting of saws when I briefly met Solinas at the exhibit's opening-night party last month. Instead, I asked why he paints on saw blades. "I don't want to make something that's already showing in a museum," he told me. "I wanted something unique that would make sense hanging there, but that you wouldn't find around the next corner."
He's succeeded. Presented in a more traditional manner, these would merely be neat, accurate oil paintings of a lot of interesting buildings. And while their presentation is quite dramatic — five groupings of roughly 20 saws each — it's an up-close inspection of the paintings that reveals their genius.
2011年11月1日星期二
New Exhibit of Oil Paintings on Display at Frances Anderson Center
Beginning today, oil bar paintings by K Robinson can been seen thorugh Dec. 14 at the Frances Anderson Center in Edmonds.
The exhibit is sponsored by the Edmonds Arts Festival Foundation and the Edmonds Arts Commission.
According to Kris Gilliespie, cultural services assistant for the City of Edmonds, oil bars are basically oil pastels. Unlike chalky pastels, there are also oil pastels which are more like crayons—they give a depth of color and stability and texture that is different from chalk pastels or paints.
In the display case exhibit “Color of Light,” Robinson demonstrates a progressive study of how to express an idea using different formats and media. “I was inspired to find a way to show these elusive effects of light that changed with the seasons, weather, and time of day," she said. "The medium of oil pastels has the color intensity of oil paint but also allows for interesting strokes, overlays, and weaving of color.”
“Beach Walk,” displayed in the EAF Museum gallery, includes representative pieces from an ongoing series of oil bar paintings inspired by walks along the shore in Virginia and North Carolina. The artist says that the techniques possible with oil bar “express well the scintillating energy … felt at the edge of the ocean.”
Robinson grew up in Virginia, graduating from the College of William and Mary with a bachelor's in fine arts. Adding a architecture master's from the University of Pennsylvania, she practiced architecture for many years in Washington, D.C.
She reconnected with painting in the 1990s in California’s Bay Area and chose to work in plein air oil painting and botanical watercolors, painting with the Glover Group, painters perpetuating the legacy of the Society of Six with artist and teacher Pam Glover.
After moving to Seattle in 2003, Robinson continued her study and painting at Gage Academy, working with mentors Mitch Albala, Margaret Davidson and Tom Hoffmann. In 2008, she became a member of 49th Street Studio in Ballard where, with the influence of years of sailing and living on the water, she continues to draw inspiration from the constantly changing coastlines, luminous skies and endless waterways of the Pacific Northwest.
The exhibit is sponsored by the Edmonds Arts Festival Foundation and the Edmonds Arts Commission.
According to Kris Gilliespie, cultural services assistant for the City of Edmonds, oil bars are basically oil pastels. Unlike chalky pastels, there are also oil pastels which are more like crayons—they give a depth of color and stability and texture that is different from chalk pastels or paints.
In the display case exhibit “Color of Light,” Robinson demonstrates a progressive study of how to express an idea using different formats and media. “I was inspired to find a way to show these elusive effects of light that changed with the seasons, weather, and time of day," she said. "The medium of oil pastels has the color intensity of oil paint but also allows for interesting strokes, overlays, and weaving of color.”
“Beach Walk,” displayed in the EAF Museum gallery, includes representative pieces from an ongoing series of oil bar paintings inspired by walks along the shore in Virginia and North Carolina. The artist says that the techniques possible with oil bar “express well the scintillating energy … felt at the edge of the ocean.”
Robinson grew up in Virginia, graduating from the College of William and Mary with a bachelor's in fine arts. Adding a architecture master's from the University of Pennsylvania, she practiced architecture for many years in Washington, D.C.
She reconnected with painting in the 1990s in California’s Bay Area and chose to work in plein air oil painting and botanical watercolors, painting with the Glover Group, painters perpetuating the legacy of the Society of Six with artist and teacher Pam Glover.
After moving to Seattle in 2003, Robinson continued her study and painting at Gage Academy, working with mentors Mitch Albala, Margaret Davidson and Tom Hoffmann. In 2008, she became a member of 49th Street Studio in Ballard where, with the influence of years of sailing and living on the water, she continues to draw inspiration from the constantly changing coastlines, luminous skies and endless waterways of the Pacific Northwest.
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