More than half a century after she was given her first set of oil paints, Rossana Kendall launches an exhibition in Chichester on the back of her studies.
“I have waited 57 years to do this degree and to do oil painting all the time,” says Rossana who is offering a collection of paintings and prints at the Oxmarket Centre of Arts (until December 23).
Rossana lives in Kent, but Chichester is a place with long resonance for her, and she was delighted to discover the opportunities the Oxmarket offers.
“My mother gave me my first set of oil paints when I was seven, and I can still remember the little vase and candlestick which were the subject of my first painting. It was a shock that the painting did not exactly replicate what was there in front of me, as I had intended.
“Over half a century later, on retiring, I started a fine arts degree and am now doing the fourth of six years at The University for the Creative Arts at Canterbury. We are expected to be up to date with contemporary art, so it’s an eye-opener and great fun. It’s exciting to experiment with doing completely new things, with new ways of doing old things and new tools to do them with.
“The prints and the paintings in this exhibition are a product of the learning and experimentation.
“Still, I’m a romantic, and believe in the importance of nature and of beauty. It seems to me that a good piece of art can make the rest of the world seem more alive, like 3D specs that bring everything to life and to colour. It can depict the world of ideal forms from which everyday reality is made.
“Many of these works are to do with nature, and a nature that is luminous, almost alive, just as Wordsworth felt it to be, so that natural scenes chimed with some of his deepest thoughts and emotions. Sometimes a landscape seems almost to be speaking. The challenge is to get that across through shape and colour in a way that is true to what nature and landscape mean to me.”
2011年12月21日星期三
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10月26日星期三
German Forgers Face Prison for Scam Worth More Than $22 Million
An art forger and his three accomplices, who together made more than 16 million euros ($22 million) by selling oil paintings they falsely attributed to famous artists, today face sentencing in a Cologne court.
Wolfgang Beltracchi, 60, confessed to painting 14 works that he sold as masterpieces by Max Ernst, Max Pechstein, Heinrich Campendonk, Andre Derain, Fernand Leger and Kees van Dongen. His wife, Helene Beltracchi, her sister and a fourth associate confessed to bringing the works to the art market.
Dealers and collectors say confidence in the German art market has been shaken by the forgery scandal, described as the biggest ever in Germany, as art historians, museums and auction houses were duped by the scam.
“The whole thing is quite terrible,” said Christoph Graf Douglas, a Frankfurt-based independent art dealer and consultant to collectors. “It has completely undermined confidence in the market. Not only were criminals at work, there was also some shoddy research. People have bought the idea that experts can detect forgeries, and this shows that is not the case.”
Among the forgers’ victims was the U.S. actor Steve Martin, according to a May report in Spiegel magazine. Martin paid 700,000 euros for a painting falsely attributed to Heinrich Campendonk, called “Landscape With Horses,” from Galerie Cazeau- Beraudiere in Paris in 2004, according to Spiegel.
It was then sold by Christie’s in 2006 for 500,000 euros to a Swiss businesswoman, the magazine said. Christie’s spokesman Matthew Paton declined to comment on the sale.
‘Highly Skilled’
The Cologne auction house Kunsthaus Lempertz said in January that it had sold five of the forgers’ works. The authenticity of all of them “was confirmed by leading experts and some of them were subsequently shown in a number of museums.”
“My colleagues and I, like the whole art market, were deceived by the highly skilled and professional operations of the forgers,” Lempertz chief executive Henrik Hanstein wrote in a letter to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in July.
The group not only produced and sold the paintings, it also invented an entire provenance for them, claiming the art came from either the “Jaegers Collection” or the “Wilhelm Knops Collection,” according to the Cologne court.
They said Werner Jaegers was Helene Beltracchi’s grandfather, while Knops was the grandfather of another associate, named as Otto S.-K. in court documents.
“People should have asked: Who is Jaegers?” said Douglas, a former managing director of Sotheby’s in Germany. “When did he live? Do we have a photo? How can there be a collector no one has heard of?”
In return for the confessions, prosecutors agreed to request prison sentences of no longer than six years for Beltracchi, a maximum of four years for his wife, five years for Otto S.-K. and a maximum suspended sentence of two years for the wife’s sister, Jeanette S., who is only implicated in three cases, according to the Cologne regional court.
The Beltracchi couple agreed to pay 980,000 Swiss francs ($1.12 million) to the court.
Christian Rode, Beltracchi’s lawyer, said in a final statement that his client wasn’t motivated by profit alone. The master forger, who has unruly gray locks and once lived in a houseboat, took great pride in his work, he said.
He felt a close connection with the artists whose oeuvres he sought to “complete,” calling his paintings the works that the artists should themselves have produced, but never got around to, Rode said. Beltracchi told the court that his pictures were sometimes almost “too good” for the artist, because he had the benefit of hindsight and knew how the artist and the history of art developed.
Rode said the trial exposed many of the shadier aspects of the art market.
“We have heard a lot about experts driven by interests, who don’t only provide expertise but also buy, mediate and receive commission,” he said in his concluding statement. “We have heard about duty-free entrepots in Geneva and payments from Swiss accounts to Swiss accounts.”
As many as 41 more paintings not included in the trial because of statutes of limitations may also be forgeries by Beltracchi. The scandal has spawned a number of civil cases against dealers and auction houses, as well as the criminal trial.
The forgers were only caught out when one buyer became suspicious and sent his picture to be examined by scientists. They discovered a paint color that had not existed at the time the work was supposed to have been produced.
“We want to know the whole truth,” said Douglas. “How many paintings did they forge? How many more are still on the market? The only way to combat the lack of confidence is with some detailed work.”
Wolfgang Beltracchi, 60, confessed to painting 14 works that he sold as masterpieces by Max Ernst, Max Pechstein, Heinrich Campendonk, Andre Derain, Fernand Leger and Kees van Dongen. His wife, Helene Beltracchi, her sister and a fourth associate confessed to bringing the works to the art market.
Dealers and collectors say confidence in the German art market has been shaken by the forgery scandal, described as the biggest ever in Germany, as art historians, museums and auction houses were duped by the scam.
“The whole thing is quite terrible,” said Christoph Graf Douglas, a Frankfurt-based independent art dealer and consultant to collectors. “It has completely undermined confidence in the market. Not only were criminals at work, there was also some shoddy research. People have bought the idea that experts can detect forgeries, and this shows that is not the case.”
Among the forgers’ victims was the U.S. actor Steve Martin, according to a May report in Spiegel magazine. Martin paid 700,000 euros for a painting falsely attributed to Heinrich Campendonk, called “Landscape With Horses,” from Galerie Cazeau- Beraudiere in Paris in 2004, according to Spiegel.
It was then sold by Christie’s in 2006 for 500,000 euros to a Swiss businesswoman, the magazine said. Christie’s spokesman Matthew Paton declined to comment on the sale.
‘Highly Skilled’
The Cologne auction house Kunsthaus Lempertz said in January that it had sold five of the forgers’ works. The authenticity of all of them “was confirmed by leading experts and some of them were subsequently shown in a number of museums.”
“My colleagues and I, like the whole art market, were deceived by the highly skilled and professional operations of the forgers,” Lempertz chief executive Henrik Hanstein wrote in a letter to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in July.
The group not only produced and sold the paintings, it also invented an entire provenance for them, claiming the art came from either the “Jaegers Collection” or the “Wilhelm Knops Collection,” according to the Cologne court.
They said Werner Jaegers was Helene Beltracchi’s grandfather, while Knops was the grandfather of another associate, named as Otto S.-K. in court documents.
“People should have asked: Who is Jaegers?” said Douglas, a former managing director of Sotheby’s in Germany. “When did he live? Do we have a photo? How can there be a collector no one has heard of?”
In return for the confessions, prosecutors agreed to request prison sentences of no longer than six years for Beltracchi, a maximum of four years for his wife, five years for Otto S.-K. and a maximum suspended sentence of two years for the wife’s sister, Jeanette S., who is only implicated in three cases, according to the Cologne regional court.
The Beltracchi couple agreed to pay 980,000 Swiss francs ($1.12 million) to the court.
Christian Rode, Beltracchi’s lawyer, said in a final statement that his client wasn’t motivated by profit alone. The master forger, who has unruly gray locks and once lived in a houseboat, took great pride in his work, he said.
He felt a close connection with the artists whose oeuvres he sought to “complete,” calling his paintings the works that the artists should themselves have produced, but never got around to, Rode said. Beltracchi told the court that his pictures were sometimes almost “too good” for the artist, because he had the benefit of hindsight and knew how the artist and the history of art developed.
Rode said the trial exposed many of the shadier aspects of the art market.
“We have heard a lot about experts driven by interests, who don’t only provide expertise but also buy, mediate and receive commission,” he said in his concluding statement. “We have heard about duty-free entrepots in Geneva and payments from Swiss accounts to Swiss accounts.”
As many as 41 more paintings not included in the trial because of statutes of limitations may also be forgeries by Beltracchi. The scandal has spawned a number of civil cases against dealers and auction houses, as well as the criminal trial.
The forgers were only caught out when one buyer became suspicious and sent his picture to be examined by scientists. They discovered a paint color that had not existed at the time the work was supposed to have been produced.
“We want to know the whole truth,” said Douglas. “How many paintings did they forge? How many more are still on the market? The only way to combat the lack of confidence is with some detailed work.”
2011年6月1日星期三
SolarBridge Adds to Board and Executive Team
the leading developer of module-integrated microinverters for the solar industry, today announced that Bill Mulligan has been appointed to the company’s Board of Directors and Bill Paape will join SolarBridge as chief financial officer (CFO).
“We are extremely pleased to welcome Bill Mulligan and Bill Paape to SolarBridge”
“We are extremely pleased to welcome Bill Mulligan and Bill Paape to SolarBridge,” said Ron Van Dell, president and CEO, SolarBridge Technologies. “Both individuals bring vast experience to our team and offer valuable strategic counsel and management expertise. Their contributions will be invaluable as SolarBridge moves into an important growth phase.”
As an internationally known expert in the field of high efficiency silicon photovoltaic cells and solar systems, Mulligan joins SolarBridge’s Board of Directors. Mulligan has more than 20 years of experience in the photovoltaic field and recently retired from SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWRA, SPWRB), having served as vice president of research and development from 1998 to 2010. Under his leadership, the R&D department developed and commercialized the world’s highest efficiency silicon PV cell (22% average in production). Mulligan also worked at JX Crystals Inc., National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), AstroPower Inc. and Fairchild/National Semiconductor.
As CFO, Paape will be responsible for overseeing the financial operations and growth of SolarBridge and will lead future fundraising efforts. He has more than 25 years of comprehensive financial management experience, including mergers and acquisitions, treasury, controllership, strategic planning, fundraising, business development and financial analysis. Paape joins SolarBridge from LifeSize Communications Inc., a $130+ million videoconferencing technology company. He served as vice president of finance and CFO from the company’s inception through its $405 million acquisition by Logitech, Inc. in late 2009. Paape also held senior financial management positions at Polycom, Inc., ViaVideo Communications, Inc. and Fisher Scientific.
About SolarBridge Technologies
SolarBridge Technologies, a leader in integrated microinverter technologies for the solar industry, is accelerating the adoption of rooftop solar energy in residential and commercial applications. SolarBridge’s patented Pantheon microinverter mounts directly onto solar modules, greatly increasing system efficiency and reliability, while reducing the cost of solar installation and maintenance. The Pantheon microinverter is designed to match the lifetime of solar modules, enabling module manufacturers to provide a 25-year warranty on their AC modules.
“We are extremely pleased to welcome Bill Mulligan and Bill Paape to SolarBridge”
“We are extremely pleased to welcome Bill Mulligan and Bill Paape to SolarBridge,” said Ron Van Dell, president and CEO, SolarBridge Technologies. “Both individuals bring vast experience to our team and offer valuable strategic counsel and management expertise. Their contributions will be invaluable as SolarBridge moves into an important growth phase.”
As an internationally known expert in the field of high efficiency silicon photovoltaic cells and solar systems, Mulligan joins SolarBridge’s Board of Directors. Mulligan has more than 20 years of experience in the photovoltaic field and recently retired from SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWRA, SPWRB), having served as vice president of research and development from 1998 to 2010. Under his leadership, the R&D department developed and commercialized the world’s highest efficiency silicon PV cell (22% average in production). Mulligan also worked at JX Crystals Inc., National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), AstroPower Inc. and Fairchild/National Semiconductor.
As CFO, Paape will be responsible for overseeing the financial operations and growth of SolarBridge and will lead future fundraising efforts. He has more than 25 years of comprehensive financial management experience, including mergers and acquisitions, treasury, controllership, strategic planning, fundraising, business development and financial analysis. Paape joins SolarBridge from LifeSize Communications Inc., a $130+ million videoconferencing technology company. He served as vice president of finance and CFO from the company’s inception through its $405 million acquisition by Logitech, Inc. in late 2009. Paape also held senior financial management positions at Polycom, Inc., ViaVideo Communications, Inc. and Fisher Scientific.
About SolarBridge Technologies
SolarBridge Technologies, a leader in integrated microinverter technologies for the solar industry, is accelerating the adoption of rooftop solar energy in residential and commercial applications. SolarBridge’s patented Pantheon microinverter mounts directly onto solar modules, greatly increasing system efficiency and reliability, while reducing the cost of solar installation and maintenance. The Pantheon microinverter is designed to match the lifetime of solar modules, enabling module manufacturers to provide a 25-year warranty on their AC modules.
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