In The Real Art World

BP Portrait Award Finalists Announced

2011-04-15T10:26:00.002+09:30

The shortlist for this year's BP Portrait Award have been unveiled. The winner, which will be selected on the 14 June, will receive £25,000 prize money and a commission worth £4,000. Of the 2,300 entries this year, here are the 4 finalists.

My money, for what it's worth is on Louis Smith's giant painting "Holly" to win.

Louis Smith with help from Carmel Said, Holly, Oil on canvas, 12 x 8'

Louis Smith, from Manchester, studied painting at Sheffield Hallam University and scene painting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He has exhibited in Britain and Italy. He was a BP Portrait Award exhibitor in 2009.

Louis’ huge portrait is an allegory of the Prometheus story re-imagined in female form – as punishment for stealing fire from Zeus Prometheus was chained to a rock where an eagle ate his liver daily only for it to grow back to be eaten the next day: ‘It’s a message of composure in the face of adversity, something we can all draw strength from in our struggle to make a living each day.’

Distracted, by Wim Heldens, Oil on canvas, 750 x 550 x 20 mm

Wim Heldens is a self-taught, professional artist who lives in Amsterdam and whose work has been seen in numerous group and solo exhibitions in Europe and the United States. He was a BP Portrait Award exhibitor in 2008 and 2010.
Wim’s shortlisted portrait is of Jeroen, a 25-year-old philosophy student to whom the artist has been a father-figure for twenty years: ‘I have been fascinated with painting Jeroen in all stages of life through growing up. While I have painted him many times in groups, once in a while there is the desire to paint a simple portrait of just him. Now, he is an intelligent and sensitive young man.’

Mrs Cerna, by Sertan Saltan, Oil on canvas, 410mm x 510mm

Sertan Saltan, originally from Turkey, now lives and works in Avon, Connecticut (USA), where he is developing a studio. He studied painting at a famous atelier in Istanbul before moving to the United States in 2006 to continue his studies at New York State University where he gained a BFA in Product Design.
Sertan’s sitter, Mrs Cerna, is the younger sister of a friend in New York City: ‘The contrast of knife, gloves and rollers brought both humour and horror to mind. I wanted to capture on canvas that moment which allows the viewer to meet this extraordinary woman and experience the richness and complexity of her preparation for this Thanksgiving dinner.’

Just to Feel Normal, Ian Cumberland , Oil on linen, 1500 x 1000 x 25 mm

Ian Cumberland lives and works on County Down, Northern Ireland. After graduating in Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Ulster in 2006 he has had a solo exhibition at the Albermarle Gallery in London, has won several awards and his work is represented in public collections in Ireland. He was a BP Portrait Award exhibitor in 2009.
Ian’s shortlisted portrait is an enigmatic study of: ‘a friend whose story is like many others from my generation that have fallen victim to themselves and their preferred habits. The title refers to his answer when asked why he continues along his chosen path.’

Dianne Gall, until April 15, Emerge Art Space, Perth

2011-04-14T23:46:00.000+09:30

Dianne Gall's latest exhibition titled "Come the night" is currently on at Emerge Art Space in Perth. The exhibition continues her interest in Film Noir genre and is well worth viewing.

Dianne was recently interviewed by Gemma Jones for The Vine, click here to read

Last year I interviewed Dianne Gall about her paintings, click here to view

The fullness of it all surrounds her, 2011, Oil on Linen, 61x76.cm

We will be safe here, 2011, Oil on Linen, 61x1520cm

The other door, 2011, Oil on Linen, 40x40cm

Moonlight 2011, Oil on Linen, 30.5x30.5cm

Rooms with a View: The Open Window in the 19th Century, until July 4, The Met , New York

2011-04-08T14:46:00.002+09:30

Rooms with a View: The Open Window in the 19th Century at The Metropolitan Museum of Art focuses on the Romantic motif of the open window as first captured by German, Danish, French, and Russian artists around 1810–20.

This exhibition focuses on a subject treasured by the Romantics: the view through an open window. German, French, Danish, and Russian artists first took up the theme in the second decade of the nineteenth century. Juxtaposing near and far, the window is a metaphor for unfulfilled longing. Painters distilled this feeling in pictures of hushed, spare rooms with contemplative figures; studios with artists at work; and open windows as the sole motif. As the exhibition reveals, these pictures may shift markedly in tone, yet they share a distinct absence of the anecdote and narrative that characterized earlier genre painting.

Presented in four galleries, Rooms with a View features the works of about forty artists, most from Northern Europe. The first exhibition of its kind, it ranges from the initial appearance of the motif in two sepia drawings of about 1805–6 by Caspar David Friedrich to paintings featuring luminous empty rooms of the late 1840s by Adolph Menzel. Many of the artists are little known on these shores, their works unseen until now.

Georg Friedrich Kersting (German, 1785–1847)
Woman Embroidering, 1811
Oil on canvas; 18 5/8 x 14 3/4 in. (47.2 x 37.4 cm)
Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Goethe Nationalmuseum

Caspar David Friedrich (German, 1774–1840)
Woman at the Window, 1822
Oil on canvas; 17 3/4 x 12 7/8 in. (45 x 32.7 cm)
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Alte Nationalgalerie

Carl Gustav Carus (German, 1789–1869)
Studio Window, 1823–24
Oil on canvas; 11 3/8 x 8 1/4 in. (28.8 x 20.9 cm)
Die Lübecker Museen, Museum Behnhaus Drägerhaus

Franz Ludwig Catel (German, 1788–1856)
A View of Naples through a Window, 1824
Oil on paper, mounted on canvas; 18 1/2 x 13 1/8 in. (46.8 x 33.5 cm)
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Constant Moyaux (French, 1835–1911)
View of Rome from the Artist's Room at the Villa Medici, 1863
Watercolor on paper; 11 5/8 x 9 in. (29.4 x 22.7 cm)
Musée des Beaux Arts, Valenciennes

Sam Leach, until April 2, Peter Walker Fine Art, Adelaide

2011-03-18T11:51:00.000+10:30

Sam Leach's latest exhibition Enlightement becomes sacrifice of sacrifice opened last night already sold out at Peter Walker Fine Art, which isn't unusual for either Sam, or the gallery.

Sam presents a new body of work which continues his exploration into the relationship between human and non-human forms, in particular anthropomorphism. Sam’s work retains his familiar style, evoking the old masters, but with a nod to contemporary art and society.

To see more os Sam Leach's work, visit his website by clicking here

Conic Section , Oil & resin on wood , 40 x 40cm

Balson Ape, Oil & resin on wood , 25cm diameter

Apply Multiple Filters , Oil & resin on wood , 40 x 40cm

Fracture Landscape , Oil & resin on wood , 25cm diameter

Margaret Bowland, until April 1, Babcock Galleries, New York

2011-03-17T09:51:00.001+10:30

Margaret Bowland's first New York solo exhibition "Excerpts from the Great American Songbook" is currently on at Babcock Galleries. This is definitely an exhibition not to miss as Margaret Bowland is one of the great up & coming painters currently working in the USA.

Margaret Bowland: Excerpts from the Great American Songbook is accompanied by a new book on the artist written by Siri Hustvedt and published jointly by Babcock Galleries and the Greenville County Museum of Art.

After New York, the exhibition goes to the Greenville County Museum of Art from May 18 to July 17, 2011.

Margaret Bowland's Excerpts from the Great American Songbook explores problematic and provocative issues of race, gender, beauty and individuality in contemporary social thought. She evokes great old musical standards like "Isn't It Romantic," with its velvet melody caressing one's ear and lyrics hanging in the air: "Soon I will have found some girl that I adore/Isn't it romantic?/While I sit around my love can scrub the floor..." Suddenly, it isn't so romantic as the song floats one into the dark side of gender and race. Bowland says "beauty makes sense to me...has weight for me, only when it falls from grace. It starts to matter when it carries damage. Sorrow allows [beauty] to cast a shadow". And what is the shadowy dark side of beauty? Bowland's paintings, conceived with a rich tenebrist light seem to punch their way into one's consciousness through the captivating metaphorical image of a young black girl whose inner awareness looks upon an outer world in which "it ain't necessarily so". Everything is so audaciously familiar in Margaret Bowland's paintings, so known and certain, and yet immediately, viscerally and fastidiously uncertain.

AND THE COTTON IS HIGH, 2011, 82 x 70 inches, Oil on linen

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, 2010, 65 3/4 x 56 1/4 inches, Oil on canvas

SOMEDAY MY PRINCE WILL COME, 2010, 78 x 64 inches, Oil on linen

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW, 2011, 82 x 66 inches, Oil on linen

The Daily Mail tests viewing times for classic paintings, and modern art.

2011-03-16T15:33:00.001+10:30

We know what we like, and it's not modern art! How gallery visitors only viewed work by Damien Hirst and Tracy Emin for less than 5 seconds

To read the entire article by Philip Hensher, CLICK HERE

The Daily Mail decided to view how long visitors at the Tate Britain looked at certain works in their collection with interesting results.

"The basic fact about art is that you, the viewer, decide how much time you're going to give it. Other art forms give you no choice.
A symphony is going to take up 40 minutes of your time; a film two hours; a play perhaps three or four hours. But you can choose whether to look at a painting for ten seconds or ten minutes. That's a good measure of how interested you are by it.
We wondered whether there was a difference between the amount of time people were prepared to give a classic painting, and to modern art."

&

"We set up that simple test. We spent a day sitting in front of four classic paintings, and the works of four famous contemporary British artists.
We counted how many visitors stopped at each; for how long, on average, they spent looking at each work; what the longest examination was; and what sort of gallery visitor each work seemed to attract.
surprisingly, despite all the controversy, and the public promotion of new British artists, they did less well in this test than the 18th and 19th Century artists.
Tracey Emin's Monument Valley (Grand Scale) is an image of the artist, sitting in an armchair in a famous American landscape. No one looked at it for more than two minutes; if people did look at it, it was for five seconds on average. And most visitors did not look at it at all.
Though Damien Hirst's famous pickled animals do seem to interest visitors, one example - the 'spot' paintings that form such a large part of his work - might as well have been wallpaper. Our sample spent, on average, less than five seconds looking at it."

The implication of the results of this survey of gallery-goer's apathy, the Daily Mail contends is something that professional curators might like to ponder.

Ophelia: by Sir John Everett Millais
TOTAL VIEWERS: 562 AVERAGE DWELL TIME: 1 minute, 57 seconds LONGEST LOOK: 30 minutes

Monument Valley: by Tracey Emin
TOTAL VIEWERS: 177 AVERAGE DWELL TIME: 5 seconds LONGEST LOOK: 2 minutes

Anthraquinone -1 Diazonium Chloride: by Damien Hirst
TOTAL VIEWERS: 379 AVERAGE DWELL TIME: 5 seconds LONGEST LOOK: 30 seconds

Vivian Maier, until April 3, Chicago Cultural Center

2011-03-15T00:26:00.002+10:30

I am going to break from posting only about painting and show the work of street photographer Vivian Maier because not only is her work brilliant, but also her story is absolutely amazing.

Vivian Maier was an American amateur street photographer who worked for about forty years as a nanny in Chicago. During those years she took about 100,000 photographs, primarily of people and cityscapes mainly in Chicago. Her photographs remained unknown and mostly undeveloped until they were discovered by a local historian, John Maloof, in 2007, who tried to contact her only to discover she died (April 21, 2009) several days earlier at the age of 83 after slipping on some ice hitting her head.. Her photos, some 100,000 remained hidden her entire life, tens of thousands have yet to be seen as she left boxes of undeveloped film rolls.

It's best that you watch the Youtube Video below to see the full story of Vivian Maier and how her work was recently discovered.

The first American exhibition of her photos Finding Vivian Maier: Chicago Street Photographer is on now at the Chicago Cultural Center

Ron Bolt, until March 26, Albemarle Gallery, London.

2011-03-09T17:21:00.000+10:30

Ron Bolt, in his current exhibition at Albemarle Gallery, London, continues his exploration of the coastal and river waterways that fascinate him, a wilderness that he describes as “sacred”. Continuing in the tradition of landscape painting in Canada although with a focus of where land, water & light meet.

Ron Bolt was born in Toronto in 1938. His career spans forty years. As a painter, he has held over seventy one solo exhibitions around the world.

Sundown at Black Rock, oil on canvas, 117 x 99 cm

Tidal Surge - Antrim, oil on canvas, 117 x 104 cm

Flashdance South, oil on canvas, 92 x 132 cm

Dazzlerazzle, oil on canvas, 107 x 117 cm

Harry Holland, 04 Mar - 26 Mar 2011, Albemarle Gallery, London & Mar 9 - Apr 30, 2011, Mineta Fine Art, Brussels, Belgium

2011-03-08T18:03:00.000+10:30

Harry Holland has exhibitions opening this week in both Brussels at Mineta Fine Art and at Albemarle Gallery, London.

Harry Holland is widely regarded as one of Britain's best craftsmen, who works with uncompromising commitment and sincerity to produce art that is intense and rewarding.

His style is distinctive and immediately recognisable, something which every artist seeks. The paintings are suggestive in the sense that they imply situations, events, or relationships that are not directly expressed; this imbues them with an engaging sense of mystery.

Holland was born in Glasgow in 1941. He trained at St. Martin’s School of Art from 1965-69. Since the seventies this extraordinary classical artist has had over thirty solo exhibitions and figured in countless group exhibitions worldwide.

Below are paintings from the London exhibition;

Balcony, oil on canvas, 51 x 30 cm

Beach, oil on canvas, 76 x 66 cm

Boat ten, oil on canvas, 89 x 122 cm

Below are paintings from the Brussels exhibition;

Ipod, 2010, 46 x 38 cm

Landing, 2010, oil on canvas, 61 x 37 cm

Photo, 2010, 46 x 52 cm

A Debt to Pleasure, until April 2, Montserrat College of Art Gallery, Beverly, Massachusetts

2011-03-04T12:34:00.001+10:30

“A Debt to Pleasure,” curated by Gallery Director Leonie Bradbury is currently on at the Montserrat College of Art Gallery in
Beverly, Massachusetts.

I'm certain this exhibition will be of great interest to many here, as allegory and realism, something not often seen, yet discussed regularly in such places as art forums. In this exhibition allegorical realism is employed to investigate symbolism in painting (past and present), cultural history and the art world’s insistence on originality and obsession with everything new.

Erik Thor Sandberg, Alterations, oil on panel, 2010. Courtesy of Conner Contemporary, Washington D.C.

Inspired by the visual and symbolic richness of the painting practices of the distant past, the artists in A Debt to Pleasure integrate the sensual and the sinister to question ‘meaning making’ in contemporary art. Featuring Julie Heffernan, David Ording, Shelley Reed, Erik Thor Sandberg, and Anne Siems.

Beyond their flawlessly rendered surfaces, the paintings in A Debt to Pleasure integrate the sensual and the sinister, the vulgar and the mysterious. Each artist explicitly references stylistic techniques and aesthetics of the past to create a provocative body of work that explores meaning making in painting.

An exhibition of technical skill, visual indulgence, and timelessness, “A Debt to Pleasure” presents a series of works that question their place in history. Beyond their flawlessly rendered surfaces, each artist explicitly references stylistic techniques and aesthetics of the past to create a provocative body of work.

Shelley Reed, By the Pool (after d’Hondecoeter), Oil on canvas, 2009. Courtesy of the artist

David Ording, After, oil on canvas, 2005-7. Courtesy of Carroll and Sons Gallery, Boston

Julie Heffernan, Self Portrait as Tender Mercenary, 2006, Oil on canvas, 231 x 173 cm / 91 x 68 1/8 in Courtesy of Dodge Gallery, NY

Anne Siems, Snail Girls, mixed media on panel, 2010, Courtesy of Walker Contemporary, Boston

Teresa N Fischer, until March 3, Elliott Fouts Gallery, Sacramento, California

2011-03-03T11:36:00.002+10:30

Although Teresa N. Fischer's exhibition "Nostalgia Emerging" at Elliott Fouts Gallery, Sacramento is about to close, do yourself a favour and check out this wonderful artist's paintings.

You can see more of Teresa's paintings by visiting her website Click Here

Also at the start of this year Teresa began blogging about her paintings, the process, the inspirations etc. To visit her blog click here

Chalk Rocket, oil on linen, 18x24 inches
Rocket Chalk has been juried into Salon International 2011.
This is a project of the International Museum of Contemporary Masters and is hosted by Greenhouse Gallery of Fine Art in San Antonio, Texas. The exhibit is April 2 - April 22, 2011.

The Roost, oil on linen, 12 x 24 inches

When your horse comes in, oil on linen, 24x18 inches

Popcorn express, oil on linen, 14x28 inches

The Swan, oil on linen, 20x16 inches

Curiosity got the bird, oil on linen, 12x24 inches

Caravaggio, until May 15 in the Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza in Rome

2011-02-25T15:51:00.000+10:30

An anonymous portrait of Caravaggio

Apparently Caravaggio was a very naughty boy, much more than previously known. An exhibition of his art and recently discovered and restored documents, which include his police record, offers further proof of this famous artist's roguish dark side.

Caravaggio appears to be almost compulsive in his lawlessness. For instance, the man was weapon-obsessed, sporting a sword, dagger, and pistol at various times. Twice jailed for carrying arms without a permit and known for beating strangers in late-night fights and pelting police with rocks.

The new evidence clarifies some of the details of the notorious brawl in which Caravaggio killed a man. The 1606 brawl during which the artist killed one Ranuccio Tommassoni, leading the artist to flee Rome and causing Pope Paul V to issue a death warrant, the documents reveal that the fight was over a gambling debt, and not a woman, as some accounts have suggested. The showdown was arranged in advance, with Caravaggio squaring off against four foes alongside a gang of three of his own comrades, including a friend who was a captain in the Papal army. One of Caravaggio's supporters was also wounded in the battle, thrown into prison, and subsequently put on trial.

Detail of a police report on parchment regarding a complaint that Caravaggio was illegally circulating in Rome with the sword and a dagger pictured.

One document on display features a drawing done by a judge of a sword and dagger seized from Caravaggio, who was arrested for carrying weapons without proof of permit. All this had been unknown until skilled archivists were able to examine the original records from Caravaggio’s decade in Rome. These records—police blotters, judiciary decisions, eyewitness accounts in the first person—were bound into ten volumes, each with up to 1,500 parchment pages of hand-written reports in Italian and Latin. The problem was that the parchment pages were self-destructing because the highly acid ink was eating up the pages. To save them, the archives director made a public appeal for sponsors. Thanks to articles in the Italian financial daily Il Sole-24 Ore, a handful of private sponsors were found, and the costly, time-consuming and painstaking restoration work could begin.

Other incidents include the written testimony of a waiter at the Moor's restaurant who had the bad fortune to be working when the irascible master painter came in for lunch with some friends:

"I brought them eight cooked artichokes, four cooked in butter and four fried in oil. The accused asked me which were cooked in butter and which fried in oil, and I told him to smell them, which would easily enable him to tell the difference. He got angry and without saying anything more, grabbed an earthenware dish and hit me on the cheek at the level of my moustache, injuring me slightly... and then he got up and grabbed his friend's sword which was lying on the table, intending perhaps to strike me with it, but I got up and came here to the police station to make a formal complaint"

Caravaggio also apparently cut a hole in the ceiling of his studio to accommodate some of his large paintings. Since he was a renter, this did not sit well with his landlady. After she sued the artist, Caravaggio and a friend decided to revenge themselves by hurling rocks at her window.

Apart from all of this, Caravaggio managed to to find time to paint many a masterpiece.

Ben Schonzeit, until March 5, Elaine Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida

2011-02-20T15:01:00.000+10:30

Ben Schonzeit, one of the old school original Photorealists is exhibiting this month at Elaine Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida.

With over 40 years of painting behind him, Ben is now widely recognized for his strong , photorealistic images of opulent flowers set against dramatic backgrounds. While being highly photorealistic, Schonzeit’s paintings also bend our perception by combining real and surreal imagery. His flower paintings are symbolic of the old with the new, and a general theme of passing time. Schonzeit’s works are settings for dreamscapes, full of melancholy, romantic irony, and intense color.

Lake Placid Bouquet, 2011 , Acrylic on polyester, 72 x 96 inches

Aalto Umbria, 2011 , Acrylic on linen, 66 x 78 inches

Peachy Peonies, 2011 , Acrylic on polyester, 66 x 44 inches

Middle Rose, 2010 , Acrylic on canvas, 44 x 48 inches

Kevin Sloan, until February 2, Gardner Colby Galleries, Naples, Florida

2011-02-04T18:24:00.001+10:30

Kevin Sloan's exhibition at Gardner Colby Gallery in Naples, Florida has just closed, however it's well worth getting acquainted with his paintings.

Kevin was recently featured in American Art Collector, to read the article Click Here

Tropical Tableau, acrylic, 48 x 44 inches

Modern Wilderness, acrylic, 44 x 36 inches

Audubon's Tea, acrylic, 30 x 36 inches

Google's art project: The Grand Tour from the safety of your computer.

2011-02-02T14:57:00.004+10:30

Google's art project goes live as of today, to visit the website Click Here

So far Google has photographed 17 of the great museums of the world which can be visited online virtually moving around the museum’s galleries, viewing more than a thousand artworks. Some works are viewable in high resolution, as well as information being available on the artist and the work.

Eeach institution has nominated a single piece as a “Gigapixel Artwork”, which Google has photographed “using super high resolution or ‘gigapixel’ photo capturing technology”. It produces an electronic image containing 7 billion pixels, allowing viewers to study the work in microscopic detail.

For those who cannot travel, I suppose it does give you some idea of what certain museums are like. However nothing is as good as viewing artworks in the flesh. Even that is not guaranteed in museums nowadays where there is the disturbing trend where people wander up to a masterpiece, view it through their camera/Iphone, take a snap and move on without actually looking at it directly with their eyes, only through a screen.

American Painting Video Magazine, Winter Issue

2011-01-15T13:59:00.000+10:30

American Painting Video Magazine, Winter Issue is now available to download for $10

The Winter issue of American Painting Video Magazine contains five different segments adding up to two hours of video. Highlights include an in-depth interview with legendary artist Antonio Lopez Garcia and Edward Minoff, a lecturer at the Grand Central Academy in Manhattan, going through the process of completing a seascape.

American Painting Video Magazine link, Click Here

Featured Artist: Frank Mesaric

2011-01-13T23:45:00.002+10:30

I've been wanting to do a post on the Australian artist Frank Mesaric's paintings whilst his exhibition was still hanging at the Latrobe Regional Gallery late last year. Unfortunately, I was unable to do so, hence I have started a new category of post to feature artists outside of their exhibition time framework.

Furthermore I am pleased Eugene Barilo Von Reisberg has allowed his catalogue essay to be also printed here. Eugene also has his own art blog Arts Diary 365

Frank Mesaric: The Weight of Stone

We are used to absorbing the world around us at a single glance. We accept the incongruity of split images rushing past our eyes as we flick through glossy magazines, surf the ever-increasing number of television channels, or wade through the multitude of still and moving images on our computer screens. They compete with each other for our attention, and through the process of ocular attrition, we have learned to ignore this rapidly changing visual cacophony.

Hospital Bed and 'The Anatomy Lesson', 2010 Oil on Canvas - 160 x 200 cm

However, the new body of work by Frank Mesaric demands time and concentration. We need to leave the extraneous noise of the world at the gallery’s door, enter without rushing, take a deep breath, and abandon ourselves to contemplation. For it is only after a careful consideration and inquisitive examination that semantic links between the seemingly disparate sets of images on the artist’s canvases begin to reveal themselves.

Friendly Fire and 'The Raft of the Medusa', 2010 Oil on Canvas - 160 x 200 cm

Mesaric’s immediate environment in Myrtlebank and the surrounding environs of Gippsland provide the artist with a continuous source of inspiration. Townships and power stations, hospitals, outhouses and derelict buildings are all drawn from the artist’s surroundings. Even the fighter jet and the burning oil field were witnessed by the artists not in the Middle East but from the comfort of his living room couch, which also makes its appearance in one of the paintings in this exhibition.

The Old Masters are another important source of Mesaric’s inspiration. Their ghosts were ubiquitous in the artist’s earlier subject paintings and portraits, whether through a gesture, symbol, or connotative presence. However, for the first time this influence is being emphatically brought to the fore. Quotations from Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Velazquez, and others appear almost ephemerally, traced in a delicate shimmer of a white chinagraph.

F-117 Night Hawk and 'Supper at Emmaus', 2009 Oil on Canvas - 160 x 200 cm

Aesthetically and psychologically citizen of the world, yet physically and inextricably connected to Gippsland, Mersaric points out with these paintings that in our global egalitarian contemporaneity everyone is as close to the renowned masterpieces of the world as they to the nearest art book or computer screen. They posit Mesaric’s works somewhere between the celestial visions of saints in Old Master paintings and collaged social commentaries of James Rosenquist. They are metaphors for the higher aspirations of the artist and the universal exemplars of achievement for his art students. More importantly, they are visual ‘thought bubbles’, providing running commentaries on Mesaric’s vignettes of contemporary life.

Deep Water and 'St Mary Magdalene with the Smoking Flame', 2010 Oil on Canvas - 160 x 200 cm

For example, the juxtaposition of the landscape with Loy Yang power station and Velazquez’s The Triumph of Bacchus could be read simultaneously as the celebration of earth’s bounty through his allegories of mining and viticulture; the critique of our culture of consumption through the depiction of the billowing power station and Bacchus’s feast; and the warning against the abuse of the natural resources through his allusions to the prognosed environmental and climatic changes and the later depictions of the God of Wine as a dissipated and obese old man.

Multiple meanings similarly intertwine in Bridge at Tarraville and ‘The Virgin Mourning Christ’. Both images are those of quite contemplation. At the same time, the sunset heralds the end of one day and foreshadows the beginning of another just like the death of Christ foreshadowed his resurrection. The empty road is lined with telegraph poles which are eerily reminiscent of crucifixes; and if we read the road as the site of fatalities, the image of the Virgin becomes a universal symbol of loss and mourning, and the overall message of the painting as that of rebirth, impermanence, and transcendence.

Bridge at Taraville and 'The Virgin Mourning Christ', 2010 Oil on Canvas - 160 x 200 cm

It is tempting to think that the painting Entry Door and ‘The Inspiration of Saint Matthew’ is self-referential. Opening your mind to inspiration is likened by the artist to leaving the door ajar and inviting that next step to the great unknown, the leap of faith, the feeling that Mesaric has experienced no doubt on numerous occasions when physically opening the door to his own studio or making that first brush mark on an empty canvas.

Couch and 'Judith Beheading Holofernes', 2010 Oil on Canvas - 160 x 200 cm

One can continue analysing these paintings ad infinitum. The Anatomy Lesson above a hospital bed is perhaps a simultaneous reference to the faith in the progress of science and the acceptance of the inevitability of death. Velazquez’s older gentleman next to the young boy in The Waterseller acquires menacing overtones placed beside the snapshot of a toilet with the imprints of sickness or blood. The eternal gender battle for domestic dominance is expressed subtly in phallic and vulvic indentations in the couch, and much more graphically in the quotation from Judith and Holofernes above.

At times the correlation between the corresponding images may appear to be tenuous, but the artist always leaves enough visual clues to engage the viewer in unlocking their hidden meanings, create the parables of their own, and enrich their viewing experience in the process.

Burning Boat and 'Saint Sebastian Cared for by Irene', 2010 Oil on Canvas - 160 x 200 cm

Frank Mesaric’s exhibition, The Weight of Stone, shows that his art is impossible to pigeon-hole. It does not slot easily into a convenient art movement, and cannot be branded with a fashionable ‘ism’. Yet it participates actively in the plurality of postmodernist vision which constitutes one of the cornerstones of Australian art, and engages the viewer in a discourse about the authorship, sense of place, and the universal aesthetic identity.

But in order to engage in this visual discourse with the artist, we need to leave the extraneous noise of the world at the gallery’s door, enter without rushing, take a deep breath and abandon ourselves to contemplation. I promise the experience will be a rewarding one, for we stand to learn infinitely more about these paintings, and, by osmosis, about ourselves.

by Eugene Barilo Von Reisberg

To go to Frank Mesaric's website click here

Linden Frederick, until January 8, Forum Gallery, New York

2011-01-06T16:47:00.002+10:30

Last days to see Linden Frederick's latest exhibition Night Neighbors at Forum Gallery.

From the gallery' press release "Linden Frederick’s paintings in Night Neighbors often seem to set the stage for mysterious psychological narratives. Based on twilight scenes in Belfast, Maine, where Frederick lives and works, the exhibition recalls the stillness and loneliness of Edward Hopper, with whom he is often compared. A theatrical aspect to the work – whereby a human presence is evoked but not revealed – offers a powerful twist to the subject matter. The paintings were inspired by thoughts that the artist had when he and his wife were working on their unfinished home in upstate New York years ago. Frederick recalls “driving past finished homes at night as the lights were coming on and feeling filled with a sense of longing.”

Gate, 2009, oil on linen, 40 x 40 inches

Midnight, 2009, oil on linen, 40 x 40 inches

Attic, 2010, oil on linen, 40 x 40 inches

Blue Room, 2010, oil on linen, 40 x 40 inches

Brad Woodfin at Sloan Fine Art until February 5, 2011, New York

2010-12-29T15:06:00.003+10:30

Brad Woodfin's new exhibition "The Strangers" at Sloan Fine Art in New York is rather impressive.

"The magnificently rendered wildlife creatures in Brad Woodfin’s paintings delicately emerge from a deep black background. Barely breaking the glossy surface shadow, they exist in a no man’s land between darkness and light, mystery and revelation, power and vulnerability. These majestic creatures are familiar to us through nature shows and childhood education. Yet they are strangers, forever unknown. Each lone figure represents the little ease of those among us who are strangers, with moods inspired by the wearing of masks, Noh theatre and Fever Ray, as well as by the animals themselves. "

To go to Brad Woodfin's website Click Here

"Ibis", 2010, 20" x 16", oil on panel

"Curlew", 2010, 10" x 8", oil on panel

"Hare (The Strangers)", 2010, 16" x 12", oil on panel

"Koudou", 2010, 16" x 20", oil on panel

Dean Home, until 26 September, Metro Gallery, Melbourne

2010-09-14T14:37:00.005+09:30

Dean Home's current exhibition "Late Autumn - Stories of the Garden" at Metro Gallery is worth investigating.

An afteroon in the garden, oil on board, 115 x 175cm

Places we like to paint, oil on board, 150 x 224 cm

Possiblt the jade brush, oil on board, 140 120 cm

Also this video showing him work is worth watching.

David Kassan finger painting on the Apple iPad from the live model

2010-06-28T22:08:00.002+09:30

This blog isn't normally a place I would post a finger painting demo, but this video by David Kassan is so cool, I couldn't resist.

An Apple ipad live fingerpainting demo that David Kassan streamed live from my Brooklyn studio on Monday June 21st. 2010, The model sat for 3 hours as David painted and answered questions on how I use the iPad and the Brushes app.

Eric Armusik, Fire Sale!, May 20 to June 20

2010-05-26T00:34:00.005+09:30

I know Eric Armusik & his art through the ether that is the online community of artists and have long admired his paintings. Artists move on in their art, that doesn't mean their older art isn't of value, but many artists feel the need to get rid of it, get it out of sight, or even destroy it.

I've been going through a studio cleanout lately and destroying old work that I feel shouldn't be released and work older than 2 years is being recalled back from galleries and taken off the market permanently.

Eric Armusik has his own solution, a Fire Sale, buy the paintings in the next 30 days or they will set on fire! To prove he is serious, he sets one one on fire on this YouTube Video

Go to Eric's website by Clicking Here and rescue a painting from the flames.

Wonderful paintings like this one will otherwise burn.

2:00 AM, Oil on Oak, 2004, 18" x 24"

*Featured in the December 2005 issue of American Artist Magazine
Winner 2004 Allied Artist of America Award from the Salmagundi Club, NYC

Margaret Bowland, A Pop-Up Project, 12th of May, Washington, DC

2010-05-12T10:20:00.003+09:30

A pop-up project is a series of innovative, curated art exhibitions and events that “pop-up” at various locations throughout Washington, DC. The "a pop-up project's" is curated by local curator and artist advocate Amy Morton of MFA Morton Fine Art.

For its inaugural exhibition a pop-up project will open I Dream Awake from March 26 to May 28, 2010 in the former Numark Gallery space located in Penn Quarter at 625-627 E St NW, Washington, DC 20004.

Exhibiting a variety of media, I Dream Awake explores original artistic expressions of awakened realities and unconscious dreams. Exhibition includes New York artists, Mikel Glass, Kenichi Hoshine and Margaret Bowland; Los Angeles artists Vonn Sumner and Susan Burnstine; and local artists Rosemary Feit Covey, Laurel Hausler, Lizzie Newton and Tim Tate.

Flower Girl, oil on linen, 52 x 44 inches

Artist talk with Margaret Bowland - this Wednesday 5/12, 6pm at 625 E St NW.

For more information Click Here

Location Click Here

Another Thorny Crown, charcoal & pastel on rag paper, 60 x 48 inches

Murakami Wedding No 2, oil on linen, 78 x 66 inches

Another Thorny Crown III, charcoal & pastel on paper, 67 x 49 inches

Sydney art dealer & writer Michael Reid has written an interesting article for The Art Market Monitor where he talks about trends in artist & gallery relationships, including the proliferation of pop-up, short term, art exhibitions in unorthodox spots.

Letter from Australia
by Michael Reid
A Matrix of Exhibition Behaviours

To read the article click here

Christian Rex Van Minnen, until June 26 at Bert Green Fine Art, Los Angeles

2010-05-11T13:41:00.004+09:30

Christian Rex Van Minnen: Rainbow Blight – New Paintings

Christian Rex Van Minnen paints using a technique similar to “automatic writing” in which he allows the composition and its component forms to emerge from the subconscious. These works are reminiscent of 19th century portraits and Romantic landscape scenes, but they also have a powerful contemporary edge, which makes them unmistakably 21st century works. In these paintings, organic matter becomes portraiture as proxy; figuration without a pose or a human subject.

Pearburst, Oil on Canvas , 11 x 14", 2010

Artist statement, courtesy of Christian Rex Van Minnen & Bert Green Fine Art
I’ve always been fascinated with anatomy and physiology as well as biology and other natural sciences. There is something about looking at plants and animals in a field guide, alone on a white page, out of their environment that gives them a distinctly human quality. this is where I am finding mystery. In my process, I like to create a kind of mess of an underpainting, a primordial soup of paint and information that I can see things in and pull form from. A lot of the time, this results in bio-morphic images and sometimes representational images. I have recently been utilizing this technique within the language of portraiture, creating a portrait without a sitter. I think that because they incorporate these basic elements of portraiture, we want to see a face to complete the sentence or the dialogue. by not having the eye contact or immediately recognizable facial features the viewer is left to fill in the blanks, often with aspects of ourselves. There is no symbolism here.

I suppose I have always been attracted to the grotesque because there is a truth and beauty that is inseparable from what is immediately unpleasant. Our lives are filled with such unpleasant beauties and opportunities to make light of dark.

To read an interview between Christian Rex Van Minnen & Jon Beinart, Click here

My Love for You, Oil on Canvas, 28 x 22”, 2010

Pear with Stars, Oil on Canvas , 11 x 14", 2010

Marketplace, Oil on Canvas, 24 x 36”, 2010

Still Life 1.6, Oil on Canvas, 23.5 x 20”, 2010

Summer Sweet, until May 29, Bernarducci.Meisel.Gallery, New York

2010-05-11T13:03:00.005+09:30

Summer Sweet, the title of the group exhibition currently open at Bernarducci.Meisel.Gallery is certainly worth a visit.

Luigi Benedicenti, Dolce Riflessi, 2009, oil on wood, 38 x 47"

Roberto Bernardi, La Tavolozza , 2010, oil on canvas, 22 x 30"

Ester Curini, Chet, 2010, acrylic on wood, 20 x 16"

Donald Jacot, Sweet Stuff , 2010, oil on linen, 9 x 12"

Paul Caranicas, Ozone 25, Mars Factory, NJ (Hackettstown), 2010, oil on wood, 16 x 20"

Julie Heffernan at P.P.O.W, until June 5, New York

2010-05-08T15:18:00.004+09:30

Julie Heffernan is one of my favourite artists and her latest exhibition Boy, O Boy is currently on at P.P.O.W Gallery, New York.

Great Scout Leader III 2010, oil on canvas, 72 x 54 inches

Press release for the exhibition, courtesy of P.P.O.W
P·P·O·W is pleased to announce Boy, O Boy, our sixth solo exhibition of paintings by Julie Heffernan. Using the male figure for the first time, Heffernan's new works explore the idea of human progress on both personal and political levels. The figures are an homage to transition and the passing on of wisdom from one generation to the next. The space of the canvas meditates on how we move into new chapters of our lives, both personally and as a planet.

In Great Scout Leader III, there is a young boy carrying an overly large backpack filled with golden creatures, stamps and paintings amongst many other special items to help him on his journey. He is wearing a belt equipped with tools (books, apples, and ropes) which may be useful during his passage. He is partially holding up a world that he is about to enter, but this soon to be discovered world is not altogether sound, for there is an avalanche below. In other works such as Budding Boy and Boy in Flight there are boys high up in trees, each creating miniature ecosystems and managing their environments, even as they appear to unravel. Heffernan gives us endearing and fragile images of a new masculinity that signal her faith in a potential yet threatened future world.

Boy in Flight 2010, oil on canvas, 52 x 68 inches

In addition to the paintings of adventurous boys, there are multiple landscape paintings that imagine what alternative worlds would be like if the one we are familiar with vanishes. Self Portrait Moving Out envisions a place where pathways lead to disaster or, conversely, miniature Edens. Self Portrait Setting Up Camp is a proposition for how we might remake the world when it all falls apart. Personal amulets are revealed throughout Heffernan's paintings in the form of tiny images of faces, art treasures and vignettes which reflect history, wisdom and truths.

Self Portrait as Tree House 2010, oil on canvas, 68 x 65 inches

All of these works remark on the nature of human society, the cycles of life and the possibilities of renewal alongside the entrapments of compliance and stasis. Like Heffernan's women, her new characters carry heavy histories of the past as they try to valiantly reshape the future.

Self Portrait as Big World 2008, oil on canvas, 65 x 68 inches

Julie Heffernan was born in 1956 and received her MFA from Yale University. She has had numerous one-person exhibitions around the country and has shown internationally. She has received a Lila Acheson Wallace award, NY Foundation for the Arts award, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Fulbright-Hayes Grant. She is the program head of the BFA in Studio art Montclair State University.

Tender Trapper 2010, oil on canvas, 66 x 60 inches

Gallery installation courtesy of Julie Heffernan & P.P.O.W

Rupert Bunny; Artist in Paris, until July 4, The Ian Potter Centre: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

2010-05-06T10:03:00.006+09:30

Rupert Bunny: Artist in Paris traces Bunny’s extraordinary life and art, from Melbourne to Paris and back again. Organised by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, this will be the first major exhibition of Bunny’s work since 1991 and includes over one hundred paintings, drawings and monotypes, some of which have never been seen before in Australia. A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition and comprehensively addresses all aspects of the artist’s oeuvre.

Rupert Bunny: artist in Paris - Introduced by Curator, Deborah Edwards

Rupert Bunny (1864–1947) is an exotic in the history of Australian art. A creator of grand, sumptuous paintings of Parisian life in the late 19th century, Bunny became one of the most successful artists of his generation.

Bunny's romantic portrayals of beautiful women at leisure capture the charm and idyllic life of France's "beautiful era" – the seemingly endless summer of the belle époque. His dream-like paintings of mythological scenes reveal an inspired and imaginative view of life and art.

For more information on this exhibition Click Here

Pastoral [Sea idyll Pastorale] c.1893, oil on canvas, 142.0 h x 251.0 w

Rupert Bunny
A summer morning c. 1897

Dolce farniente c1897 (Sweet idleness).

Mme Sada Yacco ‘Kesa' c1900 (1907).

Summer time c1907, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

Alan Feltus, until June 18, Forum Gallery, New York

2010-05-05T15:35:00.003+09:30

Forum Gallery presents seventeen new paintings by award winning American artist Alan Feltus. The works in the current exhibition continue the artist’s neoclassical exploration of the figure, saturated by the colors and richness of Italy, where Feltus has lived for more than twenty years.

Journals, 2008, oil on canvas, 43 1/3 x 31 1/2 inches

Il Giornale, 2009, oil on canvas, 31 1/2 x 43 1/4 inches

Insomnia, 2008, oil on canvas, 39 1/4 x 47 1/4 inches

The Red Jacket , 2008, oil on canvas, 43 1/4 x 31 1/2 inches

Traveller, 2008, oil on canvas, 20 x 22 inches

Will Cotton, until June 19, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris

2010-05-04T10:46:00.003+09:30

Will Cotton's latest exhibition at Galerie Daniel Templon Paris, examines ideas of desire and lack: landscapes made of icre cream and candyfloss, the most ephemeral of sweets.

Consuming Folly. 2009-2010, oil on canvas, 183 x 244 cm

Fairy Floss, 2009-2010, oil on canvas, 311 x 142 cm

Apennine, 2009-2010, oil on canvas, 213 x 193 cm

Ice Cream, 2009, oil on canvas, 61 x 86 cm

Visionary Art, until May 5, Mondo Bizzarro Gallery, Rome

2010-05-04T10:24:00.003+09:30

Last days to see VISIONARY ART a group show at Mondo Bizzarro Gallery, Rome. The exhibition features the work of Greg Simkins, Laurie Lipton, Naoto Hattori and Mike Davis.

Laurie Lipton, The Queen of Bones, 131 x 78 cm

Naoto Hattori, Inspired, 30.5 x 30.5 cm

Greg Simkins, The Goblin Whale, 61 x 46 cm

Mike Davis, Learning to walk again, 51 x 41 cm ca.

Mark Ryden, until June 5, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York

2010-04-29T12:49:00.004+09:30

Mark Ryden's exhibition titled THE GAY 90'S: OLD TYME ART SHOW opens tonight (April 29th) at New York's Paul Kasmin Gallery.

Dress in your best "Olde Tyme" outfit and come to the
Opening Reception: Thursday Evening, April 29, 2010, from 5 to 8 p.m.
Paul Kasmin Gallery, 293 Tenth Ave. New York, NY 10001

The Gay 90's: Old Tyme Art Show, an exhibition of 23 new paintings and works on paper will be Ryden's first significant solo show in New York since 2003, as well as his first with this gallery.

"The central theme of The Gay 90s: Old Tyme Art Show references the idealism of the 1890s while addressing the role of kitsch and nostalgia in our current culture. "In the modern era, sentimentality and beauty have been disdained in the art world," he explains. "This new work is explores the line between attraction and repulsion to kitsch, and between beauty and banality." Through their visual richness and symbolic complexity, Ryden's infinitely suggestive dreamscapes invite us to enter their world and to indulge our sense of wonder."

Quote courtesy of Paul Kasmin Gallery.

To visit Mark Ryden's website Click Here

Incarnation, 2009, oil on panel 72 x 48 inches

The piano player, 2010, oil on canvas, 20 x 30 inches

The Grinder, 2010, oil on canvas, 37 1/2 x 25 1/2 inches

Virgin and Child, 2010, oil on canvas, 24 x 18 inches

Pink Lincoln, 2010, oil on canvas, 22 x 16 inches

David Kassan 2 hour live streaming Question and Answer Event from his Brooklyn studio

2010-04-21T15:29:00.005+09:30

David Kassan's much awaited DVD launch is happening today CLICK HERE and David always being generous with his time has agreed to to do a 2 hour live streaming Question and Answer Event from his Brooklyn studio for the modest fee of only 10 bucks.

8:00 p.m. Wednesday April 21, 2010 US/Eastern Time
(12:00:00 Midnight Wednesday April 21, 2010 GMT)

David Kassan will be doing a little materials demonstration of how he applies and layers in charcoal, show clips from the new drawing DVD, and answer any questions about gallery representation, different approaches to drawing/painting, and anything else that is thrown at him during the 2 hours.

This event is sponsored by Lisa Gloria and Cindy Procious of http://artstudiosecrets.com/ who will be moderating the event.

To sign up to the David Kassan Live Webcast 4-21-2010 please Click Here

David Kassan at work

Francesca Sundsten, until April 30, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco

2010-04-06T13:06:00.003+09:30

Francesca Sundsten's exhibition Portraiture at Jenkins Johnson Gallery is worth taking the time out to visit.

Tweet, 2010, oil on canvas, 12 x 12 inches

Portraiture

The traditional compositional standard of the centralized figure in portraiture provides a foundation for this body of work. The stability of the image allowed me to experiment with and explore elements that paint allows: atmosphere, shifts in palette, and minor abstractions.

It seems a mode of the times that we're each experiencing some form of identity crisis and re-evaluation of the status quo. In a way, these paintings go back to the self as reference for examination, each, whether human or animal, are a concocted version of a possible 'me'. It was interesting to allow myself greater breadth in the final collection of works, allowing each painting to become what it wanted to be rather than trying to tie them together in a more imposed fashion. It seemed a good time to push my boundaries. I hope to continue.

I also looked for a sense of lightness and air in the work, though in the end the ones lighter in value became darker in mood, while the darker in palette became more humorous. This is something I've only realized in retrospect as it was unintentional. If there is one thing that ties my work together through the years, it's the constant factor of dichotomy: realism/abstraction, graphic/atmospheric, humor/horror, beautiful/ disturbing, traditional/pop, observed/imagined, and so on. The combining of these opposites that appear to be mutually exclusive is my key to painting.

Artist statement courtesy of Francesca Sundsten and Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco

Tenebrium, 2010, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches

Deer, 2010, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches

Ether, 2010, oil on canvas, 24 x 24 inches

Owl, 2010, oil on canvas, 24 x 24 inches

American Painting Video Magazine

2010-04-01T11:22:00.009+10:30

American Painting Video Magazine has just launched it's premier issue. The idea behind APVM comes from artist Michael Klein and it is to provide a current source of information and entertainment to the realist artists. Their mission is straight forward, sharing with like-minded artists insight into the classical art world. Spreading a wealth of information and making it available to everyone in all parts of the world at an affordable price.

This is a briliant idea, a wonderful service and is executed with exacting professionalism. I wish them well and look forward to many more American Painting Video Magazine issues being produced.

Jacob Collins, founder of the Grand Central Academy of Art and the Hudson River Fellowship.

The first issue (APVM Spring issue, vol.I), features Paul G. Oxborough, Carlo Russo, Jacob Collins, Peter Trippi, Kerry Dunn, Travis Schlaht, Robert Armetta, Long Island Academy of Fine Art, Matthew Innis and Robert Liberace.

Over 2 hours of content for the modest download fee of $10

Owner of Eleanor Ettinger Gallery, Frann Bradford discussing Paul G. Oxborough's paintings.

To view the trailer of the first issue of American Painting Video Magazine Click Here

To visit American Painting Video Magazine's website Click here

Carlo Russo working on a painting in his studio in Philadelphia.

Chris Peters & David R Choquette, until March 28, Last Rites Gallery, New York

2010-03-31T14:58:00.005+10:30

I have been meaning to post this exhibition up for some weeks and now it's slipped past it's exhibition dates. Nevertheless, it's one that's well worth looking into and so are the artists Chris Peters & David R Choquette. The exhibition was on at Last Rites Gallery.

Chris Peters hails from Los Angeles. He trained for three years at the Gage Academy of Art, completing their program that emphasizes academic painting techniques, whereas David Choquette is a 27 years old Montreal based artist and tattooist.

To go to Chris Peters' website Click here

For more information on David R Choquette Click here

Chris Peters; Love Eternal, oil on linen over panel, 24x18in

Chris Peters; The Great Divide, oil on linen over panel, 24x18in

Chris Peters; Double your money, oil on linen over panel, 16 x 12 in

David R Choquette; Sick, oil on panel, 9 x 12 in

David R Choquette; Toad, oil on panel, 10 x 12 in

David R Choquette; First breath, oil on panel, 9 x 12 in

Adam Vinson, until May 2, Artists' House Gallery, Philadelphia

2010-03-30T14:44:00.007+10:30

Adam Vinson, an artist worth keeping an eye on is exhibiting 10 new works this month at Artists' House Gallery in Philadelphia.

To see more of Adam's paintings and drawings Click here, (the first ten artworks are the ones in this exhibition).

To go to Adam Vinsom's website Click here

Prepackaged, oil painting, 14" x 11"

Matthew in Oil, 20" x 16", oil painting

Matthew, 8" x 11.5", drawing

Maillol Woodcut, 7.75" x 7.5", oil painting

Dust Bowling, 10" x 8", oil painting

Sam Leach wins both the Archibald Prize and the Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

2010-03-26T14:34:00.006+10:30

Australian artist Sam Leach has won both the Archibald Prize for portraiture ($50,000) and the Wynne Prize for landscapes ($25,000) at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. This is only the third time an artist has won both prizes in the same year. The other two were William Dobell in 1948 and Brett Whiteley in 1978.

"The winning portrait is of the singer/songwriter Tim Minchin who is building an international reputation with his off-kilter brand of musical comedy. With his artfully unkempt hair, heavy eye make-up and bare feet, his act is a wickedly entertaining mix of piano playing, cheerfully offensive songs, physical comedy and stand-up. His witty lyrics poke fun at all manner of sacred cows including religion, death, censorship and romantic love." Courtesy AGNSW Press Release

To visit Sam Leach's website Click here

Tim Minchin

Proposal for landscaped cosmos

Christen Købke, until June 13, The National Gallery, London

2010-03-24T11:11:00.003+10:30

Christen Købke: Danish Master of Light at The National Gallery is the first exhibition outside Denmark to focus on the paintings of Christen Købke (1810–1848). Emphasising his exquisite originality and experimental outlook, the exhibition focuses on the most innovative aspects of his work – including outdoor sketching, his fascination with painterly immediacy, and treatment of light and atmosphere.

The exhibition features around 40 of Købke’s most celebrated works, spanning a variety of genres. Works include landscapes, portraits of many of his family and closest friends, and depictions of Danish national monuments using his charming and unusual sense of perspective.

The exhibition will travel to the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh (5 July–3 October 2010).

Susan Hauptman, until May 1, Forum Gallery, New York

2010-03-21T13:42:00.003+10:30

Susan Hauptman's is exhibiting 15 wonderful new drawings at Forum Gallery. An exhibition that should not to be missed.

Self Portrait (with feathers), 2007, charcoal, feathers and gold leaf on paper, 41 x 53 inches

Self Portrait (with charms), 2008, charcoal, charms and encaustic on paper, 25 x 24 inches

Still Life (Rainbow's End, Staten Island No. 1), 2008-2009, charcoal on Twinrocker paper, 22 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches

Cake, 2007, charcoal, ink, encaustic and silver leaf on paper, 23 x 33 inches

Flowers (Lunaria) , 2007, charcoal, gold leaf and lunaria on paper, 26 x 34 inches

Realism, NOVOREALISM, new art movements and Desperate Romantics

2010-03-20T13:13:00.009+10:30

Currenty on TV here is the BBC series DESPERATE ROMANTICS, the lusty tale of the rebellious, talented & charismatic artists that foundered the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

But what does it take to claim a new art movement today?

Today's Desperate Romantics, Alexy Steele, Tony Pro and Jeremy Lipking think they know and have launched "NOVOREALISM". But is "NOVOREALISM" a new art movement or the result of unrestrained inflated egos in action?

Tony Pro in action.

What is "NOVOREALISM"?

NOVOREALISM according to Alexy Steele is the...
" Revolution that Came;
Revolution is raging in the land. There was no name worthy of it until now. Yet here it is: “NOVOREALISM."
It is a description of current and present, widely spread artistic movement functioning as a set of specific tools, philosophy and practice. As any major art movement in history - it is a common visual language based on a common worldview. As any language, it has its own rules – without knowing them you can still appreciate the music of the language but without comprehending its true meaning....."
to read the whole Manifesto Click here

Looking at the 3 main protagonists Pro, Lipking & Alexey....maybe they should've called themselves "THE INSTAMATICS" for their mainly simple point and shoot painting.........and leave the "revolutionary art" to greater minds.

A new art movement or self-promotion? Not that there is anything wrong with promoting oneself or one's artistic beliefs?

I see "NOVOREALISM" not as a new art movement, but as part of the recent trend of artists working with "realism" who are standing up and demanding to be noticed. A grouping of like minded artists to gain strength as a collective.

Another "realism" promoting event is Realist Revolution, a panel discussion on Friday night April 23rd 2010 4:00pm  Hyatt Regency Reston, VA 

Contemporary Art:
REALIST REVOLUTION
and
CRITICAL RELEVANCE
Is Main Stream Media Missing an Important Cultural Trend?

Premises:  "There is an actually existing, wide-spread, multi-faceted Realist movement in the Art world today. It is functioning as a set of specific tools, philosophy and practice. As any major art movement in history - it is a common visual language based on a common world view.  This movement is current, relevant and forward - looking . This movement is part of presently existing contemporary Art  This movement is a reflection of an important aspect of our modern world - democratization of cultural plane.  "

Hopefully someone will document it so it can be seen by many.

Meanwhile, on March 14th Graydon Parrish gave a lecture at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and luckily the artist Jim Harris was there to video it.

Graydon's talk was titled; Technique as Influence: The painter's odyssey of craft and communication.
Although, it wasn't strictly a "realism" promoting event, it was a considered & articulate argument in favour excellence in technique mainly displayed in realist painting.

Here is Part 1 of 10 videos, all well worth a viewing.

Artists working with 'Realism" are beginning to group together, social networking sites like Facebook is a major conduit for this. Some form tight bonds, others loose associations, but one thing is certain, there is the beginnings of a push for wider recognition. I do believe it's important for "realist" groups to be inclusive, rather than exclusive. To be openminded towards the many and varied approaches artists take that can be seen as forms of "Realism".

Meanwhile, I'll do my small bit, here In The Real Art World to promote as wide a range of realist artists as possible and to be inclusive of both Contemporary artists and those who are more traditional in thier outlooks.

TR Colletta, until March 31, Cadwell Snyder, San Francisco

2010-03-19T16:36:00.004+10:30

TR Colletta's exhibition “A Place in Time” at Caldwell Snyder Gallery is on until March 31, well woth a visit if you are in San Francisco.

Writer's Block 11, oil on linen, 50" x 50"

Pin-Ball World, oil on linen, 42" x 60"

Keep in touch, oil on linen, 42" x 54"

Gallery Installation

Gallery Installation

Lee Price & gallery artists at Sarah Bain Gallery, Anaheim, California

2010-03-17T16:35:00.006+10:30

One of my all time favourite artists, Lee Price is showing this month at Sarah Bain Gallery, a group exhibition of "Gallery Artists" which is on for the duration of March.

I first came across her via this painting, Full, 2007, a painting I absolutely just love and keep finding myself being drawn back to.

Full, 2007, Oil on Linen, 44” X 54”

To visit Lee's website Click here

I am fairly excited to hear that Lee will be exhibiting in September at Sarah Bain Gallery with a new body of work.

Meanwhile, here are some of the works on show now at Sarah Bain Gallery....

Cocoa Puffs, 2009, 44" x 62", Oil on Linen

Refuge, 44" x 64", Oil on Linen

Lisa In Tub With Chocolate Cake, 2009, 44" x 60", Oil on Linen

Cherry Cheesecake II, 2009, 28" x 68", Oil on Linen

The Human Figure, until April 10, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco

2010-03-12T15:39:00.003+10:30

The Human Figure at John Pence Gallery, San Francisco is worth seeing with some absolutely wonderful paintings on show.

Richard Maury, Another Room, Oil on Canvas on Panel, 23-5/8 x 30-7/8 inches, 1994

Kevin Gorges, Toby, Oil on Board, 22 x 28 inches, 2009

Tony Curanaj, Girl in White, Oil on Canvas, 30 x 24 inches, 2009

Edward Minoff, The Blue Scarf, Oil on Liinen on Panel, 17.5 x 15 inches, 2009

Patricia Watwood, Flora Crowned, Oil on Canvas, 34 x 26 inches, 2008

Zack Zdrale, Wound, Oil on Canvas, 16 x 12 inches, 2008

Craig Wylie, until March 27, Plus One Gallery, London

2010-03-11T16:21:00.004+10:30

Craig Wylie: Suns Silence Stopped, at Plus One Gallery is an exhibition worth going to see if you can. Wylie won the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery, London in 2008. In this exhibition Wylie is presenting a series of head paintings based upon people he knows.

Craig Wylie paints from his own photographs, the process involving working directly from a laptop screen, he combines both the incidental light of photography and the actual light passing through the images he works from, giving his paintings an unusual depth and clarity of light and colour.

To visit the artist's website Click here

MG(sun's final immobility), Painting oil on linen, 210 x 147.3 cm

CK (the only light), Painting oil on canvas, 250 x 172 cm

AH(avalanche), Painting oil on canvas, 230 x 167 cm

GA(clearing), Painting oil on canvas, 150.5 x 147.2 cm

Marc Dennis, until March 20, Hirschl & Adler, New York

2010-03-08T13:48:00.003+10:30

Go see the latest exhibition "Nature Morte" by Marc Dennis at Hirschl & Adler, New York

To visit the artist's website Click here

The Flowered Bedspread, 2010, Oil on canvas mounted on panel, 9 x 11 in.

Art History, 2010, Oil on canvas, 36 x 46 in.

Daydream, 2010, Oil on canvas mounted on panel, 18 x 18 in.

The Exhuberant Garden, 2010, Oil on canvas, 40 x 52 in.

Above in the Bright, 2009, Oil on canvas, 48 x 48 1/4 in.

Annual Spring Salon, until March 28, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm

2010-03-07T00:50:00.006+10:30

Stockholm's annual jury-selected Spring Salon, a yearly tradition since the 1920's is currently open. One artist selected is Mattias Sammekull, definitely an artist to keep an eye on.

To visit Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm Click here

Mattias Sammekull, The accused, Oil on linen 2009, 130x105cm

To view more of Mattias Sammekull's art Click here

David Klamen, until April 3, Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago

2010-03-04T11:13:00.003+10:30

David Klamen's exhibition "Painting Paintings" at Richard Gray Gallery are literally paintings of paintings on gallery walls.

The Gallery's Press Release states....
"Richard Gray Gallery is pleased to announce Painting Paintings, a series of 20 new works by David Klamen.

Klamen has consistently set out to parse the nature of memory and explore visual answers to the question, “how do we know what we know?”. In Painting Paintings, Klamen faithfully depicts iconic museum paintings in-situ, but subjugates them to methodological manipulation: sharp angles, skewed perspective, dramatic liberty with scale, and the ubiquitous inclusion of wall labels all work together to create a new, forcefully illusionistic experience of these masterpieces from the canon of art history.
Staying rigorously faithful to the appearance of his ‘subjects’, Klamen employs a vast range of periods and styles: Renaissance masterworks by Zurburán and Rembrandt are so heavily varnished as to be nearly obscured; the strictly horizontal and vertical lines of Mondrian take on new meaning as diagonals; and Franz Kline’s postwar gesturalism becomes suspended in time. As catalogue essayist Lisa Wainwright observes, “Klamen culls from the most common range of genres… so as to usurp the entirety of the art historical machine in the service of a contemporary exploration of painting’s value.”
David Klamen’s work is included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others. He lives and works in Chicago."

To visit the gallery website Click Here

Untitled, 2009, Oil on canvas, 26 x 18 inches

Untitled, 2009, Oil on canvas, 18 x 26 inches

Untitled, 2009, Oil on canvas, 53 x 78 3/4 inches

Untitled, 2009, Oil on canvas, 26 x 18 inches

Untitled, 2009, Oil on canvas, 49 x 38 inches

William Bailey, until March 27, Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York

2010-03-03T13:59:00.004+10:30

William Bailey's latest exhibition at Betty Cuningham Gallery is the third for this veteran artist at Betty Cuningham Gallery. Bailey is known particularly for his stil-life and figure paintings. Both the still-life & figure paintings are derived from his imagination, adjusting the light source and relative scale of each object as he paints. The end result is a stillness in the objects and the figures painted from Bailey’s imagination have a strange, dreamlike presence.

You can read the essay about William Bailey's art, "Mindmade Things", by Alexi Worth, by Clicking Here

Amelia, 2009, oil on canvas, 51 x 51cm

White Robe, 2007-08, oil on canvas, 130 x 89 cm

Giostra, 2009, oil on canvas, 127 x 152 cm

Installation view

Patti Oleon, until April 24, Modernism, San Francisco

2010-03-01T10:43:00.005+10:30

Patti Oleon's exhibition "Transference" is about to open at Modernism gallery in San Francisco.

Patti's latest paintings are the result of travelling with a Hollywood location scout searching for evocative interiors that could serve as the basic images for her paintings. Working with photographs, Patti then edits, enhances, and at times double the images in Photoshop before bringing the image to the panels. The final paintings are an amalgam of contradictions, blurring the line between the real and the artificial, the dark and the light, and the banal and the transcendent.

The net result is this magnificent exhibition at Modernism and if you are in San Francisco, do visit it.

To visit Patti Oleon's website CLICK HERE

Bloom, 2009, oil on panel, 68 3/4 x 47 in

Red Museum Interior, 2007, oil on panel, 37 1/2 x 48 in

Moving Wall, 2010, oil on panel, 416 x 16 in

Lobby in Yellow & Blue, 2009, oil on panel, 41 1/2 x 56 in

Grand Ballroom, 2008, oil on panel, 45 x 59 in

Double Fireplace 2, 2008, oil on panel, 48 x 35 in

Giles Alexander, until 13 March, Peter Walker Fine Art, Adelaide, South Australia

2010-02-25T12:43:00.006+10:30

The Adelaide Festival and Adelaide Fringe Festival started this week with a plethora of exhibition openings, most of the big shows not really worth seeing. But what is worth visiting is Giles Alexander's exhibition of new paintings at Peter Walker Fine Art .

Giles, a young artist on the ascend is in the early process of creating an international presence with group exhibitions in London, Hong Kong and with Haunch of Venison Gallery in New York taking on some of Giles' new paintings.

To visit Giles Alexander's website CLICK HERE

I took this photo at the opening of Giles in front of his paintings to also try to show the pristine gloss surface of the resin coating the oil paint. There is quality to the paintings that needs to be experienced in the flesh, something that photography cannot easily reproduce.

Making Others Wrong 2, Oil and resin on Canvas, 150 x 93cm

Making Others Wrong 1 , Oil and resin on Canvas , 65 x 105cm

War Games , Oil and resin on Canvas , 65 x 105cm

Infinity and Beyond , Oil and resin on Canvas , 65 x 105cm

Church Militant , Oil and resin on Canvas , 49 x 33cm

The Eye of God , Oil and resin on Canvas, 65 x 105cm

Steve Mumford, until March 27, Postmasters, New York

2010-02-23T23:02:00.003+10:30

This exhibition will be Steve Mumford's fifth at Postmasters and it consists of 2 distinct groups of paintings; the large scale heroic figurative ones and the graffiti based text works. Steve new paintings continue to investigate the war in Iraq, based on his experiences from 6 trips to Iraq between 2003 and 2008. During that time Steve emailed his sketches to Artnet.com, which became visual record of his experiences in a series of 16 articles titled Baghdad Journal, An artist in Occupied Iraq.

Installation (couretesy of Postmasters)

"Dying Soldier" 2009, oil on linen, 92 x 80inches

"The Prostitutes" , 2009, oil on linen, 77 1/2 x 77 1/2 inches

"The Great Good Friends, (Suicide Bomber)" , 2010, oil on linen and mixed media, 32 x 36 inches

"Purple Heart" , 2009, oil on linen, 36 x 24 inches

Between Realities, Principle Gallery, Alexandria, Virginia

2010-02-12T09:54:00.008+10:30

Between Realities: Painting the Moments that Deviate from the Normal
is an exhibition curated by founding members of Broad Street Studio , an artist group created by Jason John, Joshua Suda, and Brian Martin.

‘Between Realities’. The exhibition explores the visual spectrum within which artists paint the place(s) between the ordinary, monotonous and sobering reality, and the extraordinary – the sphere that depicts the periphery where reality and non-reality meet.

To view the exhibition CLICK HERE

Joshua Suda, Amalgamation - 12 x 16, Oil on Panel

Jason John, The Glow A - 12 x 6, Oil on Panel

Brian Martin, Phase 1 - 12 x 9, Oil on Panel

Will Wilson, The Wee Willy... - 9.5 x 9.5, Oil on Panel

Daniel Sprick, Studio Interior - 14 x 11, Oil on Panel

Stephen Cefalo, Aether - 9 x 12, Oil on Panel

David Lindsay, The Four... - 12 x 8, Oil on Panel, Installation

Sophia Hewson, until December 19, Lindberg Contemporary Art, Melbourne

2009-12-19T14:40:00.003+10:30

My Melbourne trip was cancelled due to ill health, which wasa pity because I was so looking forward to seeing the work of a new artist, Sophia Hewson. The 24 year old Sophia completed a first class Honours Degree in 2007 at The Victorian College of the Arts and on graduating was signed to Lindberg Contemporary Gallery.

Do put Sophia on your "must keep an eye on list".

Sophia Hewson's exhibition SOLSTICE - CITY OF THE GODLESS can be seen at Lindberg Contemporary Art CLICK HERE

GOODNIGHT ATALA, 2009, 240 CM X 240 CM, OIL AND RESIN ON CANVAS

HERO AND LEANDER, 2009, OIL AND RESIN ON BOARD

OH BROTHER OF MINE, 2009, OIL ON BOARD

BELOW GROUND, 2009, 100 X 75CM, OIL AND RESIN ON BOARD

Hobie Porter, until December 5, Arthouse Gallery, Sydney

2009-12-18T12:23:00.003+10:30

In The Real Art World is back and in the coming days I'll be posting about exhibitions I was meaning to before I became ill.....starting with Hobie Porter's impressive exhibition that was 2 years in the making.

Hobie Porter's exhibition "Dry Rain" ended on December 5, but I am posting it up anyway. It's a great exhibition and much deserving of attention.

To see more Click Here

"Deluge" 65cm x 130 cm - oil on linen

"Sun Shower" 42.5cm x 85 cm - oil on linen

"Final Study For Dry Rain" 27cm x 48 cm - oil on linen

"Dry Rain" 85cm x 150 cm - oil on linen

Towards Vapour (i)" 30cm x 30 cm - oil on linen

In The Real Art World will be back soon

2009-12-11T16:40:00.002+10:30

Apologies for not posting over the last few weeks. I have had major surgery and was in hosptial for 12 days. I am now on the mend and will be back to posting soon.

Louis K. Meisel: 40 Years of Photorealism, until November 28, Bernarducci.Meisel.Gallery, New York

2009-11-18T16:19:00.008+10:30

Louis K. Meisel
40 Years of Photorealism
Anniversary exhibition of the original Photorealists

For forty years, Louis K. Meisel has been dedicated to discovering, exhibiting, and documenting Photorealism. The 40th anniversary exhibition of the Gallery celebrates the Photorealist movement and to the artists who have committed their talents to it. Paintings displaying the various styles, techniques, and dexterities from the 1970 through 2009 will be on view at the Louis K. Meisel Gallery and at the Bernarducci Meisel Gallery through November 28th.

To go the Bernarducci Meisel Gallery website Click Here

Charles Bell "Kandy Kane Rainbow", 1994, oil on canvas, 40 x 60"

Richard Estes "Six Views of Edo: Shinjuko III" , 1989, acrylic & gouache/illustration board, 16 x 27"

Gus Heinze "Union Pacific 849", 2008, acrylic on panel, 31 x 36"

Don Eddy "Wrecking Yard 1", 1971, oil on canvas, 66 x 66"

Ralph Goings "Still Life - Back Lit", 1990, oil on linen, 28 x 30"

Alyssa Monks, until November 29, Sarah Bain Gallery, Anaheim, California

2009-11-14T14:52:00.002+10:30

Alyssa Monks, a fast rising star in the artworld is exhibiting at Sarah Bain Gallery at the moment. An exhibition not to be missed!

To visit Alyssa's website and see more of her paintings CLICK HERE

Wake, 2009, Oil on Linen, 40 x 60 inches

Look, 2009, Oil on Panel, 10 x 6.75 inches

Window, 2009, Oil on Linen, 48 x 36 inches

Fog, 2009, Oil on Panel, 10 x 16 inches

Laugh , 2009, Oil on Linen, 54 x 36 inches

Walton Ford, until December 13, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York

2009-11-12T11:15:00.004+10:30

Walton Ford is one of my favourite artists and his latest exhibition at Paul Kasmin Gallery continues his practice of expanding the visual language and narrative scope of traditional natural history painting.

Ford's large scale watercolours meditate on the often violent and bizarre moments occurring at the intersection of human culture and the natural world. Each painting is meticulous and filled with symbols, clues and jokes referencing a multitude of texts from colonial literature and folktales to travel guides. They are critiques on the history of colonialism, industrialism, politics, natural science, and man's effect on the environment.

This YouTube video (from a few years ago), is of Walton Ford talking about his art.

The Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London-3 December 1830, 2009 , watercolor, gouache, pencil, and ink on paper, 60 x 119 1/2 inches, 152.4 x 303.5 cm

An Encounter with Du Chaillu , watercolor, gouache, pencil, and ink on paper, 95 1/2 x 60 inches, 1242.6 x 142.4 cm

A Monster from Guiny, 2007 , watercolor, gouache, pencil, and ink on paper, 59 3/4 x 41 inches, 151.8 x 104.1 cm

Chaumire de Dolmanc, 2009 , watercolor, gouache, pencil, and ink on paper, 59 3/4 x 41 3/8 inches, 151.8 x 105.1 cm

Kim Cogan, until November 28, Gallery Henoch, New York

2009-11-06T15:28:00.005+10:30

San Francisco artist Kim Cogan is currently exhibiting at New York's Gallery Henoch His paintings focus on small scale intimacies of urban neighborhoods, from small private interior spaces with people going about their daily lives to panoramic rooftop views.

Manhattan View, Oil/Canvas, 65" x 97"

Passengers Manhattan Bound, Oil/Canvas, 24" x 72"

Testing the Waters, Oil/Canvas, 40" x 30"

Catch of the Day, Oil/Canvas, 58" x 56"

Sanctuary 2, Oil/Canvas, 36" x 32"

Water Tower, Oil/Canvas, 30" x 32"

Trompe L'oeil Invitational, Oct/Nov, Meyer Gallery, Santa Fe

2009-11-04T10:18:00.008+10:30

The Trompe L'oeil Invitational at Meyer Gallery Santa Fe includes a young artist that I'm keeping an eye on. Her name is Star Galler and ever since I discovered her art after seeing the artwork "Tea Party", some months back, I've been waiting for an excuse to mention her here.

Star Galler, Tea Party, charcoal, 15 X 13 inches ( click on the image for an enlargement )

Star Galler about her art; "The creation of my art is both my greatest pleasure and most intense torture. The desire for perfection can be almost too much to suffer, but then there is a moment in painting more rewarding than any I have ever experienced: the moment when the very thing you are painting suddenly takes on a life and actually seems to look back at you. And even better, it is incredible to watch a viewer develop an intimate relationship with the subject in my painting that has nothing to do with myself as the artist. I live for those moments."

To find out more about Star Galler, visit her website StarGaller.com

Star Galler, Phoenix, charcoal, 16 X 10 inches

Anthony Waichulis, Best Laid Plans, oil, 14 X 11 inches

Jhenna Quinn Lewis, Bird, oil, 8 X 6 inches

Jacob A. Pfeiffer, Monkey Wrench, oil, 12 X 9 inches

Slade Wheeler, Paradigm Shift, oil, 12 X 9 inches

Jay Davenport, Place Your Bets, oil, 14 X 11 inches

Michael Gallarda, Untitled, oil, 10 X 8 inches

To see all the works in the Trompe L'oeil Invitational, Click Here

Nigel Cox, until November 12, GX Gallery, London

2009-11-03T11:31:00.004+10:30

Nigel Cox's exhibition "Friends, Heroes & Strangers" is on at London's GX Gallery and well worth a visit.

The figures in Nigel Cox's paintings reflect solitude, tranquillity and confidence, they are alone but not lonely. They have an inner peace and strength and are at one with their surroundings.

After Nigel graduated from Riversdale College in Liverpool he joined the Transglobe Expedition, led by Sir Ranulph Fiennes. A three-year expedition successfully achieved the first circumnavigation of the globe on land, sea and ice via North and South poles along the Greenwich Meridian and changed his life forever.

During this expedition Nigel was at sea, on an ice cap or in some remote location for weeks or months on end. Spending large amounts of time alone, surrounded by the staggering beauty of vast and often barren spaces had a profound affect and the
essence of this experience strongly influenced his painting.

To go to the gallery website CLICK HERE

To go to Nigel Cox's website CLICK HERE

The Kuni Inversion, 2009, oil on linen, 36 x 42 inch

The Black Basque, 2008, oil on linen, 30x36 inch

The Calling, 2008, oil on linen, 36 x 48 inch

Autumn morning, 24 x 48 inch

The White bag, oil on linen, 24 x 24 inch

Dianne Gall, until November 3, Beaver Galleries, Canberra

2009-11-01T00:55:00.001+10:30

Dianne Gall's latest exhibition "Noir" is currently on at Beaver Galleries, Canberra.

The Visitor, 2009, Oil on Linen, 111 x 137cm

In The Real Art World interviews Dianne Gall about her exhibition at Beaver Galleries, Canberra

In The Real Art World: What is the Dianne Gall story, how have you and your art arrived at this point?

Dianne Gall: I have very early memories of drawing, being an only child and living in relative isolation it was a happy desire to have and it filled my early days with joy. My father had a Super 8 camera and documented me as a six year old standing drawing at the blackboard easel on the open back veranda. I was dressed in my favourite frock, with plastic jewellery and I have the most vivid memory of that day. I was drawing a person and I started from the feet up and when I got to the head I also moved around the back of the blackboard to draw the back of the head, because I knew people had a back too. It is the funniest footage, but it was very logical to me at the time.
After leaving art school, I joined an artist’s cooperative studio and continued to paint, I have always done other work to support my art and it together with life’s dramas have sometimes got in the way but I’ve always managed to have a driving passion to paint and draw, if I don’t create, I feel lost and incomplete.

Hotel, 2009, Oil on Linen, 111 x 137cm

In The Real Art World: Your "Noir" series of paintings seem to be a dramatic change from your previous art, but for those who look carefully, there are many elements that are part of a continuum of your artistic concerns. What brought this change about and how do you see this new work as being connected to the art of your past?

Dianne Gall: This new work continues to look at things from the feminine point of view and concerns. I have always looked at ways of describing the fragility of life, the beauty in the things that surround us and contribute to our memory picture of people and places. This new series move more directly towards the interactions in people's lives and less on the secret life of objects. I've personally been through a very tough and emotional 12 months, and I have friends whom been very sick and some will not make it. This series of paintings are a snapshot of being human, a voyeuristic representation of journeys through life.

Home, 2009, Oil on Linen, 61 x 71cm

In The Real Art World: Film Noir embodies an image of sordid melodramas where the protagonists are jaded, ambivalent, and cruel. The visual style emphasizes low-key lighting and stark cinematographic compositions. Your paintings are not narratives, but isolated enigmatic fragments where the viewer is drawn in to imagine and construct their own story of what's going on? Is that a fair assessment of your aims?

Dianne Gall: I think everyone has their own drama, their own reality, it is for some the everyday, coping with very challenging circumstances, be they of love, family relationships, abuse, or financial strains. It is unknown what really goes on behind closed doors, so I hope that these paintings will find a way into people’s psyche, allowing them to quietly think about their own circumstances, reflect, relate to, or to let their imagination run free.
Life is raw, it’s tough, the lighting of Film Noir, give these elements the importance they deserve, they allude to the hidden world.

Troubled Beauty, 2009, Oil on Linen, 30.5 x 35.5cm

In The Real Art World: The images used to make these paintings are taken from old movies, do you deliberately obscure the source, alter the image and create paintings that are a composite of scenes?

Dianne Gall: I use old movies as a starting source for my paintings. A movie is somebody else’s construct, I need to then make it my own, so I take elements from a movie, add something of my own, combine it with a photograph I may have taken at a location and get to an image that describes what I want to say.

Noir, 2009, Oil on Linen, 30.5 x 35.5cm

In The Real Art World: How do you go about finding the subjects for your paintings and what do you really look for when assessing it’s potential to make it as a painting?

Dianne Gall: I want these paintings to have a tension in them, a strain between subjects, this is achieved by lighting, the placement of figures, allowing the objects anchor the scene. I want the people to have a sense history between them, it might be short or long term it doesn’t really matter, it just has to be intimate not necessarily sexual but just that there is a sense of journey taken and experienced together.

The emphasis is on the woman's story, its from her point of view, the image revolves around her. This governs the sorts of females I want to portray, appearing very feminine, desirable and in control. So I guess the Male has to have a strength about him, usually he's placed lurking in the background.

Interior, 2009, Oil on Linen, 30.5 x 35.5cm

In The Real Art World: Tell me about your working process, how does an idea becomes a finished painting?

Dianne Gall: I collect images in my head, I collect magazines clippings and images I see when I’m out, watching people interact. I form little scenarios and also I take photos of movies of the television screen, keeping it's imperfections.

Images will resonate with me, they have something worthwhile to say, I try and stand back from them and this where the long time to think comes in, so that I have something that will have strength of meaning. I often paint in my head, getting a feel for what sort of brush marks I’ll use, how I’ll describe the fabric, the hair, what will I do with the blank space etc. So I approach the easel and my gridded blank canvas and draw with paint onto the surface. I work up the surface in thin layers, glazing and rendering here and there, sometimes I like to leave the ground I’ve put down to remind the viewer it’s a painting and not a photograph.

The two paintings below were exhibited at the same time as "Noir", but in another exhibition titled "Little Pictures" at Charles Nodrum Gallery , Melbourne.

Misadventure, 2009, Oil on Linen, 30.5 x 35.5cm

In The Real Art World: Who are the artists that at the moment you are looking at, or find their work resonates for you?

Dianne Gall: I am not specifically influenced by any one artist at the moment, more I like the technique of Veronese or Lucian Freud and I have the realist images of Gottfried Helnwein in my head. I keep little bits of paintings in my head, like the depths Rembrandt achieved in his dark paintings, the complexity that you can only see when standing in front of one. I still hark back to my favourite Manet, or David painting, they all fill my head and I take little bits from each one.

Running Man, 2009, Oil on Linen, 30.5 x 35.5cm

In The Real Art World: Finally, what's next?

Dianne Gall: I’ve only just started painting these works after many, many months of thinking about them and how to get the feeling I want onto the canvas. I want to gain more subtlety in the work, introduce more complexity in the painted surface and down the track set up my own film noir sets and create grand and large paintings. I am in my forties now and it is time to finally discard the parochialism and think of the big picture, if or how I will be seen in the history books, what work will define me as an artist.

To find out more about Dianne Gall and her art visit her ongoing blog by clicking this LINK

NOTE: Despite my strong belief that Dianne's art warrants inclusion in this blog on it's own merits, I must make the readers aware of a conflict of interest. Dianne is my partner in life and I state it openly here to avoid any accusation of deception.

David Wadelton, until November 21, Lister Gallery, Perth

2009-10-31T12:14:00.007+10:30

I first saw an exhibition of David Wadelton's paintings in 1986 at Pinacotheca Gallery, Melbourne and instantly became a fan of his art, watching it as it evolved over the subsequent decades. David's "cyber-pop" paintings are almost photorealist in style, these computer-based montages source and re-combine elements found Popular Culture to create mesmerising and hypnotic paintings

The exhibition is held at Lister Gallery Perth, Western Australia.

Creepy, motel, 2009,102x152cm, and oil on canvas.

Crash motel, 2009,102x152cm, and oil on canvas.

Sour, 2009,102x152cm, and oil on canvas.

Kool thing, 2009,102x152cm, and oil on canvas.

Tongue ride, 2009,102x152cm, and oil on canvas.

D'licious, 2009,102x152cm, and oil on canvas.

Mars, 2009,102x152cm, and oil on canvas.

Tom Uttech, until November 14, Alexandre Gallery, New York

2009-10-29T15:55:00.010+10:30

Tom Uttech is an artist I have greatly admired for some years now and his current exhibition at Alexandre Gallery , New York is one I wish I was able to go see. The tyranny of distance is working against me, but if you are near enough to make it to this exhibition, do so.

Tom Uttech: New Paintings An exhibition of seventeen paintings completed over the past three years, ranging in scale from the monumental to small-scaled oils. The landscapes depicted are both observed and highly imagined of the remote North Woods of Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada, and Wisconsin.

The distinguishing aspect of Uttech’s paintings from other contemporary landscapes is that he does no drawings, studies, or photographs on these treks. The paintings are studio inventions based entirely on memory and improvisation.

Enassamishhinjijweian, 2009, oil on linen, 102 5/8 x 112 inches (framed dimensions) © Courtesy Alexandre Gallery, New York

BRINGING TO LIFE: TOM UTTECH’S PAINTINGS

Essay by Lucy R. Lippard

Tom Uttech’s North is a magical place. For a stranger to the border of Wisconsin and Ontario it could pass for an imagined landscape, but it is actually realism revved up to the nth degree in an extreme case of self-identification with place. “I sit down, stare at the blank canvas, and start to draw a place where I’d like to be,” he says. That place is always the north woods, “because that is what I am ….It’s in my body, that image, what’s up there.” Despite his passion for the restoration of native plants of the prairie, it is the lakes and swamps, ancient rocks and teeming wildlife of the forest that has been the subject of his art for so many years.

Nin-Nanagatawabamdan, 2009, oil on linen, 56 7/8 x 61 inches (framed dimensions) © Courtesy Alexandre Gallery, New York

Uttech’s commitment to the scrubby natural grandeur and spiritual power of this place is transmitted with extraordinary detail that transcends ordinary experience. The sights come not just one by one, but in multitudes. The deer, bears, wolves, and above all the birds, animate his canvases until they reach a visionary intensity. While the birds are usually in flight and we can almost hear their voices, the mammals are emblematic, still and silent. The looming bears are particularly vibrant presences. They face each other, crowd onto a single boulder, perch on a high rock staring into the distance, or emerge from swirling mists, evoking other worlds. Because of their strength, bears are thought by many indigenous peoples to have special powers. Because of their resemblance to humans, they are often stand-ins for us. In Uttech’s work they evoke the strength of nature, and perhaps stand in for the artist himself, as part of the place, as mediators, messengers from the deeper parts of the woods.

Gete Makwa, 2009, oil on linen, 56 7/8 x 61 inches (framed dimensions) © Courtesy Alexandre Gallery, New York

Metaphor has always been a way to confront the depths. Uttech does not paint “scenery” so much as he offers metaphors for his exalted encounters with what we call Nature, suggesting that a true landscape is a composite of all the life within it rather than a frozen image of what is seen out the window. Nature confronted on her own turf is always potentially dangerous, and no amount of beauty can erase that undercurrent of anxiety and exhilaration we feel when we sleep alone outdoors or take risks in the wilds in the name of adventure or love of nature. We are at once part of “nature” and separate from it.
Take, for instance, the recent painting Enassamishhinjijweian. (Uttech concocts his titles from the Anishanabe, or Ojibwe, language, hoping that this is seen as a sign of respect.) It seems literally to depict a sublime, concentric light at the end of the tunnel, shared by the creatures of the land. It could be translated as “hope.” Uttech’s paintings evoke the infinite diversity of an amazing place like this planet. For nature lovers, naturalists, scientists, and ecological activists – in fact for all of us – they stand for what we have to lose and what we have to fight for.

© Lucy R. Lippard, Courtesy Alexandre Gallery, New York

Nind Ajigidisse, 2009, oil on board, 15 1/2 x 19 1/4 inches (framed dimensions) © Courtesy Alexandre Gallery, New York

Nin Gagwedjindimin, 2009, oil on board, 16 1/2 x 17 5/8 inches (framed dimensions) © Courtesy Alexandre Gallery, New York

I have included a several installation views of this exhibition (courtesy of Alexandre Gallery website), to give you an indication of scale, presence and the austere beauty of the exhibition display.

Installation view © Courtesy Alexandre Gallery, New York

Installation view © Courtesy Alexandre Gallery, New York

To find out more about Tom Uttech, view all the paintings and other installation photos CLICK HERE

Kim Buck, 5 - 21 November, Peter Walker Fine Art, Adelaide

2009-10-28T13:55:00.004+10:30

Emerging artist Kim Buck's exhibition Conatus at Peter Walker Fine Art is yet to open and all works are already sold.

A busy year for Kim as she is currently studying to complete her Bachelor of Visual Art at the South Australian School of Art. Kim was also selected as one of fifteen finalists for this year’s highly prestigious National Youth Self Portrait Prize held at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra.

To view the entire exhibition Click Here

The Burden of Lachesis , Charcoal Pencil on paper, 40 x 100 cm

G, Charcoal Pencil on paper, 140 x 90 cm

Conatus, Charcoal Pencil on paper, 45 x 70 cm

Conatus (a centro) , Charcoal Pencil on paper, 70 x 45 cm

c, Charcoal Pencil on paper, 140 x 90 cm

An interview with the artist Ron Francis about his recent exhibition at Scott Livesey Gallery, Melbourne

2009-10-26T13:37:00.014+10:30

Last month I flew into Melbourne with the goal to only view 5 exhibitions and then fly out that same day. One of those exhibitions which I was most keen to see was Ron Francis' paintings at Scott Livesey Gallery. Ever since seeing an image of one of Ron's more famous paintings "Skateboard" (not in the exhibition, but shown below), I've wanted to see a large exhibition of his paintings. The exhibition was no disappointment, bringing together 17 wonderful paintings by an artist people should keep an eye on.

Skateboard, Oil on canvas,110 x 110 cm

Only now am I getting around to blogging about the exhibitions seen that day and thankfully Ron has agreed to an interview.

Strange Little Clouds, Oil on canvas,120 x 120 cm

In The Real Art World interviews Ron Francis about his recent exhibition at Scott Livesey Gallery, Melbourne

In The Real Art World: What is the Ron Francis story, how have you and your art arrived at this point?

Ron Francis: I was born in Sydney, Australia in 1954.
Like most people, I drew a lot as a child. One defining moment I remember was in 4th grade at school, when drawing a tree trunk, I discovered that shading could make it look round. This was possibly the beginning of my fascination with art.

In the following years, my time was divided between art, being a guitar hero, girls, competitive swimming and later, riding a motor bike. At around 20, painting in oil became an obsession that eclipsed everything else. In those formative years I was Government subsidised in the form of unemployment benefits for longer than I would like to admit.

Over the next 15 years I was represented by a couple of galleries, but never earned enough to support myself. During that time I began developing a way to use perspective so that a viewer in the right position could look around inside a painting as though they were looking around in real life. This in itself isn’t new, but I approached it in a mathematical way which has eventually developed into software that now has more in common with 3D modelling than the geometry of linear perspective.
I was offered work painting trompe l’oeil murals where I was able to directly apply these principles, and this continued for around 15 years.

I became ill with cancer in 2004 and this made me re-evaluate my life. I decided to give up painting murals in favour of fine art and began exhibiting with Scott Livesey Galleries in Victoria, and still exhibit with him today.
And that is how I have arrived at this point.

Darwin, Oil on canvas,91 x 136 cm

In The Real Art World: There is a feeling of unease in your paintings, a controlled tension that isn't overbearing, or overtly menacing. Your use of humour also deflates the impact of what you are looking at, such as in the Painting "Darwin". How important is it to maintain the balance between visual impact and subtlety?

Ron Francis: This is a bit of an odd question. For me, painting is just a form of self expression and you may as well ask the same thing about the way I relate to people in general. So rather than thinking of it as a controlled product, it is more just the way I am.

In The Real Art World: The 2 paintings I most liked in your recent exhibition are "Darwin" and "Dad", two very different paintings. Tell me a little about them?

Ron Francis: Darwin was a recurring nightmare that I had at least 3 times in different forms. Each time I was surrounded by crocodiles and I was so scared that I couldn’t move. The oddest part of the dream was that there were people around me carrying on as normal, completely disregarding the danger.

Dad was an attempt to capture a very early childhood memory. It was almost forgotten and part of the process rediscovering it. The emotions I have about this scene are complex and contradictory, and the sense of uncertain anticipation is one of the things I wanted to convey.

Dad "Selfportrait As My Father", Oil on canvas,170 x 120 cm

In The Real Art World: Your paintings vary dramatically in subject matter, how do you go about finding the subjects for your paintings and what do you really look for when assessing it’s potential to make it as a painting?

Ron Francis: That’s the million dollar question. As I touched on above, subjects often come from dreams or visions.
I will often have an epiphany-like vision after a long period of contemplation of an idea that I don’t know how to render, and I often see it as a complete image that I just have to try to paint as I saw it. Other times visions seem to come from nowhere. In fact, I can never really know if I have fallen asleep for a couple of seconds and it was a dream. Other subjects are formed to try to express how I feel about something, or may be simply a technical experiment.

When assessing an idea, I look at why I want to paint it in the first place. If I find myself wondering if it will be saleable, then it is almost invariably abandoned. The ideas that are the best are the ones that light a fire in my belly and there is no question as to whether I will paint it or not. There is no assessment process at all.
So this is what I look for, the spark of inspiration. Without it, painting for me becomes merely a polite conversation.

The Divine Window, Oil on canvas,160 x 160 cm

In The Real Art World: Tell me about your working process, how does an idea becomes a finished painting?

Ron Francis: Most of the time I have a fairly complete image in my mind, similar to the after-image one has after just having looked at something, and I have to try to reconstruct it as well as I can.
I will usually draw some rough sketches first which will expose all the weaknesses in the scene.
For example, there may be a certain type of house in a scene. I will know the type and period but the details are vague and I will have to invent those parts or research them.
When I think I know what I’m doing, I will use my software to put it in correct perspective and this will often expose other unforseen problems that have to be ironed out.
When I’m happy with this, I will use it to plot points on the canvas and end up with as accurate a drawing as possible.
While keeping the integrity of the drawing, my first paint layer is an attempt to get the hue, value and chroma as correct as possible and get rid of all the white of the canvas.
The next layers a combination of trying to fix the mistakes I made in the previous layers, and add and refine detail. More often than not, I will add other elements that weren’t in the drawing.
The paint is applied quite thinly, but as opaque as possible unless I’m glazing to correct a colour.

On The Edge, Oil on canvas,100 x 100 cm

In The Real Art World: Who are the artists that at the moment you are looking at, or find their work resonates for you?

Ron Francis: To be honest, I don’t look at other artists very often. Past influences that come to mind would be Titian, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Degas, Manet, Magritte, Dali.
I am lucky enough to know Robert Hannaford whose work I love.
Anna Platten is another whose technique I respect and quirkiness I like.
Apart from that, I am very impressed with the depth of talent of the members of the Rational Painting forum, including you Jim.

A Gentleman, Oil on canvas,60 x 106 cm

In The Real Art World: I'm always curious of which colours make up the palette used by the artist, what are the colours you use?

Ron Francis: I use a fairly limited palette;
Art Spectrum: Cadmium Red Deep, Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Light, Phthalo Green, Phthalo Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Lamp Black, Ivory Black, Titanium White.
L&B Stable Violet.
WN: Flake White.

In The Real Art World: Finally, what's next?

Ron Francis: I’m in limbo at the moment, wanting that next great idea to surface. So for the time being, I’m having a polite conversation with my canvas to keep my eye in.

To view Ron's paintings at Scott Livesey Gallery Click Here
There is also a full colour catalogue available, illustrating all the paintings, with an essay by the respected art writer Ashley Crawford. Contact the gallery regarding aquiring a copy.

Juan Bautista Maíno, until January 17, 2010, Museo Nacional Del Prado, Madrid

2009-10-24T14:04:00.006+10:30

The exhibition Juan Bautista Maíno (1581-1649), includes 35 works by the artist and a further 31 by the painters who most influenced his artistic development, among them Velázquez and Caravaggio. A great opportunity to view and assess the legacy of Maíno's art, as most of the known works by Maíno will be on exhibition.

Maíno is one of the most important figures within Spanish painting of the first half of the 17th century but also one of the least known due to the scarcity of surviving information on his life and work and the problems involved in reconstructing his biography and oeuvre.

The Adoration of the Shepherds: Juan Bautista Maíno. Oil on canvas, 315 x 174 cm. 1611-1613. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado

Portrait of a Dominican Monk: Juan Bautista Maíno. Oil on canvas. 47 x 33,3 cm. Oxford, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology

The penitent Magdalen: Juan Bautista Maíno. Oil on panel, 58 x 155 cm. 1612-1614. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado

The Pentecost: Juan Bautista Maíno, Oil on canvas, 285 x 163 cm. 1611-1613. Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado

To find out more about this exhibition CLICK HERE

A lavish 320 page catalogue accompanies the exhibition, the result of a process of rigorous research and includes four essays, two of them by the exhibition’s curator, Leticia Ruiz Gómez. 42 Euro and it can be purchased online CLICK HERE

James Neil Hollingsworth, until the end of November, Anne Irwin Fine Art, Atlanta

2009-10-23T09:37:00.007+10:30

James Neil Hollingsworth's debut exhibition at Anne Irwin Fine Art in Atlanta is a great opportunity to see the range of paintings that James is fast becoming known for. A latecomer to art, James has successfully made the transition from an artist who started out selling small paintings on his blog to being picked up by major galleries, such as London's Plus One Gallery.

Blocks - 18 x 18 - oil on panel

In The Real Art World interviews James Neil Hollingsworth about his recent exhibition at Anne Irwin Fine Art, Atlanta

In The real Art World: What is the James Neil Hollingsworth story, how have you and your art arrived at this point?

James Neil Hollingsworth: I was fifty years old before I actually began to paint full-time, but drawing was part of my life since childhood. I spent much more time in school sketching in the margins of my papers than taking notes. My grades prove that. The Vietnam war was still going on when I graduated from high-school, as was the draft. My lottery number that year was nine, so I was definitely headed to the military if I didn't enroll in college. I had no interest in higher education at the time, but I loved aircraft, so I enlisted in the Air Force. Things were winding down overseas, and I remained stateside, at a base near San Francisco. While I was there I took a couple of life drawing classes at a local community college. Early stages of taking a past time to the next level. I also discovered the work of Andrew Wyeth on a visit to the De Young museum during that time, which spawned a continuing love for his paintings.

The following years were spent working odd jobs, and attending night school. At the time I assumed my major would be art, but that was never realized. I started flying sailplanes one summer, and my love of aviation took over. Two years of vocational school later I was working as an aircraft mechanic. The next few years revolved around aviation. Soaring, eventually powered flight, and skydiving. In my free time I would still draw. In time I added watercolor to my repertoire. Strictly for enjoyment, giving completed work to friends and family as gifts. These small paintings happened to be noticed by the father of a friend who ran a graphic design studio, and he offered me a job based on what he had seen. It was a tough decision, because I loved aviation, but I made the switch. It wasn't actually art, but it was close.

A couple of years later I bumped into a friend from high school who owned a type shop, and was looking for a paste up artist. His offer came at a good time, because I had just been laid off by my current employer due to a slump in business. My friend and I worked together for eight years. We didn't make any money, but we had a great time. Desktop publishing eventually killed our little enterprise. After we closed the shop I did the freelance thing.

Working freelance got old pretty quick, and I wound up following my wife into the field of nursing. It took about three years to get my license. I began my new career in the ER of a childrens hospital, but eventually moved to the Operating Room at another hospital. Every couple of years the urge to paint would rise up. I'd work feverishly for a few weeks. create a handful of watercolors, and then I'd return to artistic hibernation.

At about the eight year mark in my nursing career, some close friends who were artists showed me how they had begun to sell their paintings over the internet on ebay. They were very excited, and insisted that I give it a try. When I found they were right, I realized this was the time to start taking the art part of my life more seriously. After a year of consistent ebay sales I felt confident enough to end my nursing career, and attempt the job of full-time artist. I just reached my five year anniversary as an artist.

My Right Foot - 12 x 24 - oil on canvas

In The real Art World: Your highly successful blog "Paintings in Oil" which started as a painting a day blog which has evolved into a chronicle of your art and career as an artist. What attracted you to blogging and creating art of a modest scale that can be sold online?

James Neil Hollingsworth: Two years ago when I began my blog, I didn't even know what a blog was. I had heard the term more than once, and was curious. Two other artists really helped me get it going. Belinda Del Pesco and Jeff Hayes showed me the ropes. They were very enthusiastic about their own blogs, and that energy was infectious. I put up mine, and it's been a wonderful plus to my art career. It's a great way to find, and interact with other artists, collectors and patrons of art in general.

The small paintings for ebay were a result of my experiment with the "Painting A Day" movement. For one month I did a painting a day. I chose a 6 x 6 format for continuity. Exhausted after thirty days, and not particularly pleased with the "finish" of the completed paintings I ended the exercise. I did find though, that I liked the six inch square. From that point on I limited my ebay work to that size exclusively.

Red Shoes - 12 x 12 - oil on panel

In The real Art World: Your detailed paintings are of everyday objects such as a shoe, a sandwich, pool balls, light-globes, a mixer etc. How do you go about finding the subjects for your paintings and what do you really look for when assessing it’s potential to make it as a painting?

James Neil Hollingsworth: It's an intuitive thing. My wife Karen (who is also an artist), and I have this habit of seeing something, pointing to it and stating to the other, "that could be a painting". Many times one subject will lead to another. I did a painting a while back of the kitchen at the Waffle House. I loved the stainless steel, stacked plates and utensils. This eventually led to the percolators, which led to coffee cups and mugs, which led to other kitchen items like the mixers. I just like the look of "stuff", especially mechanical stuff. Just about anything can be the subject of a painting if you see it's own beauty. Duane Keiser showed that to me when I first saw one of his dead bees, or stack of life savers.

Pool Bowl No.10 - 12 x 12 - oil on panel

In The real Art World: Tell me about your working process, how does an idea becomes a finished painting?

James Neil Hollingsworth: It all begins with photography. I've spent the last week doing nothing but photography. I'll take over a thousand shots before I settle down to cull out potential images. When I have a rough collection of compositions, I'll refine the search again to those shots I like the best. Then I begin the process of cropping those images into final compositions. Once I pick a specific shot to paint, I'll color correct, and adjust the exposure to my liking, work up the drawing, transfer it to canvas/panel, and begin. I tend to start at the top left of the canvas, and work my way down to the lower right. The first pass is somewhat refined. I hope to get an accurate sense of the color, tonal value and structure of the composition. Then subsequent passes refine the painting until it reaches a point where I'm pleased. I don't use any mediums or glazes. The total number of passes on a painting averages three. More if the subject matter is complicated.

Half Perc - 12 x 12 - oil on panel

In The real Art World: Who are the artists that at the moment you are looking at, or find their work resonates for you?

James Neil Hollingsworth: I'm finding new artists all the time thanks to the internet. It's a well that never runs dry. It's very hard to create a short list. Some names off the top of my head: James McLaughlin Way, a local artist that Karen and I both admire, David Malan is an illustrator and blogger who works with pencil, oil and digital tools, he is someone whom I use the phrase, "I wish I could draw like him" a lot, Alexander Kanevsky, nuff said, I love the figurative paintings of Alyssa Monks, to name just a few. This list doesn't include those who I consider friends and fellow bloggers like: Karin Jurick, Carol Marine, Nigel Cox, Pierre Raby, Paul Brown, and about a hundred more. A complete list including links is presented on my blog (neilhollingsworth.blogspot.com) CLICK HERE

Espresso Cup - 12 x 12 - oil on panel

In The real Art World: Finally, what's next?

James Neil Hollingsworth: My wish is that I can continue to do what I'm doing. Paint. I've got a few landscape ideas I'd like to attempt one day. Do them big, then see what they may lead to.

To visit James Neil Hollingsworth's blog "Paintings in Oil" CLICK HERE

To visit James Neil Hollingsworth's website CLICK HERE

To visit Karen Hollingsworth's website CLICK HERE

Alvin Richard, until October 30, Handiworks Gallery, Saint John, Canada

2009-10-20T16:13:00.005+10:30

I have been keeping an eye on Alvin Richard's art for some time and I'm pleased to see his current exhibition at Handiworks Gallery is such a success.

Alvin, a self-taught artist of over twenty years experience also works as a registered nurse and it's this experience that has led him to truly appreciate how fragile life can be. This has in turn become the subject of his painting life, observing the joys of everyday existence.

To find out more about Alvin and see more of his art, visit his blog by Clicking Here

Collecting stamps: A closer look at American Art, 12 x 12'', acrylic on hardboard - 2009

Marbles on Three Coke Bottles, 5 x 7'', acrylic on geesoed hardboard

Bel Air in Monterey, 15 x 11'', 2009, acrylic on gessoed hardboard

Two pinwheel candies on Target, 12 x 12'', acrylic on gessoed hardboard - 2009

BBQ Caddy, 16 x 12'', acrylic on canvas - 2009

Margaret Ackland, until October 17, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne

2009-10-14T15:01:00.006+10:30

Margaret Ackland's latest exhibition, Mementos at Flinders Lane Gallery is nearly coming to a close and it's well worth a visit to see her current body of work.

Embrace, 76 x 66cm, oil on linen

Touch, 42 x 42cm, oil on linen

Reveal, 40 x 30cm, oil on linen

Run , 150 x 140cm , oil on linen

Shield, 102 x 92cm, oil on linen

Ran Ortner wins first place at ARTPRIZE, Grand Rapids, Michigan

2009-10-12T13:30:00.008+10:30

Ran Ortner has won first place worth $250,000 at ARTPRIZE with his monumental oil painting "Open Water no.24".

Open Water no.24, 2009, oil on canvas 70 x 228 inches.

ARTPRIZE is unique in the way it operates. Any artist, from established to emerging has the chance to show work. Any visitor can vote. The vote will determine who wins the largest art prize in the world. There is not one official curator or jury for the competition. The top ten win a prize, the most lucrative being First prize $250,000, second $100,000 & third $50,000.

The competition’s creator is Rick Devos, a 27-year-old Web entrepreneur. It took place at 159 venues, with more than 1,200 artists participating and more than 334,000 votes were cast in the competition

To find out more about ARTPRIZE CLICK HERE

Ran Ortner was born in 1959 in San Francisco and lived along the areas rugged coast just north of Half Moon Bay, the location of the world’s biggest and most dangerous surfable waves.

To see more of Ran Ortner's spectacular paintings visit his rather impressive website CLICK HERE

...and I mean spectacular paintings like in this image ( taken from his website ). It's not just about the monumental paintings, Ran's smaller works are equally worth investigating.

Ana Bagayan, until November 7, Roq La Rue Gallery, Seattle

2009-10-10T12:33:00.008+10:30

I've been a fan of Ana Bagayan's art for some years now and her latest exhibition Critters at Roq la Rue Gallery is well worth a visit.

To find out more about Ana Bagayan visit her website Ana Bagayan.com

Also Ana's blog Adventures of Anra is a great source of information about her art and working processes.

Critters, 24 x 36 inches, Oil on Panel

Fox & Girl, 30 x 40 inches, Oil on Panel

Death's Knell, 22 x 43 inches, Oil on Panel

Wendy, 8½ x 11 inches, Graphite on Rives BFK Paper

Tony Curanaj, until October 10, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco

2009-10-05T17:13:00.006+10:30

Tony Curanaj, at a relatively young 36 years old, has already carved out for himself a formidable reputation as a painter and art teacher. Tony started his fine art career as an innovator and a legendary influence in the worldwide graffiti scene (known as "SUB"), and a founder of the esteemed "D.F" crew. His reputation for executing work of the highest quality landed him at Disney as a head designer and painter before his decision to concentrate solely on his love for representational realism.

Tony's latest exhibition can be seen at John Pence Gallery

Still Life with Golden Apples, Oil on Linen, 19 x 15 inches, 2009

Red, Oil on Canvas, 32 x 54 inches, 2008-09

Born a Dragon Fly, Oil on Panel, 6 x 6 inches, 2009

Girl in White, Oil on Canvas, 30 x 24 inches, 2009

Nom De Plume, Oil on Canvas, 39 x 24 inches, 2007

Tom Martin, 16 Sept - Oct 10, Plus One Gallery, London

2009-09-18T11:57:00.003+09:30

Tom Martin's latest exhibition at London's Plus One Gallery is well worth a vist.

It's all good, Painting acrylic on board, 120 x 120 cm

Non GM, Painting Acrylic on panel, 100 x 100 cm

Delicately Smooth Taste, Painting Acrylic on aluminium, 125 x 96 cm

Healthy Digestion, Painting acrylic on board, 80 x 80 cm

Michael Zavros, until August 23, Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Queensland

2009-08-03T16:47:00.010+09:30

The Good Son; A major survey exhibition of works on paper by Michael Zavros has opened at Gold Coast City Art Gallery. Zavros is highly regarded as one of Australia’s most significant younger artists and this exhibition brings together over 40 major works from public and private collections in an attempt to tease out the apparently diverse themes and subjects that he has pursued over the past decade – the leaping and falling horses, be-suited corporate men, high fashion, classical mythology, and French neo classical architecture.

The exhibition also seeks to reveal what the legacy of growing up on the coast may have had for the development of his ideas about investigating the allure and impermanence of beauty.

Lime Spider, 2009, charcoal and fluro paint on paper, 85 x 103cm, courtesy of the artist and GRANTPIRRIE

To accompany this exhibition Gold Coast City Art Gallery has commissioned a video portrait of Michael Zavros to be made by fellow artist and filmmaker Alex Chomicz. The video portrait follows the making of one of the major new works featured in the exhibition—Debaser/Dior—and takes the viewer up close in the studio to hear the scratch of pencil on paper and the click of the camera. The video can be purchased from the Gold Coast City Art Gallery A short segment of the video can be viewed below.

To visit Michael Zavros' website CLICK HERE

In The Real Art World interviews Michael Zavros about his recent exhibition, a survey of works on paper, The Good Son, at Gold Coast City Art Gallery

In The real Art World: You grew up on the Gold Coast, first exhibited as a high school student at the Gold Coast Art Gallery, now return with a survey of over 40 works. What is the Michael Zavros story, how have you and your art arrived at this point?

Michael Zavros I moved away from the Gold Coast to study fine art at Queensland college of art in 1994. I had had such a close relationship with the Gold Coast City Art Gallery, having worked as a volunteer there for a few years between finishing high school and starting tertiary study.
I loved working at the gallery - it was an entree into the art-world and gave me a keen understanding of a regional arts system. At the Queensland College of Art I studied printmaking which indulged my passion for drafting and for very specific processes. I also developed a love of works on paper via printmaking that has continued to inform my practice.
Some fifteen years later as I emerge out of the 'emerging' years of my practice, it seemed appropriate to bring a solo survey style exhibition back to my hometown. The curator of The Good son, Virginia Rigney and I decided to focus on one particular area of my practice - works on paper - and to present a really comprehensive exhibition of this work

Hall of Mirrors, 2008, 122 x 86cm, Charcoal on paper, Private collection

In The real Art World: This survey of works on paper brings together a body of work other than your more familiar precise and intricate paintings. How does the immediacy of drawing help inform your artistic practice?

Michael Zavros love drawing and it has always been central to my practice. I show more and more drawing alongside my painting in recent shows. There is certainly more of an immediacy to drawing than painting, that instant mark you can make with a pencil or a stick of charcoal. I particularly love charcoal for its rich velvety blacks but it is a very difficult medium to master. I've developed lots of little tricks to help me achieve some control over the charcoal and a full tonal range. Despite the rich contrasts, there is something wonderfully deadpan about charcoal, a steely matte quality that is impossible to create with oil paint. This compliments the airless narcism that so much of my work embodies.

Patent with Gold, 2009, 105 x 86cm, charcoal and gold paint on paper, courtesy of the artist and Philip Bacon Galleries

In The real Art World: Apart from the 40 or so artworks brought together for this exhibition, you also have drawn one work directly on the gallery wall. Tell me about this drawing?

Michael Zavros I drew the small trompe l'oeil taxidermic Springbok to 'decorate' the gallery wall. It 'hangs' above a suite of recent charcoal and spray paint works and plays with the notion of realist painting/drawing being considered decorative. The impermanence of this drawing which will be painted over at the close of the exhibition is also an extension of a recent body of work casting collectable artworks as hunting trophies.

Debaser/Belstaff, 2007, 122 x 86cm, Charcoal on Paper, Private collection

In The real Art World: Your art is concerned with concepts around the notion of perceived beauty as well possessing it's tangible aspects, whether it be in the subject's intrinsic nature, or it's surface representation in the form of an artwork. Can you elaborate on your interest in beauty?

Michael Zavros I do always seek to create something that is unashamedly beautiful to look at, to behold. I also consider beauty as a concept. My recent drawings of models with their ideal features erased manipulates the notion of 'surface' beauty - the currency of the model having been removed. But surface is important not just as a metaphor but literally in terms of the treatment of the drawing material on paper. The portrait having been lovingly rendered in charcoal is then aggressively removed but the features can't quite be erased - the charcoal stains the paper permanently. It is always important to me that what I am painting or drawing is reflected in how I am creating it; technique and subject somehow mirror each other.

Falling August, 2006, charcoal on paper, 123 x 86cm, collection of Grafton Regional Art gallery

In The real Art World: How do you go about finding the subjects for your paintings/drawings and what do you really look for when assessing it’s potential to make it as an artwork?

Michael Zavros I have tended to work from found images that I collect from books/magazines/catalogues. In the past I would crop these images or omit certain information but progressively, I'm completely constructing images that I work from in photoshop and other imaging programs. I sort of hibernate the resource imagery, leave it sitting in my studio or the vast inbox of my mind and if I still like it, if it still feels relevant after several months then it will enter my practice in some way.

Debaser/Burberry Prorsum, 2007, 122 x 86cm, Charcoal on paper, Private collection

In The real Art World: Tell me about your working process, how an idea becomes a finished artwork.

Michael Zavros As an artist who predominately works form photography, I am fortunate that I can pretty much see my work before I embark on creating it. The creative moment has long passed by the time I start painting or drawing and for some weeks afterwards until the work is complete, the process is just technical. Recently that creative moment has become a more drawn out process as I go to great lengths constructing the images that I work form. Part of this process is playing with various media and scale and how these elements assist in the delivery of the image or how it will operate. I usually find that the image determines what medium I employ. The media I choose, whether it is the steely deadpan quality of charcoal or the glossy luxe quality of oil paint, allows me to extend the visual possibilities of a subject or an image.

LV/L’Ennui, 2006,, Charcoal on paper, 120 x 85cm, private collection

In The real Art World: Who are the artists that at the moment you are looking at, or find their work resonates for you?

Michael Zavros I'm a huge Jeff Koons fan and am loving his work all over again as I pour over the images in a new book published to coincidewith his recent show at the Palace of Versailles. His wonderfully baroque and deadpan kitsch has intrigued me since I discovered his work as a student and I've long been inspired by Versailles - it draws me back constantly and finds its way into my practice. I love that Koons can be critical and complicit at the same time, and this is something I hope emerges from my own practice.

Fanta, 2009, 112 x 86cm, charcoal and fluro paint on paper, courtesy of the artist and GRANTPIRRIE

In The real Art World: Finally, what's next?

Michael Zavros I'm making a lot of sculpture at the moment. I work in plasticene and a local foundry takes molds and casts my work in bronze. I enjoy the challenge of making super realism and high detail in a three dimensional form. Bronze sculpture offers an impenetrable veneer in much the same way that oil painting does, and I love the manipulation of another very traditional medium in a contemporary context.

Vincent Fantauzzo, until July 25, Dianne Tanzer Gallery, Melbourne

2009-07-25T11:06:00.000+09:30

Vincent Fantauzzo: Inner Conflict
Vincent's latest exhibition at Dianne Tanzer Gallery consists of a single painting "Inner conflict" measuring 240 x 420 cm ( roughly 8 ft by nearly 14 ft ).

to visit Dianne Tanzer Gallery Click Here

Inner conflict, 2009, oil on linen, 240 x 420, (Studio view )

Inner conflict, 2009, oil on linen, 240 x 420, (Installation view 1)

Inner conflict, 2009, (Studio view ), oil on linen, 240 x 420, (Installation view 2)

Pamela Wilson, Sarah Bain Gallery, Anahein, California

2009-07-12T13:14:00.007+09:30

Pamela Wilson "Awkward Soliloquies"

One more exhibition to add to those I missed listing here before they closed. Pamela Wilson, an artist I have admired for some time and someone definitely worth keeping an eye. Her latest exhibition at Sarah Blain Gallery is now over, but can still be seen online.

To visit Sarah Bain Gallery Click Here

The Sun Is A Thief, 2009, Oil on Canvas, 60" x 30"

Some Bullets Are Special, 2009, oil on canvas, 48" x 36"

An Inviting Abyss, 2009, oil on canvas, 60" x 48"

A Nymph Came Pirouetting, 2009, oil on canvas, 48" x 24"

Julie Heffernan at Mark Moore Gallery, Santa Monica & April Gornik at The Heckscher Museum, Huntington, NY

2009-07-10T12:21:00.012+09:30

I hate it when I find out about an exhibition just after it closes. That is the case with both Julie Heffernan's exhibition at Mark Moore Gallery, Santa Monica & April Gornik's at The Heckscher Museum, Huntington, NY. Even more so since I am a long time fan of Julie Heffernan's art and a great admirer of the work of April Gornik.

Despite the exhibitions closing a short time ago, I've decided to still post them up here, so follow the links to find out more about these two wonderful artists.

Julie Heffernan at Mark Moore Gallery, Santa Monica

JULIE HEFFERNAN: WHAT HOLDS UP: MAY 23 - JULY 3, 2009

To visit Mark Moore Gallery Click Here

Self Portrait with Albatross, 2008, oil on canvas, 72 X 54 inches

(Press release courtesy Mark Moore Gallery)

Mark Moore Gallery is pleased to announce new paintings from acclaimed artist Julie Heffernan. Heffernan's theatrical and opulent canvases are a hybrid of genres, encompassing portraiture, surrealism and still life, amongst others; yet their Old Master quality goes beyond simple irony or quotation. The initial impact of Heffernan's "self-portraits" recedes to allow the artist's skill in her technique and the allure of the paintings' beauty to emerge and entrance the viewer. Her works act as unexplained allegories of the imagination and indulgent guilty pleasures. Although Heffernan has refined the same subject matter for the better part of 15 years, her works feel particularly poignant today; their slightly ominous tone acting to forewarn, the sumptuous canvases both a talisman and a critique of brazen conspicuous consumption.

Self Portrait as Roots, 2009, oil on canvas, 72 X 56 inches

Study for Self Portrait as Booty , 2009, oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inches

The catalogue published to coincide with Julie Heffernan's solo exhibition at the Mark Moore Gallery, "What Holds Up" is available from BLURB Click Here

April Gornik at The Heckscher Museum, Huntington, NY

The Luminous Landscapes of April Gornik ; May 2, 2009 - July 5, 2009

To read the New York Times review of April Gornik's exhibition Click Here

To visit the The Heckscher Museum of Art Click Here

Dune Sky, 2007, Oil on linen, 70" x 81"

(Courtesy of the The Heckscher Museum of Art's website)

A resident of Suffolk County, Long Island, April Gornik can be firmly situated in the distinguished American landscape tradition. Devoid of people, her paintings portray the majesty and allure of nature but in a carefully composed manner that draws on diverse sources of inspiration, including photographs. The result is surreal, transcendental and sublime. Light plays a powerful role in her paintings, creating a sense of mystery, whether it is sunlight or moonlight. In a statement about her work, she says that she likes her work to be intuitive, open to interpretation and beautiful. This exhibition will feature approximately thirteen of her large-scale paintings.

Mirror Lake, China, 2004, Oil on Linen, 78" x 104"

Fresh Light, 1987, Oil on linen, 74" x 96"

Tjalf Sparnaay, until August, Plus One Gallery, London

2009-07-09T09:50:00.004+09:30

Tjalf Sparnaay's exhibition is now on at Plus One Gallery London, celebrating the beauty of the commonplace. Tjalf takes trivial items such as traditionally served fish and chips or the vibrant, almost kitsch presentation of an ice cream sundae and enlarges them to a monumental size to remove the contact of their surroundings.

To visit Plus One Gallery Click Here

Fried Egg, Double, 2009, oil on canvas, 90 x 110 cm

Pastry, 2008, oil on canvas, 60 x 80 cm

Fish and Chips, 2009, oil on canvas, 110 x 175 cm

Boiled Egg, 2009, oil on canvas, 90 x 80 cm

Sorbet, 2009, oil on canvas, 150 x 100 cm

J.W. Waterhouse Retrospective, until 13 September, Royal Academy of Arts, London

2009-07-08T11:25:00.006+09:30

J.W. Waterhouse: The Modern Pre-Raphaelite

The Royal Academy of Arts presents a major retrospective exhibition of the Pre-Raphaelite artist, John William Waterhouse RA (1849-1917). The exhibition, which will feature over 40 paintings from both public and private collections and will be accompanied by studies in oil, chalk and pencil; period photographs; sketchbooks; and the volumes of Tennyson and Shelley in which Waterhouse drew sketches.

To go to the The Royal Academy of Arts website Click Here

The Lady of Shalott, 1888

Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses, 1891. Oil on canvas, 149 x 92 cm

Hylas and the Nymphs, 1896

Circe Invidiosa: Circe Poisoning the Sea, 1892 (The Art Gallery of South Australia)

A Mermaid, 1900

The catalogue (237 pages with 180 illustrations, measuring 29.5 x 24.5cms) that accompanies the exhibition can be purchased from the Royal Adademy of Arts Shop Click Here

Lisa Adams, until July 18, Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane

2009-07-04T12:48:00.010+09:30

Queensland artist Lisa Adams has gained a strong following for her carefully realised paintings and her current exhibition at Philip Bacon Galleries is a must visit for those who are in Brisbane, or can travel there.

For more information on Lisa's exhibition at Philip Bacon Galleries CLICK HERE

Rose garden, 2008, oil on canvas, 70 x 53.5 cm collection Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art

In The Real Art World interviews Lisa Adams about her recent exhibition at Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane

In The real Art World: What is the Lisa Adams story, how have you and your art arrived at this point?

Lisa Adams: I live and work on a 15 acre native bush property in the Sunshine Coast hinterland with my husband, fellow artist Kim Guthrie.
My earliest work was comprised of many drawings which graphically depict spooky dolls and playthings that evoke the uncanny world of childhood. I am largely self taught and began to teach myself to paint at age 19. The dolls disappeared from my work but crucial elements from this period have remained. I have now been painting for 20 years and have been represented by Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane since 1999.

Drift, 2008, oil on canvas, 33 x 61 cm

In The real Art World: How do you go about finding the subjects for your paintings and what do you really look for when assessing it’s potential to make it as a painting?

Lisa Adams: Ideas present themselves to me vividly. I see the finished painting clearly in my mind, and it is this image that I endeavor to represent. I am drawn to ideas which give me an intense gut feeling the moment they are conceived. I must feel this strongly about an idea before pursuing it as a painting as it means committing a large amount of time, bringing that idea to fruition. I try to remain faithful to the original idea without tinkering with it or questioning it too much, as the initial concept is very often the most powerful. I can never pinpoint how or when I will get an idea.

Secret, 2006, oil on canvas, 54 x 78 cm

In The real Art World: There is a disconcerting tension to viewing your paintings, as we become like witnesses to an unresolved story. How important is creating a balanced enigmatic state where the paintings lead the viewer into wanting to understand the image without giving them many clues?

Lisa Adams: It is not my intention to lead the viewer towards anywhere in particular. My paintings are often inexplicable suspended moments which I often don't have all the answers to myself but which I know somehow are an emotional response to my life's experiences.

Lovers, 2006, oil on canvas, 60 x 100 cm

In The real Art World: Creating ambiguous images such as “Lovers, 2007” makes for all sorts of associations. For me, I cannot look at that painting without thinking of Dave Graney’s song “Scorched earth love affair”, about a couple that were “bad for each other”. Does it surprise you what people tell you they see in your paintings?

Lisa Adams: I am happy for people to form their own ideas about the meaning of my paintings, everyone filters art through their own history. What people tell me they see in my paintings often tells me a a lot about them. For me 'Lovers' 2007 was about the incredible intensity of passion felt when you first fall in love.

In The real Art World: The scenes in your paintings range from the plausible “Secret, 2006”, the highly implausible such as an anchor floating on the sea in “Drift 2008”, to some paintings that border on the Surreal. How do you see your art and do terms like Surreal distract away from dealing with unsettling imagery?

Lisa Adams: Surrealism was dealing with the workings of the subconscious. My work is an honest attempt at understanding and communicating my reality. Often quirky imagery is used as a veiled attempt at discussing more serious subject matter.

Secret, 2009, oil on canvas, 81 x 62 cm

In The real Art World: Tell me about your working process, how an idea becomes a finished painting.

Lisa Adams: My work relies heavily on detailed photographic reference from which I paint. I prefer to use my own photographs when possible. When it proves difficult or impossible for me to access and photograph a subject I then need to hunt out reference, which can often be time consuming and frustrating. I spend days trawling through libraries, bookshops and internet photo stock libraries trying to find the reference which will enable me to truthfully represent my idea. I never paint from just one photograph. It sometimes takes hundreds of separate sources of reference to piece together a painting. Many of the female figures posed throughout my work rowing, chiseling, climbing, are all the outcome of my own studio enactments, recorded by my husband in preparatory photographs. Though I frequently return to the self portrait, elements from the natural world, often recognizably Australian, also appear. Animals, birds, landscape, dust, fog appear both as a backdrop for the narrative and as the subject itself. I work on a small scale due to the exacting nature of my paintings, working with paintbrushes rated 000 and smaller. I am compelled to overpaint an image 2 or 3 times. It is this large amount of time spent layering and refining detail which I feel can sometimes imbue a painting with a magical quality. I apply a strict work ethic, clocking on in my studio daily around 8am and working steadily until mid afternoon.

Twister, 2009, oil on canvas, 62 x 88 cm

In The real Art World: Who are the artists that at the moment you are looking at, or find their work resonates for you?

Lisa Adams: I am drawn to work which relies on the landscape or seascape to create or enhance the mood of the painting. Internationally, the existential melancholy of a landscape by Caspar David Friedrich, or the dramatic forboding of a seascape by Winslow Homer. In Australia, Sidney Nolan, Lloyd Rees, Fred Williams, John Brack, Gareth Sansom, Rick Amor, Louise Hearman, and many many more.

Divining, 2007, oil on canvas, 60 x 95 cm

In The real Art World: I'm always curious of which colours make up the palette used by the artist, can you list them for me.

Lisa Adams: Some regulars are: naples yellow, yellow ochre, cadmium yellow, spectrum vermilion, cadmium red, cadmium orange, sap green, olive green, pthalo green, permanent mauve, burnt umber, vandyke brown, titanium white, ivory black, indigo blue, tasman bluesst

In The real Art World: Finally, what's next?

Lisa Adams: After my current exhibition at Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane, I hope to make a trip into the Australian outback to gather reference for future paintings. I am looking forward to being back in my studio again, working toward my next exhibition.

Jeremy Mann, until July 4, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco

2009-07-02T11:37:00.012+09:30

Jeremy Mann, a 30 year old artist from San Francisco is having his first solo exhibition at John Pence Gallery and it's well worth a visit.

For more information Click Here

Morning, San Francisco, Oil on Panel, 36 x 48 inches, 2009

Laguna Street at Night, Oil on Panel, 18 x 18 inches, 2009

Il Mio Gatto Ama Pesce, Oil on Panel, 20 x 22 inches, 2009

Downtown in Green, Oil on Panel, 11 x 14 inches, 2009

Pigeon, Oil on Panel, 30 x 30 inches, 2009