Saturday, July 25, 2009

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

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)

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Pamela Wilson, Sarah Bain Gallery, Anahein, California

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"

Friday, July 10, 2009

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

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"

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Tjalf Sparnaay, until August, Plus One Gallery, London

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

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

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

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

Saturday, July 4, 2009

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

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.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

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

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

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Eric Fischl, until July 15, Jablonka Gallery, Berlin

Eric Fischl: Corrida Paintings
Eric Fischl's current exhibition in Berlin deals with the centuries old tradition of the bull fight. Eric's paintings focus on the "Corrida Goyesca de Rondo", a type of bull fight in the Andalusian city of Rondo close to Malaga. Once a year the Corrida Goyesca takes place there, employing the traditional colourful clothing, decoration and trapping of the style and era of Goya.

For more information Click Here



Corrida in Ronda No. 5, 2008, Oil on linen, 132 x 152 cm (52 x 60 in.)




Corrida in Ronda No. 4, 2008, Oil on linen, 198 x 305 cm (78 x 120 in.)




Corrida in Ronda No. 2, 2008, Oil on linen, 213 x 305 cm (84 x 120 in.)