A Sense of Place is a beautiful exhibition of Lorraine Lawson’s mixed media paintings showing at the Triton Museum of Art until August 21. I was delighted to attend the opening reception last Friday and take in these sophisticated, zen-like pieces that are so richly layered and textured. Gorgeous work!
Lorraine Lawson with Gallerist Kumiko Iwasawa Vadas, of Iwasawa Oriental Art.
Silver Lining – Mixed Media
Et in Arcadia Ego
Even in Arcadia there I am
NUMU’s exquisite exhibition, Et in Arcadia Ego, guest curated by David Molesky, just opened last night! Growing out of the classical belief that utopia exists just beyond the bounds of civilization and liminal figures like shepherds are beings that are ideally seen to inhabit both worlds. This show features a stunning collection of work from stellar local and international artists. Running from June 2 – October 2, there well be an Opening Celebration for their summer Exhibitions, tomorrow, Saturday June 4 from 11:00 am – 5:00 pm. New Museum Los Gatos is located at 106 E Main Street, Los Gatos, California.
Here’s a taste… all the artists names are linked to their websites where all of their photos will be better than mine!
David Ligare – Et in Arcadia Ego (View Moderne) – Oil on Panel
Aron Wisenfeld – Bloom – Oil on Canvas
Agostino Arrivabene – Il Sogno di Asceptio -Tempra and Oil on Antique Panel (detail)
NUMU’s Executive Director, Lisa Coscino introducing Guest Curator, artist and writer, David Moseky (He’s the tall one in the middle of the photograph below).
Astrid Preston – Mountain Path – Oil on Canvas
Stephanie Peek – Deeper 1 – Oil on Canvas
Holly Lane – After the Storm – Acrylic on Carved Wood
Seamus Conley – Po Boy – Oil on Canvas
David Ligare – Et in Arcadia Ego – Oil on Linen
Odd Nerdrum – In Arcadia (self portrait) – Oil on Canvas
Jason Yarmosky – Counting Sheep – Oil on Canvas
Julie Heffernan – Self Portrait as Acceleration – oil on canvas
Maria Kreyn – Even Here – Oil on Canvas
Robin F Williams – The Gardeners – Oil on Canvas
Brad Kunkle – Reclamation – Oil, Gold and Silver Leaf on Wood
Me trying to become part of Stephanie Peek’s painting – silk floral camo!
Some of the brains and beauty behind the exhibit: Andrea Schwartz / Andrea Schwartz Gallery, David Molesky / Guest Curator, Marianne McGrath / NUMU Curator, Lisa Conscino / NUMU Executive Director.
I was so happy to hear that a new exhibit of one of my top favorite painters, Pierre Bonnard, was opening up at the Legion of Honor! He’s known as one of the Nabis, a Post-Impressionist movement where the the flattened perspective of Japanese art, the stylization of Art Nouveau, the use of pattern as a decorative element and the exploration of non-local color were early hallmarks.
I love this big, beautiful, blown-up photograph of Pierre Bonnard in a room full of very intimate, tiny photos of the artist and his wife. So interesting to see these mysterious little moments emerge from the darkness in such contrast to his small and very large canvases that are flooded with light and color!
You can clearly see the decorative stylized elements in his early pieces, Woman in Dress with White Dots, Seated Woman with Cat, Woman in Cape, Woman in Checkered Dress 1890-91. Close up you can see the simple laying in of paint stokes over the tan substrate.
Woman in Checkered Dress (detail) 1890-91 distemper on paper mounted on canvas
Seated Woman with Cat (face detail) 1890-91 distemper on paper mounted on canvas
Seated Woman with Cat (detail) 1890-91 distemper on paper mounted on canvas
Here in this detail from this 1895 oil painting, In the Garden loose, gestural strokes are applied to a green ground.
In this detail from the 1892 painting, The Checkered Blouse, bits of the canvas can be seen under thickly applied daubs of paint.
This wall sized oil on canvas, On the Boat from 1907 features both the light filled, almost patterned landscape and the face in deep shadow in the foreground.
Charming duck detail.
This detail of the birds in the trees shows how loosely the paint is applied.
One of the most arresting pieces in the exhibit, Nude in an Interior from 1912-14 uses elements of the interior (walls and tables) to radically crop the figure in a daring and partially voyeuristic manner. Color pulsates and shimmers with its mix of varied hues.
Pink Nude, Head in Shadow from 1919 just glows in juxtaposition to the deep shadow across the face. I’m in love with that lavender pink stipe against al those shades of pale yellow and mint.
In Nude in the Bathtub from 1925 we are introduced to one of Bonnard’s most celebrated motifs, the bather and bathtub, seen here in an almost bird’s eye view. I could look at all those gorgeous mottled pastels forever…
In The Bath from 1925 we again see the play of the color of flesh as seen through water.
In the Work Table dated 1926-1937 we see the up tilted perspective on a domestic scene with pattern color and pets – classic!
The Boxer (Portrait of the Artist) −1931 is a bit of a departure, the lack of a setting allows the viewer a deeper focus of the figure’s expression and gesture, the face again thrown into shadow and surfaces loose and luminous.
Yellow Harmony from 1934 achieves an almost abstract quality, it’s supersaturated color dematerializes the figure which is absorbed into the composition as just another structural element.
Pierre Bonnard: Painting Arcadia is a major show of more than 70 works that span his prolific career, this post only represents some of my favorites, I hope you’ll take in the exhibit before it closes May 15 and spend some time with your own picks!
Tonight there was a reception at the Vargas Gallery for Silicon Valley Small Art 2015 which includes the work of artists Carmen Almlie-Martinez, Lynette Cook, Goran Konjevod, Dee Hooker, Diane Kreiter, Terry Kreiter, Won Ly, Adele Seltzer, Beth Shields, Peter Taber, Corinne Whitaker, Sheila Winner, and Tom Yacoe.
I knew my friend Tom Yacoe was in the show and I was eager to see his beautiful work. His acrylic paintings, Sierra Runoff, Russian River 3, and Seaside Looking South are on exhibit.
Tom Yacoe – Seaside Looking South – Acrylic on Canvas
I was happy to see Lynette Cook exhibiting as well, showing her oil paintings, I Can See Forever, City Geometry, It’s Always Time For Peace. The detail!
Lynette Cook – City Geometry – Oil on MDF
I asked Lynette Cook to show me the catalogue from her joint exhibit with her mother -“Mother & Daughter” – paintings and textiles on exhibit in Baltimore and coming to Stanford Spaces in May.
D. Hooker‘s mixed media pieces with Curator, Lynne Todaro.
D. Hooker’s mixed media on cigar boxes – so playful!
Goran Konjavad – folded paper.
A peek only of the very interesting 3D printed sculpture Jive by Corinne Whitaker.
Silicon Valley Small Art 2015 at the Vargas Gallery in the Gillmor Center at Mission College will run until December 19.
The New Museums of Los Gatos presented a talk Thursday evening with artist Stephen Beal in conjunction Warp and Weft, an exhibition of Beal’s grid paintings that was guest curated by gallerist George Lawson. It runs until January 3, 2016.
This show spans a decade of work, and consists primarily of acrylic gouache applied to board, muslin and linen. These pieces have been inspired by textiles, music, the work of artists such as Piet Mondrian and Agnes Martin but primarily by the materiality of the work, the way the paint reacts to its substrate, the way colors butt up against each other and by the transformative process itself.
Hard to capture with photography, these panels of dots pulsate with the juxtaposition of color as seen in the detail below.
The complimentary combination of red and green really vibrates!
This series of tape pieces, Untitled #1 – #16, from 2005 is made up contact tape on fluted acrylic panels.
In this detail, you can see how the layering of these transparent tapes creates a fascinating pattern and absolutely feels like a woven textile.
I love this lacy pattern that is created by overlays of tape shown in this detail!
In this “argyle” series on muslin, the color of paint is influenced by the unprimed muslin itself which is left to show through in areas.
Stephen Beal answering questions about his work.
NUMU’s director, Lisa Cosino, and curator, Marianne McGrath introducing guest curator, gallerist George Lawson and artist Stephen Beal.
George Lawson and Stephen Beal in a fascinating conversation about the work, the process, the craft and the creative impulse. One of Beal’s acrylic gouache on linen can be seen overhead.
Artist Lynn Letterman, gallerist Kumiko Iwasawa Vadas, and artist Lorriane Lawson attended the talk. These two artists are currently exhibiting work along with Stephen Beal at Iwasawa Oriental Art in Los Gatos. That show, Image and Transmission runs through November 30, 2015.
Stephen Beal and and his wife, Dee Hoover met working at the Art Institute of Chicago where Beal did his MFA and Hoover worked as an administrator. Coming west, Beal was provost at the California College of the Arts for over a decade when he was appointed president. He maintains his studio practice, his role as president and positions on many art’s boards and sees all this work as being part of a transformative process!
The Triton Museum of Art has a new exhibition up, What the Triton Means to Me, which features the work of five artists, Patricia Bengston-Jones, David Middlebrook, Leroy Parker, Nabeela Sajjad and George Rivera. The careers of each of these artist have been substantially enhanced by their relationship with the museum in different ways, which the artists write about. The show runs until January 3, 2016.
George Rivera was the Executive Director and Senior Curator at the Triton for many years, he’s an Associate Faculty Instructor of Art at Mission College in Santa Clara, he has juried some 400 exhibitions and competitions and has mentored and counseled countless artists (myself included) all in addition to making his strikingly beautiful and deeply introspective art (I mean, while not riding his motorcycle or playing his guitar)!
Having touched the careers of so many in the artistic community with his warm generosity and sage advice it was no wonder that the there was a huge turnout of artists, curators, friends and family for his opening reception!
OK, here’s what his oil painting triptych, The Precipice, looks like without all the people flocking about.
Rivera’s paintings have such a bold, commanding presence, there is a strong dramatic flair but also a quiet introspection, they can all across a room but also draw you in with these lovely, symbolic details like the bird and the flame. FYI – those are my hands in the photograph taken by Ron Dell’Aquila – not in the painting.
To see more of Rivera’s work (after you visit the Triton) you can visit Sandra Lee Gallery in San Francisco where he is represented.
Last night’s reception for Gorgon Smedt‘s Can You Dig It? exhibition at JCO’s Place was a blast (and packed)! Smedt’s overscale work is playful and innocent with a haunting darkside – such an interesting contrast. The images themselves are colorful and arresting but for me the real story is how beautifully they are painted. It was fun to see some of the original items that inspired the work sprinkled about the exhibit – prison uniforms, a little girl’s bathing suit and sneakers. It was a nice bridge from the actual items that sparked the creative process to the larger-than-life finished pieces. The show runs through June 12. Go See!
Full House!
Mrs. America and Untitled.
Dance and inspiration.
Me and Gordon.
Peaceful Hero.
On Pointe.
Guppy and inspiration.
Extra Special.
Top Dog and Jail Break.
Detail From Super GNAR.
Salon at the Triton… 6-8 pm…..time to dress!
Who’d a thought I would ever get work into an exhibit about science, technology and the future of art (let alone three pieces!)? Really, my aesthetic veers more to the Victorian than the futuristic! I guess the Victorian’s quest for beauty and the exotic led them to scientific observations and investigations. That’s how I fell about these Interference photographs.
Shimmering Water – Interference photography on metal 2014
Blue Pool – Interference photography on metal 2014
Lavender Lake – Interference photography on metal 2014
Reception tonight from 5:30 – 8:00 pm at the Pacific Art League of Palo Alto can’t wait to see all the work!
Isn’t she lovely? This is the Pacific Art League‘s card for this month’s exhibit, Spring Awakening featuring Hesperia by Skye Becker-Yamakawa The show was juried by two great local artists Maralyn Miller and Ed Lucey and I’m delighted to have two pieces in the show!
The first is Lily of the Valley with Cows, an oil painting which certainly feels like spring to me.
The second is Dancing on Yellow – A digital photograph that I took this year – springy in more ways than one!
The show runs from April 4-24, with a reception this Friday, April 4 from 5:30 – 8:00pm.
Collage artist, Belinda Lima in front of her painting, Abanico, one many dynamic works on exhibit at the Granite Rock Design Center in Cupertino where she is the featured artist through to December 6.
Scenes from the reception on Saturday, including Nancy Wulffe (center), who Belinda had taken drawing and watercolor classes from. There were lots of artists attending the reception!
I know Belinda through the Los Gatos Museums Gallery where we’re both member artists, I love her work, full of print and pattern and texture, her subjects are instantly recognizable, stylized, cropped images, women with an umbrella, a fan, a bag, a dog, or a guitar and her abstracted Golden Gate Bridge, each work has a restrained palette with a hit of color. I was so happy to make the reception on Saturday and I asked her if there was a symbolism behind these very specific objects that appear throughout her work? She gave me a true collage artist’s response – “I like the shapes”. Love it! The collage artist is so physically and intimately aware of shape as they hold each piece of paper in their hands while tearing it just so or carving it out with an exacto blade or snipping aware with scissors. It is all about the shapes. Belinda did say too that she likes her subjects to have some interaction and these objects that have an implied movement work well. I think that her real subjects though are these iconic objects and the figures serve as accessories for them.
Unexpected Reunion, in my personal collection, packs a lot into it’s six square inches! I love how Belinda has used a lot of different textures and patterns but because of her subdued colors, the effect is not at all overwhelming. The delicate tissue she uses makes the light umbrella transparent, which seems to echo the barely discernible features on the woman’s face and hands. Her vague expression helps to create intrigue and there is a a nice physical and metaphorical tension between transparency and opacity.
Belinda’s Bridges are all about shapes too, here the squares of negative space in the bridge help to set up a grid for laying out pieces of the San Francisco skyline. Left to right they are Bridge # 5, The Bridge and Bridge #6.
Belinda Lima’s work can be also be viewed on her website at belindalima.com or at the Los Gatos Museums Gallery.
I love these receptions at the Pacific Art League! I always run into old friends, meet new ones and fall in love with lots of paintings! Scapes was a big success, 35 paintings were selected from the 190 entries as far away as Connecticut. In addition to the first, second and third place awards juror Jim Caldwell generously awarded 5 honorable mentions, and I was delighted that my painting, Christy Ann’s Lace, was among them.
My fabulous friend Ann Dubois and I hanging out at the Scapes Reception with my oil painting, the honorably mentioned, Christy Ann’s Lace.
Director and ceramic artist, Jo Killen giving the welcoming address and announcing awards at Scapes.
Taking in the opening address at the Scapes reception at the Pacific Art League.
Judy Kramer with her first place photograph, A Profusion of Poppies.
Bill Moy with his photograph, Guard Tower, which received honorable mention.
I’m with Patricia Oji and her acrylic painting, Two Spirits Soaring.
Peter Schachter’s iPad painting, New York Late Summer Afternoon, was awarded third place.
Terry Eden’s acrylic painting, Bay Lands Sunset was awarded honorable mention.
Betsy Kendall’s oil painting, Low Tide Meeker Slough, was a personal favorite. I love her loose, gestural style and subtle palette.
Come join me at the reception for Scapes tonight at the Pacific Art League where my painting, Christy Anne’s Lace will officially be awarded honorable mention! Oh yes – the rumor about wine and brownies is true! See you tonight 5:30 – 8:00 pm!
For a special invitation go to http://paperless.ly/VFMfnP.
I find Cuong Nguyen’s portraits simply awe inspiring so it must be obvious what a delight it was for me to meet him in person at his opening reception for his show Aspects at the Triton Museum of Art! This artist is so genuinely warm and friendly it was easy to see how he must put his subjects immediately at ease and be granted access to peer into their souls!
His muses milled about the guests and it was fun to spotting these models walking around the show: a distinctive pair of glasses, a pair of gorgeous eyes, a striking profile, these intimate details seemed familiar in real life after admiring them on the monumental scale that Cuong paints.
Preston Metcalf, the Triton’s chief curator related to me a bit of the artist’s roots in Viet Nam where he began to paint as a boy of 10 and was tutored in the techniques of Russian Realism. He began his formal training at the Academy of Art in Saigon and continued at San Jose State studying Graphic Design and Illustration. Cuong Nguyen has recently swept up all kinds of accolades including Best in Show at the International Association of Pastel Societies’ 15th Juried Exhibition, Grand Prize of the Pastel Journal Magazine Competition 2010 and winning First Place at the Triton’s 2011 Statewide Painting Competition and Exhibition. Needless to say, Cuong has his hands full with commissions!
Aspects: Multiple Face, Multiple Views will be on exhibit at the Triton Museum of Art located on 1501 Warburton Avenue in San Jose, California until November 11, 2012.
For more information check out www.tritonmuseum.org and the artist’s website www.icuong.com.
It was a real pleasure meeting artist Cuong Nguyen at his reception for Aspects at the Triton! We’re standing in front of Him oil on canvas 48″ x 60″ (my favorite piece).
Cuong Nguyen Portraits of Hope Triptych oil on canvas in Aspects.
Cuong Nguyen with Resolve oil on canvas 40″ x 40″ and his muse.
Cuong Nguyen and his many muses (including the amazing artist Jaya King).
Cuong Nguyen Portrait of Blue and Portrait of Green triptychs oil on canvas.
Cuong Nguyen Up (Portraits of Green) oil on canvas 40″ x 40″.
I love this piece and understand that it was sold before the exhibition was fully installed. I adore tattoos in paintings and have one in the works myself (a painting with a tattoo, that is, not a real one).
This photograph of a girl viewing Cuong Nguyen’s Her oil on canvas 48″ x 60″ shows what it’s like to be face to face with one of these stunning paintings.
