As part of our effort to continue to help artists and art galleries thrive, we’re proud to bring you this week’s “Virtual Gallery Walk.” Browse the artwork below and click the image itself to learn more about it, including how to contact the gallery.
Want to see your gallery featured in an upcoming Virtual Gallery Walk? Contact us at [email protected] to advertise today. Don’t delay, as spaces are first come, first served, and availability is limited.
Bed Straw
By Su Su
Oil on canvas, 2020
42 x 36 in.
$5,200
Available through the Muskegon Museum of Art
Su Su merges figurative realism with surrealism in an exploration of cultural and self-identity in the ever-shifting landscape of popular culture and consumerism. Working primarily from self-portraits, the artist creates a persona that is “naïve and soft but fully in control of her sexual power.” In her vibrantly colored paintings, context is stripped away (mirroring her first experiences with American popular culture in her native China) leaving the viewer with a charming, “nymph-like” figure in a playful, sexualized atmosphere. Beneath these performative scenes simmers a disquieting reminder of the dangers to self and cultural identity in conforming to the on-trend and overtly commercialized identities unrelentingly offered by mainstream culture.
The figure in Bed Straw appears amidst a swirl of floral and cartoon elements, as objects break down and reform within the picture plane. Her face is calm amidst the chaos, the only action the tugging of her hair, which itself has become a part of the tangle of light and pattern. A cartoon cat and dog merge and explode at her breast, stand-ins for the ubiquitous nature of animated characters in popular culture around the world. Characters such as these adorn clothing and other personal items, identities that can be taken on and off at our whim. High key color in the floral elements, brilliant oranges and yellows, and a small but radiant sun convey heat and intense growth, a renewal or perhaps transformation for the woman within. Within the intensity and glamour of popular culture, what emerges in the search for self?
Su Su was born in Beijing, China and today lives and works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She began studying art at the age of 12, at the Central Academy of Arts & Design in Beijing. A scholarship took her to Carnegie Mellon University where she received her MFA in 2015 and now serves as a guest professor. Su Su exhibits her works nationally and internationally, including recent solo and group shows in Pittsburgh, Denver, Chautauqua, and in the “State of the Art 2020” exhibition at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Susu was nominated for Pittsburgh’s Emerging Artist of the Year (2017), the Eben Demarest Trust Award (2018), and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award (2019) and her works have appeared in the publications Juxtapoz, Artpulse, and Galerie.
Three works by Su Su, including Bed Straw, will be featured in the upcoming traveling exhibition “Rising Voices 2: The Bennett Prize for Women Figurative Realist Painters” premiering at the Muskegon Museum of Art from May 28 to September 5, 2021. Inquiries about the paintings can be directed to the Muskegon Museum of Art.
You can learn more about the artist at her website at www.artbysusu.com and follow her on Instagram at paintingsbysusu.
Featuring nearly 300 paintings and sculpture by some of the finest contemporary Western artists working today, the 49th annual Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition & Sale at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is open, with the Art Sale Weekend scheduled for June 25 – 26, 2021.
Prix de West showcases original works ranging from historical depictions of the American West to more contemporary and impressionistic pieces. Artwork will be on exhibit at The Cowboy through August 8, 2021.
This year’s Prix de West will host nearly 100 invited artists and welcome renowned artist Ed Mell as well as guest artists Thomas Blackshear II, Huihan Liu, and Roseta Santiago.
Sale weekend events include seminars, a live auction, receptions, awards, the art sale and trunk shows at The Museum Store.
The Prix de West will be a combination in-person and virtual experience, with several smaller-scale, preview events. To make reservations, see a full schedule, or arrange to bid by proxy, visit nationalcowboymuseum.org/prixdewest.
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Oil Painters of America
2021 Salon Show
Quinlan Visual Arts Center
Gainesville, Georgia
Through August 7, 2021
Oil Painters of America (OPA) is now presenting its 2021 Salon Show — more than 225 paintings in a range of styles and subjects, created by OPA members from across the U.S. and Canada.
All of this is occurring at the Quinlan in Gainesville, Georgia, a town of 40,000 residents in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. OPA is a nonprofit organization founded by the artist Shirl Smithson in 1991 and has more than 3,600 members.
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On Contemporary Artists and Art Collections
BY DAVID TANNER
davidtannerfineart.com
Late in 2019, my gallery notified me that my painting “Man With Violin” had been purchased. I followed up with a thank-you note introducing myself to the collector, and eventually began an email conversation. This was followed by phone calls, and then the first of many visits to my studio (masked, of course, as this was the beginning of Covid-19 restrictions).
As we became better acquainted, he began taking a more direct interest in my work, exploring my website and avidly reading my blogs on the process behind the paintings. This sparked a greater desire to collect, and so the journey began. As of May 2021, there are now 60 of my paintings in his collection.
I recently visited his beautiful home and photographed the paintings in situ. He’s graciously allowed me to share them with you, and his thoughts on collecting.
From the art collector:
“Loving painting as much as I did, I wanted to learn more about David and his artwork. His website is an education in itself. You get to see his progressions from the start, beginning with the sketches, to the finished product of many of his paintings. I found this fascinating and truly couldn’t get enough.”
“Why do I love David Tanner’s paintings? I love David’s artwork because he brings life to each of his paintings through his colors and the fine details in each piece he creates. He transforms his models into living, breathing individuals on canvas, whose music we can hear being played, whose pain we feel, whose baking we can’t wait to consume, whose wet shoes we can’t wait to remove after walking the streets of New York in a rainstorm. David’s artwork brings out emotions in me that I rarely allow to surface. I am so happy to have found this release as it makes me a more appreciative individual of everything around me.”
Read more about David Tanner’s art and collector at https://www.davidtannerfineart.com/blog/168941/collector-spotlight.
Related Articles About Art Collections: FineArtConnoisseur.com
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Painter Ayana Ross, of McDonough, Georgia, has won the prestigious 2021 Bennett Prize. Ross’s work explores identity and cultural awareness in the everyday lives of African Americans in the American South.
Ross will be awarded $50,000, giving her the opportunity to create new work in the figurative realist style for a solo exhibition that ultimately will travel the country. The Bennett Prize is the largest prize offered solely to women figurative painters.
“Ross’ paintings create story fragments that invite viewers to insert themselves and see their own experiences in her work,” said Patrick Moore, one of four jurors and director of The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. “She highlights racial disparities as well as inter-generational progress in Black lives.”
Her win was announced at the opening reception for the “Rising Voices 2: The Bennett Prize” exhibition, which runs through September 5, 2021 at the Muskegon Museum of Art. The museum was chosen to host the exhibition because of its commitment to both women artists and realism.
The exhibition also features the work of the first Bennett Prize winner, Aneka Ingold, of Tampa, Florida, named in 2019. Ingold spent the last two years working on paintings that the exhibition guide describes as representing “a profoundly transformative time, of life upended and redefined, and a woman transfigured by her journey.”
Also on display are paintings by the 10 women figurative realist painters named last fall as finalists for the second Bennett Prize, including Ross. The other nine finalists are:
“Beautiful, amusing, haunting, mystifying, celebratory and surprising, these artworks invite closer examination of the artists’ perspectives and offer the viewers an opportunity to evaluate their own lives, experiences, and perceptions of the work,” said Art Martin, director of collections and exhibitions at the Muskegon Museum of Art.
Steven Alan Bennett and Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt, of San Antonio, Texas, established The Bennett Prize in 2016, endowing a $3 million fund at The Pittsburgh Foundation to ensure that The Prize will be awarded every two years in perpetuity.
Schmidt and Bennett are among the country’s top collectors of figurative realist art. Their aim is to boost the careers of women figurative realist painters who have yet to reach full professional recognition and to bring figurative realist painting to a wider audience.
Response to the call for entries continues to grow, with 674 women artists submitting entries for the 2021 Bennett Prize, up from 647 two years ago.
“We continue to be gratified by the increasing reach of The Prize,” Bennett said. “We understand that we are exposing, and being exposed to, a new, deep and rich vein of talent that otherwise might not have come into view.”
This year’s four-member jury included prominent figurative painters Alyssa Monks and Katie O’Hagan, as well as Moore and Bennett. They selected the winner and the nine other finalists.
More information about the “Rising Voices” exhibition is available at the website for the Muskegon Museum of Art.
> Visit EricRhoads.com to learn about more opportunities for artists and art collectors, including retreats, international art trips, art conventions, and more.
> Sign up to receive Fine Art Today, our free weekly e-newsletter
> Subscribe to Fine Art Connoisseur magazine, so you never miss an issue
As part of our effort to continue to help artists and art galleries thrive, we’re proud to bring you this week’s “Virtual Gallery Walk.” Browse the artwork below and click the image itself to learn more about it, including how to contact the gallery.
Want to see your gallery featured in an upcoming Virtual Gallery Walk? Contact us at [email protected] to advertise today. Don’t delay, as spaces are first come, first served, and availability is limited.
From competition to concepts of corporate success, this New York-based sculptor has created a series of thought-provoking outdoor installations. Where?
New York City’s Theatre District and Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza are home to five monumental new sculptures.
The installations, created by internationally acclaimed New York-based sculptor Jim Rennert, stand at over 12.5-feet tall and illustrate concepts of corporate success and the obstacles faced by the modern working man.
The outdoor installations will be on view through 2021 and 2022 in addition to smaller-scale editions that are featured in Cavalier Gallery LLC (3 West 57th Street).
Drawing on both his past professional experiences, and those of his contemporaries, Rennert composes thought-provoking works through simplified figures and forms.
“Walking the Tightrope,” which will be located at the entrance of 1700 Broadway, was created using athletic themes to express concepts we all deal with when making a living.
“WTF,” which will also be located at 1700 Broadway, was the third monumental work Rennert composed after “THINK BIG” – located at The Anthem (222 East 34th Street) – and “Perspective.”
The other three works, “Timing,” “Inner Dialogue,” and “Commute” will be located on Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza at East 47th Street and are inspired by Rennert’s past experiences in the competitive world of business.
Each title works together with the visual image to illustrate the experience, sometimes physical, sometimes psychological and showcase the thoughts and ideas we all deal with in our contemporary society.
> Visit EricRhoads.com to learn about more opportunities for artists and art collectors, including retreats, international art trips, art conventions, and more.
> Sign up to receive Fine Art Today, our free weekly e-newsletter
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How did you get started and then develop your career?
Matthew Bird: Like many after art school, I was “painting on the side” while working in another field to make money. In my case it was graphic design. At the time, I thought it was a blessing to have a creative outlet where I could make a living, even if it wasn’t what I really wanted to be doing.
I was also rather good at it and continued to get promoted up the ladder until I was working as an associate creative director, managing other people, and doing little of the actual creative work. The agency model seemed ironic to me, the better you are at something, the less you get to do it.
Eventually I was miserable and couldn’t keep going. I knew I had gifts and talents that I wasn’t using, and I needed a change. That was when I walked away to focus on painting.
It was also at that time that my wife and I started our family. Nothing has enriched my life like my wife and children, and in turn, my work has grown and now touches others. The painting that shifted my career was of my first daughter. It’s titled Lost In Thought because that is exactly how she was. It’s a sentimental picture, but she was not posing or trying to be angelic. That was just how she moved.
With that painting, I won my first award in an exhibition with the National Watercolor Society. It toured the country for a year, and then I was pleased to learn it was acquired into a private collection. The collector was a doctor of oncology. He displays art in and around his offices and where patients receive their chemotherapy treatments. For those battling cancer, it is a very difficult and emotional time, and he displays artwork to help bring joy and beauty through their trials.
My mom was battling breast cancer when I learned this, and I found it to be incredibly moving and could not be happier to have a painting help in that noble endeavor. What a testament to the power of art!
How do you find inspiration?
I believe beauty is everywhere, we’re just not always inclined to see it. The key is to keep working, even when you’re not “inspired.” I look the inherent beauty in something even if it isn’t exactly inspiring, and often find that I’m onto something. Although people may think that artists sit around waiting for inspiration to strike, that’s not usually the case for me. Chuck Close said it best, “Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work.”
What is the best thing about being an artist?
I think the best thing is the continual pursuit of truth and beauty. The artist’s life is not an easy path, but there are great rewards, and I can’t imagine living any other life.
How do you describe success?
Success for me is being able to do what I love, in order to provide for those whom I love, and impacting the lives of people who love art.
To see more of Matthew’s work, visit: www.matthewbird.com
There are only a handful of names that come to mind when you think of great American artists…Andrew Wyeth, Grant Wood, Georgia O’Keefe, Edward Hopper… It is easier to look back and pick out the few greats, because art history has done the work for us. But even fewer names come to mind when thinking of the current landscape of the American art world. Sometimes it is hard to know exactly what is good and what is just a flash in the pan. Many are reliant on the galleries and museums to help guide this – and although there are many galleries that show art geared to tourists seeking to appease anyone and anything – there are some that are more strict with the art they show and take that responsibility seriously.
More from Maxwell Alexander Gallery:
Not all art is easy to understand and usually that is the best kind of art to collect. The type of artwork that makes you see something different everyday, the painting that changes as the light outside changes, or the painting that keeps you endlessly wondering. It is never the painting that looks like a photo. It is always the art you have to get up close to – then step back and wonder to yourself, “How did they do that?” It is always the painting that gives you the butterflies in your stomach, the painting that so accurately captures a feeling or memory.
T. Allen Lawson Landscapes Now Available
T. Allen Lawson‘s full resume is too long to list here, but some highlights include winning basically every award possible, from the top award, the “Prix de West Purchase Award,” to his artwork appearing on the White House Christmas card. Museum and public collections range from the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC to the Yale University Art Gallery, from the Denver Art Museum to the George W. Bush Presidential Library. Lawson currently has a solo exhibition of his paintings hanging in The Brinton Museum in Big Horn, Wyoming, which will be on display through September 2021.
A Turning Point
“The more realistic I tried to paint, the more abstract it became.” Lawson had a turning point in his artwork when he began a paintings series of tree bark. He used palette knives, wire, lead pencil, steel wool, mason brushes, manipulating the paint and layering to engage the viewer more with different textures. This new technique would become what Lawson is most known for – unique layering and paint manipulation, capturing scenes of America so accurate – yet simultaneously so abstract.
“The struggle for me is that I’m more interested in painting how the subject has affected me in an emotional way [rather than paintings exactly what I see].” Lawson works to convey that feeling more so than the subject, and he is consistently successful at capturing it.
The longer you look at an object, the more abstract it becomes, and, ironically, the more real. – Lucian Freud
Lawson’s “Cloud Dance” was inspired by the muted colors of fall with large clouds coming over the rolling hills east of Sheridan, Wyoming. Lawson explains while he was on location studying the landscape these clouds were coming from the west, moving eastward with constant movement. He states that he wanted to portray that movement, using the blue sky at the top as a starting point to find a rhythm coming down toward the hills. He achieves this by applying multiple layers of paint, so many layers you might not even see them all in the final piece, “I will put something down, knowing I’m going to fully alter or cover 90% in the finished painting – knowing some of the texture will show through,” Lawson states.
The painting was a constant puzzle, working the ground back and forth, adding in tress or slight color where needed, but ultimately not competing with the sky. The painting is all about the luminosity of the sky.
In Lawson’s “Blue Sky,” he sought to portray the feeling of ranch life. The feeling that you’re never finished with chores, never ahead, at best you are lucky to keep your head above water. Lawson uses a unique technique in this painting, splitting the canvas in half (with the sky being about the same size as the bottom half of the painting).
This is something most will try to avoid, but Lawson wanted to use this to gain a tranquil feeling with the arrangement of the objects. He also splits the colors; the autumn sky is a vibrant cooler blue color, while the foreground is painted in a warmer tone. He uses lateral perspective, with the sun being off to the left hand side, you’ll see colors shift in the sky from a more grey to a more vibrant blue. In the foreground the left hand side is brighter and more brilliant because it is backlit, as you move to the right the color gets a little warmer and not as intense.
“The way I observe life, if I see all the little different stuff going on in a yard or a field or meadow…. That’s in the back of mind, I’m not trying to duplicate that, but if I can manipulate the paint and include all the color variation in the field, I am closer to reality than I am to it, rather than if I tried to paint it as realistic as possible.”
– T. Allen Lawson
> Visit EricRhoads.com to learn about more opportunities for artists and art collectors, including retreats, international art trips, art conventions, and more.
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