Rance Jones, "Anthem," 2018, watercolor on paper, 21 x 18 in.
Forum Gallery recently announced the first New York exhibition for American watercolorist Rance Jones (b. 1965). Jones first visited Cuba in 2018, and was immediately inspired to begin his paintings of the current reality of life there. Making more visits from his native Texas, Jones fixed his eye on the people of Cuba and the music, commerce, dance, thought and history that informs their daily lives.
Rance Jones, “Meditation,” 2019, watercolor on paper, 21 x 25 in.
In the twenty-six watercolors that comprise the exhibition, “A Lingering Revolution,” Jones explores children, farmers, workers, shoppers and tradespeople against the remarkable past/present landscape that is Cuba today.
Rance Jones, “Iglesia de Castro,” 2019, watercolor on paper, 38 x 30 in.
Venturing out from the city of Havana, the Artist explores the homes, workplaces and vistas that describe the unique environment that plays such a large part in defining Cuba. But his subject is human life, and the persistent hope, ambition and devotion that inspire the lives of the Cuban people. A child walking through the vegetable market has the bright gleam of anticipation in her eye; a laborer hauls his shouldered burden with strength and resolve; a woman reads the newspaper and is clearly absorbed. All are painted with the meticulous technical ability and knowing sense of color that enable Jones’ talent for revealing human emotion to emerge and prosper.
Rance Jones, “Gecko,” 2019, watercolor on paper, 38 x 30 in.Rance Jones, “Watchful Eye,” 2018, watercolor on paper, 21 x 25 in.
Explore the Online Viewing Room with a new video featuring Rance Jones speaking about his observations of Cuba and the making of these exceptional watercolors, and with footage shot by Jones during his visits to the island nation.
Alex Kanevsky, "M.H.," 2020, Oil on panel, 18 x 18 inches
Dolby Chadwick Gallery (San Francisco, CA) has recently announced “Scrambling for Grace,” an exhibition of new work by Alex Kanevsky.
From the gallery:
Kanevsky’s paintings resound with a fluid, sensual energy. Bodies often appear suspended in space, fractured and glimmering, as they converge and intersect with their surroundings. Forms move through each other, as if all matter were malleable, even immaterial. Interiors pulsate as walls and floors bend and shift, while lush landscapes ripple and expand.
Even the quieter, more tonal settings that are typically inhabited by nudes teem with the energy of his exuberant marks and experiments with light. The works hold multitudes, capturing innumerable moments that overlap and spill over as they fill the canvas.
Alex Kanevsky, “Undine,” 2020, Oil on panel, 36 x 36 inches
The language of the paintings is wholly visual, Kanevsky observes; by resisting the verbal, they resist systems of order and meaning that rely on naming and schematic structures. The works can instead be understood as offering views of the world that are unfiltered and unhampered by our preconceptions. What we grasp is rather visual data in a state of flux, mirroring the vibrations of our eye, which must constantly move, albeit imperceptibly, in order to reconstruct a scene.
Alex Kanevsky, “Dinner with Dear Friend,” 2020, Oil on panel, 51 x 51 inches
The works reveal how things appear to us at the most basic level—they foreground sensory experiences and their visceral impact—rather than our ideas of those things. “Breakfast on the Grass” (2020) may initially fit our concept of the famed outdoor petit déjeuner, but it quickly pushes beyond these confines as we scan the painting, taking in unexpected, even enigmatic, shadows, forms, omissions, additions, and interactions.
As this and Kanevsky’s other works demonstrate, a translation between the visual and verbal can be effected, but much will be lost along the way. Close looking and attending to relationships between color, light, form, and motion, on the other hand, allow for fuller communion with the paintings.
Alex Kanevsky, “Breakfast on the Grass,” 2020, Oil on linen, 60 x 60 inches
If the subjects thwart our preconceptions—even the artist’s own—how, then, does Kanevsky choose what to paint? Why these images and not others? Just as the images confuse the brain’s attempts to make meaning, their selection, too, resists rationalization.
“I just try to respond sensitively and honestly to the images that my life throws at me. They all have something directly to do with my life,” Kanevsky explains. “What actually goes on in these pictures, their literal content, as it were, is beside the point. They mean something else, and that something can only be expressed in visual terms.”
Alex Kanevsky, “Lulu with Friend,” 2019, Oil on panel, 18 x 18 inches
Alex Kanevsky was born in 1963, in Rostov-na-Donu, Russia, and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, where he has also taught. He cites a range of influences, from Velásquez to Joseph Beuys, James Joyce to Cormac McCarthy, and Tarkovsky to Kaurismäki. His work has been included in exhibitions across North America and Europe, and can be found in the Achenbach Collection at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, among other collections. Kanevsky is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, including the Pew Fellowship for painting. Art in America, Harper’s Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Squarecylinder, among others, have featured his work. This will be his tenth solo exhibition at the Dolby Chadwick Gallery.
Alex Kanevsky, “J.H.,” 2020, Oil on panel, 36 x 36 inchesAlex Kanevsky, “Desk With Painting,” 2020, Oil on panel, 18 x 18 inches
For more information about “Alex Kanevsky: Scrambling for Grace,” please visit dolbychadwickgallery.com.
As part of our effort to continue to help artists and art galleries thrive, we’re proud to bring you this new “Virtual Gallery Walk.” Browse the paintings below and click the image itself to learn more about it, including how to contact the gallery.
Into the Cool by Jeanne Rosier Smith, Pastel, 8 x 16 in.; Anderson Fine Art Gallery
Golden Morning by William Hannum, Oil on Canvas, 30 x 36 in.; Rieser Fine Art
Maids in a Row by John Eiseman; Harford Plein Air Gallery Sale
Studying the Light v2 by Cheryl Elmo, Watercolor on Contemporary Mount, 18 x 24 in.; Bluestone Fine Art Gallery
Our Lives We Share by Dorian Vallejo (born 1968), Oil on panel, 32 x 27 in., Signed; Rehs Contemporary
The Milkmaid by Julien Dupré (1851-1910), Oil on canvas, 25.75 x 21.5 in., Signed; Rehs Galleries, Inc.
Jackson Horses by Jocelyn Sandor Urban, Oil on canvas, 90 in. x 102 in.; Vermont Artisan Designs
Wine Horse by David Crawford, Bronze, 19h x 29w x 6d in.; Bronze Coast Gallery
Inferno Series #9, print by Salvador Dalí, Color woodblock print on paper, 26 × 24 × 1 in.; Objets Trouvé
The Old Hunting Camp by Bernard Proulx, Acrylic on Canvas, 30 x 40 in.; Pasasha Art
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-serve and availability is limited.
Linda Besse, "Ice Bear," oil on panel, 22 x 36 in.
Founded by a group of renowned realist artists in 2002, the International Guild of Realism (IGOR) now represents the work of over 475 juried professional members from over 35 countries.
IGOR prides itself in selecting today’s finest realist artists through a jury committee. In addition to recognizing these artists, the organization seeks out exhibition opportunities, provides their members with professional assistance, and connects these artists with collectors through sanctioned gallery exhibitions.
Jette van der Lende, “Who Is the Real Dragon,” oil on panel, 16 x 16 in.Matthew Bird, “Blood Orange and Blue,” watercolor on paper, 30 x 17.5 in.Jeff George, “The Last Day of May,” colored pencil, 18 x 24 in.
Principle Gallery Charleston (South Carolina) is thrilled to host IGOR’s 15th annual exhibition, which will feature a blend of contemporary and classical realism and styles such as trompe l’oeil, magic realism, contemporary realism and photorealism. The exhibition will feature 111 artworks from 107 IGOR artists from around the world.
Anna Wypych, “Double Freedom,” oil on canvas, 27 x 39 in.
Please visit the Principle Gallery in Charleston anytime from October 2-31, 2020 to see the amazing work of this year’s winners. For more details, please visit www.principlegallery.com.
A New Day by Jill Banks
24 x 12 in.
Oil on linen-lined panel
$2300
Available from the artist
Capturing Life in Oils
After so many months of life on hold and canceled events, September brought fresh air, plein air opportunities and a good bit of the thrill of creating that makes Banks’ impressionistic art sparkle.
A New Day came to life over two days at a friend’s farm during Paint Great Falls (in Virginia), a friendly regional plein air competition sponsored by the Arts of Great Falls, through which Banks teaches regular classes. The organization devised innovative ways to ensure the competition could go forward with artists’ safety in mind.
Paint Great Falls was immediately followed by a more challenging excursion to Telluride Plein Air for the artist’s seventh time participating in this top-notch Colorado competition as a juried artist. She repeated her #1 Top Seller status from 2018 in this year’s event that had been postponed from its usual July 4th dates. See her work from Telluride Plein Air by clicking here.
There’s joy in A New Day and the paintings created in Telluride. Actually, there’s joy to be found in the rest of Banks’ paintings – she just had to dig deeper to find it during these more isolated times.
The artist says, “I’ve always had an appreciation for the magic in life but now that’s grown tenfold. Painting at the farm, I ducked into my car during a thunderstorm, marveling at the raindrops on the windshield, then the fog, then sun bursting through glistening on puddles … and finally this. I painted all those layers over many hours so it would be there, hidden evidence of time passing and hope arriving.”
Southwest Art chose Banks as one of the “Artists to Watch…The Editor’s Choice for Up-And-Coming Talent”. She is a recently elected Signature Member of American Women Artists (AWA), Women Artists of the West (WAOW) and the Washington Society of Landscape Painters (WSLP).
She also teaches hands-on online classes via Zoom through the Arts of Great Falls with the next sessions starting the first week in October. She was selected as one of the Top 8 Painting and Drawing Teachers in the Metro DC area by Expertise.com. Get more info on class offerings here.
To view more of Jill’s artwork and events schedule, visit www.JillBanks.com. The painting A New Day may be found here and seen at Jill’s studio/gallery at the Artists’ Atelier, 756 Walker Road, Great Falls, Virginia, by appointment via email: [email protected] or phone: 703.403.7435.
Join the adventure with her. See her website to sign up for her newsletter for her latest paintings, news, tales and fun.
Ann Moeller Steverson, "Mariposa," oil, 36 x 21 in.
Congratulations to Ann Moeller Steverson (annmoellerstudios.com), whose work has been recognized in the PleinAir Salon, a monthly art competition with many categories in which to enter your art.
Steverson’s figurative painting “Mariposa” (shown above) won in the Best Oil category in the February/March 2020 round of the PleinAir Salon.
Ann Moeller Steverson on “Mariposa”:
I find in creating an ambitious piece, it is essential to really love your subject, and there is nothing I love more in this world than my two daughters. I enjoy the opportunity to play in costumes that feel like they are from another time, and so we had a photoshoot playtime in the upstairs storage room of my studio.
The setting lent itself to an “upstairs attic playing in stored antique clothes” narrative. I chose the images of them that best seemed to capture each of their personalities – my oldest daughter’s serious nature, and my youngest’s irrepressible energy shown in the upwards curl of her toes.
Details such as the butterflies, moths and oval window were added to enhance the composition and story. Some of the moths and butterflies are intentionally hard to see and offer the viewer an Easter egg for looking closely.
The painting was created on a special matt textured copper panel, which allowed for a lovely warmth and very fine detail. The panel’s smoothness benefited the creation of the tiny interwoven knit dress, which took many weeks to paint. I loved playing with the intricate light-dark pattern of small shapes while keeping an awareness of the overall gradients. For the background texture of the painting I used mineral spirits over oil thinned paint reticulation on the copper. I rolled over the wet solvent and wet paint layers with a rubber brayer to aid the background’s aged and ethereal effect.
I originally painted “Mariposa” as an entry for the Portrait Society of America in 2018, and it was not chosen. It is one of my favorite pieces I have ever created, which is why I chose to enter it for the Plein Air Salon and I am delighted that it was as a finalist for the Plein Air Salon and ARC. It reminds me of how subjective competitions can be, and it is best not to get discouraged if you believe in your work.
Join Us for the FIRST EVER ONLINE PleinAir Salon Art Competition Awards Ceremony
Discover who wins the $15,000 Grand Prize and the cover of PleinAir Magazine.
Watch us award $30,000 in prize money and see the best painters of the year live.
The September competition is open and is accepting entries until midnight on September 30, 2020. Helena Fox, owner of Helena Fox Gallery, is the September judge.
Ardith Starostka (b. 1962), "Repose," 2009, oil on linen mounted on panel, 11 x 14 in., available from 33 Contemporary Gallery (Chicago)
“Shelter” is an online only exhibition of paintings available via artsy.net/33-contemporary, through December 31, 2020.
Curated by Dr. Samuel Peralta, “Shelter” is the latest online group exhibition from Chicago’s 33 Contemporary Gallery. Its artworks explore objects, places, or memories that — in these troubling times — offer the artist (and hopefully viewers) a measure of tranquility, solace, and safe harbor from the storm.
A. Zanetti, “Quietude,” 2020, oil on canvas, 30 x 24 in.Ardith Starostka, “Inner Solace,” 2005, oil, 18 x 22 in.Barbara Fox, “Words of Love Kept Her Safe,” 2020, oil on linen, 6 x 6 in.Holly Bedrosian, “Reticent,” 2009, colored pencil, 20 x 28 in.Maria Jimenez, “Synchronize,” 2019, oil, 5 x 5 in.Amanda Greive, “Dreaming to Drowning,” 2020, oil on wood panel, 14 x 22 in.Alessandro Tomassetti, “Pale Shelter,” 2020, oil on linen, 42 x 17.5 in.Nicole Woodruff, “Comfort,” 2020, oil on panel, 16 x 20 in.
“All of us are living today in a shared experience that is unprecedented in living memory – a pandemic that arrived suddenly, almost without warning, a pandemic so pervasive that its influence touches everyone we know, everything we do, everywhere we go,” Dr. Peralta said. “Sometimes we feel like there is no escape, no respite. They tell us to distance ourselves from each other, from what makes us human, to shelter in place.
“And yet in those words there is the key to survival, far more than just physical survival. There is the one place that we can go, where we can remain ourselves, continue with the lives we’ve made. It is a place of safety that we conjure for ourselves – a quietude bounded by walls or disinfectant, or circumscribed by the arms of a child, or in the words of a prayer. For each one of us it is different, but for all of us it is the center of our quiet, our calm in the eye of the hurricane, our shelter.
We are looking in this call for your interpretation of that object or place or memory that in these times offers safe harbor from the storm, offers tranquility, comfort, solace. Shelter.”
Artist, writer, and curator John Seed believes we are “the most distracted society in the history of the world.” That’s one reason he created “Disrupted Realism: Paintings for a Distracted World” (Schiffer Publishing), the first book to survey 38 living artists who distort traditional realism to reflect the fragmentation of modern life.
During interviews with these talents, Seed learned that all of them share the need to include perception and emotion in their process.
The book contains 190 images, runs 208 pages, and has six thematic sections:
– Toward Abstraction
– Disrupted Bodies
– Emotions and Identities
– Myths and Visions
– Patterns, Planes, and Formations
– Between Painting and Photography.
Fine Art Today covers artists and products we think you’ll love. Linked products are independently selected and linked to for your convenience. If you buy something using a link on this page, Streamline Publishing may receive a small share of that sale.
Portrait of Oonagh Guinness (1910-1995), the Anglo-Irish socialite, society hostess and art collector, by Philip de László (Austro-Hungarian/U.K., 1869-1937) ($324,500).
An oil on canvas portrait painting of Anglo-Irish socialite, society hostess and art collector Oonagh Guinness (1910-1995), by Philip de László (Austro-Hungarian/U.K., 1869-1937), soared to $324,500 at a two-session auction held September 12th and 13th by Ahlers & Ogletree, live in the Atlanta showroom as well as online. The whereabouts of the portrait painting had been a topic of conjecture for years, and when it suddenly turned up in Atlanta, bidders pounced. It had a pre-sale estimate of $30,000-$60,000.
The painting, officially titled “The Honourable Mrs. Philip Leyland Kindersley, nee Oonagh Guinness, later Lady Oranmore and Browne,” was the centerpiece lot in an auction that featured items from the spectacular Atlanta estate home known as White Oaks, a fine mansion residence brimming with superb decorative arts from high-end retailers and world-class auctions.
The oil rendering was a ¾ length portrait depicting one of the three “Golden Guinness Girls” and the daughter of Arthur Ernest Guinness (1876-1949), an engineer and the second son of brewing magnate Edward Guinness (1847-1927), a prominent businessman and philanthropist who, as head of the family’s eponymous brewing business, rose to become the wealthiest man in Ireland.
Ms. Guinness was shown seated and wearing a white chiffon dress with green sash and holding a wide brimmed hat. Bidders pushed the 1931 work, measuring 52 ½ inches by 39 inches (sight, less frame), well past its $30,000-$60,000 estimate.
Philip de László was an artist known for his portraits of royal and aristocratic personages. In 1900, he married into the Guinness family himself by wedding Lucy Guinness and he became a British subject in 1914. The painting of Oonagh Guinness brought the second highest sum ever seen at auction for the artist. Another piece sold in December 2019 at Christie’s in London for about $350,000.
The White Oaks estate was filled with fine decorative arts from names like Steuben, Baccarat, Hermes, Christofle, Tiffany & Company, Lalique, Ralph Lauren Collection, Buccellati, Moser, Fornasetti and Asprey; as well as fine antiques from the Doris Duke Collection, acquired from around the world and previously sold at Christies. Most brought robust prices in the auction.
Following are additional highlights from the auction, which grossed $1,580,210, including the buyer’s premium. All of the 769 lots found new owners. More than 600 absentee and phone bids were executed and over 9,100 online bids were placed across four platforms.
A pair of Chinese Ming dynasty (1368-1644) tileworks of Buddhist lions, from the Doris Duke estate, brought $37,200. The ochre, turquoise and aubergine glazed tileworks, each one 53 inches tall, depicted seated Buddhist lion figures on stands. Also, a pair of large Chinese Tang dynasty (618-907 AD) polychrome painted pottery horse figures in prancing stance, 21 ¼ inches tall on a 1 ½ inch base, sold as one lot for $12,400.
Monumental pair of Chinese Ming dynasty (1368-1644) tileworks of Buddhist lions, from the Doris Duke estate, 53 inches tall ($37,200).
An exquisite 20th century Buccellati sterling figure of a bird of prey perched on a naturalistic stump, 28 inches tall and marked to the back of the tailfeather with maker’s mark, fetched $27,225. Also, an oil on canvas still life painting of sliced fruit by Peter Von Artens (Argentina, 1937-2003), titled Melons, depicting watermelons, honeydew and cantaloupe, about 40 inches by 42 inches (sight, less frame), brought $18,150.
Exquisite 28-inch-tall 20th century Buccellati sterling figure of a bird of prey perched on a naturalistic stump, marked to the back of the tailfeather with the maker’s mark ($27,225).Oil on canvas still life painting of sliced fruit by Peter Von Artens (Argentina, 1937-2003), titled Melons, depicting watermelons, honeydew and cantaloupe, 40 inches by 42 inches ($18,150).
Staying with the fine art category, an oil on canvas inland ocean view painting with sailboats, signed by Pierre Bittar (American/French, b. 1934), titled “Vue Sur St. Jean Cap-Ferrat (View of St. Jean Cap-Ferrat),” gaveled for $8,060; while an oil on canvas Impressionist work depicting two people working in the foreground and boats sailing in the background by Gaston Sebire (French, 1920-2001), titled French Tropical Landscape, rose to $5,445.
Oil on canvas inland ocean view painting with sailboats, signed by Pierre Bittar (American/French, b. 1934), titled “Vue Sur St. Jean Cap-Ferrat” ($8,060).Oil on canvas Impressionist work depicting two people working in the foreground and boats sailing in the background, by Gaston Sebire (French, 1920-2001) ($5,445).
A late 20th century genuine alligator upholstered wingback chair by Ralph Lauren with brass nailhead details and a loose cushion, rising on square legs, reportedly from Ralph Lauren’s private collection, went for $22,320. Also, an 18th century pair of English Queen Anne pier mirrors (or looking glasses), having giltwood shell carved tops with a floral etched two-part plate, unmarked, 59 ¾ inches tall by 23 inches wide, hit $11,780.
A complete six-volume set of Winston Churchill’s “The Second World War,” first British editions (London: Cassell & Co., Ltd., 1948-1954), having leather hardcovers with black cloth bindings, hand-signed to Volume 1 “Winston Churchill,” finished at $15,730. Also, a large Elkington & Co., Ltd. (English, 1861-1963) sterling silver wine cistern (or cooler) having double handles decorated with lions and a chased grape motif rim, made in 1904, about 13 inches tall and weighing a total of 106.161 ozt., changed hands for $11,800.
Ahlers & Ogletree is a multi-faceted, family-owned business that spans the antiques, estate sale, wholesale, liquidation, auction and related industries. To learn more about Ahlers & Ogletree and the firm’s calendar of upcoming auctions, please visit www.AandOauctions.com.
As part of our effort to continue to help artists and art galleries thrive, we’re proud to bring you this new “Virtual Gallery Walk.” Browse the paintings below and click the image itself to learn more about it, including how to contact the gallery.
Waning Light St. Simons Island by Roger Dale Brown, Oil, 22 x 40 in.; Anderson Fine Art Gallery
Lifting Fog, Monterey Harbor by Michael Obermeyer, Oil on Canvas Board, 14 x 11 in.; Rieser Fine Art
St. Ignatius Church in Morning Sun by Bruno Baran; Harford Plein Air Gallery Sale
Three Sisters by Deborah Moss Marris, Oil on Canvas, 11 x 14 in.; Bluestone Fine Art Gallery
Entangled by Alexandra Manukyan (born 1963), Oil on canvas, 12 x 24 in. Signed; Rehs Contemporary
Snowy Day by Johann Berthelsen (1883-1972), Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in., Signed, also signed, titled, and inscribed on the reverse; Rehs Galleries, Inc.
Lake Warren, September Morning by Kate Beetle, Oil on Linen, 18 x 24 in., 21 x 27 in. framed; Vermont Artisan Designs
Anchored at Port Salerno by Maria Marino, Pastel, 12 x 24 in.; The Artful Deposit
Replenish by Kristina Boardman, Acrylic, 24 x 48 in.; Bronze Coast Gallery
Velasquez by Salvador Dalí, Black ink on eggshell colored paper, 15 1/2 × 12 1/2 × 1 in.; Objets Trouvé
In the Appalachian Mountains by Stefan Horik, Oil on canvas, 48 x 12 in.; Pasasha Art
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-serve and availability is limited.
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An exquisite 20th century Buccellati sterling figure of a bird of prey perched on a naturalistic stump, 28 inches tall and marked to the back of the tailfeather with maker’s mark, fetched $27,225. Also, an oil on canvas still life painting of sliced fruit by Peter Von Artens (Argentina, 1937-2003), titled Melons, depicting watermelons, honeydew and cantaloupe, about 40 inches by 42 inches (sight, less frame), brought $18,150.
