Cesar Santos Solo Show: Pages

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December 4, 2019

Contemporary Figurative Art - Cesar Santos paintings — Cesar Santos, “The Painter,” oil, 12 x 9 in.

“The process is just as important as the completed painting.” On December 7, Maxwell Alexander Gallery will host “Pages,” the second Los Angeles solo exhibition for Cuban-American artist Cesar Santos.

More from the gallery:

In the “Pages” solo exhibit, Santos shares the creative process or, as he states, “the building blocks of art.” And in a way, he answers one of the most common questions from collectors and art enthusiasts: “When do you know when a painting is finished?” In these new works, Santos shows us his process from start to finish all in one picture.

His typical process of sketching out a painting or idea in his sketchbook then leads to him doing the same in charcoal on linen, then using a fixative to secure the drawing. Next the oil paint completely covers all evidence of the expressionistic strokes to show a detailed rendered painting. Santos looks to highlight each aspect of the process that he loves so much, from the drawing underneath to the notations scribbled on the side of the page. Some of the paintings, when viewed on their back, show additional notes and sketches. The framed works have been left open on the reverse side for this purpose.

In the work “Domesticated,” Santos shows a man in profile stretching an arm overhead. The torso, head, and arm are fully rendered in oil paint, while the lower half of the figure is a black-and-white drawing simply drawn in charcoal. The artist knows exactly where to stop. There is just enough color and information for the mind to finish out the colors and detail the artist has intentionally left out.

“It definitely creates the potential for a lot of imagination. Your mind can run free. Your interpretation will be based on your subconscious, and while there are hints to what’s going on, there’s enough there to still think about.”

Join us in our downtown Los Angeles gallery on December 7 from 6 to 8 p.m. for the opening reception of “Pages” by Cesar Santos. The exhibit will feature 20 new works, the majority in a smaller sketchbook format, ranging from full graphite drawings to completed oils and everything in-between. The artist will be in attendance. More details at www.maxwellalexandergallery.com.

Cesar Santos: Secrets of Figure Drawing (19 hours, 45 minutes)

Cesar Santos: Secrets of Figure Painting (16.5 hours)

Cesar Santos: Secrets of Portrait Painting (19 hours)

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Richard Galusha Retrospective: An Artist’s Journey

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Fine Art Today

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December 4, 2019

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Richard Galusha paintings — Featured paintings by Richard Galusha

“Richard Galusha Retrospective: An Artist’s Journey” opens December 6 at the Steamboat Art Museum (Steamboat Springs, Colorado).

From the Museum:

Growing up on a ranch in West Texas, Richard developed a love for drawing horses at an early age. He proceeded on to create an esteemed career as an artist, an educator, gallery owner, and museum founder and is a signature member in the Oil Painters of America and the Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters. Featured in this exhibit are many plein air paintings from his world travels with his patron and friend over a twelve-year period. He uses bold color with an impressionistic style to portray the landscapes and western history of the Yampa Valley, northwestern Colorado, and the Little Snake River Valley.

In addition, the Cole Verploeg Youth Gallery will feature portraits he painted in various media of his students during his 20-year teaching career in Steamboat at the high school during the day and Colorado Mountain College in the evenings. Included will be the work of his former students who have built creative careers of their own. This exhibit will be a testimony to the importance and contributions of strong art programs, educators, and cultural offerings to rural areas everywhere.

“I’m excited to see a body of my work spanning the last 35 years shown at the Steamboat Art Museum, a very special place for me. It has been an incredible journey, and I’ve had the opportunity to travel and meet interesting people from all over the world. I’m also proud to exhibit my former students’ work alongside mine.” —Richard Galusha

The exhibit will be featured at the Steamboat Art Museum December 6, 2019 – April 11, 2020. A portion of the exhibit will travel to the Center for Contemporary Arts in Abilene, Texas, for the month of May 2020, before returning to its permanent home at the Eastland Community Foundation in Eastland, Texas.

Related Events:
Members’ Preview with the Artist: December 6, 2019, 4:00 – 5:00 pm
Opening Reception with the Artist: December 6, 2019, 5:00 – 8:00 pm
Celebration Dinner with the Artist: February 1, 2020, 6:00 – 10:00 pm
Presentation with Richard Galusha “An Artist’s Journey”: March 14, 2020, 5:00 – 6:30 pm

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Spotlight on Contemporary Artist Leah Yerpe

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Fine Art Today

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December 3, 2019

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Figurative art drawings — Detail of "Cradle" by Leah Yerpe

Contemporary artists and figurative art > Leah Yerpe puts her signature spin on clusters of figures in aerial interconnectivity.

By Allison Malafronte

LEAH YERPE (b. 1985, leahyerpe.com) may not be the first artist to arrange clusters of figures in aerial interconnectivity, but she is the first to put a signature spin on the subject: her black-and-white charcoal drawings are highly detailed, large-scale — some standing as tall as 13 feet — compositions that move with monumental grace, energy, and lyricism.

Contemporary figurative art - Leah Yerpe — “Corvus,” charcoal on paper, 72×72 inches, 2013

This New York-based artist’s works are not necessarily literal but rather symbolic of social and psychological human conditions. Some are tangled in unruly cycles of unconscious thought, while others seem to be captured in moments of deep calm and contemplation.

Most of the figures Yerpe portrays are holding on to others, insinuating either collaboration or complicity in their cycle of emotions. Ironically, often the people they are fighting against, or clinging to, are themselves. We see this in “Sickle,” for instance, where a young man is working both with and against himself as he tumbles down and reaches up in equal turns of determination and defeat. The reality of the situation is open to interpretation.

“I want there to be as many meanings in my drawings as there are viewers,” Yerpe shares, “which is why the action and setting are purposefully left ambiguous. Even the mood changes depending on the viewer’s state of mind. But the people are not ambiguous. These are not timeless angels or avatars; they are real, individual people you could encounter on the street or at the mall. They are people you can relate to (if you care to), but you can never really know what is going on inside their heads. I’m convinced most of us can barely understand what’s going on inside our own heads!”

While the artist leaves the background intentionally stark and blank, her figures are created with hyper-realistic detail, defined dimension, and with such sharp clarity and resolution they could be mistaken for digital imagery. Yerpe has earned her technical ability in realistic drawing and painting through many years of practice and study, which includes a B.F.A. from the State University of New York Fredonia and an M.F.A. from Pratt Institute (New York City).

Yerpe is represented by Anna Zorina Gallery (New York City).

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Christine Lafuente: Looking Into Water

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Fine Art Today

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December 3, 2019

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Christine Lafuente, “Zinnias, Ranunculus, and Pears,” oil in linen, 16 x 20 in.

Morpeth Contemporary recently announced the exhibition “Looking Into Water,” a new body of seascape and still life oil paintings by Christine Lafuente. The exhibition, which explores how painting seascapes has influenced her shimmering floral arrangements, celebrates the gallery’s 20-year working relationship with Lafuente.

Christine Lafuente, “Iris, Pansies, and Buttercup,” oil on linen, 16 x 12 in.

In her paintings of harbors, rocky coasts, and the islands of Acadia, light plays through varying atmospheres of fogs, mists, and clear sunny days. “Looking into water changes how I see nature. It becomes abstracted and mysterious, as in the way form falls apart and coalesces again in a reflection on the water. As I begin to express this transformation in paint, I also seek to recreate this visual experience in my still life compositions. Inside a glass water-filled vase is a microcosm of how the world reveals itself in paint.”

Lafuente’s painterly still life works give us fields of atmosphere punctuated by jewels of chromatic light. Flowers, bottles, teacups, and cherries all reflect in her tabletop, merging together a world of the known and the ephemeral in the sensuous medium of oil paint.

Christine Lafuente, “Rocky Point on the Sound,” oil on linen, 14 x 14 in.

Lafuente grew up in Poughkeepsie, NY, and was influenced by the Hudson River School of painting at a young age. She holds an A.B. in English from Bryn Mawr College, a certificate in painting from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and an M.F.A. in painting from Brooklyn College. An award-winning artist, Lafuente has received an Adolf and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Grant, been included in the Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and most recently received a Medal for Achievement in Visual Arts from the Philadelphia Sketch Club. Her work is part of many public and private collections. She has exhibited in New York, London, and extensively along the east coast. Lafuente lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Learn more at www.morpethcontemporary.com.

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William Schneider Receives Pastel Painters of Cape Cod Award

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Fine Art Today

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December 3, 2019

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William A. Schneider’s pastel painting “In Old El Paso” received the Pastel Painters of Cape Cod Award in the 11th annual national juried exhibition, “It’s Pastel” sponsored by the Pastel Society of New Hampshire. The juror of awards was noted pastelist Jacob Aguiar.

“I attended an open studio session at my friend’s studio in Wisconsin,” commented Schneider. “The attractive young Hispanic model who posed that evening inspired this painting. I named this piece after the border town of El Paso, Texas, where I was born. Her demure expression seemed to belong in an earlier era.”

Recently, Schneider led a painting demonstration at the Figurative Art Convention & Expo (to be held next in Baltimore, Maryland, October 29–November 1, 2020).

William Schneider - Figurative Art Convention — William Schneider leading a pastel painting demo at FACE

Schneider also has a variety of painting workshops available through Liliedahl Art Video. Preview them and learn more about the pastel painting workshops here.

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Among the Trees: Bridgette Meinhold

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Fine Art Today

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December 3, 2019

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Bridgette Meinhold, “Among the Trees,” 38 x 60 in.

Continuing her investigation of the ethereal nature of the environment, Bridgette Meinhold’s new show “Among the Trees” at Gallery MAR (Park City, Utah) explores and celebrates the nature of forests and beauty of trees. Inspired by the Mary Oliver poem “When I Am Among The Trees,” Meinhold’s new work expresses her love for the natural world and how we can gain a better understanding of life through the wisdom of trees.

Bridgette Meinhold, “Goodness and Light,” 47 x 60 in.

More from the gallery:

By slowing down, with appreciation, and simplicity, we too can find our innate goodness within and share that with the world. These new encaustic paintings explore our relationship with the trees in our mountain landscapes. Nestled in an A-frame on Empire Mountain, Meinhold lives and works on her encaustic paintings amongst the trees. Beeswax and resin are the main components of her dreamy process to create stunning masterpieces. The whimsical mountain landscape comes to life in the form of a powder-base milk paint, tucked between layers of wax, encased and preserved forever, just like the perfect day on the mountain is etched in memory.

Bridgette Meinhold, “Stay Awhile,” 30 x 30 in.

Meinhold is an active proponent of open space preservation and protection of wild spaces as well as being an avid skier, mountain biker, climber, and hiker. Her time spent outdoors and her love of nature directly translate into her atmospheric landscape paintings.

Invoking “Think globally, act locally” and concerned with the ever increasing threats of climate change, Meinhold and Gallery MAR will be donating to a local tree-planting organization, TreeUtah, to sponsor the planting of new trees in the regions around Park City, Utah.

Bridgette Meinhold art studio tour — Meinhold studio tour. Image courtesy Gallery MAR

For more information, visit gallerymar.com.

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Featured Artwork: Monique Carr

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Fine Art Today

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November 30, 2019

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Grandiose
24 x 24 in.
Oil on Cradled panel
$2500
Available at Horizon Fine Art Gallery, 30 King St., Jackson Hole, WY 83001, 307.739.1540

Monique expresses “My contemporary landscape paintings are a fusion of experience, experiment and emotion. Instead of painting what I see with my eyes, I want to depict my own interpretation of a scene with my soul. I want to capture the mystery and the beauty of nature. Simultaneously, I’m thinking about composition, harmony, colors, movement, and texture. Atmospheric effects are another wonderful way to create a sense of drama with calm and mystery, which appeals to me.”

This above painting is a part of a series that you can view at Horizon Fine Art.

After growing up in Montreal, Canada and spending 10 years in the Cayman Islands, Monique and her husband made East Tennessee home in 1999. Monique worked as a graphic artist for over 20 years prior to becoming a full-time fine artist. Ever evaluating and evolving her style, Monique has continued throughout her professional career to study under many well-known artists, including Guido Frick, Kim English, Peggy Root, Kathy Odom, Aimone Art School. The style that emerges in Monique’s work is out of the ordinary. It bursts with energy with its vibrant colors, constant movement and intriguing texture. She likes to experiment, try different mediums and substrates, and embraces the new discoveries. Also, you will find that each of her paintings holds a small exclamation mark — it’s her trademark! The playfulness of finding this solitary mark invites audiences to slow down and re-enter that space as they have to find this well hidden exclamation mark (kind of finding Waldo!). Monique also teaches several workshops each year.

View Monique’s work on her website.
Sign up for her e-newsletter.
Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

Gallery Representation:
Alta Vista Gallery, Valle Crucis, NC
Dare Gallery, Charleston, SC
Horizon Fine Art Gallery, Jackson Hole, WY
Sandpiper Gallery, Sullivan’s Island, SC

Featured Artwork: Kadin Goldberg presented by the Grand Canyon Celebration of Art

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Fine Art Today

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November 30, 2019

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Wind Sail by Kadin Goldberg
45 x 48 in.
Oil on wood panel

In honor of the 100 year anniversary of Grand Canyon National Park, this year’s Grand Canyon Celebration of Art has recognized the achievements of 27 artists who have successfully interpreted the canyon, both in plein air and studio work.

During Plein Air at Grand Canyon from September 7th through September 14th, the artists painted along the north and south rims of Grand Canyon, where visitors could observe and interact with the artists. The work they created along with their studio work will be exhibited at Kolb Studio in Grand Canyon Village through January 20th, 2020.

Following in the footsteps of the many artists that have painted the Grand Canyon over the past 160 years, this year’s Celebration of Art artists faced
the challenges that capturing the Canyon on canvas presents. Its vastness, ever shifting light and shadows, and unique perspective of looking down has frustrated many an artist. Windy conditions this year added another dimension to those challenges.

Kadin Goldberg is a Montana artist who participated for the first time in this
year’s Celebration of Art. Goldberg has won numerous awards for his paintings, including including First Place in the 2018 Emerging Artist Category at Art Muse Contest Online, First Place (2017) and Second Place (2018) in the Rocky Mountain Juried Exhibition in Red Lodge, MT as well as Third Place in the Borrego Springs Plein Air Invitational. He travels the west in his vintage camper, attending plein air events and exploring the landscape. Of his studio painting
for this year’s CoA, “Wind Sail” Goldberg says:

“It is through the massive formations at the Grand Canyon that the vastness of a void can be fully realized. The space between formations has an overwhelming power to inspire. While this piece is a depiction of the canyon itself, it is also a painting of the air that the canyon encompasses. This feeling of space is reminds us of our place in the infinite universe.”

To see more of Goldberg’s and the other CoA participating artists’ work visit: https://www.grandcanyon.org/get-involved/events/celebration-of-art-2019/

For more information contact Kathy Duley at [email protected] or
480-277-0458.

Featured Artwork: Chantel Lynn Barber

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Fine Art Today

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November 26, 2019

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Her Hands
14 x 11 in.
acrylic on panel
Available thru Richland Fine Art, Nashville, Tennessee
615.292.2781

Chantel’s passion for art began flourishing at age 11 when she was mentored under local San Diego artists. She continued to study art, largely self-taught, while living in Newport, Rhode Island and Keflavik, Iceland and El Paso, Texas. While enrolled in a college art course, a fellow student introduced her to acrylic paints, and she soon fell in love with the medium but found it to be dominated by abstract art. Her first love was portraiture for which she found little advice. As she dreamed of perfecting her skills as an acrylic portrait artist, Chantel continued to learn from professional oil painters and translated their teachings into acrylic techniques.

In 2006, Chantel opened her own art business called Chantel’s Originals near Memphis Tennessee. She benefited from workshops and demonstrations with outstanding artists including Dawn Whitelaw, Rose Frantzen, and Marc Hanson. Chantel is a Signature Member of the International Society of Acrylic Painters (ISAP), and is also a member of the Portrait Society of America (PSoA), the National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society (NOAPS) and the Chestnut Group. She served as the National Coordinator of the State Ambassador program for the PSoA and past President of Artists’ Link in Memphis, Tennessee.

Chantel has been featured in solo art shows and juried exhibitions. Her award winning paintings are in private and public collections throughout the United States and overseas. Her work is published in Acrylic Artist magazine, American Art Collector, Southwest Art, The Artist’s Magazine, Fine Art Connoisseur, International Artist Magazine and several books.

Chantel resides in Bartlett, Tennessee where she creates and teaches private workshops in her studio. In addition, she teaches workshops throughout the United States and Canada.To see more of Chantel’s work, sign up for her newsletter at chantellynnbarber.com.

Robert Schefman: Secrets

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Fine Art Today

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November 25, 2019

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Robert Schefman, “The Birds are the Keepers of Our Secrets,” 2019, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 in.

In his first solo exhibition with David Klein Gallery, Robert Schefman presents his recent series of paintings and drawings exploring the hidden world of secrets.

Robert Schefman: Secrets
Through December 21, 2019
David Klein Gallery (www.dkgallery.com)
Detroit, Michigan

Robert Schefman, “Secrets,” 2016, oil on canvas, 44 x 30 in.

More from the gallery:

Using social media as a device to reach a large audience, Schefman posted a request asking followers to send him one personal secret that he could use as a subject or an element in his paintings. The response was immediate and revealing. More than one hundred anonymous secrets were sent through the internet or by mail to the artist’s post office box.

Using the private information gathered from strangers’ letters as a point from which to investigate the conceptual nature of secrets, Schefman explored the specific responses and began to develop the ideas for this series over the course of several years. Many of the pieces in the “Secrets” exhibition refer directly to the actual secrets touchingly revealed in the anonymous letters or messages received by the artist. Additionally poignant were the descriptions of relief or catharsis brought on by confessing personal baggage, often for the first time.

Robert Schefman, “In Love with My Best Friend,” 2019, oil on canvas, 72 x 56 in.

“The secrets I collected were stories about the most private thoughts and experiences of people’s lives: love and relationships, addictions and compulsions, fears and shame. They wrote about events and decisions that brought on life’s emotional highlights and regrets. Some secrets were unique but most merged into groups that pointed to how much we all have in common. I think I expected the greatest number of secrets to be about hidden relationships and infidelities but was surprised to find that most of the secrets centered around depression.” — Robert Schefman, 2019

Schefman employs the practice of illusionist narrative paintings to define a corner of the world that seems visually familiar and yet no place the viewer has been before. It’s a place where the observer can read the elements for content and be drawn into the visual illusion of object, space, and form. Trained as a sculptor, his early career was focused on producing large-scale minimalist steel sculpture. Later on, seeking to build a narrative within his work, he turned to painting, both in watercolor and oil on canvas, developing the remarkable technique and the compelling content he is known for today.

Robert Schefman, “On the Edge of the Moon,” 2019, oil on canvas, 78 x 120 in.

Born and raised in Detroit, Robert Schefman earned a BFA in sculpture from Michigan State University and an MFA in sculpture from the University of Iowa. He lived and worked in New York City for fourteen years, returning to the Detroit area in 1990. His work has been included in exhibitions at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI; The Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN; Oakland University Art Gallery, Rochester, MI; Midland Center for the Arts, Midland, MI; The Krasl Art Center, St. Joseph, MI; Manifest Research Gallery, Cincinnati, OH; Foley Square/ Federal Plaza, New York City; the Brooklyn Army Terminal, New York City; Ward’s Island, New York City; and United Nations Plaza, New York City. Grants awarded include the Pollack-Krasner Foundation, the Bernard Maas Foundation, the Arts Foundation of Michigan, and the State of Michigan Creative Artist Grant.

Schefman’s drawings, paintings, and sculptures are in multiple private and public collections, including the Eli and Edythe Broad Museum of Art, East Lansing, MI; the Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC; the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI; the Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL; Wayne State University, Detroit, MI; Thomas M. Cooley Law School, Lansing, MI; and the University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA.

“Secrets, silent, stony sit in the dark palaces of both our hearts: secrets weary of their tyranny: tyrants willing to be dethroned.” — James Joyce