2018 SLOPOKE Annual Fine Art Show a Success

By

-

October 28, 2018

Fine art show - SLOPOKE — SLOPOKE 2018 was staged inside a 24,000-square-foot riding arena at Flag Is Up Farms

The SLOPOKE annual fine art show and sale of contemporary art of the West was presented for the first time in Solvang in the Santa Ynez Valley, near Santa Barbara in early October at Flag Is Up Farms, a ranch owned and operated by Monty and Pat Roberts.

Meant to replace the well-respected Peppertree Art Show last held a decade ago, it attracted a crowd of art collectors and art aficionados who purchased paintings and sculpture from nearly 40 percent of the 31 participating artists.

A fine-art live auction, conducted by auctioneer Jim Glines, sold original paintings by Channing Peake and Don Weller, raising funds for Join-Up International. This charity provides free Horse Sense and Healing Workshops to help veterans and first responders with post-traumatic stress injuries build resilience and coping skills.

Renowned Central Coast musical artist and Flamenco guitarist Jon Stephen played original compositions throughout the weekend event. Opolo Vineyards served wine, and California Tacos offered tasty meal selections at noon. Each of these extras is an art in themselves. Attendees were very positive about the venue, with one stating, “When I buy Western art, I want to smell the hay and the horses.” Flag Is Up Farms definitely provides the right atmosphere.

A Friday evening Artist Reception, attended by local dignitaries and ticket holders, honored the juried selection of 31 exceptional artists (from over 400 invited to apply), who came from as far away as Austin, TX, and Colville, WA, to participate in the SLOPOKE. The artists — 7 sculptors, 23 painters, and 1 photographer — are extremely talented and well recognized within their markets. Choosing award winners was a challenging task.

With famed Los Angeles artist Gayle Garner Roski as jurist, awards were made to:
• Nancy Davidson of Santa Barbara for her oil painting “Waiting Again” as Best Painting
• Vic Riesau of Temple City, CA, Best Sculpture for “One Ornery Cuss”
• Thomas Blackshear, II of Colorado Springs, CO, Best of Show for his mixed media painting “Sun Hawk”
• Ezra Tucker of Monument, CO, Artist Choice Award

Mark your calendar now for SLOPOKE 2019, which is scheduled for September 27–29, 2019, with a similar format and cadre of exceptional artists. SLOPOKE Events, part of ENTREPRISE, LLC, is owner of this public art show. ENTREPRISE, LLC, also encompasses Seaside Gallery, a fine art gallery located in Pismo Beach, CA, featuring multiple artists with a variety of styles, and Digimagination, providing imaging and advertising services to a broad range of customers.

Sign up to receive Fine Art Today, the free weekly e-newsletter from
Fine Art Connoisseur magazine.

Earth, Land, Property

By

Fine Art Today

-

October 27, 2018

0

Fine art landscape paintings — "NY Harbor" by David Leonard

Davis Gallery is pleased to present “Earth, Land, Property.” This five-person exhibit features work by Nicholas Baxter, Julie Davis, David Leonard, Garrett Middaugh, and Jason Webb, and examines the human perspective of land. This show intends to question our place in nature and how we’ve chosen to use our land. Each of the five artists’ work will represent a specific “locale” on the spectrum between natural land and dense metropolis.

Garrett Middaugh’s oil paintings of expansive vistas and intimate portrait-like studies of trees represent our first station; land undisturbed by human development. His paintings observe land that feels reserved only for the most basic elements of nature.

Next, Julie Davis explores the space just outside our town centers. Her plein air paintings imply a delicate harmony between man and nature. In some of her work, fields are plowed or simple homes are seen in the distance. In other paintings, Davis illustrates nature steadily reclaiming old shuttered shacks.

Closer to our cities, Nicholas Baxter depicts forgotten structures that seem to exist in a time after humans. His plein air paintings of bridges, concrete river channels, and old storefronts emphasize our fleeting impact on our Earth.

Similarly, Jason Webb’s “discard pile” paintings directly isolate the mark humanity can make. Mounds of rubbish found around Austin on trash day reveal our excess, just before it is hauled to a place out of our sight.

Our final “locale” is represented by David Leonard’s powerful cityscapes (featured at top). The density of Leonard’s panoramic paintings gives a sense of the extraordinary size of some our country’s largest cities. Oftentimes, natural elements are featured alongside these sweeping metropolises, as if to accent their range.

“Earth, Land, Property” is on view at Davis Gallery (Austin, Texas) through December 1, 2018.

Sign up to receive Fine Art Today, the free weekly e-newsletter from
Fine Art Connoisseur magazine.

Eye to I: Self-Portraits from 1900 to Today

By

Fine Art Today

-

October 26, 2018

0

Fine art self-portraits — Thomas Hart Benton (1889–1975), “Self-Portrait with Rita,” c. 1924, oil on canvas. Stretcher: 49 × 39.38 × 1 in., Frame: 57.5 × 47.6 × 2.75 in. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jack H. Mooney, NPG.75.30

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery announces “Eye to I: Self-Portraits from 1900 to Today,” organized by the museum’s chief curator, Brandon Brame Fortune. At a time when countless selfies are posted on social media channels and identity is proving to be more and more fluid, the museum will present a sampling of how artists have approached the exploration of representation and self-depiction through portraiture. With each self-portrait, artists either reaffirm or rebel against a sense of identity that links the eye to “I.” Drawing primarily from the museum’s vast collection, “Eye to I” will examine how artists in the United States have chosen to portray themselves since the beginning of the last century.

“Eye to I” will feature more than 75 artworks in a variety of styles and media, ranging from tiny caricatures to wall-sized photographs, from colorful pastels and watercolors to dramatic paintings and time-based media. The exhibition will show how select artistic practices have transitioned from gazing into the mirror to looking into the camera; from painted, sculpted, or drawn surfaces to mechanical reproductions such as prints an

d photographs; from static forms to video and other digitized modes. Artworks in the exhibition span the art historical timeline from 1901 to today. Early works will include a turn of the century self-portrait by American realist painter Everett Shinn from 1901 and a 1903 charcoal drawing by Edward Hopper. Also on view will be recent works, including a Vimeo video titled “Who’s Sorry Now” (2017) by Brooklyn-based artist Amalia Soto starring her internet persona Molly Soda and a 2018 “Internet Cache Portrait” by Berlin-based artist Evan Roth.

Selfies and self-portraits — Molly Soda (b. 1989), “Who’s Sorry Now,” 2017, Instagram and internet video, 315 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, EXH.ET.05

“Individuals featured in ‘Eye to I’ have approached self-portraiture at various points in history, under unique circumstances and using different tools, but their representations — especially when seen together — raise important questions about self-perception and self-reflection,” Fortune said. “Some artists reveal intimate details of their inner lives through self-portraiture, while others use the genre to obfuscate their private selves or invent alter egos.”

“Eye to I” will feature self-portraits by prominent figures in the history of portraiture, including Berenice Abbott, Josef Albers, Richard Avedon, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Thomas Hart Benton, Louise Bourgeois, Patricia Cronin, Imogen Cunningham, Walker Evans, Tsuguharu Foujita, Joan Jonas, Elaine de Kooning, Jacob Lawrence, Nickolas Muray, Alice Neel, Louise Nevelson, Faith Ringgold, Diego Rivera, Lucas Samaras, Fritz Scholder, Roger Shimomura, Shahzia Sikander, Ralph Steiner, Andy Warhol, Martin Wong, and Beatrice Wood.

“Eye to I: Self-Portraits from 1900 to Today” is on view at the National Portrait Gallery (Washington, DC) through August 18, 2019.

Sign up to receive Fine Art Today, the free weekly e-newsletter from
Fine Art Connoisseur magazine.

Living Legends in Jackson, Wyoming

By

Fine Art Today

-

October 26, 2018

0

Detail of “Stretching Canada Goose" by Robert Bateman (full artwork below)

Announcing “Living Legends: Masters of Wildlife Art,” on view at the National Museum of Wildlife Art (Jackson, Wyoming)

From the museum:

The museum hopes “Living Legends” will become an ongoing exhibit with new artwork rotated in every year. Living Legends displays artwork that established the artistic foundation upon which the museum’s heralded collection has been built. Much of it is rooted in the naturalist tradition begun by Carl Rungius in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Wildlife art and paintings — Douglas Allen (American, b. 1935), “Silent Night,” 1992, oil on canvas, 18 x 23.75 in. JKM Collection®, National Museum of Wildlife Art. © Douglas Allen.

This ongoing tradition relies on careful observation of nature coupled with strong artistic abilities to create inspiring visions of nature reflective of each artist’s individual vision. This exhibit is dedicated to the artists in the collection who have really made wildlife art what it is today. It will pay tribute to some of the artists who have been in the collection since day one and then also, like the museum, the exhibit will expand to look at what wildlife art is doing today. Living Legends honors the past while looking to the future.

Paintings selected for the inaugural Living Legends exhibit include Robert Bateman’s “Stretching Canada Goose,” Ken Carlson’s “On the Edge,” and Douglas Allen’s “Silent Night.”

These three works give a sense of the spectrum of art we collect today. Robert Bateman is lauded for the precise handling of his paint while Ken Carlson uses a more impressionistic approach. Doug Allen’s work falls somewhere in between as it presents a moody nighttime scene. As we collect the work of a new generation of artists, we continue to explore a range of artistic expression — from the highly realistic to the nearly abstract.

“Living Legends: Masters of Wildlife Art” is on view at the National Museum of Wildlife Art through August 25, 2019, in Jackson, Wyoming. For more information, please visit www.wildlifeart.org.

Sign up to receive Fine Art Today, the free weekly e-newsletter from
Fine Art Connoisseur magazine.

Featured Artwork: Jason Drake

By

Fine Art Today

-

October 22, 2018

0

Close Encounter
36 x 24 in.
Oil on linen
$7,800
Available from the artist

As the largest feline carnivore in North America mountain lions, or cougars, may reach up to eight feet in length and weigh 130 and 150 pounds. The largest recorded mountain lion weighed in at 276 lbs.

Though artist Jason Drake has never been face-to-face with a mountain lion in the wild, he depicted this magnificent animal as he imagined it might appear in a chance encounter along a wooded mountain trail.

“I wanted the painting to display the beauty in the cougar’s gracefulness, but also it’s terrifying potential as a hunter,” says Jason. “Scenes like this were once common in western North Carolina. Cougars roamed freely but it has been many years since one has been seen there. Sadly, the variety you might encounter in this part of the country, the Eastern Cougar, has been marked as extinct.”

Jason is an American realist painter whose work is focused on the landscape, the figure, and the beauty of animals in the natural world. His style elevates uniqueness over the banal, the deep spark over the quick flash. He believes that his art should lift you up, elevate your perspective and help you hold onto things that have meaning.

In a recent issue of Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine featuring Jason in “Three to Watch,” writer Allison Malafronte suggested, “With so much thought, observation, and reﬂection behind each piece, it is clear why Drake’s paintings frequently cause viewers to pause.”

“The depth and emotion of his paintings captures the attention of every client who enters the gallery and he’s quickly become a sought after name amongst our patrons,” says gallerist Tim Miller. “Jason’s work is as stimulating as it is mature, as beautiful as it is timeless.”

Regarding a recently sold egg tempera piece, one collector wrote, “At age 67, I welcome all the pauses I can come by and I am sure that I will spend many hours enjoying this painting. You have obviously done something special here.”

Living with his wife Holly and their dog Max in the Appalachian Mountains near Boone, North Carolina, Jason paints the wonder of nature that surrounds him and finds beauty in ordinary things and close friends. He is committed to producing works that reflect the glory of God and the dignity of man.

Visit Jason’s website to see more paintings and sign up for his e-newsletter.

Jason is represented by Blowing Rock Frameworks & Gallery in North Carolina and South Street Art Gallery in Maryland.

Portrait Paintings of Holocaust Survivors: The Edut Project

By

Fine Art Today

-

October 22, 2018

0

Portrait Paintings of Holocaust Survivors: The Edut Project — Photos and art courtesy of David Kassan

The Edut Project is a physical and online museum exhibition of life-sized paintings and intimate video conversations of Holocaust survivors. The project strives to honor each survivor’s story.

In 2014, David Kassan turned his attention to painting and documenting Survivors of the Holocaust, with the development of the Edut project — edut being Hebrew for “living witnesses” — as a way of connecting with his grandfather’s traumatic history of escaping ethnic cleansing on the border of Romania and Ukraine to come to America in 1917.

The purposes of the project are manifold. It aims to document firsthand the stories of the ever-shrinking number of survivors of the Holocaust, or Shoah. By exploring the entire lives of these survivors, from before World War II to the present day, it tells stories of perseverance and of life in America from the postwar period to the 21st century.

“The whole idea is really to think about putting a personal face on the Holocaust, because people have become so indifferent,” Kassan says. “It’s an abstract idea, because people no longer come into contact with survivors.” The project is also an opportunity for the artist to better appreciate an aspect of his own family’s history. In 1917, when he was about five years old, Kassan’s grandfather escaped ethnic cleansing on the border of Ukraine and Romania.

While many survivors have already told their stories on video (as in the Visual History Archive developed by the USC Shoah Foundation) or in memoirs, Kassan believes that painting offers viewers a different kind of connection to the survivors, one that puts a personal face to the sometimes abstract idea of the Holocaust.

In 2017, David Kassan partnered with the USC Shoah Foundation and the USC Fisher Museum of Art to develop the Edut project in the Resilience Exhibition, which will open at the Fisher Museum in the fall of 2019 in Los Angeles.

This project is completely donation based, and those willing to help out can either make a tax deductible donation through FracturedAtlas.org or can follow along via http://patreon.com/davidkassan (not tax deductible).

The inaugural museum exhibition, “The Resilience Exhibition,” will open in September 2019 at the Fisher Museum of Art in Los Angeles, California, and will travel to other museums around the country.

Sign up to receive Fine Art Today, the free weekly e-newsletter from
Fine Art Connoisseur magazine.

Andy Warhol’s ”Shadows”

By

Fine Art Today

-

October 21, 2018

0

Andy Warhol Shadows — Andy Warhol with “Shadows,” (1978–79) at Heiner Friedrich Gallery, 393 West Broadway, New York, in 1979. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Arthur Tess, courtesy Dia Art Foundation, New York

Andy Warhol’s “Shadows” (1978–79) returns to New York City this October, marking a homecoming for the monumental work that was first presented by Dia in the city in 1979. A single painting in multiple parts, “Shadows” is one of Warhol’s most abstract works, yet one that cohesively synthesizes key elements of his practice, including film, painting, photography, and screenprinting. On view October 26 through December 15, 2018, at 205 West 39th Street, a street-front space in Calvin Klein, Inc.’s headquarters, the installation surrounds the viewer with a series of canvases, presented edge to edge around the perimeter of the room in conformity with Warhol’s original vision. Following its New York presentation, the work will reopen as a long-term installation at Dia:Beacon in Beacon, New York, in 2019.

Exhibited concurrently with the retrospective “Andy Warhol — From A to B and Back Again” at the Whitney Museum of American Art, “Shadows” will be animated by a series of public programs and a publication of essays by contemporary artists on Warhol, the third book in Dia’s Artists on Artists Lecture Series. “Shadows,” which recently completed an extensive international tour, has not been exhibited in New York City since 1998–99, when Dia presented it in its former Chelsea location. The presentation and conservation of the work, which is currently occurring at Dia:Beacon this summer, have been made possible by CALVIN KLEIN.

“Andy Warhol was among the original group of artists championed by Dia in the 1970s, and the depth and duration of the relationship led to Dia’s acquisition of over two hundred works by the artist as well as the eventual gift in the 1990s of the majority of these works for the creation of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. One of Warhol’s most enigmatic works, “Shadows” became an iconic part of Dia’s collection when it was first shown in 1979. The presentation of this work provides a rare opportunity to fully appreciate the remarkable use of seriality and difference in his practice,” said Jessica Morgan, Dia’s Nathalie de Gunzburg Director. “This exhibition marks the first time in twenty years that visitors will be able to experience the work in New York City, where it made its debut, before it returns to Dia:Beacon. Placed within the broader context of Dia’s programming and the creative continuum of Warhol’s work on view at the Whitney, we hope this presentation will shed new light on one of the artist’s most complex and remarkable works.”

“Shadows” is presented concurrently with the Whitney Museum of American Art’s retrospective “Andy Warhol — From A to B and Back Again,” which explores the extensive breadth and depth of Warhol’s career. On view from November 12, 2018, to March 31, 2019, “Andy Warhol — From A to B and Back Again” will travel to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in Spring 2019 and the Art Institute of Chicago in Fall 2019. For more information about “Shadows” at Dia, please visit www.diaart.org.

Sign up to receive Fine Art Today, the free weekly e-newsletter from
Fine Art Connoisseur magazine.

New CEO appointed for the Buffalo Bill Center of the West

By

Fine Art Today

-

October 20, 2018

0

Fine art news — Images courtesy Buffalo Bill Center of the West

The Buffalo Bill Center of the West has named Peter S. Seibert — former executive director of the Education, Research, and Historical Interpretation Division of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation — as its new executive director/CEO. Seibert takes the Center’s reins in late November.

“The Buffalo Bill Center is truly a national treasure,” says Paul S. Seibert, the Center’s new CEO. “It has superb collections, world-class staff, and an abiding commitment to telling the story of the American West. For these reasons, and many more, I am thrilled to become the Center’s next executive director.”

Joining Seibert in the move to Cody is his wife, Kim, and their 10-year-old daughter, Mary, a fifth grader who enjoys science and math and “swears she will never be a historian,” Seibert says. Daughter Jane, age 19, is a sophomore history/art major at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. “In the coming months, our family is looking forward to becoming part of the Cody community,” Seibert adds. “We’re anxious to meet folks and participate in the life of the town.”

Seibert was chosen after a lengthy, comprehensive, and far-reaching nationwide search. He replaces the retiring Bruce Eldredge, who has served as the Center’s executive director since January 2008.

“I am so pleased with the hard work of the Center’s selection committee,” explains Barron Collier II, the Center’s chairman of the board of trustees. “We are in a time of transition, and we look forward to exciting growth under Peter’s leadership.”

“During the interview process, I was truly impressed by the commitment of the board, staff, and community to the museum,” Seibert continues. “Their leadership is so important to me as we plan for the future of the Center of the West.

Seibert’s career has been dedicated to public history, museums, and education, with more than 30 years’ experience in those organizations, holding diverse positions from executive director, educator, and curator to faculty member, author, archivist, and board member. “I believe it is vital to blend passion for what you do with great content knowledge,” Seibert observes. “You must also have the ability not only to manage but to be a visionary for an organization.”

“My immediate goals at the Center of the West include finishing projects already in process, working with leadership to continue understanding the interests of our visitors, and positioning the museum as a thought leader in the study of the American West,” Seibert concludes, “and I can’t wait to get started!”

Sign up to receive Fine Art Today, the free weekly e-newsletter from
Fine Art Connoisseur magazine.

Video Interview: A Conversation with Eric Rhoads and Josh LaRock

By

Fine Art Today

-

October 19, 2018

0

What are Peter Trippi and Eric Rhoads doing about the Realism movement? Find out by watching this exclusive interview. Click HERE to watch!

Seattle Art Museum Appoints New Curator of American Art

By

Fine Art Today

-

October 18, 2018

0

Fine Art News > The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) recently announced the appointment of Dr. Theresa Papanikolas as its Ann M. Barwick Curator of American Art. Papanikolas, an expert in 20th-century American art, will begin her tenure at SAM in January 2019. She will oversee the development, research, presentation, and care of SAM’s collection of American art. She will also organize exhibitions that explore new and challenging narratives of American art and connect to the contemporary moment.

“We’re thrilled that Theresa will be joining us here at SAM,” says Kimerly Rorschach, Illsley Ball Nordstrom Director and CEO. “She’s an inspired curator who will continue to build on the wonderful American art program started in 2004 by Patricia Junker. She has broad expertise in European as well as American art and brings an exciting vision of deepening the connections between American art and other areas of SAM’s incredibly diverse collection. Her work will be essential to furthering our curatorial mission to initiate conversations that connect art to our visitors’ own experiences.”

Theresa Papanikolas comes to SAM from the Honolulu Museum of Art, where she currently serves as Deputy Director of Art and Programs. She joined the museum in 2008 as Curator of European and American Art, where she led an innovative exhibition program, added breadth and depth to the permanent collection, and helped position the museum as the cultural hub of one of the country’s most diverse metropolitan areas. Her major exhibition projects include From Whistler to Warhol: Modernism on Paper (2010), Georgia O’Keeffe and Ansel Adams: The Hawaiʻi Pictures (2013), Art Deco Hawaiʻi (2014), Abstract Expressionism: Looking East from the Far West (2017), and a comprehensive reinstallation of the museum’s European and American collections. Earlier this year, she collaborated with the New York Botanical Garden on Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawaii, a groundbreaking project that told the story of O’Keeffe’s visit to Hawaii through the lens of the landscape and flora she discovered there.

From 2006 to 2008, Dr. Papanikolas was Wallis Annenberg Curatorial Fellow at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She has also held positions at the National Gallery of Art; Rice University; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. She has expertise in 19th- and 20th-century art, and has published widely on Dada and Surrealism. She holds degrees in Art History from the University of Southern California (BA) and the University of Delaware (MA, PhD), and was a 2016 fellow at the Center for Curatorial Leadership.

Dr. Papanikolas replaces Patricia Junker, who retired in spring 2018 after 13 years at SAM. Junker established the department in 2004 and transformed the collection through the addition of significant new works and organized exhibitions that gained broad critical acclaim and won American art a devoted following at SAM. An endowment in support of the American art curator position was established by Thomas Barwick and the late Ann M. Barwick, tireless supporters of the Seattle Art Museum and major collectors of American art.

“After many years of admiring its exemplary programs, I am thrilled and honored to be joining SAM as its Ann M. Barwick Curator of American Art. American art at SAM is rich with potential, and I look forward to building on Patricia Junker’s legacy and collaborating with the museum’s many stakeholders to shape a collection and exhibition program that is truly exceptional. What attracts me most about SAM is the spirit of diversity and excellence that not only drives the museum in all of its aspects but also mirrors Seattle itself. On a personal note, my husband and I visit Seattle often — we cannot wait to call it home!”

Sign up to receive Fine Art Today, the free weekly e-newsletter from
Fine Art Connoisseur magazine.

WEEKLY NEWS FROM THE ART WORLD