Featured Artwork: J. Russell Wells

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March 1, 2018

At Her Vanity
24 x 40 in.

Art is not just something J. Russell does, he lives it. One cannot converse with him for long before the conversation has moved to some aspect of art and the creative process.
After graduation from the university with classes in printmaking, sculpture, drawing and painting; J. Russell was sought after by interior designers in Chicago to create custom pieces for their corporate and residential clients. “I am inspired by the beauty of the world around me and the human condition and seek to communicate my inspiration through the creative use of paint application and materials selection, mixing representational forms of art with contemporary ideas.”

“I take a workshop every year with an artist I admire who I believe can stretch me and teach me new ways to create, think and observe. Presently I am experimenting with creative ways of making marks using a variety of tools and using color and composition to better express the story or feeling I want the viewer to experience.”

Education
Palette and Chisel Academy of Art, Chicago
American Academy of Art, Chicago
Northern Illinois University, BSed
William Rainey Harper College

Recent Shows
OPA Eastern Regional 2017, Award of “Excellence” for ‘Model Break’
NOAPS Best of America 2017, Award “Best Figurative Work” for ‘Allure’
Unlocking The Bible Fundraiser: Painting “The Sower” completed live and auctioned at the event
American Impressionist Society Small Works 2017
Portrait Society Award of NOAPS Signature Artist Group Show 2016, Honorable Mention “Out of the Box” category for ‘Free Bird’
“Thief on the Cross” one act play by Stephen Baldwin, Painting “Reconciliation” featured in the performance.
“Grasshopper” movie, commissioned painting “It’s Over”
NOAPS Online International 2014, Award of Excellence
NOAPS Best of America 2013, Award of Excellence
American Impressionist Society 2013
OPA Salon 2013
American Impressionist Society 2012
NOAPS Best of America 2012
OPA Eastern Regional 2011
OK Art, Oklahoma, Best of Show Award for ‘Longing’
23rd Annual Conservatory Art Classic, Bosque TX
22nd Annual Conservatory Art Classic, Bosque TX
Barns & Farms National Juried Competition 2007
OPA Eastern Regional Miniature 2007
OPA Eastern Regional 2005

Professional Memberships
OPA, Oil Painters of America
Portrait Society of America
Art Renewal Center
American Impressionist Society
NOAPS, National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, Signature Status

Gallery
R. S. Hanna Gallery, Fredericksburg, TX

Web: www.jrussellwells.com

Instagram: jrussellwells

Email: [email protected]

In addition to his studio painting J. Russell Wells is nearing completion on a Book about contemporary artists describing their artistic epiphanies which have impacted their careers.

Featured Artwork: Chantel Lynn Barber

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Fine Art Today

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February 28, 2018

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Pink Shoes
5 x 5 in.
Acrylic on panel
Available through the artist

Chantel’s passion for art began flourishing at age 12 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. While enrolled in a college art course, a fellow student introduced her to acrylic paints, and she soon found it to be a medium dominated by abstract art. But 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. All the while, she remained active in local art communities, including serving as President of Artists’ Link in Memphis, Tennessee.

In 2006, Chantel opened her own art business called Chantel’s Originals near Memphis, Tennessee. Chantel soon benefited from workshops and demonstrations with outstanding artists including Dawn Whitelaw, Michael Shane Neil, Suzie Baker, and Marc Hanson. Chantel is currently the National Coordinator of the State Ambassador program for the Portrait Society of America, and is also a member of The Chestnut Group and the National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society.

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, and several books. She regularly blogs at chantellynnbarber.com. Chantel resides in Bartlett, Tennessee, where she teaches online and in workshops throughout the United States and Canada.

View more of Chantel’s work at http://chantellynnbarber.com.

Acts of Love and Destruction: Food and Fine Art

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Fine Art Today

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February 28, 2018

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Judy Chicago, section of “The Dinner Party,” 1974-79

By Janine Catalano, instructor of the art history course, “From Still-Life to Eat-Art: Food as Subject and Medium in Modern and Contemporary Art”

Food and consumption have always been featured in art. And like so many other subjects, from the female figure to religious imagery, food’s familiarity has made it a theme ripe for exploration and exploitation by artistic innovators from the late nineteenth century onwards. Indeed, in 1947, when Picasso declared, “It is not necessary to paint a man with a gun; an apple can be equally revolutionary,” he captured the potency artists found in embracing and often upending these basic staples of daily life.

Salvador Dali, “Autumnal Cannibalism,” 1936

Salvador Dali’s “Autumnal Cannibalism,” for example, very much complicates assumptions we may have about the tropes and taboos of eating, in ways that are explored throughout the course. While cannibalism may on one hand be the ultimate edible transgression, the image Dali provides is languid, almost dainty, rather than aggressive. And, critically, it is a mutual act. In a very surrealist sensibility, therefore, one might read this as an act of love, as well as of destruction.

Juan Gris, “Pears and Grapes on a Table,” 1913

***

Janine’s upcoming art history course explores the edible in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries to expose broader themes of the times by re-examining our assumptions about food and eating through the lenses of diverse artists and thinkers. Beginning with the Cubist fracturing of fruit, the unpalatable ‘formulas’ in the Futurist Cookbook, and the subversive scenes of the Surrealists, the course will explore Fluxist productions, Pop Art iconography, the Eat-Art movement, and feminist art. The class will discuss food as subject and also as medium, particularly in contemporary performance and installation art, and explore the viewers’ role both in art making and art consumption in this context.

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Unpublished Salvador Dalí Painting Now Available

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Fine Art Today

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February 28, 2018

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Salvador Dali oil painting Untitled 030118 — Salvador Dalí, (1904 - 1989), “Untitled,” 1932, oil on canvas, 9 x 6 in., Signed lower left, "Gala Salvador Dalí 1932”; provenance: Pericles Embiricos, Greece, (Gifted from Pericles Embiricos in 1966, Private Collection), Heather James Fine Art

February 28, 2018

An unpublished painting from 1932 by Salvador Dalí has been rediscovered in a private collection. Extensive study, including infrared photography, signature and pigment analysis, and archival research led to the painting’s certification as a work by Salvador Dalí by Nicolas Descharnes (an expert who, in 2014, authenticated Dalí’s “The Intrauterine Birth of Salvador Dalí,” circa 1921) and registration in the Archives Descharnes.

“Untitled,” (shown above) depicts a flagpole and/or a boat mast emerging from a darkened window, casting a shadow on fragments of a dilapidated brick wall, set against a cloudy skyscape, and a barren landscape. While the imagery’s symbolic significance is intentionally left unclear, the window alludes to the little house Dalí bought in Port Lligat, Spain, in 1930, and lived in with his wife Gala.

According to Descharnes, “This is the first known painting in which Dalí reveals to the public the combination of two new recurring obsessions that appear in his work in 1932: a suspended mast, and a window on a wall shown from an outside perspective displaying the darkness of an interior.”

The majority of Dalí’s important works painted during the 1930s, the crucial decade when he created his most famous imagery, are held in museum collections, and only a handful have appeared on the market over the past decade.

The painting is currently on view and available at Heather James Fine Art New York, a new private gallery on the Upper East Side. (Heather James Fine Art also operates galleries in Palm Desert, California, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.) “We are delighted to have this rediscovered painting by Dalí on exhibit at our New York gallery,” says James Carona, founder of Heather James Fine Art. “It presents a unique opportunity to own an exceptional work with a distinguished provenance that has remained in private hands for over 75 years.”

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Discover What’s Inside the March/April 2018 Issue of Fine Art Connoisseur

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Fine Art Today

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February 28, 2018

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On newsstands now: Garin Baker takes a fresh look at an American icon; Bryan Mark Taylor and his vanishing landscapes; Thomas Cole in a new light, and more. (Read the March/April 2018 issue of Fine Art Connoisseur now online.)

On the Cover: Jennifer Stottle Taylor (b. 1967), “Chateau Living” (detail), 2017, oil on board, 16 x 16 in., Available from the artist.

What You’ll Find in the Fine Art Connoisseur
March/April 2018 Issue

Frontispiece: Grant Wood

Artists Making Their Mark: Three to Watch
Allison Malafronte describes the talents of Nancy Boren, Richie Carter, and Lee Hutt

28 Blocks: Garin Baker’s Fresh Look at an American Icon
By Matthia Anderson

Thomas Cole, “Clouds,” c. 1830s, oil on paper laid down on canvas, 8-3/4 x 10-7/8 in., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Morris K. Jesup Fund, 2013.201

Thomas Cole in a New Light
By Jennifer Sauer

Bryan Mark Taylor’s Vanishing Landscapes
By Micah Christensen

The Paston Treasure: A Mysterious Painting Reveals Its Secrets
By Louise Nicholson

Wayne Thiebaud’s Most Crucial Decade
By Sheryl Nonnenberg

How Michelle Jung Found Her Voice
By Charles Raskob Robinson

Larry Moore (b. 1957), “Home of the Free,” 2017, oil on canvas on board, 30 x 30 in., Brazier Gallery, Richmond. Featured in the article “Looking Inside.”

Looking Inside
By Kelly Compton

A European Take on American Realism
By Peter Trippi

Rediscovering Jane Peterson
By Max Gillies

Great Art Worldwide
We survey 10 top-notch projects this season

James McElhinney’s Journal Paintings: When Intimate Visions Go Digital
By Peter Trippi

Mystery Man: How a 19th-Century German Portrait Broke New Ground
By Cordula Grewe

Philip R. Goodwin (1881–1935), “Two Men in a Boat,” Date unknown; oil on canvas, laid on board; 28 x 14-3/4 in. To be auctioned at March in Montana, Great Falls, March 17. Estimate: $40,000 – $60,000. As seen in “Duck, Duck, Goose” by David Masello.

Duck, Duck, Goose
By David Masello

Favorite: André Aciman on Raoul Dufy
By David Masello

Classic Moment: Charles Iarrobino

Get your copy of the March/April 2018 issue of Fine Art Connoisseur – available on newsstands until late April – or subscribe here so you never miss an issue.

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Featured Artwork: Stuart Yankell presented by the Celebration of Fine Art

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Fine Art Today

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February 27, 2018

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Sanctuary by Stuart Yankell
48 x 78 in.
Acrylic and oil

Stuart Yankell was trained in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Frudakis Sculpture Academy. He studied art history at Temple University in Italy, and currently lives in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

His work has been exhibited in museums and galleries internationally and is recognized for its unique and progressive style. Recent collectors include Carlos Santana, Natalie Merchant, Ravi Coltrane and both Winton and Branford Marsalis. Come watch him and 100 other artists create at the Celebration of Fine Art, where art lovers and artists connect, in Scottsdale, AZ January 13-March 25, 2018. Contact us at 480-443-7695 or [email protected].

View more of Stuart’s work at http://celebrateart.com/artsy_gallery/stuart-yankell/

A Moment in Time 2018 Finalists Announced

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Fine Art Today

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February 23, 2018

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fine art oil paintings - Deborah McKenna - Brought Flowers — Deborah McKenna, “I Should Have Brought You Flowers,” oil on linen, 18 x 24 in.

Old Main Gallery & Framing (Montana) is pleased to announce the 2018 finalists for this year’s Juried Exhibition: “A Moment in Time.” The exhibition theme is Nostalgia and will feature 2D artwork selected by jurors and local artists Michael Blessing and Meagan Abra Blessing.

The exhibition is on view through April 1, 2018.

The finalists, listed in alphabetical order, are: Allen Knows His Gun; Bridgette Meinhold; Carmen Campbell-Tyler; Cyrus Walker; David Swanson; Deborah McKenna; Diane Whitehead; Jason Lohmeier; Jean James; KJ Kahnle; LeeAnn Ramey; Marcia Wendel; Michael Maydak; Morgan Irons; Pat Branting; Sarah Angst; Scott Fabriz; Shari Chandler; Susan Crawford Stevens; Tess Lehman; Tracie Spence; Wendy Marquis; and, William Stebe.

A preview of the fine art paintings:

Sheri Chandler, “Monuments of Yesteryear,” oil on canvas, 24 x 36 in.

Scott Favbriz, “Silent Breeze,” egg tempera, 36 x 24 in.

Tess Lehman, “Still The Same — Bob Seger,” oil on panel, 10 x 10 in.

Tyler Campbell, “Blue Sky,” oil on paper, 8 x 13 in.

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American Gothic and Other Fables: An Exhibition

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Fine Art Today

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February 21, 2018

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Grant Wood art - American Gothic painting — Grant Wood, “American Gothic,” 1930, oil on composition board, 30 3⁄4 x 25 3⁄4 in., Art Institute of Chicago; Friends of American Art Collection 1930.934. © Figge Art Museum, successors to the Estate of Nan Wood Graham/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. Photograph courtesy Art Institute of Chicago/Art Resource, NY

Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables
Through June 10, 2018

From the museum:
The upcoming Grant Wood retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art will reassess the career of an artist whose most famous work, “American Gothic” — one of the most indelible emblems of Americana and perhaps the best-known work of twentieth-century American art — will be making a rare voyage from the Art Institute of Chicago for the occasion.

Grant Wood, “Daughters of Revolution,” 1932, oil on composition board, 20 × 40 in., Cincinnati Art Museum; The Edwin and Virginia Irwin Memorial 1959.46

“Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables” brings together the full range of Wood’s art, from his early Arts and Crafts decorative objects and Impressionist oils through his mature paintings, murals, works on paper, and book illustrations. The exhibition reveals a complex, sophisticated artist whose image as a farmer-painter was as mythical as the fables he depicted in his art.

Grant Wood, “Spring in Town,” 1941, oil on wood, 26 × 24 1⁄2 in., Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, Indiana 1941.30. © Figge Art Museum, successors to the Estate of Nan Wood Graham/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Grant Wood (1891–1942) achieved instant celebrity following the debut of “American Gothic” at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1930. Until then, he had been a relatively unknown painter of French-inspired Impressionist landscapes in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His relatively short mature career, from 1930 to 1942, spanned a tormented period for the country, as the United States grappled with the aftermath of an economic meltdown and engaged in bitter debates over its core national identity.

Grant Wood, “Parson Weems’ Fable,” 1939, oil on canvas, 38 3⁄8 x 50 1⁄8 in., Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas 1970.43. © Figge Art Museum, successors to the Estate of Nan Wood Graham/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

What emerged as a powerful strain in popular culture during the period was a pronounced reverence for the values of community, hard work, and self-reliance that were seen as fundamental to the national character, embodied most fully in America’s small towns and on its farms. Wood’s romanticized depictions of a seemingly more innocent and uncomplicated time elevated him into a popular, almost mythic figure, celebrated for his art and promotion of Regionalism, the representational style associated with the Midwest that dominated American art during the Depression.

Grant Wood, “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere,” 1931, oil on composition board, 30 × 40 in., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, 1950. © Figge Art Museum, successors to the Estate of Nan Wood Graham/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; courtesy Art Resource, NY

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150 Drawings That Tell the Story of a Visionary Collector

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Fine Art Today

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February 20, 2018

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Eugène Delacroix, Royal Tiger, 2006.54 — Eugène Delacroix (French, 1798-1863), "Royal Tiger," c. 1830, watercolor and graphite on paper, 7 × 10 1/2 in. Thaw Collection, Morgan Library & Museum

Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection
Through April 22, 2018
The Clark Institute, Williamstown, MA

From the museum:
Over the past fifty years, New York art dealer and philanthropist Eugene V. Thaw assembled one of the world’s finest private collections of drawings. This collection, known for its breadth and exceptional quality, charts the high points of drawing from the Renaissance through the twentieth century and features works made by pivotal artists at key moments in the history of the art form.

Jean-Baptiste Greuze (French, 1725–1805), “The Game of Morra,” 1756, pen and brown ink and wash with gray wash over graphite on paper, 9 3/4 × 14 1/4 in. Thaw Collection, Morgan Library & Museum

Mr. Thaw donated his collection of more than 400 drawings to the Morgan Library & Museum, New York, which celebrated the gift with the September 2017 opening of “Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection,” an exhibition that has drawn critical acclaim for the diversity and quality of the works presented. In recognition of Mr. Thaw’s longstanding interest in the Clark Art Institute, “Drawn to Greatness” will travel to Williamstown for an exclusive presentation at the Clark.

Richard Diebenkorn (American, 1922-1993), Untitled, 1974. gouache, acrylic, and graphite on paper, 28 7/8 × 21 1/8 in. Thaw Collection, Morgan Library & Museum, 2017.72 © Richard Diebenkorn Foundation

Featuring 150 drawings that tell the story of a visionary collector, the exhibition examines five centuries of Western drawing. Sketchbooks belonging to Jackson Pollock, Francisco de Goya, Edgar Degas, and Paul Cézanne and illustrated letters from Vincent van Gogh are among the works exhibited.

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973), “Portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter,” July 28,1936, pen and black ink and wash on paper, 20 3/16 × 13 3/8 in. Thaw Collection, Morgan Library & Museum, 2006.58 © 2017 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890), “Saint-Rémy, Workers in the Field,” 1890, graphite on paper, 9 × 12 1/4 in. Thaw Collection, Morgan Library & Museum

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Vote for Your Favorite Painting: The ARC’s People’s Choice Award

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Fine Art Today

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February 20, 2018

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fine art paintings - Ming-Yu — Ming Yu, "In Bvlag," 13th ARC Salon Best in Show

Now through February 26, 2018, the Art Renewal Center is hosting its first-ever People’s Choice Award. Visit artrenewal.org and cast up to 10 votes for your 10 favorite works.

The winner will receive $1,000 cash and a full page in the ARC Salon Catalogue, to be published by ACC Art Books. Please note that users will need to login or create a free account in order to vote, as this is how the ARC keeps track of voters to be sure each individual can only cast their ten votes once.

To cast your vote in the Art Renewal Center’s People’s Choice Award, click here.

From the Art Renewal Center: