Strecker Nelson West Gallery invites you on a journey to the big, bad, mad, beautiful, and amazing world we inhabit through the creative vision of several accomplished representational painters. Are you up for the trip?
Artistic visions of new and old worlds abound during “Other Worlds,” a group exhibition of still life and landscape at Strecker Nelson West Gallery in Manhattan, Kansas. Featuring over 120 paintings, “Other Worlds” displays work by Michael Albrechtsen, James Borger, Aaron Morgan Brown, Kim Casebeer, Louis Copt, Debi Cox, Mark Flickinger, Clive Fullagar, Lisa Grossman, Rebecca Hoyer, John Hulsey, John Kuhn, Sharon McCoy, Susan Lynn, Devin Roberts, Chris Willey, and several others.
“Other Worlds” opened on April 7 and continues through May 20. To learn more, visit Strecker Nelson West Gallery.
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Jill Soukup, “Tough & Tender,” oil, 19-3/4 x 13-3/4 in. Best in Show
Another successful year of the Cowgirl Up! National Art Exhibition & Sale recently wrapped up at the Desert Caballeros Western Museum in Wickenburg, Arizona. We’ve got a report of artists who took home honors and hardware. Who were they?
As should come as no surprise, the 12th Annual Cowgirl Up! National Art Exhibition & Sale was a resounding success, featuring 58 nationally acclaimed women artists and well over 1,000 patrons. Of the 58 artists represented, 51 attended the event, making this year’s event one of the most special.
Among the highlights of the festival were the Friday-evening Miniatures Sale and Cowgirl Roundup Street Dance, the Saturday-evening Bash & Bid Gala and Live Auction, and the Sunday-morning Chuckwagon Breakfast and Artist Quick Draw. The totals? Over $300,000 in art sales were realized this year, which will benefit both the participating artists and the Desert Caballeros Western Museum.
Deborah Copenhaver Fellows, “When Horses Made Heroes,” bronze edition of 30, 30 x 11 x 20 in. Museum Purchase Award
Ten different awards were presented by museum executive director Sandra Harris at the Bash & Bid Gala on March 25. The ever-talented Jill Soukup took home Best of Show honors for her painting “Tough & Tender.” The 2017 Director’s Choice New Artist award for body of work was presented to Tampa, Florida, artist Heide Presse; the honor guarantees Presse’s inclusion in Cowgirl Up! 2018.
Deborah Copenhaver Fellows of Sonoita, Arizona, received the Museum Purchase award. Her bronze sculpture, titled “When Horses Made Heroes,” will become a part of the Desert Caballeros Western Museum’s permanent art collection. Fellows also received Western Art Collector Magazine’s Award of Excellence for her body of work, and will receive a complimentary ad in Western Art Collector Magazine.
Nancy Boren, “Fast Track to Mustang Ridge,” oil on canvas, 30 x 32 in. First Place, Two-dimensional on canvas
The Award for First Place Two-Dimensional on Canvas went to Nancy Boren of The Colony, Texas, for “Fast Track to Mustang Ridge.” Boren receives a complimentary ad in Art of the West Magazine, which sponsored the award.
For the third year in a row, the First Place two-Dimensional on Paper award went to Rox Corbett of Powell, Wyoming, this year for her charcoal on rag drawing “Buick and the Beast.” Sculptor Martha Pettigrew of Kearney, Nebraska, received First Place Three-Dimensional for her stainless-steel piece “Two Ravens.”
Rox Corbett, “Buick and the Beast,” charcoal on rag paper, 17-1/2 x 25 in. First Place, Two-dimensional on paper
Shell, Wyoming, artist Ann Hanson was selected by her Cowgirl Up! peers for the highly respected Artists’ Choice award for her body of work; she’ll receive a complimentary ad placement from award sponsor Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. First-year Cowgirl Up! artist Jessica Gilbert, of Eagle, Colorado, received the People’s Choice award for body of work. Gilbert received a $1,000 gift certificate from Art Handlers Ltd, which sponsored the award.
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey will select the prestigious Governor’s Choice Award at a future date. This award will be presented to one of the 17 Arizona-based Cowgirl Up! artists. All the award-winning paintings, drawings, and sculptures will remain on exhibit throughout the run of the show, which ends on May7, 2017. Sales continue throughout the exhibition.
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
Water does such amazing things to light and color — bending it, shaping it, and reflecting its visual spectrum of color. New works by this talented painter form a compelling solo exhibition that’s leaving viewers with a “wetted” appetite for more.
Davis Gallery & Framing in Austin, Texas, is excited to be presenting a solo exhibition this spring entitled “Water,” which features a new body of paintings by acclaimed artist Malou Flato. On view from April 15 through May 20, “Water” displays Flato’s elegant scenes of water, from delicate ripples to forceful flows.
“Over the course of her career,” the gallery writes, “Malou’s distinctive style has accumulated national acclaim. It is rare that an artist can move gracefully from dominating, large-scale canvases to more contemplative works. Bright pops of color are often amplified by subtle, muted washes and precise shifts between light and shadow. Malou’s newest series of paintings, Water, is expected to continue to impress.”
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Attrib. Hugo van der Goes, “The Virgin and Child with Saints Thomas, John the Baptist, Jerome and Louis,” n.d., oil on panel, 43 5/8 x 49 1/4 in. Private Collection
In this ongoing series for Fine Art Today, we take a longer look at the history and features of a soon-to-be-available artwork of note. This week we consider an incredible painting by a master artist from Renaissance Ghent that highlights a Christie’s “Old Masters” sale.
Although it is a delightful port city in Northwest Belgium with stunning medieval architecture, Ghent is more often associated with important early Renaissance painting, especially the altarpiece under its name by Jan and Hubert van Eyck (1432). Following closely behind the Van Eyck brothers by just a generation or two was Hugo van der Goes (1440-1482), who built upon the Van Eyck foundation to become one of the most important Flemish painters of the late 15th century.
A breathtaking painting of the Virgin and Child with Saints Thomas, John the Baptist, Jerome, and Louis attributed to this canonical artist highlights an April 27 “Old Masters” sale at Christie’s New York. Peter van den Brink, author of the lot essay, writes that the work is “among the most important 15th-century Flemish paintings remaining in private hands,” adding, “This altarpiece has been a highlight of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s painting galleries since 1998. In its current state, it reveals one of only a few surviving Renaissance preparatory underdrawings visible to the naked eye.”
Interested patrons will need to realize a major estimate, between $3 million and $5 million. Not in your budget? The sale features an incredible lineup of masterworks to follow, which can be viewed here.
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
In this ongoing series, Fine Art Today delves into the world of portraiture, highlighting historical and contemporary examples of superb quality and skill. This week we feature the recent unveiling of an important portrait.
If portraits of famous business leaders and government officials were feathers in his cap, prolific artist Daniel Greene would need a closet full of hats. For decades, Greene has welcomed some of the most iconic individuals into his studio, including former Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals Jonathan Lippman, who was delighted to see his portrait unveiled, with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayer in attendance, on April 3.
(Left to Right) Artist Daniel Green, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayer, and Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman at the portrait unveiling
The portrait shows a dignified and confident Lippman in his judicial robe, standing and in about three-quarters length. A pleasant grin on his face, Lippman rests his hands on the back of an ornate wooden chair. Beyond the judge, we find marble walls and an intricately carved banister just above a large fireplace. Not only is this supreme portrait a testament to Lippman’s years of service, but also the artist’s unrivaled skill with brush, canvas, and paint.
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
The subjective nature of art leaves the viewer with near-infinite ways to interpret, react, and understand its content. Artist Joshua LaRock believes it’s his calling to make images that shape our desires toward beauty. How will you be guided?
It never ceases to amaze how many talented and successful artists start their careers relatively late. Accomplished painter Joshua LaRock is one such case, discovering his niche for art after college. He writes, “I got my degree in music business but decided it wasn’t the industry for me after a few internships. I hadn’t discovered the underground atelier movement until this time and didn’t even know that there were living artists painting in this manner. I had never been drawn to modern art and so didn’t pursue study in college, though I had always been interested in art making.”
Joshua LaRock, “Self-portrait,” 2016, oil on linen, 18 x 14 in. (c) Joshua LaRock 2016
After years of study, trial and error, and blood and sweat with Jacob Collins and Scott Waddell at the Water Street Atelier, LaRock today has evolved into a wonderfully talented painter, creating brilliant portraits, figurative narratives, plein air landscapes, and still life. Inspired by the works of Bouguereau, Van Dyck, and Rembrandt, LaRock’s pictures have lovely enamel-like surface, a timeless allure, and a soft glow that warms hearts. The painter’s creative process is equally refined.
LaRock says, “The prospect of making a new image can seem so daunting that I tend to stick with a relatively similar process to reduce the amount of variables. Inspiration comes from many sources — something I read, another painting, a mood, and nature. I keep a list of ideas and notes. I explore the idea in small gestural thumbnails, trying to come up with a variation on the theme because sometimes the first idea is not the best. Recently, I have preferred to do a small finished version of what I intend to be a larger canvas. This allows me to work out the composition, lighting, emotion, and color on a smaller scale. Once the smaller painting is finished, I can make further edits and start the larger piece. Knowing when a painting is done is always hard, it is a constant tension between maintaining a freshness and polish, but I tend to push for the latter while not strangling the former.”
Joshua LaRock, “Bather,” oil on linen, 16 x 10 in. (c) Joshua LaRock 2016
Although the artist paints a number of different subjects in his work, many of LaRock’s pictures are figurative and/or portraits — a genre the artist is particularly attracted to. To be sure, there are infinite ways in which the body can express different ideas, narratives, and feelings — something LaRock recognizes and seeks to employ. He suggests, “I think the figure is the most universal and emotionally evocative subject to explore. I don’t mean that to diminish the landscape or still life genres at all, but the figure and, in particular, the portrait cannot help but resonate most closely with the human heart. Facial expressions alone allow for an incredible breadth of emotion, mood, and narrative. What I love about it is the figure’s universal, common language that crosses time and culture. No prior ‘education’ is needed to look at a figurative painting — it is immediately accessible to everyone.”
Creating works that speak to a broad and diverse audience has encouraged LaRock to develop a multi-layered philosophy on art, and he admits a manifesto might be needed to properly explore his core creative goals. In short, however, the artist believes that “art plays a role in shaping our desires as humans. I think who we are and what we long for is more shaped by narratives that we take in viscerally, tangibly, and emotionally through – among other things – images, advertisements, music, movies, etc. rather than logically decided upon. With that in mind, it is my goal to create powerful images that direct desire toward beauty, truth, hope, meaning, and goodness rather than despair, nihilism, and ugliness.”
Joshua LaRock, “Aimée Pearl,” oil on linen, 8 x 10 in. (c) Joshua LaRock 2016
It will be fascinating to observe how the artist continues to grow through his work — and beyond. He has partnered with artists Michael Klein and Louis Carr, and the three plan on releasing an series of instructional videos; one will document LaRock’s painting of “Laura in Black” — a gorgeous portrait of the artist’s wife. The painting was entered into the 2016 BP Portrait Award and will hang in the National Portrait Gallery in London this summer. For himself, LaRock endeavors to create larger, multi-figurative narratives for public spaces. He writes, “I hope to court this type of commission and/or make gallery works that are stepping stones towards this end.”
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
Ned has been designated a “Master” with both the Oil Painters of America and the American Impressionist Society. He has the honor to be the “Distinguished Master” at the year’s Oil Painters of America National Exhibition in Cincinnati, which in years past has been awarded to such masters as David Leffel, Harley Brown, and Daniel Greene. Just recently Ned received the Award of Excellence in the “Masters” division at the American Impressionist Society Exhibition He will have a one-man exhibition of over 35 work at the prestigious Rainier Club in downtown Seattle from April 25th through June 30th. All of the works can be seen on his website at www.nedmueller.com.
Only weeks remain for a fascinating exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California, that delves into the intertwining of drawing and sculpting. What’s the story?
Although drawing and sculpting might appear to be two distinctly different artistic techniques, history has proven the near opposite — a story that takes center stage during the J. Paul Getty Museum’s current exhibition “The Sculptural Line.” On view through April 16, “The Sculptural Line” brings together a stellar selection of drawings and sculptures from the later 15th through the 20th centuries.
“Since the Renaissance, the practice of drawing after ancient sculpture has played a central role in the training of artists,” says Timothy Potts, director of the Getty Museum. “Offering a repertoire of forms from which to derive inspiration, the appeal of classical statuary derived both from its embodiment of perfect proportions and from its unrivalled aesthetic and expressive appeal. The exhibition will also include neoclassical works in which draftsmen integrated antique statues into their compositions, and work by contemporary artists who use sculpture to experiment with the movement and position of the body before representing it on paper or canvas.”
Among the artists represented in the exhibition are Alberto Giacometti, Auguste Rodin, and Baccio Bandinelli. To learn more, visit The J. Paul Getty Museum.
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
Frédéric Bazille (1841-1870), The Family Gathering, 1867, oil on canvas, Musée d’Orsay, Paris
The National Gallery of Art is the only U.S. venue to present a touring exhibition dedicated to this central figure in the development of Impressionism. Details here!
The first major show of Frédéric Bazille’s work in a quarter century opens April 9 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Featuring more than 75 paintings, “Frédéric Bazille and the Birth of Impressionism” offers a comprehensive view of the artist’s accomplishments during the 1860s.
Co-curators Paul Perrin and Kimberly Jones note that Bazille was “engaged with the most significant pictorial issues of his era — the revival of the still-life form, realist landscapes, plein-air figural painting, and the modern nude.” Also on view are works by other influential artists such as Gustave Courbet and Théodore Rousseau.
“Frédéric Bazille and the Birth of Impressionism” will continue through July 9. To learn more, visit the National Gallery of Art.
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
With graceful figures placed within seemingly natural but abstracted environments, a range of topics from human nature and art history to race and identity are all explored during this artist’s first solo show at Sirona.
From April 1 through June 1, Sirona Fine Art in Hallandale Beach, Florida, is showcasing an incredible body of work by figurative painter Irvin Rodriguez. Titled “Human Nature,” the solo show is a compelling body of paintings that use large-scale, sweeping brushstrokes, abstraction, and the figure to delve into contemporary and historical concepts.
Via the gallery, “Painterly brushwork and moments of abstraction are utilized to explore these narratives and ideas. The work serves as a vehicle to investigate the figure, art history, race and identity. What makes Irvin Rodriguez so wonderful is his bravado in utilizing loose, sweeping movements in the areas of his painting that surround the central figure. His brushwork has virtuosity and utter majestic flair, yet all to a purpose of the painting as a whole. There is dynamic and joyous movement, whether it is bristling backdrop of brush-worked, painted air space behind and around the subject, or a figure in a natural setting, with broadly suggested foliage which itself seems to be in rippling, active motion, swirling about a gorgeously painted central figure.”
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
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