Honoring the New Mexico landscape are fellow artists and friends Ken Dagget and Damien Gonzales, this month at Total Arts Gallery. Details here!
 
Water, sky, earth, color, and texture are just a few of the natural elements that have inspired Southwestern artists for generations. Among them today are Ken Daggett and Damien Gonzales — two extremely accomplished and talented painters from Taos and Albuquerque (respectively), New Mexico.
 
In an exhibition opening on July 8 at the renowned Total Arts Gallery, Daggett and Gonzales will showcase a number of their newest works, each displaying a unique view of the natural wonders of the Land of Enchantment. The gallery writes, “Local Taos artist Ken Daggett creates dramatic vistas of northern New Mexico on canvas with unpredictable color combinations & energetic bold thick paints, he is able to communicate his unique and textural appreciation of the land.
 

Damien Gonzales, “Navajo Sandstone,” oil, 8 x 16 in. (c) Total Arts Gallery 2016

“Albuquerque artist Damien Gonzales peacefully approaches his work with a quiet reverence of the land capturing the drama, while respecting the atmosphere of a moment in time. Working in oils and often plein air these two New Mexican artists are ambassadors to our wondrous landscapes presenting two distinct personalities that are just part of the awe inspiring beauty of our vast landscape.”
 
“Honoring the New Mexico Landscape” opens on July 8 and will be on view through July 30. To learn more, visit Total Arts Gallery.
 
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For nearly 100 years, Santa Barbara, California, has organized a summer celebration of the area’s cultural legacy and history known as the “Old Spanish Days Fiesta.” One gallery has joined the festivities to showcase the impact that art has had on this identity. Details here!
 
For eight days beginning August 3, Santa Barbara, California, will be an incredibly fun place to be. Entering into its 93rd year, the “Old Spanish Days Fiesta” is a celebration of historical proportions that recognizes the area’s Latin American history and heritage.
 
Sullivan Goss is one gallery that has joined the fray with a magnetic exhibition to showcase mission paintings created from the 1890s to the 1920s. “Picturing Old Spanish Days” is a fascinating exploration of how art has shaped not only the local culture, but the identity of the century-old festival as well.
 
The gallery suggests, “Since the eighteenth century Santa Barbara’s had a hybrid culture. Colonized by Spanish soldiers who were often born in present day Mexico, built by the Chumash, and later with the labor of others including Americans from the east coast and the midwest and even a substantial Chinese population, Santa Barbara’s authentic story has had many authors and its visual history has many images.
 
“The Sullivan Goss exhibition takes each in their turn and all in a Fiesta spirit of fun. There are paintings and photographs of Mission San Carlos Borromeo from the nineteenth century, when it was still a ruin. There are later romanticized images of the missions — as seductive nocturnes and as garden dreams. There are Spanish dancers, musicians, and revelers by American artists like W.H.D. Koerner, Dan Lutz, Richmond Kelsey, Mary deNeale Morgan, Jean Swiggett, and Theodore Jackman; Mexican dancers by the Spanish-born Mexican painter Jesus Helguera; and even a contemporary painting of a pre-Colonial Mexican past reimagined through a Modernist lens by Angela Perko.”
 
“Picturing Old Spanish Days” opened on July 7 and will remain on view through August 28. To learn more, visit Sullivan Goss.
 
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.
 

You’ve spoken! In this occasional series we highlight one of most popular articles among Fine Art Today readers. This week we revisit a monumental exhibition from the Hôtel de Caumont Centre d’Art in France.
 
Twisting, writhing, turbulent, chaotic, and romantic. These are all common terms associated with the pictures by monumental British artist J.M.W. Turner. These words encapsulate Turner’s language in paint: line, shape, edge, and texture. But can you understand his language of color?
 
At the heart of a captivating exhibition in France is the language J.M.W. Turner spoke through his vivid and expressive use of color. It may come as a surprise, but this type of retrospective has never been mounted before. “Turner and Colour” opened at the Hôtel de Caumont Centre d’Art in France on May 4 and — as its title indicates — draws specific focus to the evolution of Turner’s palette over his illustrious career.
 
Organized chronologically, thematically, and geographically, the exhibition launches via a discussion with the young Turner as he grapples to learn and understand great colorists of the past, such as Rembrandt, Poussin, Titian, and Claude Lorrain. The show also highlights how new scientific and philosophical theories of color — namely from Isaac Newton and Goethe — helped the burgeoning master embark on bold experimental visions of colors, using new techniques and pigments.
 
Turner’s work has been cherished and beloved for hundreds of years, and viewers of this exhibition will emerge with a new understanding and translation of the artist’s visual language through his creative, expressive, and experimental use of color.
 
“Turner and Colour” opened on May 4 and will be on view through September 18. The show will then travel to the Turner Contemporary, where it will be on view from October 8 through January 8, 2017. To learn more, visit the Hôtel de Caumont Centre d’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.
 

2016 will be the first year that Bozeman, Montana, hosts a new edition of the Western Masters collection of art shows. When do events kick off?
 
The Western Masters series of art shows — currently in Great Falls, Montana, in March and in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in September — has made those cities two of the preeminent locations for collecting Western art. Bozeman, Montana, will now be added to the list on August 11, 12, and 13.

Event organizers report, “The Bozeman show opens on Thursday, August 11th at noon at the Best Western Plus Grantree Inn just off I-90 on Seventh Street … This first day includes the Opening Reception at 6pm and closes at 10pm.

“Friday’s schedule begins at 10 am with all booths open and a panel discussion from 10am – 12noon. From 5-7pm there will be a live Quick Finish and Auction. Artists will complete a painting which will then be auctioned off. Saturday, August 12 begins again at 10 am with an Art Chat featuring North Star Award Winner Micheal Ome Untiedt until 12 noon. Artists will participate in another Quick Finish from 2pm to 3:30 pm and the wonderful Live Art Auction begins at 4 pm. The show closes at 10 pm on Saturday.”
 
To learn more, visit Heart of the West.
 
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.
 

Rounding out the summer season at Denver, Colorado’s Gallery 1261 is a large-works group exhibition featuring a number of the gallery’s acclaimed artists.
 
Opening July 22 and running through August 20 at the renowned Gallery 1261 in Denver, “Large Works” will be an exciting display of art from the gallery’s robust stable of nationally and internationally reputable artists. Adding a myriad of new ideas and details for the viewer to consider will be the works’ large scale. The gallery writes, “This exhibition aims to showcase each artist individually, highlighting their work as it pertains to their respective genres, however here with one key stipulation, which is that the work is made larger than what the artist is typically used to working in.”
 

Mia Bergeron, “Vanish,” oil on wood, 38 x 46 in. (c) Gallery 1261 2016

 
Among many others, some of the participating artists include Mia Bergeron, David Grossmann, Jim, Morgan, Catherine Mulligan, Robin Cole Smith, Aaron Westerberg, and Vincent Xeus. Continuing, the gallery reports, “Big canvases and big ideas are at the forefront of this exhibition, highlighting the ambition and skill of all the participating artists. What the viewer is invited to do here, which would not necessarily be the case in other exhibitions, is the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the sights and scenes in front of our eyes, granting us the opportunity to soak in all the details, and take a trip into realities forged by another.”
 
To learn more, visit Gallery 1261.
 
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.
 

Earlier this year we reported the exciting news that master sculptor Sabin Howard had been awarded the commission for the United States World War I Centennial memorial in Washington, D.C. We have an exclusive look into his progress.
 
Soon there will be a new national monument near the White House that will honor the more than 116,000 soldiers who died in World War I and the nearly 5 million individuals who served. Veteran sculptor Sabin Howard, along with 25-year-old architect Joe Weishaar, were awarded the commission, undoubtedly cementing Howard’s legacy as one of the nation’s top artists.
 
Already extremely busy in his studio, Howard has graciously allowed a sneak peek into the monument’s design in addition to his thoughts behind the composition. Howard writes, “I wanted to share with you the idea that this three-figure composition in the middle of the chaos is about.
 
“Zach, on the left, represents the age of innocence and his face and pose exemplify an angelic look … To me they have an almost Leonardo da Vinci angelic quality, like one of his paintings of the Visitation in the Uffizi. 
 
“James to me, has this demonic look that is exactly what I wanted in this relief, and on the other side is Paul, who is wounded, representing the fall from grace that our world and society suffered because of World War I.
 
“Normally I would not go to a place of such graphic representation of war, but I think it is a really good idea and I’m proceeding this way.” We couldn’t agree more!
 
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.
 

On view this month in Naples, Florida, is a magnetic exhibition of new works from Rustem Stahurski. You won’t believe the beauty he creates through paint so frothy and thick, it almost looks good enough to eat.
 
We’ve all had moments when a birthday cake has been lathered in frosting almost to the point of not being edible, and the gorgeous paintings by Rustem Stahurski add a similar sensory dimension through their captivating impasto. East|West Fine Art in Naples, Florida, is pleased to be presenting Stahurski’s recent oils this month in “Out in the Country Side,” a solo exhibition featuring 10 of the artist’s canvases. Viewers will undoubtedly be reminded of Van Gogh’s surfaces upon first glance, but where Van Gogh applied more linear quality to his compositions, Stahurski appears to migrate toward Impressionism. The combination of both thick paint and expressive — sometimes chaotic — brushwork leaves each work bursting with movement and life.
 
“Out in the Country” opens on July 8 and will be on view through July 29. To learn more, visit East|West Fine 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.
 

The theme of truth or true-to-nature has long been part of the traditional artistic vocabulary. “Veritas: New Realism” is a captivating look into contemporary realism through the eyes of two outstanding painters. Who are they?
 
“With keen eyes and a trained brush, a great artist is able not only to capture the scene in photographic specificity, but suggest a narrative by the careful choices he or she makes in lighting, objects, even textures,” says gallery owner Ann Korologos. Truer words have never been spoken, and the art world eagerly awaits the opening of “Veritas: New Realism” on July 8 in Basalt, Colorado.
 

Sarah Lamb, “Julep Cup and Pomegranates,” oil on linen, 12 x 32 in. (c) Ann Korologos Gallery 2016

 
Featuring the works of masterful realists Sarah Lamb and Brett Scheifflee, “Veritas” is a captivating display of realism from still life to landscape. Lamb’s well-observed still lifes offer the viewer the chance to meditate on the mundane — the subtle textures and nuances of small subjects. On the other hand, Scheifflee enjoys capturing larger scenes, such as vast landscapes, Animalia, and more.
 
“Veritas: New Realism” opens at Ann Korologos Gallery on July 8 and will be on view through July 28. To learn more, visit Ann Korologos Gallery.  
 
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.
 
 

Sixteen never-before-seen works by monumental kitsch painter Odd Nerdrum are on view in New York City through July 30. A leading champion of Apelles’ ancient palette of white, black, yellow, and red, Nerdrum transports viewers through deep humanistic narrative and so much more.
 
Chances to view the works of internationally acclaimed kitsch painter Odd Nerdrum are few and far between, which makes his current solo exhibition at New York’s Booth Gallery all the more exciting. “Crime & Refuge” showcases 16 of the European-based painter’s newest works in a show that “shares its name with Nerdrum’s 455-paged monograph,” the gallery writes. “The work embodies Nerdrum’s vision of human experience in the form of love, solitude, and struggle set in the dusty atmosphere of bleak Martian-like landscapes. Humanistic narratives seep through the canvases and illicit visceral responses — especially in such works as ‘Dustlickers’ and ‘Cannibals,’ which challenge the viewer not to look away.”
 

Odd Nerdrum, “On the Border,” 2015, oil on canvas, 78 x 70 in. (c) Booth Gallery 2016

Odd Nerdrum, “Cannibals,” 2005, oil on canvas, 98 x 79 in. (c) Booth Gallery 2016

 
“Crime & Refuge” remains on view through July 30 in New York City. To learn more, visit Booth Gallery.
 
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.
 

On July 8, Meyer Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, opens a major exhibition of new works from a contemporary master of brush and paint. Find out who he honors in the show and get a sneak peek at the stunning works to be unveiled this month.
 
“To Capture Beauty” is a solo exhibition sending waves across the contemporary art world this month. Hosted by the lovely Meyer Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, “To Capture Beauty” will feature the latest works to emerge from the hand of masterful painter Daniel Gerhartz.
 
The show will feature 17 new works by Gerhartz, including three canvases that pay tribute to the celebrated French author Victor Hugo and the characters in his seminal novel “Les Misérables.”
 

Daniel Gerhartz, “To Capture Beauty,” oil, 60 x 40 in. (c) Meyer Gallery 2016

 
Collectors of Gerhartz’s work have always admired the artist’s fluidity with the brushstrokes and the life he imbues into every single one. Moreover, his adroit attention to light, shadow, texture, and composition are at a level few artists attain. The exhibition is sure to be a delight to anyone fortunate enough to be in the area through the end of July.
 
To learn more or view the full catalogue, visit Meyer Gallery.
 
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.