Tanna Bennett

April 18, 2013, 1:49 pm

Tanna Bennett

Education
L’Ecole de Albert Defois, Les Cerqueux sous Passavant, France - 10-month intensive study in painting with Ted Seth Jacobs, 2003
B.A. Journalism, Minor in Graphic Communications, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 1990
Friendswood High School, Friendswood, Texas 1980

Artist’s Statement

      In creating a work of art, I strive to find the hidden messages and feelings that exist within all of us. I want the viewer to question his/her own assumptions or experiences with the composition. Perhaps the exchange will create a strong feeling of remembrance or something that is identifiable.

     In many of my still life paintings, I incorporate ordinary objects in the composition. By manipulating the position of objects, the still life takes on a humanistic explanation of relationships: some alone, some existing in groups and some ostracized. I realize we see only the human perspective on life and most things we relate to is based on our life’s experience.

Tanna Bennett   Houston, Texas

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Jenny Zoe Casey

April 19, 2013, 2:40 am

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Jenny Zoe Casey

Artist Biography

Jenny Zoe Casey lives in a rural area of Central Florida where she regularly encounters wildlife ranging from the resident black snake, "Monster," to armadillos, bats, owls and more.

She was born in the Pacific Northwest and grew up in the Hawaiian Islands, then a lush and unspoiled environment. Isolated by circumstance, she bonded with her natural surroundings. Nature, and more obliquely the nature of human experience, continues to inform her work.

Artist Statement

"Growing up among the lush landscapes of rural Hawaii, nature’s unique properties were readily apparent: vitality, transformation, tides and cycles all deeply informed my sense of the world. As a child, I spent hours in solitude exploring the surrounding area, riding my bike along pocked country roads past pig farms and taro fields. The experience was both lonely and exhilarating. As a westerner, I was viewed as an outsider and found my place in the larger world of nature. Leaving the islands at the age of sixteen, I felt exiled from a place where I had never really belonged but nevertheless loved deeply.

To create my prints and paintings, I almost always begin with a human gesture, a moment of presence that implies a trajectory of movement, thought, and emotion bound together in an encounter with the laws of physics. Neuroscientists theorize that the ability to produce adaptable and complex movements is primary to the evolutionary development of our intelligence; every activity that we value as making us special is mediated through the contraction of muscles. Movement is the way you affect the world — and my figures have plenty of agency.

Equally important is the environment the figures find themselves in, a space that amplifies the meaning I sense lies within the gesture I've chosen. Often, portions of these spaces remain either below the surface or out of sight, and like memory, the subconscious, or history itself, mere fragments remain visible. These are landscapes that are a blend of the inner and outer, mediated and informed by both the laws of physics and the dynamics of the imagination.

The figures in my work inhabit a nature that sometimes includes portions of our built environment. They float in undefined space where their props extend into the natural world to become abstract shapes: swirls or vines both embrace and ensnare them, cars might appear among tree branches, the shadow of a figure might be mistaken for a cave, droplets of sweat might be swirls of rain. While acknowledging our status as creators and users of tools, I seek reminders of a quieter space, separate from the proliferating artifacts of our complex, industrially and technologically augmented lives.

In my current place of residence, a rural area of central Florida, I encounter tropical downpours, high winds, humidity, heat, proliferating insects, snakes, alligators, and rampant vegetal growth. My personal encounters with the natural world continue to inform my work, which alludes to a waltz of influence that occurs between an environment and its inhabitants. My work attempts to bridge the seemingly disparate worlds of man and nature, making apparent the many ways that nature and the environment shape our imagination, and the ways the nature of our imagination in turn shapes our environment."

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Honors and Awards
Exhibition Merit Award, Building New Traditions, Turner Print Musuem, CSU Chico, Chico, CA
Award of Excellence, Northern National Art Competition, Nicolet College Art Gallery, Rhinelander, WI
President’s Purchase Award, Bradbury Gallery, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR
Selected Media
Against the Tide, Sharon Butler, Two Coats of Paint Press, 2011
Knock #13: The All Play Issue, Antioch University, Seattle WA, 2010
Education
BFA 1982 Interdisciplinary Fine Arts California College of the Arts, Oakland, CA

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Hamid Zavareei

April 19, 2013, 2:52 am

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Hamid Zavareei

Zavareei received his BS degree from the West Virginia Institute of Technology, but later switched from computer programming to full-time art and took residency in the Lantern of the East Art Camp. His work has been shown at numerous galleries including William Traver Gallery, WA and the Seattle Art Museum Rental/Sales Gallery, and he has participated in many faculty art shows at Gage, including the 2006 Convention Center exhibition. He is currently represented by the Linda Warren Gallery in Chicago. He also teaches painting and drawing classes at the Kirkland Arts Center.

As a self-taught artist, Zavareei is versatile with many different media including sculpture, acrylic, watercolor and encaustic. He challenges his students to go beyond their perceived limitations to find new areas to develop their individual talents.

BORN

1954, Tehran, Iran

Lives and works in Seattle

EDUCATION

1985, BS Computer Management, West Virginia Institute of Technology

wards & Residency

1998    Lantern of the East Art Camp Residency, Pyong Taek, Korea

1995    Honorable Mention, Scene/Unseen, EMNU, NM

            Honorable Mention, Strictly Sculpture, OCCCA, Santa Ana, CA

            Honorable Mention, The Master’s Studio, Pasadena, CA

1993    First place (cash award), Irvine Fine Art Center, Irvine, CA

            Distinctive Merit Juror Award, San Diego Art Museum, CA

source

"My deepest yearnings and desires are best expressed as poetic compositions. Using abstraction and representation, I employ visual means to infer experiences, the images serving as shadows of memory that set in motion the process of remembering and the creation of new experiences.
Escaping a linear interpretation while pointing to an abstract meaning, my paintings reflect my desire for a union in the context of duality, a response to the calling of my soul and venturing a glimpse into the lesser known areas of my psyche."

source

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Louise Britton

April 19, 2013, 2:59 am

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Louise Britton

In my ongoing exploration of painting, I shift my focus between the genres of landscape, still life, figure and creatures, combining observational realism with imagination. The common thread is nature, which I experience as restorative but also with consciousness of its precarious state. Within all of these subjects I search for beauty whether humble or grand, and an inscrutable quality found in the relationship between objects, the way light reveals them, and the metaphors they call to mind. The environment of my Southern coastal upbringing, where stories are embedded in the landscape, still influences me. When I travel there and around my current territory, the Pacific Northwest, I collect natural objects and make sketches and photographs of scenery that I find compelling. In the studio I make drawings of the model and still life objects and clip interesting photos from newspapers. All are useful raw materials. I combine elements and memories into compositions using logic and intuition, working to create a sense of space and palpable atmosphere. I work with a consciousness of the symbolic meanings the components carry, both historic and personal, but expect the viewer to generate his or her own interpretations.

My oil painting technique utilizes both direct and indirect methods, usually including layers of glazing and scumbling, and I am continually learning and refining my knowledge of the medium. My influences are historical and contemporary painters who combine realism with a sense of psychology and ambiguity, from Rembrandt and Vermeer to Caspar David Friedrich to Edward Hopper and George Tooker. My goal is to make paintings of objects and landscapes that are recognizable and even familiar to the viewer, but with a quality of mystery and transformation.

Biography

Louise Britton is an artist living in Seattle, Washington. She spends part of each year on Edisto Island, South Carolina, in a small cabin on land that has been in her family for generations.

Louise grew up in the small, historic town of Fernandina Beach, Florida, and as a child was encouraged to draw and paint by her artist and puppeteer mother. She started college at Jacksonville University as an art major at the age of 16, and graduated four years later from the University of South Florida, where she studied intaglio and lithography in the respected printmaking department. She continued to live in Tampa for a time, studying photography and making prints in a studio in Ybor City while making ends meet with jobs such as doing portrait sketches at a theme park. A year of study of printmaking, drawing and the history of Mexican art at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, followed. Moving back to Jacksonville, she set up an etching press in her studio in a rambling Victorian house and hosted figure drawing sessions in the attic. She held jobs as an assistant exhibit designer for a children's arts and sciences museum and as a graphic artist, and exhibited her etchings in arts festivals and regional and national juried shows.

Louise moved to Atlanta in 1982 to pursue a graphic design career to parallel to her fine art career. She studied at Portfolio Center to learn more about the applied arts, and worked as a graphic designer and illustrator. Seeking to continue to develop her skills in visual communication and painting and drawing in a narrative style, she enrolled in the graduate program in Illustration at Georgia State University. She spent a summer in Italy with the University of Georgia Studies Abroad program, studying watercolor painting, drawing and Renaissance art history. She received an M.F.A. from Georgia State University in 1987.

After working since college primarily in etching, drawing and mixed media works on paper, Louise decided to return to the flexibility and rich color possibilities of oil painting. In the 1990s, in galleries and art centers in Georgia, she began exhibiting small paintings on panel depicting highly realized but dreamlike imagery. Working as a versatile illustrator as well, she created editorial art in a variety of media for local and national publications, as well as paintings commissioned for CD covers.

Upon moving with her husband to Seattle in 1999, she gave up her illustration business to concentrate on painting and has exhibited in the area regularly, working on larger canvases and incorporating the landscape of the Pacific Northwest as well as the South into her subject matter. She continued her exploration of oil painting techniques by attending workshops at the Seattle Academy of Fine Art (now Gage Academy of Fine Art). She has been represented in Seattle by the Fountainhead Gallery since 2001.

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Kari-Lise Alexander

April 19, 2013, 9:33 am

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Kari-Lise Alexander

Oil painter working out of Seattle, Washington.

Artist Statement:

Kari-Lise Alexander’s expressive work explores themes rooted in her scandinavian heritage. Innocent maidens float in worlds of their own making, oftentimes losing themselves in their daydreams.

At a young age Kari-Lise was always experimenting with paints, pencils, pastels and anything else she could get her hands on. In 2000 she studied fine art for two semesters but left college to pursue other interests. It wasn’t until spring of 2009 that her heart led her back to painting and she hasn’t stopped since.

Working from her home studio in Seattle, Kari-Lise creates paintings that captivate the viewer. Her work often reflects the Norwegian folk art of rosemaling. This traditional art is given a contemporary feel in many of Kari-Lise’s paintings as it wraps and entwines itself within the composition, sometimes floating as a ghost as if it were an ancestral reminder.

Kari-Lise is currently working with local as well as international galleries.

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Erika Craig

April 19, 2013, 9:51 am

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Erika Craig

BIO

Erika Craig is a California artist. She recently received her BA at California State University Channel Islands. While there, she studied abroad in Paris, learned to surf, and rediscovered painting, which became her focus. After struggling with the use of her hands and going through surgery, she gained new appreciation for the ability to create, and realized how vital art is in her life. Erika works from her home in Simi Valley, surrounded by various animal companions, and currently shows her work in Ventura and other galleries.

STATEMENT

I paint figures underwater, immersing my subjects in their surroundings. A person’s reflection in water is a constantly changing self, a distorted image with many sides. Near the surface, the familiar blends into the unknown. Color and shape break down. Things that seem separate become entwined.

Water is the source of life, bodily and spiritual renewal. It represents both life and death, existing in the same place as a continuation. It is the place of origins, and a place inside ourselves where we go to find peace. Making up most of the Earth and most of our bodies, it is the connectedness of things.

I occupy the world below the surface, the subconscious, a place of intuition and dreams. The vague ideas and emotions that don’t quite fit into words. I marvel at the world above the surface, past the limits of our perception. The unseen and unexplained, mysteries beyond our human reach. Reality is deep and complex. The more we delve and search, the more astounding layers we find. Yet in supreme chaos I see universal order. From galaxies to subatomic particles, the curve of a leaf and the human brain.

I prefer the organic to the mechanized, natural to manmade, timeless to modern. In nature, I see the essence of truth and beauty. As people disconnect from nature, they lose a vital understanding. We become preoccupied with the mundane, obsessed with tiny details of our daily lives, restless and struggling for meaning. Forgetting how small we are and how little we control. How strange it is to even exist.

EDUCATION

2012    BA, Studio Art, California State University Channel Islands, Camarillo, CA
                 -Magna Cum Laude
                 -Top Program Honors in Art
2010    Summer Abroad, Paris American Academy, Paris, France

AWARDS/HONORS

2012    Best in Show, Buenaventura Art Association
            People's Choice Award, Buenaventura Art Association
            Merit Award, Buenaventura Art Association
            Second Place in Painting, California State University Channel Islands Art Program
            Honorable Mention Prize, Buenaventura Art Association
2011    Outstanding Achievement in Art, California State University Channel Islands Art Program
            Merit Award, Buenaventura Art Association
2009    Second Place in Illustration, California State University Channel Islands Ventura Art Gallery
2008    Certificate of Emphasis in Visual Arts, Santa Susana Magnet High School

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Lorenzo Quinn

April 20, 2013, 2:05 am

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Lorenzo Quinn

For Quinn, sculpture is primarily an art of communication, a medium through which he aims to help people evolve further in tolerance, understanding and harmony. ‘I make art for myself and for people who wish to come along for a ride through my dreams’, he says. ‘How we live our own lives is of the utmost importance, and most of my work has to do with values and emotions.’

Born on 7 May 1966 in Rometo the Mexican-American actor Anthony Quinn and his second wife, costume designer Iolanda Addolori, Lorenzo Quinn had a childhood split betweenItaly and theUnited States of America. His father had a profound influence on him, both in terms of living in the limelight of the film world and with respect to Anthony’s early work in painting and architecture.

Lorenzo Quinn studied at the American Academyof Fine Arts in New York, planning to be a Surrealist painter. However, at 21 he decided that his future lay in sculpture, which could better accommodate his energy and originality. He vividly recalls the moment in 1989 when he felt that he had created his first genuine work of art: ‘I had made a torso from Michelangelo’s drawing of Adam … an artisan’s job…. I had an idea and began chiselling away, and Eve came out of Adam’s body…. It had started as a purely academic exercise, yet it had become an artwork.’

In 1988 Quinn married Giovanna Cicutto, and on the birth of the first of their three sons they decided to leaveNew York– a place that ‘hardens your human values’ – and settle inSpain. ‘We choseSpainfor its Latin character, its fervour … the way it values people and family, and for its great artistic trajectory’, he comments.

In his twenties Quinn had a brief acting career, including playing alongside his father in Stradivari (1989) and an acclaimed performance as Salvador Dalí. However, he did not enjoy working in the profession and decided to concentrate purely on sculpture.

Among the artists whose influence Quinn cites are Michelangelo, Bernini and Rodin. His creative ideas spark quickly into life: ‘The inspiration comes within a millisecond’, he says, as he is driven to sculpt by observing life’s everyday energy. Yet a finished project takes months to realise, and it has to carry clear meaning. Quinn usually conceives each work in writing, and the poetic text is ultimately displayed with the sculpture, as an integral part of the piece, not merely explanation.

Quinn’s work appears in many private collections throughout the world and has been exhibited internationally during the past 20 years. Among his commissions is The Tree of Life, produced for the United Nations and issued by the organisation as a stamp in 1993. The following year theVatican engaged him to sculpt the likeness of Saint Anthony for the Basilica del Santo inPadua, in commemoration of the 800th anniversary of the saint’s birth; the sculpture was blessed by the pope inSt Peter’s Square,Rome, in front of a crowd of 35,000.

Quinn’s public art includes Encounters, a massive globe enclosing a pointing hand, which was unveiled in 2003 opposite the Museum of Modern Art in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. In Birmingham, his Tree of Life was erected outside St Martin’s Church in 2005 to commemorate those who died in the Second World War blitz on the city. Further works are on display at King Edward’s Wharf – Creation, Volare and Crossing a Millennium – with their characteristic focus on the hand, the human form and the circle.

In November 2005 one of Quinn’s largest public sculptures, Rise Through Education, was installed at ASPIRE, the Academy of Sports Excellence, in Doha, commissioned by the state of Qatar. Quinn created a second sculpture for the interior of the academy to depict striving for excellence; Reaching for Gold is a pyramid of seven arms emerging from a base of sand, the hands straining towards a medal.

Unique among his works as a living monument, Legacy (2006) was sculpted for Sant Climent de Llobregat inSpain. Quinn was fascinated by the story of the town’s cherry trees and decided to make a piece that reflected this tale. The tree-trunk is formed by a male and a female hand holding branches laden with cherries arranged to simulate human DNA. In this area famed for its juicy cherries, the sculpture carries as many fruit as there are people living in Sant Climent; each year further cherries will be added to represent new inhabitants.

In 2008 Evolution, a major exhibition of Quinn’s output, was chosen to inaugurate the new premises of Halcyon Gallery in Mayfair, London. Many of the sculptures in Evolution featured the symbol that has become synonymous with Quinn: the human hand. ‘I wanted to sculpt what is considered the hardest and most technically challenging part of the human body’, he explains. ‘The hand holds so much power – the power to love, to hate, to create, to destroy. I have injected a lifetime of experience into Evolution; it is about my past, present and future.’

Equilibrium, an exhibition of Quinn’s monumental sculptures, followed in November 2009, coinciding with the installation of Give and Take III in Berkeley Square for six months. Included in the show were several important new sculptures, including What Came First? – male and female forms lying in egg-shaped hemispheres – and Home Sweet Home – a marble woman cocooned in barbed wire. The exhibition title reflects Quinn’s belief: ‘It is essential to find a balance in life. Many times that balance is achieved with the help of the people who surround us and hold us firmly to the ground, and without whom we would float into perdition.’

In summer 2010, Quinn’s sculpture, Vroom Vroom was on show at the Institute of Modern Art in Valencia and later that year at the Abu Dhabi Art Fair. January 2011 saw Vroom Vroom installed on Park Lane, London, as part of Westminster Council’s City of Sculpture Festival. Also in January, a 3 metre bronze version of Finding Love was unveiled at the entrance of the newly opened One Hyde Park building in Knightsbridge coinciding with two further public placements of his monumental sculpture; Force of Nature II in Berkeley Square, Mayfair and Volare in Cadogan Gardens, Chelsea. These four sculptures firmly launched Halcyon Gallery’s public sculpture trail exhibition in the city of London.

2010 was also marked with several international exhibitions, including at the Rarity Gallery in Greece, the Marigold Gallery in India, the Rafart Gallery in Spain, the Heward Art Gallery in Saudi Arabia and the Ode to Art Gallery in Singapore.

In spring 2011, Lorenzo Quinn was invited to participate in the first ever Biennale di Scultura, an exhibition of outdoor sculpture in Rome (24 May – 31 July 2011.) Selected from a series of significant contemporary and historical international sculptors, Quinn exhibited La Dolce Vita, at Casina Valadier, Villa Borghese, Rome, near the Spanish Steps. Quinn says that for him this piece represents the ‘joie de vivre’ of the age of La Dolce Vita as described to him by his father, “…and the sense of total abandonment to the child within.”

In summer 2011 Lorenzo Quinn was selected as the exhibiting artist for the Italian Pavilion at the 54th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale, (4 June – 27 November 2011). His powerful and provocative installation This is Not a Game was positioned across two different sites at the Biennale, the Italian Pavilion in the Arsenale and San Servolo Island, Venice. The first stage of the installation situated on San Servolo Island features a life-size T55 Russian battle tank and life-size cast ‘toy’ soldiers, held by life-like giant hands, poised in positioning the tank and soldiers, as a child would in play. The second stage of the installation was exhibited at the Italian Pavilion, curated by Vittoro Sgarbi.

Later in 2011 2011 Lorenzo Quinn was invited to exhibit Leap of Faith and Hand of God at the Winter Palace in the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (24 June – 17 September 2011). The sculptures were displayed at the Winter Palace, alongside an exhibition and installation of outdoor sculptures by Henry Moore. The installations, curated by Ekaterina Lopatkina, Curator of Contemporary Art at the State Hermitage Museum, coincided with ‘White Nights’ the world-famous annual event.

The opportunity to display the two works at the Hermitage marked a turning point in Quinn’s career. He says of his inspiration behind Leap of Faith, “The past is set in stone, the present is carving itself in wood, and the future is an empty goblet to fill with dreams. This is a sculpture that prompts reflection on the need to be positive, even in the darkest moments, because there is always hope.”

“Life is a wonderfull endless journey… if you know how to live it.”

Para Lorenzo Quinn, la escultura es principalmente un arte de comunicación, un medio a través del cual conseguir su objetivo de ayudar a la gente a evolucionar en valores como la tolerancia, la comprensión y la harmonía. “Hago arte para mí mismo y para la gente que desea acompañarme en un paseo a través de mis sueños”, dice Lorenzo. “La forma en que vivimos nuestra propia vida, es de suma importancia. Es por esto que la mayor parte de mi trabajo tiene que ver con los valores y las emociones”.

Nacido el 7 de mayo de 1966 en Roma hijo del actor Anthony Quinn y su segunda esposa Iolanda Addolori, Su infancia se dividió entre Italia y los Estados Unidos. Su padre tuvo una profunda influencia sobre su carrera, ya que ambos han vivido y compartido la experiencia del mundo del cine y del arte.

Lorenzo Quinn estudió en la American Academy of Fine Arts de Nueva York, con la intención de ser un pintor surrealista. Sin embargo, a los 21 años, decidió que su futuro estaba en la escultura, la cual podría adaptar mejor su energía y originalidad. Él recuerda tímidamente el momento en 1989, cuando sintió que había creado su primera obra de arte genuina: “Yo había hecho un torso del dibujo de Adán de Miguel Ángel… un trabajo artesano…. Tuve una idea y empecé a modelar, y Eva salió del cuerpo de Adán…. Había empezado como un trabajo puramente académico, y al final, se había convertido en una obra de arte. ”

En 1988 Quinn se casó con Giovanna Cicutto, y tras el nacimiento del primero de sus tres hijos decidieron abandonar Nueva York – un lugar que “endurece tus valores humanos “- y se instalaron en España. “Hemos elegido España por su carácter latino, su fervor, la forma en que se valora a las personas y a la familia, y por la gran trayectoria artística de este país”, comenta.

Con apenas veinte años Lorenzo Quinn ya contaba con una trayectoria cinematográfica, que aunque breve, le había permitido actuar junto a su padre en Stradivari (1989) o interpretar su aclamada actuación como Salvador Dalí en la película del mismo nombre. Sin embargo, tras la experiencia, no le llenó esta profesión y se centro exclusivamente en la escultura.

Entre los artistas cuya influencia cita Quinn están Miguel Ángel, Bernini y Rodin. Sus ideas creativas salpican la vida: “La inspiración viene en una milésima de segundo”, dice, mientras se deja llevar observando y modelando la energía, del día a día de la vida. “Sin embargo, la realización de un proyecto tarda meses en conseguirse, y ha de transmitir a un claro mensaje”. Lorenzo Quinn generalmente concibe cada obra por escritito. Este texto poético se expondrá junto a la escultura, como parte integral de la pieza y no como una mera explicación.

El trabajo de Lorenzo Quinn está presente en muchas colecciones privadas de todo el mundo, y ha formado parte de innumerable exposiciones internacionales a lo largo de los últimos 20 años. Entre los encargos, se encuentra El Árbol de la vida, creado para las Naciones Unidas, y del cual se estampó un sello en 1993. Al año siguiente, el Vaticano le encargó esculpir una imagen de San Antonio para la Basilica del Santo en Padua, por la conmemoración del 800 aniversario del nacimiento del Santo. La escultura fue bendecida por su santidad el Papa Juan Pablo II en la plaza de San Pedro en Roma, frente a 35.000 personas.

La obra pública de Lorenzo Quinn incluye Encuentros, un monumental globo de cristal, dentro del cual hay una mano apuntando con el dedo índice Mallorca. Esta obra fue inaugurada en 2003 frente al Museo de Arte Moderno de Palma de Mallorca, España. En Birmingham, la obra el Árbol de la Vida, fue instalada en 2005 para homenajear a aquellos que murieron en el bombardeo que sufrió esta ciudad, durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Esta obra está situada frente a la iglesia de St. Martin´s. Otros trabajos están expuestos en King Edward´s Wharf – Creación, Volare y Cruzando un Milenio – con característico enfoque a las manos, la forma humana y el círculo.

En noviembre de 2005 una de las mayores esculturas públicas de Lorenzo Quinn, Asciende a Través de la Educación, se instaló en ASPIRE, la Academia del Deporte, en Doha, fue encargada por el Estado de Qatar. Con un peso de 8.000 kilos, este monumento muestra dos manos de adulto, entregando el mundo a la mano de un niño, los brazos forman un círculo por encima de un libro abierto. El comentario del artista sobre la pieza dice: “Un niño es el activo más preciado que tiene nuestro futuro, nuestra obligación es guiarlo…. Es sólo a través de la educación y el conocimiento, que una persona puede dominar su vida“. Lorenzo Quinn, creó una segunda escultura ubicada en el interior de la academia, esta representa la búsqueda de la victoria. Alcanzando el Oro, es una pirámide de siete brazos que salen de una base de arena, las manos se elevan para alcanzar una medalla.

Única entre sus obras como un monumento vivo, es El Legado (2006) fue esculpida para la localidad de Sant Climent de Llobregat, en España. Lorenzo Quinn estaba fascinado por la historia de los cerezos de la ciudad, y decidió hacer una pieza que reflejase esta historia. El tronco del árbol está formado por una mano masculina y otra femenina, de las cuales surgen las ramas cargadas de cerezas simulando la cadena del ADN humano. En esta zona famosa por sus jugosas cerezas, la escultura lleva tantas cerezas en sus ramas como habitantes viven en Sant Climent. Cada año se van añadiendo nuevas cerezas, que representarán los nuevos habitantes.

En 2008 Evolución, una gran exposición de la obra de Lorenzo Quinn, fue elegida para inaugurar las nuevas instalaciones de la Galería Halcyon en Mayfair, Londres. Durante la cual se presentó un importante libro sobre su obra, publicado por la galería. En muchas de las esculturas de “Evolución”, aparece el símbolo que se ha convertido en símbolo de Lorenzo Quinn: la mano humana. “Yo quería esculpir lo que se considera la parte más dura y más difícil técnicamente del cuerpo humano”, explica. “La mano tiene tanto poder – el poder de amar, odiar, crear, destruir. He volcado una vida de experiencia en “Evolución”, se trata de mi pasado, mi presente y mi futuro”.

Le siguió en noviembre de 2009 “Equilibrio”, una exposición de esculturas monumentales de Lorenzo Quinn, coincidiendo con la instalación de Dar y Tomar III en Berkeley Square durante seis meses. El programa incluía varias esculturas nuevas de gran importancia, entre ellas ¿Qué fue primero? – un cuerpo de hombre y otro de mujer de bronce, posicionados en el interior de dos mitades de huevo de mármol y – Home Sweet Home – una figura de mujer acurrucada en un nido de púas de alambre. El título de la exposición refleja la creencia de Lorenzo Quinn: “Es esencial encontrar un equilibrio en la vida. Muchas veces ese equilibrio se logra con la ayuda de las personas que nos rodean, que nos mantienen firmemente en el suelo, y sin los cuales flotaríamos a la perdición. ”

2010 se caracterizó también por varias exposiciones internacionales, entre ellas, la de la Galería Rarity en Grecia, la Galería Marigold en la India, la Galería Rafart en España, la Galería de Arte Heward en Arabia Saudita y la de la Galería Ode to Art de Singapur.

En el verano de 2010, la escultura de Lorenzo Quinn, Vroom Vroom se presentó en el Instituto de Arte Moderno de Valencia y más tarde ese mismo año en la Abu Dhabi, Feria de Arte. En Enero 2011 Vroom Vroom se instaló Park Lane, Londres, como parte del festival de esculturas del Ayuntamiento de Westminster. También en enero del 2011, una versión de tres metros de bronce de la obra Encontrando el Amor, se instaló en la entrada del recién inaugurado edificio de One Hyde Park, en Knightsbridge, coincidiendo con dos ubicaciones públicas más de su serie de esculturas monumentales, la Fuerza de la Naturaleza II en Berkeley Square, Mayfair y Volare en Cadogan Gardens, el Chelsea. Estas cuatro esculturas lanzaron firmemente la exposición pública de la Galería Halcyon a la ciudad de Londres.

En la primavera de 2011, Lorenzo Quinn fue invitado a participar en la primera Biennale di Scultura de Roma, una exposición de escultura al aire libre que tuvo lugar en Roma en Mayo del 2011. Una selección de importantes escultores internacionales fueron elegidos para mostrar obras tanto contemporáneas como históricas. Lorenzo Quinn expuso Dolce Vita, en Casina Valadier, Villa Borghese, de Roma, cerca de la Plaza de España. Lorenzo Quinn dice que para él esta pieza representa la ‘alegría de vivir’ de la edad de La Dolce Vita tal y como se la describió su padre, ”…y la sensación de abandono total del niño que todos llevamos dentro.”

En el verano de 2011 Lorenzo Quinn fue el artista seleccionado para exponer en el pabellón italiano durante la 54ª exposición internacional, Bienal de Venecia. Su poderosa y provocativa instalación, Esto no es un juego, se ubicaba en dos sitios diferentes de la bienal: en el pabellón italiano “el Arsenale “ y en la isla de San Servolo, Venecia. La primera fase de la instalación estaba situada un pontón característico de la isla de San Servolo y consisitía en un auténtico tanque ruso de batalla, un T55, unos soldados de ‘juguete’ a tamaño natural, y unas manos gigantes que daban vida a la obra, sujetando el tanque y los soldados, como lo haría un niño durante su juego. La segunda fase de la instalación estaba ubicada en el pabellón italiano (comisada por Vittoro Sgarbi), y consistía en la reproducción de una pared afectada por un bombardeo, en la que se leía la frase “Esto no es un juego”.

Más tarde en 2011 Lorenzo Quinn fue invitado a exponer las obras Salto de Fe y Mano de Dios en el Palacio de invierno del Museo Hermitage, San Petersburgo. Las esculturas fueron expuestas junto a una exposición e instalación de esculturas al aire libre por Henry Moore. Las instalaciones, comisadas por Ekaterina Lopatkina, comisaria de arte contemporáneo del Museo del Hermitage, coincidieron con ‘Noches Blancas´ el famoso evento anual. La oportunidad de mostrar las dos obras en el Hermitage ha marcado un punto de inflexión en la carrera de Quinn. Su escrito de la obra Salto de Fe dice: El Pasado está escrito sobre piedra, el Presente aún se está tallando en madera y el Futuro es un vaso vacío para llenar con los sueños cumplidos. Esta es una escultura que llama a la reflexión por la necesidad de ser positivo, incluso en los momentos más oscuros, porque siempre queda la esperanza”.

“La vida es una maravilloso viaje interminable….si sabes como vivirla”.

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Sebastián Picker

April 20, 2013, 2:59 am

≫ Next: Matthew Dercole

≪ Previous: Lorenzo Quinn

Sebastián Picker
also here on artodyssey but now with some sculptures

Biografia
Sebastián Picker es un artista, cuya trayectoria esta basada en el aprendizaje empírico de las formas y los métodos, guiado únicamente por la necesidad de decir.
En su obra, el universo fabulatorio se manifiesta mediante la representación de sus personajes en contextos irreales, lo que le da un sentido místico. Una espiritual bondad basada en la representación del alma de las gentes y los objetos, y en el que se establece un nexo entre lo visual-icónico y lo estrictamente pictórico-formal, para distinguir dos planos de una sola obra, una interna y otra externa; el sentimiento y la imagen; un lugar en el que coinciden dos instancias complementarias: las emociones y su registro.
Obra en la que denota cómo, su proceso de creación, esta sujeto a una propuesta que configura signos, teniendo en cuenta las características de la técnica para lograr imágenes-plásticas mediante la liberación psicológica y conceptual de un mundo interior.

Rafael Alfonso Pérez y Pérez
Ciudad de México, 2005

Sebastian Picker, a native of Santiago, Chile who fled his homeland during the reign of dictator Pinochet, uses his art to explore a range of socio-political issues. His works on canvas and paper often parody power, pomposity, and the folly of corrupt leadership in government, church, and business. Picker has been strongly influenced by Pinochet's political reign of terror, as well as time that the artist spent in Rome studying cartooning under Paulo DiGirolamo. Now living in Guadalajara, Mexico, Picker has exhibited his work in galleries and museums throughout Europe and the Americas, including the Galeria de Arte Nacional and Museo Carlos Cruz Diez in Caracas, Venezuela; Optica Gallery in Montreal, Canada; Galeria Skandia in Bogota, Columbia; Galeria 1-2-3, in Escultura, San Salvador; Kunstamt Kreutzberg in Berlin, Germany; Galeria D'Art Mestral in L'Escala, Spain; and Centre Culturel de Villeparisis in Paris, France. In the United States, his work has been exhibited at the Turner Carroll Gallery in Sante Fe, New Mexico; Arden Gallery in Boston; The Artist's Museum in Washington, D.C.; Federal Reserve Bank in Boston; Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland, Ohio; and Brewster Arts Ltd. in New York, among many others. His work is in the collections of the Albuquerque Museum, in Albuquerque, New Mexico; El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe in Sante Fe, New Mexico; the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California; and the Fundacio Vila Casas in Barcelona, Spain.

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Matthew Dercole

April 20, 2013, 5:42 am

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Matthew Dercole

Artist Statement

I develop story lines stemming from the exploration of our relationships with ideas and imagery that are often overlooked, taken for granted, sometimes disturbing, and usually misunderstood. Within these stories, I approach and investigate the dull, banal, and the obvious aspects of everyday life with a new curiosity.

The exploration of the self, the understanding of others, and the dynamics they create are an underlying theme throughout my work. Drawing from a fascination of biology, I create forms based on principles of nature coupled with the experience of thought and feeling. The works become combinations of the natural progression of life, such as growth and decomposition, and the human aspects of reason and ability. I am reacting to the way people think and feel about their identities, how the act of learning and the responsibility of knowledge affect our everyday lives.

I approach my work from the point of view of a story. Thinking of stories and books and how they elicit imagery, I incorporate illustration by means of a narrative series of sculpture. I have been utilizing the written word in the form of short stories and experimenting with bookbinding to add the element of the narrative to the pieces. The sculptures are made with the idea of a more visual approach to storytelling, while the actual writings, or sometimes drawings, are there to compliment the work and give further insight.

i received my BA in Studio Art in Ceramics with a minor in Art History from Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg PA. i then attended the University of Iowa where i earned an MFA in Ceramics, with minors in Drawing and Metalsmithing.

After graduating, i moved to Philadelphia and took a work study position in the galleries at The Clay Studio.

i took the position of the Resident Artist in Ceramics at the Lux Center for the Arts in Lincoln NE from Aug 2010-Aug 2011. while there, i taught a Ceramics course for Doane College in Lincoln, as well as children and adult classes at the Lux Center.

From Sept 2011- Aug 2012 i was the Artist in Residence in Ceramics at Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago, IL. where i taught ceramics classes and worked on a new body of work.

i am currently Resident Artist and Crew Member for Chicago artist Theaster Gates and Rebuild Foundation.

EDUCATION

University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
M.F.A Art Studio – Ceramics Minor in Drawing
Aug. 2008-May 2009

University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
M.A. Art Studio-Ceramics Minor in Metal smithing
Aug.2006- May 2008

Bloomsburg University, Bloomsburg, PA
B.A. Art Studio-Ceramics Minor in Art History
June 1998-May 2003

EMPLOYMENT

Resident Artist/Crew Member for Theaster Gates and Rebuild Foundation, Chicago IL Sept 2012-present

Instructor of Community Art classes, Lillstreet Art Center, Chicago IL Sept 2011-Aug 2012

Instructor of Community Art Classes in Ceramics, Lux Center for the Arts, Lincoln, NE Sept. 2010-Aug 2011

Instructor, Doane College, Lincoln, NE Aug 2010-Aug 2011

After School Program Teacher, Family Learning Center, Lincoln NE

Teaching Assistant, Ceramics Department, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Aug. 2008- May 2009

Instructor of Record, Ceramics Department, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Aug.2006 – May 2008

Woodshop Monitor, University of Iowa, Iowa City IA
Jan.2007-May 2009

AWARDS

2012

Best in Show, Masur Museum of Art 49th Annual Juried Competition

2011

Merit Award, Bibliophoria II, National juried book arts show

2009

Award of Distinction, 2009 Art Kudos International Juried Art Competition and Exhibition

Special Recognition, 8th Annual Summer All Media Juried Online Art Exhibit

Research Assistant Fellowship, University of Iowa, IA

2008

University of Iowa Arts Fellowship

Teaching Assistantship, Ceramics I, University of Iowa

2007

Wilhelm and Jane Bodine Fellowship

Teaching Assistantship, Ceramics I, University of Iowa

2006

Teaching Assistantship, University of Iowa

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Steve Walker - (1961-2012)

April 22, 2013, 6:03 am

≫ Next: DIANE DESMARAIS

≪ Previous: Matthew Dercole

Steve Walker - 1961-2012

Notes for 2004 calendar "Still Lives"

“The idea for paintings comes from everywhere. From that which I have personally seen or
experienced, to things that are a more universal part of the human condition. I tend to be able to
look at life as a whole, made up of individual moments. I may think for years before making a
specific painting, while another idea may become a painting days after the initial inspiration. I
constantly make notes and sketches of ideas, for fear that I may forget them.” 2003.

“I think of my paintings as songs. The visual impact of the painting is the music, and the actual
content (what is happening) is the words. Of course, for many people, the words do not matter,
and for others, vice versa.” 2003

“It simply never occurred to me to paint about these themes in any other context than that of my
own life as a person who happens to be gay. Why would I create paintings whose context was
anything other than the truth of my life as a gay man?”2003

“The guys who model for me are a very important element of my work. They are like actors are to
a director. They come from all walks of life. As I live in Toronto, Canada, all of the guys have lived
here when I worked with them, although most have origins in places far from Canada. Most have
never modeled before. Many models seem to like to send reproductions of the paintings they are
in to their mothers." 2003

“I see my work as a documentation, an interpretation, a crystallization of singular moments
rendered in line, color, light, shadow, using a hundred brushes, a thousand colors, and a million
brush strokes. I strive to make people stop, if only for a moment, think and actually feel
something. My paintings contain as many questions as answers.” 2000

“I have never pretended to represent, depict, or even understand every homosexual or the sub-
cultures within a gay culture. No heterosexual has ever represented all heterosexual people or all
of their life experiences. It would be both naïve and false for me to even attempt to do so with gay
people.” 2002

“Love, Light, Loss, Life.
Touching, Watching, Thinking.
Yearning, Reflecting, Fearing.
I paint about life, mine and yours.
My sexual orientation is unapologetically,
Simple part of that.”

“I have worked within the confines of a realist painter, depicting moments. I think my paintings are
far more about the experience of life, than “gay life”.” 2002

“Realism, Classicism, Romanticism…I really do not think too much about what “style” I am painting
in. I taught myself, so I guess it is my own style. I’m sure that I have been greatly affected (both
positively and negatively, both consciously and subconsciously) by everything my eyes have
seen. My mind processes this information into an image, and my right hand creates a painting. I
hope that my paintings inspire, entertain, provoke, challenge, and in a small way make this world
a more beautiful place to live. I hope that they live on long after all of us.” 2004

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DIANE DESMARAIS

April 22, 2013, 6:20 am

≫ Next: DORIAN FITZGERALD

≪ Previous: Steve Walker - (1961-2012)

Born in Hull, QC., in 1946, Diane Desmarais has exhibited her work at gallery Saint-Dizier since 1995. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Montreal's ''École des Beaux-arts'' in 1969. Thereafter, Desmarais quickly took part in both solo and group exhibitions. Throughout the years, Desmarais' figures have become an incarnation of grace and sensuality. Her subjects are always intertwined, androgynous and aerial. She conveys the intricacy of life onto canvas. Her work is defined by both a structural composition and a subtle use of colour. Over the years, her paintings have been seen on all four continents and are widely collected by both private and public collections around the world.

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DORIAN FITZGERALD

April 22, 2013, 6:57 am

≫ Next: DIANE BROUILLETTE

≪ Previous: DIANE DESMARAIS

Dorian FitzGerald (*1975, Toronto) makes monumental paintings of materially excessive situations. The subject matter includes the dining room of Stefano Gabbana’s yacht; the throne room of the Queluz National Palace in Lisbon; table decorations for a party thrown by Oprah Winfrey for Sidney Poiter; a Fabergé Egg ornamented by a rose trellis; a Cartier bracelet and, most recently, an image of Elton John’s Sunglass collection at his estate in Old Windsor, England. Each of the paintings has been made using acrylic paint and caulking in a slow, precise method that FitzGerald has refined in his studio over several years, although the total number of paintings made in this manner is less than fifteen given their scale and complexity. The process involves researching suitable imagery, manipulating it with software, making a large-scale acetate transfer onto canvas and then using clear caulking to delineate areas of pure colour so that the image is built up slowly in a manner that resembles a kind of pointillism filtered into vector graphics. FitzGerald’s largest painting to date, “The Hacker-Pschorr Beerhall, Oktoberfest, Munich” (2005), at twelve feet wide by eighteen feet high, took the artist more than three years to complete. Of his work and his process, the artist has written that “the images that interest me are symmetrically organized, complex masses of objects that assume fractal-like forms. These opulent interiors and luxury objects not only benefit from the rich texture and application of paint, they also closely align with my socio-political interests. I see myself as a contemporary court painter, documenting on a grand scale the material and spatial excesses of our time.”

source

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DIANE BROUILLETTE

April 22, 2013, 7:17 am

≫ Next: ROSE-AIMÉE BÉLANGER

≪ Previous: DORIAN FITZGERALD

Diane BROUILLETTE

Born in Valleyfield, Quebec in 1960, Diane Brouillette plays with traditional still-life compositions,
masterfully infusing inanimate objects with a new life. “Mother nature is the metronome of my
creativity,” she writes. “Over and over I pick up her fruits, her flowers, her colours and lost perfumes.”
Drawing inspiration from the shapes of fruits and colours and textures of antiques, Brouillette
juxtaposes these elements in such a way that they engage in dialogue and mimic human form.
In her most recent production, the human body has taken centre stage, often left hovering between
light and shadows, the known and the unknown. Her acute sense of colour and bold use of texture
accentuates the dramatic ambiance found in her work. Collage is an integral part of her work. Her
mix-media approach on paper and canvas, make emotions appear palpable. Brouillette’s art leaves no
one indifferent. It will captivate the eye of the spectator, who will enjoy discovering the subtleties of
the matter.

STUDIES
1989 Academia Bella Arte, Florence, Italy
1985 Apprenticeship in etching, Grenoble, France
1985 Bachelor in Visual Arts, Université du Québec à Montréal, Québec
1981 Diploma of Collegial Studies in Fine Arts, Valleyfield, Québec

We all knew Diane Brouillette, the artist of still-lives, of lace tablecloth and fruits. Those subjects are no longer. This is a reinvented Diane Brouilette that we are presenting. Brouillette has freed herself from the shackles that constrained her and can now truly let her creative instinct express itself. When asked « What are your sources of inspirations, where are these images coming from? » She simply responds: « I am a sponge. What I hear evokes images in my mind and I have no other alternative than to paint these images as I feel them.» Diane Brouillette also signs by the name Georges C. a new series of surrealist works showcasing a bestiary of horsewomen and dogs!

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ROSE-AIMÉE BÉLANGER

April 22, 2013, 7:42 am

≫ Next: Isabelle Tremblay

≪ Previous: DIANE BROUILLETTE

ROSE-AIMÉE BÉLANGER

Born 1923 in Guérin, QC., Rose-Aimée Bélanger exhibits her work at Galerie Saint-Dizier since 1995, she began her artistic formation at ‘L'École Des Beaux-arts de Montréal’ in 1945. However, even though she always practiced art work, it was not until thirty years after, and eight children later that she finally began to sculpt and create full time. Rose-Aimée Belanger’s principal inspiration comes from the simple moments of every day life and the happy surprises one can observe. The female forms, or Bélanger’s “rounds” as she likes to call them, are the vehicle for her visualizing emotions. All these expressions are essential and can only come from her “rounds”. The emotions are amplified by the sensuality of the subtle curves and the heat from the bronze patina. There is a serenity surrounding Bélanger’s “rounds”; they breathe calmness allowing one to do the same in their presence. in 1997, the sculpture ''Les Chuchoteuses'' by Rose-Aimée Bélanger was installed across the street from gallery Saint-Dizier on Saint-Paul Street West and as been a great success with the public ever since. Rose-Aimée Bélanger sculptures are collected world wide both privately and publicly.

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Isabelle Tremblay

April 22, 2013, 8:05 am

≫ Next: Shintaro Ohata

≪ Previous: ROSE-AIMÉE BÉLANGER

Isabelle Tremblay

Isabelle Tremblay est née le 4 novembre 1970 à Chicoutimi. En plus d'être douée à lécole, elle démontre très tôt des aptitudes en dessin et en musique. De l'âge de 6 à 13 ans, elle suit tour à tour des cours de ballet classique, ballet jazz, de patinage artistique et de musique à travers lesquels elle performe et déploie ses talents.

À 17 ans, elle s'inscrit au Cégep de Chicoutimi en science humaine. Il faut dire qu'elle est très attirée par la psychologie. Il est important de mentionner qu'elle tentera pendant longtemps de s'efforcer de trouver un métier « sérieux », malgré ses aptitudes artistiques. Cependant, l'année suivante, elle quitte le programme des sciences humaines et s'engage à suivre le DEC en arts visuels au Cégep de Chicoutimi. Elle termine en 1990. L'expérience s'averre des plus révélatrice pour lartiste. Mais lorsqu'elle quitte le Saguenay pour se rendre à Sherbrooke afin de poursuivre ses études, la raison l'emportant, elle complétera une première année en enseignement du primaire à l'université. Autant demander à un poisson de marcher! L'année suivante, dans le doute, elle fait un Certificat en Arts, toujours à l'université de Sherbrooke. C'est de loin sa plus belle année d'étude! Mais la voie de lart lui semble ni viable ni réaliste. Elle fait donc un compromis et va chercher un BAC en Design Graphique à l'Université Laval de Québec. Ses études prennent fin en décembre 1995. Elle tente de faire du graphisme un métier, mais il lui apparaît de plus en plus évident que malgré ce qui semblait être le compromis idéal, sa nature l'emmène ailleurs.

Afin d'accompagner son conjoint de l'époque, elle part vivre à Hull en 1997. Elle s'occupe à la peinture pendant près de 2 ans. Elle quitte Hull pour Montréal en 1999 afin d'aller travailler dans la compagnie de jeux vidéo Ubi-Soft jusqu'en 2001. Elle y entre grâce à sa production artistique, en tant que graphiste en texture et modélisation. Suite à son départ d'Ubi-Soft pour des problèmes de santé, elle reprend sa production, et grâce au support d'un nouveau conjoint et à quelques rencontres divinement orchestrées, elle voit grandir ce rêve quelle n'avait jamais osé croire possible.

Elle expose à plusieurs reprises à Montréal pendant 3 ans et en 2004, suite à une exposition qui avait très bien fonctionnée à la Galerie Dentaire à Montréal, elle entre comme artiste permanent à la Galerie Saint-Dizier dans le Vieux-Montréal. Pendant ce temps, Québec-Amérique achète les droits de reproduction de deux de ses uvres pour des pages couverture de romans : Les Larmes d'Adam de Robert Maltais et Polaroids de Sophie Létourneau. Suite à son départ de la Galerie St-Dizier en 2006, elle expose dans une nouvelle galerie d'art dans le Mile-End jusquen 2007. Mais le trop peu dargent et une certaine désillusion face au milieu de l'art lemmènent à prendre une pause dans sa production. Elle tente même une réorientation et complète en 2007, une formation en finition de meubles. L'expérience dure 6 mois. Une nouvelle passion germe et elle caresse le projet douvrir son atelier de reproduction de meubles antiques. Mais à l'époque, ce projet ne peut voir le jour. Et elle se retrouve face à son art de nouveau.

Tenter de vivre de l'art lui avait été difficile, comme ce que vivent la plupart des artistes. Son amour pour la peinture et à l'autre bout du spectre, son aversion pour ce qu'il en coûte dêtre artiste dans notre société, peuvent être une source de souffrance et pourtant, elle persiste. Elle assume désormais plus que jamais de vivre pleinement de cet amour et ce besoin inné et incontournable qu'elle a pour l'expression et la beauté. Car de toute manière, quoi qu'elle fasse, force est de constater que la vie la ramène toujours au même endroit : devant le chevalet, l'esprit débordant d'images à naître.

Je me définirais presque comme un chercheur. La découverte et la connaissance de l'intangible me passionnent. Je n'ai presque pas souvenir d'un âge où je ne fus en quête d'une vérité plus grande. Simultanément, quelque chose en moi me pousse à partager cette découverte progressive. L'art est pour moi le médium de communication que je privilégie pour me relier aux autres. Il s'agit d'un un fil conducteur de l'éther à ce monde, pour lequel je me fais une joie d'être le relais. C'est certainement la raison pour laquelle je me prête à la peinture et que cela persiste dans le temps. Ce geste me ramène constamment au centre, là où les questions trouvent réponses. Cest l'intimité, le lien entre ce petit moi et ce que je suis de plus grand, qui me nourrit et qui est entretenu à travers cette relation. L'illimité s'y trouve et le temps n'y a aucune emprise. Dans cet espace, est un océan où tous le potentiels existent et sont en attente d'être manifestés.

Si l'on s'y prête, que l'on soit l'artiste ou l'observateur, l'art nous déleste des barrières, pour nous emmener dans un espace où nous nous rejoignons tous. En mon sens, il s'agit dun chemin menant au Divin en nous, et ce chemin, quoi que parfois ardu, est bel et bien source de joie, de grâce et de beauté qu'il est certainement bon de partager.

La pratique de l'art pour moi est à l'image d'une pratique spirituelle, c'est-à-dire qu'elle représente un équilibre entre la rigueur et l'abandon, l'effort et la confiance, l'humanité et la divinité. Au bout du compte, cest pour moi, d'arriver à accepter de servir l'intangible, en laissant couler librement ce qui vient et ce qui est. Ma quête d'un esprit libre et épuré m'apparaît essentiel afin de rendre au mieux les lumières que je reçois. Je tente à travers la symbolique d'exprimer: l'espoir, l'évolution, la liberté, le divin, la grandeur et la grâce qui nous habitent et qui est selon moi, notre vraie nature.

On retrouve dans mon travail, des symboles tels que le germe : représentant le non- manifesté, la potentialité. L'arbre : représentant la portion visible des choses qui n'est toujours qu'une partie de ce qui est. L'oiseau : symbolisant à la fois la liberté, mais aussi les enseignements, les supposés hasards de la vie. L'oeuf, cest le cadeau, la vie, un secret, la promesse cachée en soi, la prochaine découverte. Le papillon : symbole universel de transformation et de renaissance. L'eau : symbole des émotions et des mondes subtiles, ainsi que bien d'autres encore.

Je suis toujours heureuse davoir l'opportunité de présenter le fruit de mon travail au grand jour. Puisse-t-il vous être bénéfique comme il le fût pour moi, au moment où je le cueillais des jardins de lÉther.

quote

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Shintaro Ohata

April 22, 2013, 8:56 am

≫ Next: Lucio Ranucci

≪ Previous: Isabelle Tremblay

Shintaro Ohata

Born in Hiroshima, 1975.
Shintaro Ohata is an artist who depicts little things in everyday life like scenes of a movie and captures all sorts of light in his work with a unique touch: convenience stores at night, city roads on rainy day and fast-food shops at dawn etc. His paintings show us ordinary sceneries as dramas. He is also known for his characteristic style; placing sculptures in front of paintings, and shows them as one work, a combination of 2-D and 3-D world.

Selected Awards

2009: Celeste Prize 2009, Shortlisted Prize (installation & sculpture)
2006: GEISAI#10, yukari-art, Inc.award,
: WWD Japan award,
: DENTSU award,
: GIANT ROBOT award
2005: GEISAI#7, BTmagazine award
2004: GEISAI#6, YUZU-Kitagawa Yujin award

AWARDS

Selected Commission Works

CD jackets

2001: “Daylight”, Rika Shinohara
: “Suiyoubi no Wine”, Rika Shinohara

Book Covers

2007: “Bungaku-no toshi”, Motoyuki Shibata, University of Tokyo Press
2004: “Yoru-wa mou aketeiru”, Toshiki Komazawa, Kadokawa Group Publishing

Shintaro Ohata is an artist who depicts little things in everyday life like scenes of a movie and captures all sorts of light in his work with a unique touch: convenience stores at night, city roads on rainy day and fast-food shops at dawn etc. His paintings show us ordinary sceneries as dramas. He is also known for his characteristic style; placing sculptures in front of paintings, and shows them as one work, a combination of 2-D and 3-D world. He says that it all started from when he wondered “I could bring the atmosphere or dynamism of my paintings with a more different way if I place sculptures in front of paintings”. Many viewers tend to assume that there is a light source set into his work itself because of the strong expression of lights in his sculpture. His further steps have been noticed as he has been featured by lots of media from overseas, including a cultural magazine from the USA that featured him on their front cover and a long interview.

Facebook Page

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Lucio Ranucci

April 22, 2013, 1:46 pm

≫ Next: Tadeo Zavaleta de la Barra

≪ Previous: Shintaro Ohata

Lucio Ranucci

Lucio Ranucci was born in 1925 in Italy. He began painting as a young man while at boarding school and at the age of 22, not long after his father passed away, Ranucci set out for Latin America seeking personal exploration and adventure. What was to be a brief excursion turned into a 16-year stay that involved immersing himself in the cultures of Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Columbia, and Costa Rica. There he worked as a sailor, photographer, and hearse driver. This rich life experience illuminate his paintings. In 1959 during his days as a journalist, Ranucci interviewed key political figures such as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. He was imprisoned in Nicaragua for his political beliefs, which involved fighting against Simoza's dictatorship. In 1963, Ranucci came home to Italy to undergo the trial of European art critics. His return entailed a series of successful exhibitions throughout Italy, Germany, France, and England. Filled with a passion for life, Ranucci's paintings show an understanding and compassion for people. His work is a testament to human kind's unchanging rituals What makes Ranucci's work particularly striking is his combination of rich, vibrant colors with cylindrical forms set against soft curves. The complementary shapes provide a harmony throughout each painting, giving us a warm sense of the people's lives he depicts. Unlike most visual artists, Ranucci is also a writer and a journalist and has worked extensively in the theater. He has written three books, and has had five books published about his work as a painter. Ranucci is internationally renowned and collected worldwide, and has been commissioned to paint murals, among them, a panel for the International Airport in San Jose, Costa Rica. Today at his advanced age, Ranucci continues his life-long passion for painting.

Lucio Ranucci è nato nel 1925 in Italia. E’ uno degli esponenti della corrente artistica conosciuta come "cubismo realista".
La pittura lo interessa soprattutto per la sua azione sui fenomeni sociali e politici;
“Quando il pittore era realmente l'unico testimone dei suoi tempi c’era una funzione grafica di testimonianza"
I soggetti preferiti di Lucio Ranucci sono forme umane, che esprimono una grande spiritualità e profonde emozioni, rappresentate in modo geometrico e cubista. Nel 1947 si è trasferito in America del Sud, in Argentina, ed ha esordito come pittore, tenendo la sua prima mostra personale nel 1949 a Lima, nel Perù, seguita da successi in Ecuador, Colombia, Giamaica, Nicaragua, Brasile, Messico, Costa Rica, U.S.A,
Inghilterra Italia e in tutta Europa.
L'artista ha da poco concluso una mostra a Boston. Seguita da una personale nella capitale del Costa Rica, con un grande successo, dove “La Nacion”, un importante quotidiano lo ha definito "El Padre", titolo che in America Latina si dedica solo a grandi personaggi, ricordando il "segno indelebile" che ha lasciato nei paesi Latinoamericani da lui visitati.
Attualmente vive e lavora nella sua residenza in Francia, sulla Costa Azzurra.

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Tadeo Zavaleta de la Barra

April 22, 2013, 3:06 pm

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Tadeo Zavaleta de la Barra

“Understanding the ambiguities of the human nature"

That’s what captivated Tadeo De La Barra, and introduced him into the world of art. Of course, as the son of one of the greatest Peruvian artists, it could not have been any other way. Being told by his father that the human body presented both the greatest difficulties but at the same time the greatest achievements in art, he pursued figurative art drawing and painting at the young age of seven years old.

Tadeo was born in Lima, Peru in August 30th, 1977. In his continuous search for artistic development, Tadeo enrolled in the prestigious School of Fine Arts at 18; and as the first student in his class he was invited to participate in the Quimera ’99 exhibit in Mexico, where his art is highly regarded as one of the best from South America.

Tadeo continued his path in the art world with the sole purpose of finding happiness through art. By reinventing the ordinary, and sometimes monotonous routinary reality, he found the happiness art gives and the added happiness of giving his art to other perceptive and appreciative souls.

In 2005 Tadeo was involved in exhibits in one of the most renowned Art Galleries of Peru: La Galeria de Arte Moll, which exhibits celebrated works from distinguished Peruvian Masters of the past, notorious contemporary artists, and talented new young artists.

His talent transcended the boundaries of his natal Peru in 2007, when his art reached South Florida. A new chapter was being written in Tadeo’s life. Since then his art has been the center of numerous art shows among them the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder Exhibitions.

Some of Tadeo’s collectors include Peru Culture Minister Juan Ossio; former MGM CEO and current Tropicana Hotel and casino president in Las Vegas, Alex Yemenidjian; world famous engineer and Harley-Davidson motorcycle collector from Spain Enrique Castel and Carnival Cruise liner Micky Harrison. On October 25th 2011, during an emotional ceremony, Tadeo donated “Hope” a wonderful work of art currently displayed in the main lobby of the Miami Children Hospital.

Tadeo’s paintings are a window to an intelligent and creative mind; his strokes are the voice of a true artist. His art transcends hyperrealism exposing the observer to a surreal and delightful experience. Brilliant, gifted, and spontaneous, his artistic achievement elates the senses and portrays the exuberant mastermind behind the canvas.

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Elvio Mainardi

April 22, 2013, 4:09 pm

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Elvio Mainardi

Elvio Mainardi, was born in Adria on December 15th, 1934. Very young, 1952 he exhibited his first works in his native town, and found immediate favour with the public and the local critics. He found his first teacher, T. Foster, who held him entranced with his surreal, dreamlike imagination. Mainardi was the founding Member of the ‘Artistic Circle of Adria’, organised frequent meetings, competitions and visits to major exhibitions. He took part himself in national and international art competitions at the highest levels, winning 126 first prizes and 3 first prizes abroad. In 1960 he moved to Bologna, where under the auspices of his teachers Illario Rossi and Corrado Corazza, he studied and grasped the great secrets of art. In 1961 he staged his first personal exhibition, in Bologna, at the “Galleria la Scaletta” and in the same year he married Lidia, who was to bear him two children: Andrea and Silvia. For eleven years he worked on the restoration of the old town on behalf of the city council. By then he was well integrated in the artistic circles and life of Bologna and its region, and it was there he met and got to know his great masters: Morandi, Saetti and Korompai. He periodically organised both one man shows and joint exhibitions at the “Galleria il Crocicchio” which were given excellent reviews. He diligently “did the rounds” of other artist’s studios, galleries and collections, experiencing the full intensity of the strong artistic culture of region Emilia of the time. In 1973 he moved to Valtellina in the far north of Italy, where he still lives, away from the discomforts of the city, in a charming valley, where peace, silence, glaciers and unspoilt nature coexist in perfect unison. Here he rediscovered himself, his most profound intimacy of thought, his depth of concentration and a compelling urge to paint. In 1966 he was part of a national group of adherents to the “en plain air” school, through which he met many famous artists from all over Italy, encouraging him to enrich and refine his skills and own painting style. From 1967 to 1981 he executed a series of large canvasses for the American Headquarters of Caterpillar. In 1985 he was called upon to design and execute three posters for the FIS World Championships of Alpine Skiing, which became an immediate and resounding success all over the world, thanks to colours, the expressive and dynamic force of his figures, and especially setting pace for the return of “figurative art” on sports posters. In 1986 in America is beckoning Mainardi again, where he will stage a series of exhibitions. The public will doubtless be able to affirm that he still endows his pictures with the same love for his homeland which has always characterised his work. Elvio Mainardi’s work is available in the U.S. at: S.R. Brennan Galleries (Palm Desert, CA. – Scottsdale, AZ.)

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Eduard Alcoy - Eduard Alcoy Lázaro

April 23, 2013, 1:52 am

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EDUARD ALCOY
(Barcelona, 1930-Mataró, 1987)

Petita síntesi biogràfica.
Eduard Alcoy i Lázaro neix a Barcelona el 5 de febrer. Des del 1934 viu al carrer Diputació n. 424 de Barcelona i assisteix a les escoles franceses per freqüentar després l'Escola Ferrer i Guàrdia i estudiar a partir del 1939 al col·legi "Ramon Llull". El 1943 comença ja a treballar i a partir de l'any següent i amb interrupcions cursa estudis de dibuix i gravat a l'Escola d'Arts i Oficis Artístics de Barcelona (Llotja). Al 1950 fa la primera exposició col·lectiva a Sala Pino de Barcelona en una etapa en què forma part del grup INTER-NOS. El 1955 la primera exposició individual el porta al Museu Municipal de Mataró i abans d'acabar l'any s'ha produït la seva entrada en la no figuració i és membre fundador del Grup SíLEX. En aquests temps (1956-57) inicia una nova etapa de treball a l'agència publicitària ZEN (Barcelona). El 1957 rebrà la Medalla Miguel Lerin de la Cámara Barcelonesa de Arte (Premios Juan Gris). 1958: Es casa a Barcelona amb Miracle Pedrós i Vives. Matrimoni del qual naixeran cinc fills. 1959-1961: Viatge a París. Exposicions per tot el món amb els informalistes espanyols.

Entre el 1930 i el 1966 viu a Barcelona. Després del seu casament ho farà al carrer Provença (1958-1961) i, més tard, al carrer del Duc de la Victòria (1961-1966). El 1963 tanca la seva etapa no figurativa amb l'abandonament definitiu de l'Informalisme que porta aparellat un evident silenci expositiu entre el 1963 i el 1965, que trencarà amb una individual a Mataró el febrer del 1966 (Sala d'exposicions de la Biblioteca Popular. Caixa d'Estalvis Laietana). Ja feia alguns mesos que treballava a Mataró a les gràfiques TRIA, feina que mantindrà fins el 1970. El seu trasllat a la ciutat es produeix el juny del 1966. Fins el juliol del 1974 té vivenda i estudi al carrer de la Riera mentre que a partir del 1974 la seva residència i lloc de treball s'ubicaran ja definitivament al carrer Barcelona n. 34. El 1970: Abandona les feines publicitàries i el disseny gràfic per dedicar-se exclusivament a la pintura. És l'època dels primers contactes amb marxants i galeristes italians, de les seves anades a Torino i de l'amplicació del seu camp artístic (noves gràfiques, primeres joies i escultures, pirografies...). El 1971 exposa a la Sala Davico de Torino i el 1972 a la Sala Gaudí de Barcelona. El 1974 rep el Primer Premi ciutat de Balaguer per l'obra "Procés a la bruixa". El 1976 elabora una exposició retrospectiva (1973-1976) a Sala Gaudí de Barcelona i el 1980 una àmplia antològica a Mataró (Museu Municipal, Sala de la Biblioteca Popular de la Caixa Laietana, Galeria Tertre i Sala Fuset) que recull obra seva des del 1947. El 18 de juny de 1987 mor prematurament a Mataró víctima d'una greu malaltia.

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