If you’ve seen the 1987 horror movie Hellraiser, you probably remember the Butterball Cenobite: one of the minor demon characters charged with dragging people to Hell. If you can’t conjure an image of his likeness from memory, he looked like this: Please Click Me. To me, the wildly surreal portraits comprising Christian Rex Van Minnen’s recent exhibit, Coniuncto look like they could be Butterball’s contemporary relatives, albeit with tattoos and jewel-toned gummy candies hovering over their mutant visages. At the very least, this series of paintings encourages imaginative extrapolation, and that’s what good art is all about! Continue reading Coniuncto By Christian Rex Van Minnen→
This week’s Pink Thing comes from the incredibly talented Florida-based artist Scott Scheidly, and his latest series of hyper-realist portraits, which he calls Glamour Shots. Part of Scheidly’s ongoing “Pink Series,”Glamour Shots consists of vibrantly painted satirical portraits in which the artist depicts celebrities and notorious politicians dressed in hues of pinks and purples. Named for the glamour shots photography style popularized in the 1990s, Scheidly draws inspiration from this campy genre, draping figures in pearls, satin gloves and feather boas. I saw the Glamour Shots exhibit at NYCs Spoke Art Gallery and immediately fell in love with this portrait of David Bowie as Jareth the Goblin King from the movie Labyrinth.
Find out more about the art of Scott Scheidly at This Link!
Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau) 1884 (All Photos By Gail)
I think I sat on this a little bit longer than I should have, because I expected this exhibit to be up for a couple more months instead of ending this coming weekend. My bad! You are advised to act fast and make it to The Met to take in Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends before it closes next Sunday! Here are a few of my favorite paintings from the show, along with background on what you’ll see!
La Carmencita, 1890
Throughout his career, the celebrated American painter John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) created exceptional portraits of artists, writers, actors, dancers, and musicians, many of whom were his close friends. As a group, these portraits — many of which were not commissioned — are often highly charged, intimate, witty, idiosyncratic, and more experimental than his formal portraiture. Brilliant works of art and penetrating character studies, they are also records of relationships, influences, aspirations, and allegiances.
Claude Monet, 1887
Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends brings together ninety-two of the artist’s paintings and drawings of members of his impressive artistic circle. The individuals seen through Sargent’s eyes represent a range of leading figures in the creative arts of the time such as artists Claude Monet and Auguste Rodin, writers Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry James, and the actor Ellen Terry, among others.
Shakespearean Actor Ellen Terry As Lady Macbeth, 1889
The exhibition features some of Sargent’s most celebrated full-length portraits (Dr. Pozzi at Home, Hammer Museum), his dazzling subject paintings created in the Italian countryside (Group with Parasols [Siesta], private collection), and brilliant watercolors (In the Generalife, The Metropolitan Museum of Art) alongside lesser-known portrait sketches of his intimate friends (Vernon Lee, 1881, Tate). The exhibition explores the friendships between Sargent and his artistic sitters, as well as the significance of these relationships to his life and art.
Shakespearean Actor Edwin Booth, 1890 (Brother of John Wilkes Booth)
A Dinner Table at Night (Edith and Albert Vickers), 1884
Garden Study of the Vickers Children (Billy and Dorothy), 1884
Mrs. Hugh Hammersley (Mary Frances), 1892
Robert Louis Stevenson, 1887
Isabella Stewart Gardner, 1888
The story of Sargent’s relationship with each of his subjects is posted next to each painting and it is such a fascinating history lesson and a rapturous trip back in time to imagine what life must have been like for these people. What’s even more exciting is that photography is allowed, and that almost never happens, so please try to see this exhibit before it closes.
Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends, will be on Exhibit Through October 4th, 2015 in Gallery 999 of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Located at 1000 Fifth Ave at 81st Street, New York, NY.
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 17th (6-8pm)
Bertrand Delacroix Gallery is thrilled to announce FAME/SHAME, a one-time special collaboration between the gallery and famed British artist Russell Young. The artist is internationally renowned for his colorful enamel screen-print paintings of celebrities, often coated in shimmering diamond dust. In Anna Wilding’s documentary on the artist, he states:
“My art is best described as fame and shame.”
This is exemplified in this exhibition’s mix of glamorous celebrity photos and mug shots.
Young’s signature technique combines painting and photography to produce a unique effect. He sources the photographs from newspaper cuttings, auctions, celebrities themselves and even police departments.
Last Rites Gallery is currently hosting Transfigure, a group exhibition featuring new paintings by Sarah Joncas (whose work we first saw at Last Rites way back in 2011), along with Alex Garant, and husband and wife collaborative duo Kit King and Corey Popp, known creatively as Oda & King. This is a fresh group of artists that are bringing something cool and dark to contemporary portraiture.
Oda & King, Creation
Transfigure explores the overall theme of transforming one idea into something more beautiful or elaborate. The shared goal is to inspire discussion which bridges the gap between styles, mediums and other aesthetic factors existing within the realm of artistry.
For this exhibition, each artist has chosen to move beyond his or her central medium and explore the convolution of experiences, which stem from the creative process. Alex Garant has painted a collection of women’s traditional portraits with a surreal edge; where each subject not only appears to have Multiple Eyes, but multiple countenances, entirely. The painting above, of a young girl holding her pet rabbit, is absolutely astounding.
Alex Garant, Boudoir
Oda & King, Our Little Secret
My eyes sting just looking at this one.
Sarah Joncas, Wither
Oda & King, Refugee
This presentation of shifting techniques examines the complex relationship amongst artists, object, and form as well as the formative innovations that occur when one decides to move beyond their comfort zone.
Transfigure will be on Exhibit through October 3rd, 2015 at Last Rites Gallery, Located at 325 West 38th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues) in NYC.
