Tag Archives: Rebus Puzzles

Arts and Culture

Robert Deyber at Martin Lawrence Galleries

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Dress Code
Dress Code By Robert Deyber (All Photos By Gail)

Pop Surrealism is a genre of painting that never gets tiresome for me. Connecticut based Artist Robert Deyber paints realist-style visual renderings of clichés, euphemisms and popular sayings or phrases, to create surreal, dreamlike tableaus that really take the viewer elsewhere. I love his work.

ClubHouse
Club House

Despite his keen sense of humor and the visually absurd, Robert Deyber is a seriously skilled painter. Much like solving Rebus Puzzles, the fun in observing Deyber’s paintings is trying to deduce the title from the images on the canvas. Sometimes it’s really easy and obvious, and at other times quite confounding. You can even make a game of it with your friends!

Fire Arms
Fire Arms

Here are some of my favorites from Thursday night’s opening reception, where I had the chance to meet Robert, and he was very nice!

Lion of Coke
Lion of Coke

Think Tank
Think Tank

Baseball Bat
Baseball Bat

Chick Magnet
Chick Magnet

Martin Lawrence Galleries is located at 457 West Broadway (Between Houston and Prince) in Soho, NY.

Screw You
I’ll let you guess what this one is called.

Arts and Culture

Joshua Liner Presents Stephen Powers’ A Word is Worth a Thousand Pictures

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Stephen Powers Word is Worth a Thousand Pictures

Oh, what a night! Thursday, September 6th, 2012 not only marked the party-filled kick off of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week here in NYC, but the evening also launched the reopening of many of our favorite Chelsea art Galleries after a too-long summer of dormancy. Well into the balmy evening (summer ain’t over yet!), the streets of Chelsea were as teaming with excited art fans as Times Square is with tourists at midday! The Art is back!

Stephen Powers Funny Because It's True
Funny Because It’s True By Stephen Powers

We started off our evening’s crawl on 28th Street with a much-anticipated visit to the Joshua Liner Gallery – where we try to never miss an opening reception! Currently, Liner is hosting Stephen Powers’ A Word is Worth a Thousand Pictures, which is just fantastic fun!

Stephen Powers Pour Trait of The Artist
Pour Trait of The Artist

In this new exhibition series, Powers presents a panoramic assemblage of enamel on aluminum paintings that occupy both gallery rooms. These colorful and engaging works – which reminded me a bit of the complex Rebus Puzzles of the Concentration Game Show — range from 10-by 8-inches to 8 by 16-feet.

Stephen Powers Fresh Peach
Fresh Peach

Stephen Powers Adore
Adore (2 of a Series of 3)

Stephen Powers is perhaps best known for public artworks that fuse sign painting, graffiti, words and images, and he creates a new form of public art that is collaborative and personal. I enjoyed finding clever messages hidden in the larger works and isolating various details which emphasize the paintings’ wry humor. If you are a fan of Mad Magazine or The National Lampoon, Powers’ work will certainly resonate with you. See some of those details below.

Stephen Powers Detail From Funny Because It's True
Easy Street Closed for Repairs: Detail From Funny Because It’s True

Stephen Powers All Eggs in One Basket Detail from Day Seizer
All My Eggs Fit in One (Basket): Detail from Day Seizer

Stephen Powers Undo My Life Detail from Larger Work
Undo My Life: Detail from Larger Work

Stephen Powers’ A Word is Worth A Thousand Pictures will be on exhibit through September 29, 2012 at the Joshua Liner Gallery, Located at 548 West 28th Street, 3rd Floor, New York City. Gallery Hours are Tuesday — Saturday 11:00 AM — 6:00 PM.

Stephen Powers Icy Sign