INSIDE LEONARD KOSCIANSKI • STILL LIFE • REALISM TODAY • ART LOVER’S GUIDE TO ARIZONA

AMERICAN

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JANUARY 2024

ISSUE 219

DANIEL BILODEAU
Debut One-Man Exhibition of Paintings

January 20 - February 4, 2024

© 2024 Arcadia Contemporary

421 West Broadway
New York, NY 10012
(646) 861-3941

www.arcadiacontemporary.com
info@arcadiacontemporary.com

International Artist Publishing

LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHERS

Follow the Art
W

elcome to the January issue of American Art Collector and Happy New
Year! We hope your New Year’s resolutions include traveling to galleries,
museums and art shows and to be active in the world of contemporary realism.
In 2024, we know contemporary realism continues to be the most beloved genre
for collectors. Our monthly Art Lovers Guide to Collecting Fine Art explores the
thriving art scenes in destinations around the country and we’re kicking the year
off by spotlighting galleries, artists and museums across Arizona.
Scottsdale, Arizona, is the headquarters of International Artist Publishing, so
who better than to help you plan an art-focused trip to the state? The weather is
inviting; the artists and galleries are exceptional, and it is a great place to start
your year-long journey of collecting fine art. Art abounds in this community, and
all over the state, and we are grateful to be surrounded by it daily. All 12 of our
monthly destination guides feature top galleries across the United States, and we
believe you should experience each art center in person. Combining your passion
for art with travel is a wonderful way to plan the trips you will take in 2024.
This new year should be full of new art experiences. Our Collector’s Focus:
Still Life section is a favorite for collectors of all kinds and a way to preserve a
fleeting moment for all time. Begin reading on Page 74. With more than 10 gallery
previews and four diverse features, we feel we are sending you into the new year
with all you need, and some excitement for what’s to come. Happy New Year and
remember to follow the art!

JANUARY 2024 / MONTHLY
ADOLFO CASTILLO
Publisher: Editorial/Creative
acastillo@americanartcollector.com
WENDIE MARTIN
Publisher: Business/
Art Community Development
wmartin@americanartcollector.com
VINCENT W. MILLER / Founder

E D I TO R I A L
SARAH GIANELLI
Managing Editor
sgianelli@americanartcollector.com
MICHAEL CLAWSON
Editor
ALYSSA M. TIDWELL
Assistant Editor
CHELSEA KORESSEL
Assistant Editor
JOHN O’HERN
Santa Fe Editor
FRANCIS SMITH
Contributing Photographer
CASEY WOOLLARD
Editorial & Email Traffic Coordinator
cwoollard@americanartcollector.com

Best Regards,

Wendie Martin and Adolfo Castillo
Publishers
P.S. Publisher Adolfo Castillo and his wife,
Robin, attended the 95th annual American
Artists Professional League Grand National
Exhibition show at the Salmagundi Club
and extend their thanks to all the artists
who were featured and attended the show.

A D V E R T I S I N G ( 86 6 ) 6 1 9 - 0 8 41
ANITA WELDON
Senior Account Executive
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CONSTANCE WARRINER
Senior Account Executive
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MICHAEL BRIGHT
Senior Account Executive
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SKYE FALLON
Sponsorships & Major Accounts
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TRAFFIC
JENNIFER NAVE
Traffic Manager
traffic@americanartcollector.com

PRODUCTION

ON THE COVER
Leonard Koscianski, Stormy Weather, oil on canvas,
42 x 26”. Courtesy J. Willott Gallery, Palm Desert, CA
004

www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

TONY NOLAN
Art Director
DANA LONG
Production Artist
LIZY BRAUTIGAM
Production Artist

Since 1998

International Artist Publishing

Since 1998

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

JANUARY 2024 / MONTHLY

An Exciting
Year Ahead
G

etting the first issue of the year out the door always feels
like something of a feat. When we begin working on this
magazine, many galleries, artists and museums are still solidifying their
2024 schedules, a process slowed by the holidays and the fact that, in closing out
another year, we are all ready for a well-deserved break!
But here at International Artist Publishing, our small but mighty company that puts
out several magazines monthly, time just keeps on ticking. Month after month, we are
reminded that no matter what challenges arise, somehow we always get it done. And
the sweet satisfaction of doing so is what keeps a lot of us in the industry.
But just like a work of art isn’t complete without a viewer to appreciate it, our
magazines would mean little without a readership to share them with. That said,
welcome to the January 2024 issue of American Art Collector, an edition we hope
highlights how passionate we are about all facets of contemporary realism and how
dedicated we are to introducing you to the top artists working in the genre, the
galleries and art shows that provide platforms to connect collectors with their art,
and the latest trends in the dynamic world of representational art.
Speaking of trends, this issue contains a feature by Vanessa Rothe in which she
explores the state of realism today—marked by new ways of combining abstract
elements with realism—through paintings by some of the most highly regarded artists
working in the genre today.
This trend can also be seen in the works featured in our annual Collector’s Focus:
Still Lifes special section, 10 pages of artworks in one of the most beloved, timeless
genres. From florals to bottle caps to candy and cowboy boots; impressionistic works
to tightly rendered realism, we are sure there is a subject—and a style—to fit your taste.
Another highlight is our Art Lover’s Guide to Arizona, which will take you to hot
art spots, big and small, all over this diverse state, a section as vibrant with art as the
unmatchable hues of the desert itself.
So bundle up and enjoy the winter season and the bounty of art the blustery winds
blow in—or get yourself to Arizona where you will have access to all the art minus
the frostbite!
Whatever you do, wherever you are, in terms of art, we’ve got you covered.
Happy New Year!

MARKETING
ROBIN M. CASTILLO
Social Media Engagement Manager
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Copyright © 2024. All material appearing in American Art Collector
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Kevin Frank

Kevin Frank, Between the Stairwell, encaustic on panel, 22.5x30”

George Billis Gallery
NYC: 527 W. 23 STREET, GROUND FLOOR • NY NY 10011
CT: 1700 Post Road • Fairfield CT 06824
212.645.2621 • Gallery@GeorgeBillis.com
GeorgeBillis.com • @georgebillisgallery

Celebration of fine art

Artists
Mediums
Artwork
Experiences
Experience in Person:

Jan. 13–Mar. 24, 2024 | Open Daily 10am–6pm
Loop 101 & Hayden rd, Scottsdale, Az
480.443.7695 | TICKETS - CELEBRATEART.COM

Shop NOW:
100 Artists | 24/7/365

celebrateart.com
Where Art Lovers & Artists Connect

Matt Sievers
Stairway to Heaven, Oil
72 x 36 in.

AGO Projects, Mexico City
Altman Siegel, San Francisco
Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York
Anthony Meier, Mill Valley
Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco
Casemore Gallery, San Francisco
Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco
Crown Point Press, San Francisco
David Lewis, New York
David Zwirner, New York
Demisch Danant, New York
Fergus McCaffrey, New York
Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
Gallery FUMI, London

Gladstone Gallery, New York
Haines, San Francisco
Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles
Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco
Hostler Burrows, New York
Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco
Karma, West Hollywood
Lebreton, Monte Carlo
Lehmann Maupin, New York
In celebration of its tenth anniversary
the fair launches FOG FOCUS, an invitational
designed to showcase art by young artists
as an integral part of San Francisco’s

Gió Marconi Gallery, Milan

Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles

Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York

Et al., San Francisco
George Adams Gallery, New York
Johansson Projects, Oakland

CELEBRATING 10 YEARS
fogfair.com

Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Beverly Hills /
Marian Goodman Gallery, New York

CULT Aimee Friberg, San Francisco

January 17, 2024
Preview Gala Benefiting
the San Francisco Museum
of Modern Art

Magen H Gallery, New York

creative ecosystem.

Crèvecœur, Paris

JANUARY 18-21, 2024
FORT MASON CENTER

LUHRING AUGUSTINE, New York

Jonathan Carver Moore, San Francisco
OCHI, Los Angeles
Schlomer Haus Gallery, San Francisco

Mendes Wood DM, New York
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York
Micki Meng Gallery, San Francisco
NILUFAR, Milan
Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles
Ornamentum, Hudson
Pace Gallery, New York
pt.2 Gallery, Oakland
R & Company, New York
Rebecca Camacho Presents, San Francisco
Salon 94 | S94D, New York
Sarah Myerscough Gallery, London
Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles
Talwar Gallery, New York
Tina Kim Gallery, New York

Monika Rossa, Mystic Run

Lawrence Lee, Pastel Canyon

Sarah Webber, Two Goofballs

Pamela Ambrosio, Vogue II

Laura Donavan, The Days Roll By

Jess Davila, Buffalo Wall Piece

Timothy Chapman, Sonora Desert Evening

4 1 4 2 N . M A R S H A L L W AY · S C O T T S D A L E , A Z · 4 8 0 . 9 4 5 . 2 3 2 3
2 8 9 0 E . S K Y L I N E D R I V E , S U I T E 1 70 · T U C S O N , A Z · 52 0. 6 1 5. 52 2 2
INFO@WILDEMEYER.COM · WILDEMEYER.COM

Dream a Little Dream of Me

Monday

Crimson to Violet

Eileen
Nistler

SOLO SHOW:

Back to the Drawing Board
Colored pencil paintings by Eileen Nistler
Nicolaysen Art Museum Casper, Wyoming
January 12th through March 31st

www.eileennistler.com

KENT R. WALLIS

JAMES N. MUIR

DALE TERBUSH

LINDA LUCAS-HARDY

JOHN D. COGAN

PINO
v

JD CHALLENGER

ALAN WOLTON

ED COPLEY

7120 E. Main Street | Scottsdale, Arizona 85251
480-990-1515 | MAINVIEWGALLERY.COM
David M. Guglielmo, Owner | Scottsdale Art Dealer since 1992

CONTENTS /
JANUARY 2024

Features
36 ByJuxtaposed
Vanessa Françoise Rothe
42

By John O’Hern

48

By Sarah Gianelli

54

By Sarah Gianelli

Night and Day
Actuality & Invention
Out of this World

Special Sections
64

The Art Lover’s Guide
to Collecting Fine Art in
Arizona

74

A Matter of Life
and Death

Collector’s Focus: Still Life

Art Show &
Fair Previews
60

Celebration of Fine Art

36

Scottsdale, AZ

Event Previews
FOG Design+Art
108 San
Francisco, CA
110

014

Art Palm Beach

Palm Beach, FL

60

www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

74

TERBUSH

“The Moment the Dream Came True” acrylic on canvas, 40 x30"

Legacy Gallery
Santa Fe, NM

Manatou Gallery
Santa Fe, NM

Mainview Gallery
Scottsdale, AZ

Horizon Fine Arts
Jackson Hole, WY

Exposures Gallery
Sedona, AZ

225 Canyon Rd,
Santa Fe, NM 87501
(505) 986-9833

123 W Palace Ave,
Santa Fe, NM 87501
(505) 986-0440

7120 E Main St,
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
(480) 990-1515

30 S King St,
Jackson, WY 83001
(307) 739-1540

561 AZ-179,
Sedona, AZ 86336
(928) 282-1125

Masterlight Fine Arts Publishing

Dale Terbush • 602.740.9977 • www.daleterbushart.com • Daleterbush@cox.net

CONTENTS /
JANUARY 2024

Previews

96

86

WATER

New York, NY

DANIEL BILODEAU
Worlds within Worlds

Online

Group Show

98

Palm Springs, CA

90

JAMES RIECK

New York, NY

BENNETT VADNAIS
True to Life

What Lies Beneath

100

94

Denver, CO

GEOFFREY GERSTEN

Group Exhibition

Scottsdale, AZ

Neon Americana

TIMELESS
AND CURRENT

102

Charlotte, NC

86

BEAUTIFUL VIEWS
Group Exhibition

104

Los Angeles, CA

Artist Focus

Award Winners

Labor of Love

117 LYNN VAN DE WATER

112 ROBIN COLE

106

118 BARBARA SCHILLING

114 DANIELA WERNECK

Philadelphia, PA

119 LAURA POLLAK

116 FRANCOIS CHARTIER

The Familiar and the New

120 DANIEL RAYNOTT

PAUL PITSKER

JEFFREY REED

96

121 EILEEN NISTLER

Departments

122 DEBBIE MUELLER

CALENDAR

22,24

123 DAVID KIEHM

ART NEWS

30, 32

SOLD!

Coast-to-Coast
Coverage
ARIZONA
Scottsdale
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles
Palm Springs
COLORADO
Denver
NEW YORK
New York
NORTH CAROLINA
Charlotte
PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia

016

www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

106

124

Grace DeVito

COTTON AND OCHRE II • Oil on Linen, 12 x 12”

Upcoming Still Life Painting Workshops (more info on website)

• Scottsdale Artists School - Scottsdale AZ | Feb. 26-29, 2024
• Anderson Fine Art Gallery - St. Simons Island GA | May 16-18, 2024
UNDULATE • Oil on Linen, 14 x 11”

gracedevito.com • gmdevito@yahoo.com • studio (203) 979-2472

Stick the Landing, 60x40", watercolor on gallery wrapped canvas

HEIDI
ROSNER

(602) 625-3509
heidi@heidirosner.com
/heidirosnerwatercolors

FI NE A RT

www.heidirosner.com

CE LE B RAT IO N
OF F INE A R T
Scottsdale, AZ
January 13 – March 24, 2024
Open 10am to 6pm Daily

PIERRE VAN DIJK
B. 1950  NETHERLANDS

“UNE MARCHE DE MÈRES”

23 X 31”

OIL ON LINEN

NORESERVE 7DAY AUCTION JANUARY 14TH

“Orchids and Champagne”
Oil on Canvas, 14” x 11”

NANCY J. BALMERT
NancyBalmert.com
AMSTERDAM WHITNEY INTERNATIONAL FINE ART, INC.
New York, NY 212-255-9050

PRELLOP FINE ART GALLERY
Salado, TX 254-947-3930

SHOW CALENDAR
Through December 30

Michael Carson: Canvassing

Victor Grasso, The Sage,
oil on board, 20 x 16”

Bonner David Galleries
Scottsdale, AZ » (480) 941-8500
www.bonnerdavid.com

January 1-31

Water
33 Contemporary Gallery/Virtual
Chicago, IL » (708) 837-4534
www.artsy.net/show/33-contemporary-wa-t-e-r.

Through January 2

Small Works Group Exhibition
Principle Gallery
Alexandria, VA » (703) 739-9326
www.principlegallery.com

January 2-13

Geoffrey Gersten: Americanaram
Altamira Fine Art
Scottsdale, AZ » (480) 949-1256
www.altamiraart.com

Through January 3

Through These Eyes: Kris Lewis,
Andrei Zadorine, Yana Movchan
RJD Gallery
Romeo, MI » (586) 281-3613
www.rjdgallery.com

Through January 5

Milt Kobayashi: Primaries
Bonner David

January 6-February 24

New York, NY » (929) 226-7800
www.bdgartboutique.com

January 5-29

James Rieck: Dressed to Kill

Wild Things
Stanek Gallery » Philadelphia, PA » (215) 908-3277
www.stanekgallery.com

Rubine Red Gallery
Palm Springs, CA » (760) 537-7665
www.rubineredgallery.com

January 6-27

Contemporary Realism Now

022

January 11-February 3

Through January 14

Jeffrey Reed: Doonfeeny Studies

Many Wests: Artists Shape an
American Idea

Gross McCleaf Gallery

Gallery 1261

Philadelphia, PA » (215) 665-8138
www.grossmccleaf.com

Denver, CO » (303) 571-1261
www.gallery1261.com

January 13-February 17

www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

Smithsonian American Art Museum
Washington, D.C. » (202) 633-7970
www.americanart.si.edu

Paul Pitsker: Every Little
Tiny Thing

January 18-21

Billis Williams Gallery

Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture

Los Angeles, CA » (310) 838-3685
www.billiswilliams.com

San Francisco, CA » (415) 745-3315
www.fogfair.com

FOG Design+Art

SHOW CALENDAR

Through February 4
Ojai Valley Museum » Ojai, CA
www.ojaivalleymuseum.org

Through February 4

April Bey: Atlantica,
The Gilda Region
Nevada Museum of Art » Reno, NV
www.nevadaart.org

Through February 5
January 13-March 24

Celebration
of Fine Art
Hayden Road and Loop 101
Scottsdale, AZ
(480) 443-7695
www.celebrateart.com

Beyond the Lens: Photorealist
Perspectives on Looking, Seeing,
and Painting
Asheville Art Museum » Asheville, NC
www.ashevilleart.org

Through February 11

Salman Toor: No Ordinary Love
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis
University • Waltham, MA
www.brandeis.edu/rose

Through February 11
Elizabeth Butler, Orange You Glad,
oil on wood, 30 x 22”

Personal Geographies: Trent
Davis Bailey and Brian Adams
Denver Art Museum » Denver, CO
www.denverartmuseum.org/en

Through April 14
Through January 27

Daniel Bilodeau: Bloom

Annual Holiday Show

Arcadia Contemporary

Susan Powell Fine Art

New York, NY » (646) 861-3941
www.arcadiacontemporary.com

Madison, CT » (203) 318-0616
www.susanpowellfineart.com

Through May 19

Through January 21

January 27-July 14

Feast for the Eyes

Kei Ito: Staring at the
Face of the Sun

Nancy Baker Cahill:
Through Lines

California Art Club Gallery
at the Old Mill

Georgia Museum of Art

San Marino, CA » (626) 583-9009
www.californiaartclub.org/feast

Athens, GA » (706) 542-4662
www.georgiamuseum.org

January 24-28

Through January 28

Art Palm Beach

Contemporary Realists: Juliette
Aristides, Alan Lequire, Richard
Greathouse

Palm Beach County
Convention Center
West Palm Beach, FL » (310) 822-9145
www.artpalmbeach.com

January 25-February 24

www.themomentary.org

Georgia Museum of Art » Athens, GA
www.georgiamuseum.org

Through May 27

Kehinde Wiley: An Archaeology
of Silence
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston »
Houston, TX
www.mfah.org

Nashville, TN » (615) 298-4611
www.lequiregallery.com

Through January 31

Anne Neilson Fine Art

Bennett Vadnais

www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

The Momentary » Bentonville, AR

LeQuire Gallery

Vantage Point
Charlotte, NC » (704) 496-9181
www.anneneilsonfineart.com

024

Enduring Amazon: Life and
Afterlife in the Rainforest

January 20-February 4

George Billis Gallery
New York, NY » (917) 273-8621
www.georgebillis.com

Want to have your fair, exhibition or
event considered for our calendar? Email
our assistant editor, Chelsea Koressel, at
ckoressel@americanartcollector.com.

ON VIEW NOW

Ojai Mystique

BARBARA

SCHILLING

www.barbaraschilling.com • bschillingart@gmail.com

Right: Golden Fields
30x30” • oil on linen
Left: Detail
/schillingbarb

@barbaraschilling
barbschilling/_created
@BarbaraSchilling

F"%C

“Tea with Sargent”
Oil on Panel
18 x 18”

>$C)G/$E"&'):%)/;/:0/*0")H3$)'"/C

Debbie Mueller Art

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uline.com

NEWS

Reno Tahoe
International
Art Show

T

he second edition of the Reno Tahoe International
Art Show (RTIA Show), held September 14 to 17,
concluded a year of tremendous growth for the
young fair. With double the footprint of the inaugural
A bird’s eye view of the 2023 Reno Tahoe International Art Show. Photo by Jared Emerson.
event, as well as new and expanded features including
one of the largest sculptural presentations in the country,
Art City Invitationals and unique community engagement, the RTIA Show exceeded expectations. Exhibitor applications are now
open for the show's third edition, returning to the Reno-Sparks Convention Center September 12 to 15, 2024. The show will occupy a
much larger 121,000-square-foot hall and feature an 18,000-square-foot Sculpture Walk, two museum exhibitions and unique design
vignettes featuring collectible cars, bespoke furniture, sculpture and select 2D artworks, all available for purchase. The grand prize
winner of the Reno Creative Movement Award for the 2023 show went to Julia Schwadron Marianelli, a local Tahoe painter.

Sonya Clark at
High Museum

T

Sonya Clark, The Hair Craft Project: Hairstyles on Canvas, 2013, silk threads, beads, shells and
yarn on canvas. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Heritage Fund for a Diverse Collection,
Frederick Brown Fund, Samuel Putnam Avery Fund, and Helen and Alice Colburn Fund.

he traveling exhibition Sonya Clark: We Are
Each Other is currently on view at the High
Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, through
February 18. The museum notes, “For 30 years,
multidisciplinary artist Sonya Clark has focused her
work on the African diaspora in the United States
to confront, elucidate and reframe its history.”
Within her mixed media practice, the artist often
uses common fiber materials like yarn, flags and
found fabric, as well as items like beads and shells.
The museum continues, “In her work, craft and
community are intertwined; her participatory projects
promote new collective encounters across racial,
gender, and socioeconomic divisions.”

Art gallery reading room

M

ACK 939 is a new reading room opening within contemporary art gallery Webber at its
Los Angeles location on 939 S. Santa Fe Avenue. The reading room is a collaboration with
London-based book publisher MACK, with the goal of cultivating “a lively [program] of
events and exhibitions [that] contributes to the burgeoning culture and community of downtown Los
Angeles.” The reading room was designed by renowned British/Dutch architect, Alex de Rijke, and is now
open to the public.

030

www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

A view of MACK 939 at Webber in Los
Angeles, California. Courtesy MACK
and Webber at 939.

PETER
SWIFT
60 x 60"
Acrylic on canvas

Collection of
Seven Bridges
Foundation
w w w. p e t e r s w i f t a r t s t u d i o . c o m
pswift73@icloud.com

NEWS

Palmer Museum receives
Art Bridges grant

T

he national non-profit Art
Bridges Foundation has
awarded Pennsylvaniabased Palmer Museum of Art
$168,000 from the Art Bridges
Foundation through its new Access
for All grant initiative. The funding
will help cover the expense of
offering extended evening hours
one night per week when the new
Palmer Museum of Art reopens in
spring 2024. A three-year funding
initiative, Access for All strives
to increase access at museums
across the country as well as foster
closer engagement with the local
community.
The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State in Pennsylvania.

Fall Auctions
at Salmagundi
Club

T

he prestigious Salmagundi Club held two
auctions this fall. The first session took
place on Thursday, October 19, and the
other the following week on Thursday, October 26.
Highlights from the October 19 session include
Del-Bourree Bach’s acrylic Green Acres, which sold
for $1,800, hitting its high estimate. Another top lot
was Joseph P. Grieco’s Flurries on Fifth Ave. (Pierre
Hotel), which bested its $1,200 high estimate when it
achieved $1,500. Among the highlights in the October 26 session are an oil by Deborah
Leber titled Monet’s table that reached $3,200 against a presale estimate of $1,500 to
$2,500, as well as Carole Teller’s Jefferson Market courthouse that broke past its $1,000
high estimate when it sold for $1,500.

032

www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

Del-Bourree Bach, Green Acres, acrylic,
7 x 9” Estimate: $1,1/1,800 SOLD: $1,800

Claudia Seymour
claudiaseymour@aol.com
@claudia.seymour.art
J.M. STRINGER GALLERY

Vero Beach, FL • 772.231.3900
www.jmstringergallery.com

Two-person show at J.M. Stringer
in February, 2024. Opening Feb. 15,
2024. Please join us!

SUSAN POWELL FINE ART

Madison, CT • 203.318.0616
susanpowellfineart.com
“High Cotton” oil on panel, 20”x18”

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Portraiture

Judithdickinson.com
303-902-0131
Lady, Oil, 20x24

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Realism In
Watercolor
L au r i n M c C r ac k e n
aws , n ws

Still Life with Silver
28 x 40 in
Watercolor on Paper

Porcelain with Crystal
20 x 25 in
Watercolor on Paper

New modes of combining abstraction and realism are finding
their way onto the canvases of today’s top artists.
BY VA N E S S A F R A N ÇO I S E R OT H E

O

nce in a blue moon a new genre of art will arise,
but more often than not, there will simply be
exciting new trends and styles that appear within an
existing genre. Back in 2016, we noticed a significant
shift when many realist artists were bravely starting to
introduce abstract elements in their representational
figures, a style I coined as “Hybrid” in an article written
that year. Today, in 2024, they are taking it a step further
by maintaining a refined, tight realism, and combining
it directly with bold abstract shapes and color.
The effect of this juxtaposition is exciting on many
visual levels. The refined technical skill of high realism
achieved in these works can be marveled at, while the
loose color and shapes evoke feelings, the decorative
arts and movement. Perhaps not a new genre of art,
but certainly an exciting and noteworthy new trend
currently being employed by some of the most highly
recognized contemporary realist artists today. It may
also be a necessary evolution for artists working in the
relatively narrow market of realism in order to cross
genre boundaries and have their work included in

exhibitions, galleries and collections that lean more
modern and abstract.
It’s important to note that these works are combining
realism and abstraction, two styles that are usually
quite at odds. Realism is defined as “the accurate,
detailed, unembellished depiction of nature or contemporary life.” Realism does not typically incorporate
imagination, but is based on close observation of life.
It is also known as “representational” or “objective” art,
meaning that it depicts real objects or scenes that are
easily recognized. Within realism there are also many
subcategories such as neoclassicalism, impressionism
and cubism, to name a few, but all are grounded in the
representational.
On the other hand, non-representational or abstract
art does not attempt to portray an accurate rendition
of visual reality, but instead uses shapes, colors and
gestural marks to convey a feeling or moral dimension. It is also sometimes called “non-objective” which
means separated from reality and not representative
of an immediately identifyable person, place or thing.

Opposite page
Vincent Xeus, Elizabeth in Tadema Sky, 2018, oil on linen, 18 x 14”. Private collection.

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1

This genre emerged out of a post-war response to all
things traditional and classical. A sense of freedom
accompanied the artwork and was “felt” by the artists
who wanted to express themselves in an expressive,
open form. For Kazimir Malevich, an influential figure
in the development of abstract art, shapes and colors
had an emotional force comprised of pure feeling.
Appreciating these opposing genres is fundamental in understanding what the realists of today
are achieving within their work. Realism has been
with us through the ages and reigns in the annals of
art history. This can be seen in the horse drawings in
the caves of Lascaux, the figures on Egyptian tombs,
Roman statues, the works of Giotto, Michelangelo’s
Sistine Chapel frescos and Leonardo’s Mona Lisa to
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the detail-oriented Dutch painters such as Rembrandt
and Vermeer, Goya and Millet. Even the impressionists depicted subjects and scenes we recognize. We
have always been awed by the incredible skill of these
artists and the way they capture reality with brushes
and pigments of color. Abstraction arrived on the art
scene as early as Cézanne and Picasso, but its purest
expression is often associated with works by artists like
Wassily Kandinsky, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko,
who used geometric shapes, bold color and splatters to
convey their thoughts and feelings on canvas. It was a
revolt against tradition and the constraints of control—
even control of the brush. The movement brought a
new level of creativity and aesthetic to the world of art.
Today, contemporary realist artists have been applying

1
Bertrand Martin,
Octave aux yeux Bruns,
2020, oil on linen,
47 x 47”. Courtesy Galerie
Frederic Got, Paris.
2
J Louis, Somewhere,
2023, oil on linen,
20 x 16”. Private
collection.
3
Quang Ho, Arrangement
with Peonies, oil on
linen, 30 x 30”. Private
collection.

2

039

3

abstraction to all aspects of their paintings,
the subjects as well as their backgrounds,
while remaining true to their realism roots,
resulting in striking, noteworthy works.
In Octave aux yeux Bruns, a recent work
by French artist Bertrand Martin, the artist
employs his rare technical skill to depict
a realistic figure. Sublime skin tones and
gradual value transitions bestow a threedimensional effect to the portrait set against
a quickly painted background full of movement, bold blue strokes and blurred abstract
shapes. Martin explains the two states of
minds he inhabits when creating these new
works. “In the first layers I create the background using acrylic and larger painting
materials or knives to boldly spread the paint
around the canvas and scratch the surface to
add interesting texture. This part of the work
is fairly fast as are my hand movements.
I imagine how the realist figure will sit
within the abstract shapes and how they
can add to the feeling I am trying to
convey. Once that is dry,” he continues,
“I start in with classical realism techniques
painting the figure with smaller brushes
to add realistic details which is the time
consuming and mainly technical part.”
The juxtaposition of the flat, bold shapes
next to the highly realistic face with a
frontal gaze makes it even more poignant
and striking, taking the viewer through a
gamut of feelings and layers of enjoyment
when experiencing the work. By employing
the two opposing styles and techniques,
Martin has succeeding in creating a visually exciting yet subtle and calm work of art.
In the work Isla by J Louis, we see a
similar combination of a tightly-rendered
face and a graphic, stylized background.
Here the realistic figure is draped over a
vague, unidentifiable shape. Her clothes are
recognizable but the traditional depiction
of folds in the fabric is absent and replaced
by thick “flat” paint applied with a palette
knife. As with many of his paintings, the
work contains aesthetically pleasing color
harmonies.
Timothy Rees has been exploring
merging realism and abstraction for about
five years and his paintings are increasingly leaning to opposing poles. “Teaching
in the atelier, we always painted models in
classical settings,” he shares. “Eventually
the traditional idea of copying my observations, while great for refining my ability
to see and render, left me uninterested.
I wanted to test the boundaries of realism.
I wanted to explore the dynamic ways
paint can be applied. I wanted to use
brilliant colors and compositions against
realism and understand how to connect
our everyday world to one of design. This

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5

5
J Louis, Isla, 2022, oil on cradled linen panel, 14 x 18".
Private collection.

exploration of reality versus fantasy, of observed
humanity versus pure design, is a pure form of art
that drives me to the easel.” An example of Rees’
style can be seen in Birth of Venus, in which the
model’s shirt is not rendered in the tight realism
of his earlier classical work, but rather simplified
in an illustrative manner that bleeds into the
background.
Vincent Xeus, an artist celebrated for his ability
to match Vermeer’s refined realism, is also one of
the first contemporary realists to break with this
tradition. In his painting Elizabeth in Tadema
Sky, Xeus creates a visually interesting work by
placing the iconic figure in an abstracted field
with blurred strokes to create the sense of movement, and give the impression that the subject is
fading away into the background. The soft edges
add a delicacy to the portrait, enhanced by the
abstract flat paint over-top. The background is
a simple gradation of shapes and color which
brings the focus back to the realist form of the
face, allowing this work to cross over into the
realm of modern art.
This combination of opposing styles does not
just apply to figurative works. It also appears in
works like Quang Ho’s recent Arrangement with
Peonies, where the soft, lost edges of his beauti-

fully rendered flowers meet the background. The
detailed green pot highlights his technical skill
at realism while the overall movement created in
the work through blurred effects, speaks perhaps
to the ethereal and fleeting beauty of the flowers
themselves.
Although these genres have crossed paths
before in fine art, the current trend among top
contemporary artists is a subject of conversation
among art students, patrons and collectors. Will
we be seeing more realist artists introducing
abstraction to their works? Will the most classical
contemporary realists such as Jeremy Lipking and
Adrian Gottlieb remain loyal to their traditional
representational style, roots and inspiration? We
will watch closely as the genre of contemporary
realism continues to evolve.
Vanessa Françoise Rothe is a curator, editor/writer,
art dealer and fine artist. In addition to curating
over forty exhibitions, she has had dozens of
articles published in various art magazines over
the last 20 years. She has served as chairman,
art director, educational director and on the PR
Committee for numerous fine art organizations,
and is the proud founder of the Americans in Paris
fine art project.

041

4

4
Timothy Rees, Birth of Venus, 2019, oil on linen, 24 x 24".
Courtesy Bonner David Galleries, Scottsdale, Arizona.

NIGHTand DAY
1

Leonard Koscianski fuses the
seen and the felt in powerful
paintings that reflect the
complexities of the outer and
inner world. B Y J O H N O ’ H E R N

L

2

It’s so mysterious. Why do we create these
things? Why do they relate to who we are?”
A storm gathers above the peaceful
suburb. A lone runner heads, perhaps, for
shelter. A car proceeds with its headlights
on as the clouds obscure the sun. The
tumultuous vertical clouds are balanced
by the solidity of the sturdy houses and
the characteristically rectilinear grid of the
suburban streets.
The painting began with a sketch.
“I was sitting in my studio with my sketchbook and my pen,” Koscianski explains.

1
The Man Cave II, oil
on canvas, 42 x 26".
Courtesy J. Willott
Gallery, Palm Desert, CA.
2
Stormy Weather, oil on
canvas, 42 x 26". Private
collection, courtesy J.
Willott Gallery, Palm
Desert, CA.

043

eonard Koscianski begins his
day at 6 a.m. with a 5-mile
run through the streets of
Annapolis, Maryland, with a
group of fellow runners. “It’s
dark,” he recounts, “the stars are out, there’s
the moon. When we finish, the sun’s up and
it’s daylight. We’re running in the transition
of night into day.”
Light in its infinite variety illuminates
his paintings, from cool moonlight to the
warmth of incandescent light streaming
out of buildings, relieving the dark. The
phenomenon of the blueness of moonlight
is caused by the light sensitivity of the eyes
shifting to the blue end of the spectrum
in low-light conditions. In Man Cave II,
the blue moonlight is punctuated by the
warm light of a garage, an open door and
the light in windows revealing the house’s
inhabitants.
Man Cave II follows Man Cave, a
painting Koscianski finished and sent off
to his gallery but kept questioning. He
brought it back to his studio to rework it.
It’s a painting of life in suburbia modeled
after his brother’s house and his man cave
in the garage. “When I was growing up in
suburban Cleveland,” he recalls, “I would
walk around at night and guys would be
out in their garages working on their cars
or something.”
Originally the young man in the garage
held a beer in his hand with a six-pack sat
on the work bench behind him. “I wanted
to make the symbols more healthy and
removed the beer references and put tools
on the workbench. He’s projecting his
shadow outward into the world onto the
driveway, which we do in our man caves.
We sort of regroup and then go out and
project ourselves into the world. I also
realized I’d missed an opportunity to bring
life to the other houses which I had painted
with empty windows.” There is now an
abundance of stories partly visible in the
windows.
He reveals that his recent paintings
are about personal experiences. Stormy
Weather “is a metaphor for what was
happening in my own life which was going
through some stormy weather of its own.

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“I started drawing and it just sort of happened. I didn’t
need to edit. It was there.
“As a child I drew pictures and my father and I built
model airplanes. I learned patience and meticulous
craftsmanship from him. He was an attorney and I was
looking forward to being an attorney or a doctor. One
day I walked into the library of Saint Ignatius High
School and found a huge textbook on modern art on
the top shelf. I pulled it down and it was like ‘Wow!’

6

‘Don’t think. Just paint.’
There was Dalí and the expressionists and Demuth’s
I Saw the 5 in Gold. Suddenly history made sense.
I could see evolution through art. My mother took me
to the Cleveland Museum [of Art]. When I looked at
the paintings, I could tell how they did it. I had learned
about the physical properties of paint by painting a
room at home and when I saw the paintings, I could
see how they physically layered the paint. Later, when
I attended the Cleveland Institute of Art, it was like
coming home to a place I had never been.”

3
The Thick of It, oil
on canvas, 26 x 42”.
Courtesy J. Willott
Gallery, Palm Desert, CA.
4
The Runner, 5 a.m., oil on
canvas, 26 x 42”. Private
collection, courtesy J.
Willott Gallery, Palm
Desert, CA.
5
The Witching Hour, oil on
canvas, 42 x 26”. Private
collection, courtesy J.
Willott Gallery, Palm
Desert, CA.
6
Summer Morning, oil on
canvas, 42 x 26”. Private
collection, courtesy J.
Willott Gallery, Palm
Desert, CA.

045

In art school, he says, “you had to justify what you did.
You had to explain it. Why am I making this? How
do I justify this? We were always thinking about the
technical side of things—how to layer paint, what kind
of brushes to use.”
Later, when he was teaching at the University
of Tennessee he “put all the academic stuff away”
intellectually and used it intuitively. In school he
had been forced to create an artwork for a purpose.
“I began to just paint pictures
and then paint another picture.
I don’t think of myself as an
artist. I’m a kid from Cleveland
who painted a picture and was
compelled to paint another. I’ve
been doing that for 45 years.”
Koscianski recalls conversations with gallery owners
about painting intuitively. “I brought paintings up to
Frank Bernarducci’s gallery in New York and began
talking about them—I think this about this and that
about that. Frank said, ‘Don’t think. Just paint.’ I have
that posted in my studio. When I was showing with
Phyllis Kind, she said that artists’ intentions in general
are meaningless. She said, ‘You artists don’t know what
you’re doing. Just do it!’”

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8

for his first painting of wild dogs came to him from
out of the ether as his subjects sometimes do. After
painting it, he was embarrassed by it but decided to
send it out into the world. It was purchased from a
New York gallery…by the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, exhibited at the museum and featured in a number
of museum publications. His initial reticence about
sharing the painting gave way to a determination to
always put himself out there, through and in his work.
In The Thick of It, a snarling dog glares out from
within the confines of a thicket, angered perhaps by
its predicament. The energy of anger “can be seen as
threatening,” he observes, “but also as valuable. It’s the
same energy we use to protect our families and our
children.” When the Arnot Art Museum was given one
of his wild dog paintings, Between Heaven and Hell,
the educators and docents were reticent to show it to
children—but the children loved it!
There is dark and there is light in Leonard
Koscianski’s paintings, both visually and figuratively.
They reflect the complexities of the visual world and
the psychological world, the painter’s complexities and
our own.

7
The Skater, oil on
canvas, 42 x 26". Private
collection, courtesy
Stremmel Gallery,
Reno, NV
8
The Cyclist, 6 a.m., oil on
canvas, 26 x 42". Private
collection, courtesy J.
Willott Gallery, Palm
Desert, CA

047

Painting the oranges in The Witching Hour, he
wanted to make them glow and recalled his study
of the Dutch masters. He painted them white with
raised dots of paint to emulate their texture and
then glazed with color—a technique he learned from
the 17th-century Dutch painter Willem Kalf. He also
points out Vermeer’s use of raised dots of paint that
create a physical rather than an illusionistic highlight,
reflecting the light shining on the painting.
His mastery of technique allows him to create paintings he calls “a surrealist blending of the conscious and
the unconscious—the seen and the felt. Our perceptions
are based on what we see but also on our memories and
our language. For the child, so much of what they see
is very chaotic. Until they master language, they can’t
identify the things in the environment. When I teach
about light and shadow I put an egg and a ping pong
ball on the stand and shine a spotlight on them. I can
then point out the parts of the shadow, the cast shadow,
reflective light. The students then can identify and see
what to them had been, simply, ‘shadow’.”
“Shadow” brings to mind his paintings of wild dogs,
snarling and flying through the landscape. The image

ACTUALITY &
INVENTION
Stanek Gallery presents a group exhibition of paintings
and sculpture that explore the wild side.
BY SARAH GIANELLI

1

048

eaturing a new series of narrative paintings
by Victor Grasso, and animal sculptures
by Julia Levitina, Michael Quadland, Gary
Weisman and Treacy Ziegler, the works
in Wild Things, an exhibition opening
at Stanek Gallery on January 6, explore
the intersection of the animalistic and the human in
unique and imaginative ways.
For his new body of work, Grasso, the sole
painter in the show, drew inspiration from Maurice
Sendak’s classic children’s book Where the Wild
Things Are. Each piece depicts an adolescent
wearing a wolf costume, the extra pair of eyes
intensifying their direct gazes, and unifying them,

not only as a cohesive series but as part of a pack.
The pieces reveal Grasso’s enduring Peter Pan spirit
and the continuing influence of the pop culture of his
youth on his work.
“It’s all an amalgam of me and my interests,” says
Grasso. “It’s a mix of Where the Wild Things Are,
Stand by Me, Goonies, Lost Boys, ET…those coming of
age stories about young boys. As far as putting it all
together, that’s what I call ‘making the gumbo’.”
Grasso has completely fleshed out the narrative for
these paintings and uses symbolic imagery to add
layers to the tale. For example, each painting incorporates a box. “A box is representative of so many
things,” he says. “Your secrets, your treasures, your

1
Victor Grasso, King Max, oil on linen, 8 x 17½"

2
Victor Grasso, The Knight, oil on board, 16 x 20"

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2

049

3
Gary Weisman,
Altered Minotaur, bronze,
17 x 19 x 9"
4
Michael Quadland,
Versaille Louie, bronze,
39 x 7 x 10"
5
Victor Grasso, Wolf #5,
graphite on paper,
14 x 17"

3

past or something you’re about to unleash
or reveal. Some are protected inside it;
some are on top; some are sitting next to
it. Everyone wears some type of wolf hat or
mask so they’re almost like a pack—a rag
tag family of kids.”
As in a wolf pack there is hierarchy and,
as in the coming of age tales that Grasso
references, each character has a role to play.
There is the girl who stirs up all kinds of
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shifting emotions in the boys, upon whom
Grasso, loosely drawing from the archetypes in the Tarot, has bestowed names
like the Jester, the Knight, the Sage and so
on. If Grasso’s kids—who he considers his
fiercest, most honest critics—like the work,
he knows he’s on the right track. But these
works aren’t only for children but appeal to
the wild child in all of us.
“I’m a 46-year-old 14-year-old,” he says.

“I play with my crowns everyday by myself
in my own sandbox. I don’t think I’ve ever
outgrown my inner child—it just takes
longer to get back to normal now.”
The story Grasso tells is a vignette
within the larger narrative of the exhibition. Gallery owner and director Katherine
Stanek explains how she conceptualized
the show as a whole. “I want the viewer
to experience a rite of passage while

traversing the gallery—to navigate different
stages as they walk among and around the
‘wild things’.”
The four sculptors will exhibit a collection of works that represent the various
transitions. The journey begins with
Quadland’s playful bronze birds cast with
found objects. Levitina’s Gathering depicts
a bird atop a rabbit nestled on a fox curled
up upon a deer astride a bear. It evokes
feelings of solidarity and compassion that
transcend species, as well as life’s fragility.
The face of Ziegler’s cast paper sheep,
which she fashioned out of letters from
prisoners, contains an uncannily human
expression, its eyes exuding relatable
human emotions like empathy, concern
and understanding. In the final passage,
the show reaches its fullest expression and
dramatic climax with Weisman’s powerful
bronze, Altered Minotaur.
A version of the Greek myth of the
Minotaur that most resonates with
Weisman was written by Andrew Shalit
for the literary and photography magazine

4

051

5

6
Julia Levitina, Gathering,
bronze, 14½ x 7 x 10"

The Sun. In it, the Minotaur is part
woman, not man, and she is blind. True
to the classical telling, when the King of
Crete did not sacrifice a bull in Poseidon’s
name, the god instilled lust for the animal
in the king’s wife. When she gave birth to
the Minotaur, it was confined to a labyrinth
where it feasted on human flesh until
destroyed by Theseus.
This is where the stories diverge. In
Shalit’s version, the queen blinded the
Minotaur because she could not bear
the sight of her child’s eyes gazing out
at her from the face of a bull. Then he
takes us through the various stages of the
Minotaur’s life—innocence and the first
contact with a human being that
marked the end of it and the beginning of the blood-thirsty phase she
became infamous for. But, in Shalit’s
version, when Theseus arrives on the
scene, the plot unfolds differently,
into a redemptive tale of compassion, love and the transformative
power of touch.
In Weisman’s sculptural retelling,
a horned figure with the body of a
dancer appears painfully bound but
resigned, her head at an awkward angle on
a block, the warm hues of the cherry wood
adding contrast to the bronze while serving
as a visual metaphor for a sacrificial altar.
Surprisingly, Weisman read Shalit’s story
after completing Altered Minotaur but says
he found it to be “a backwards forwards
description of the piece, all the way down
to the Minotaur’s not understanding where
she was or how it all evolved, and being a
complete victim, and then finding herself
rescued through compassionate touch—
which is essentially the language I try to
use when I make sculpture. Ultimately
it becomes about what a sculpture is for.
Through sculpture I get to participate in
compassionate touch. Primarily they’re
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6

7
Victor Grasso, The Jester, oil
on board, 20 x 16"
8
Treacy Ziegler, Hebrides 2,
cast paper, 10 x 12 x 10"

going to be about nonverbally communicating through the language of touch, then
they crystallize in their specificities.”
Weisman cares not if people can wrap
their minds around how he could’ve
created an embodiment of a reimagined
myth before reading it.
“For me, sculpture is all time occurring
at once,” says Weisman. “If we drop time
instead of explain time [some of us] can
see that there are those in our future that
are hearing what we’re saying—in my case
visually. We don’t have to subscribe to the
ideology that time is sequential, especially
if I’m in a place that’s all spatial.
“The fact that I came across the story
afterward [suggests] as I move forward
in life, I am also moving backward as a
witness, so the two met. I don’t think we
have to justify a concept in order to experience it—it’s just the phenomena that it is
and I participate in it.”
When pressed further on the topic of
nonlinear time, Weisman said he found
the idea compelling at the moment in the
context of the conversation but wasn't sure
he still would tomorrow.
Right now, Weisman is trying not
to try—instead, settling into a place
of non-effort where the world falls
away and, ultimately, he does too.

7

“Participation, the listening, the disappearing of yourself and the clay, and the
honesty of process, of sincere communication…it’s all kind of mushed together,” he
says. “In that place, you kind of surrender
the intention of being efforting. Ideally it’s
not me, not the clay, but the activity. The
honesty that I have in that place would be
[corrupted] by making an effort or having
it be some kind of ‘should.’ The sincerity is
what it’s about.”
Ideally, Weisman disappears. And then
there’s just the story.
Wild Things will be on view at Stanek
Gallery in Philadelphia from January 6
through February 24.

WILD THINGS
053

When: January 6-February 24, 2024
Where: Stanek Gallery, 720 N. 5th Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19123
(215) 908-3277, www.stanekgallery.com

1

OUT of this
WORLD
The Lunar Codex is set to launch
a catalog of contemporary human
creativity to the moon
BY SARAH GIANELLI

2

S
3

“One of the ‘aha’ moments was when I realized if I
couldn’t afford to travel to the moon myself, maybe I
could afford to send a part of me—my soul, my art, my
writing—and that would be just as good,” says Peralta.
“It’s almost a desire for immortality—if you put a piece
of your soul out there, it lives on forever. And when you
look up at the moon it has been transformed
because it holds part of your essence.”
Soon after came the lockdowns
and with it, the closure of art
venues of all kinds. “I have a
wide circle of friends in the
arts and an atmosphere of
depression pervaded the
art scene at the time,” says
Peralta.
Meanwhile, Peralta was
finding great joy in placing
his first lunar payload aboard
the Artemis 1 Mission where,
in 2022, it would finally blast
off, orbit the moon and return
5
to Earth—a flight expedition
Peralta considers the prelude to the
forthcoming landing missions. “I thought,
'wouldn’t it be amazing if I could spread that joy to
other artists?',” he relays. Peralta has been an avid art
collector for more than 30 years. He and his wife Alice,
who live in Ontario, Canada, are particularly fond of
narrative contemporary realism. Well-connected in the
art world, all of the work in the Codex was selected by

1
Micrograph of a nickelbased NanoFiche disc
the size of a dime
containing art images.
Photo courtesy Lunar
Codex.
2
Dime-sized nickel
NanoFiche able to hold
500 art images. Photo
courtesy Lunar Codex.
3
Kesja Tabaczuk, Plastic
Straw, 2016, oil on
canvas, 47 x 35½”
4
Heather Brunetti, Pearl,
2020, oil on canvas,
40 x 30”. Photo courtesy
the artist.
5
Quarter-sized nickel
NanoFiche containting
Isaac Asimov’s
Foundation. Photo
courtesy Lunar Codex.

055

ending art to the moon is not a new
phenomenon. The Moon Museum, a
small ceramic tile inscribed with drawings by the likes of Andy Warhol, Robert
Rauschenberg and Claes Oldenburg,
hitched a ride to the lunar surface with Apollo 12 in
1969. The sculpture Fallen Astronaut joined
the first space art object in 1971, followed
by two phonographic records
containing a spectrum of audio
from the sounds of whales to
Chuck Berry’s hit “Johnny B.
Goode” in 1972.
With today’s growing
interest in space exploration and opportunities for
commercial travel opening
up since NASA passed
the manufacturing of lunar
landers to private companies like Space X and United
Launch Alliance, sending a time
capsule of art to the moon is not
only viable for big name artists like
Jeff Koons and Sacha Jafri, but an imminent reality for more than 30,000 artists, writers,
musicians and filmmakers from around the world.
The Lunar Codex is the brainchild of semi-retired
physicist, poet and art patron Samuel Peralta, who
began exploring the idea of sending his own literary
work to space in 2020.

4

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Brianna Lee, A Cautionary Tale, 2018, oil on panel,
15 x 30”. Photo courtesy the artist.

professional gallerists, curators, collectors,
editors, anthologists and publishers.
Heather Horton is one of the first artists
whose paintings Peralta started collecting
and the only one, in addition to himself and
his mother—who is still painting and exhibiting at 90—whose work is represented in
every payload.
“I think the Lunar Codex project is
one of the most innovative concepts I’ve
ever heard about, let alone been involved
in,” says Horton. “If anyone was going to
conceive of such an idea, it would be Sam,
as he is both an artist and a scientist. It’s
very important culturally, artistically and
for interstellar posterity as well. I think it’s
as bold and novel as it is quietly beautiful.
I can already imagine the capsules with its
Lunar Codex contents, settled in its stillness on the lunar surface for much longer
than all of us will be here.”
Partnering with a semiconductor lab, the
Lunar Codex uses a variety of digital and
analog technology to minimize the media
in many formats to anticipate unforeseen
changes in technology and potential
damage. Although predominantly using
digital means, nickel-based NanoFiche
chips the size of a dime contain miniature
images that only require a microscope to
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7
Olesya Dzhurayeva, I will Remember, 2020, linocut,
7½ x 5½”. Photo courtesy the artist.

8
Heather Horton, A Ring of Bright Water, 2023, oil on
canvas, 20 x 24”. Photo courtesy the artist.

7

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ruins, we infer what their society was like
and what they considered to be beautiful.
It gives an insight into how they lived and
how they thought,” he says. “Art tells the
story of the human condition and how it
relates to today. Future archaeologists will
relate our creative past to their own. It will
give their own culture context in light of
our world.
“The context of the time we live in
is pandemics, war, climate upheaval,
economic problems…” continues Peralta.
“But during this time when we have so
many challenges in civilization—despite all
this, humans still have the ability to dream
and find beauty in their world.”
Many challenges facing the planet
threaten the survival of contemporary
culture—the Codex includes poetry from
the Pacific Islands whose residents fear that
rising oceans will overtake their country.
There are pieces by Olesya Dzhurnayeva,

an artist working in Ukraine whose life
and work came under siege; and a piece by
Norval Morrisseau, an Ojibwe artist widely
regarded as the grandfather of contemporary Indigenous art in Canada. There are
interviews with U.S. poet laureates from the
past 25 years and a selection of stories by
novelist Andy Weir.
Alas, “space is messy,” says Peralta. The
payload aboard Peregrine Mission 1 was
loaded in 2021 and the launch has been
delayed three times since.
The first U.S. launch to the surface of the
moon in 50 years, and carrying with it the
first installment of the Lunar Codex, is now
scheduled for December 24, 2023; with a
second mission slated for January 12, 2024.
“I’ve been waiting a long time,” says
Peralta. “We’re just crossing our fingers
and hoping for a safe launch and safe
landing.”

057

view. Able to store 150,000 pages of text
or photos on a single 8.5-by-11-inch sheet,
it is currently the highest density storage
media in the world.
“Without understanding it could
be done, this probably wouldn’t have
happened,” says Peralta. “The unique part
of what I bring is that I have one foot in
the arts and one foot in the sciences—that
is what made this possible.”
The time capsules were packed into
a DHL MoonBox canister which is then
physically bolted to the framework of the
Peregrine Lander, which will remain on
the moon’s surface and act as a marker
for the capsules.
Peralta, the son of an archaeologist,
imagines future humans discovering
the Lunar Codex, not extra-terrestrials.
“They’ll learn about our society today in
the same way that when we unearth Greek
or Egyptian art, or the Mayan and Aztec

Kim Ballard

ballard353@comcast.net
KimBallard.com

“T HE C LE ARI NG”, OIL ON CA NVA S, 60 X 36 INC HES

SMOKY BLACK
FOLDED HYPAR
NECKLACE

www.dianafergusonjewelry.com
Phoenix, AZ | 262.374.2984

Made with glass
cylinder beads,
monofilament thread,
leather
Showing at the
34th Annual
Celebration
of Fine Art
Studio 132
January 13 March 24, 2024
Scottsdale, AZ

Shelli “Shell-Bell” Kahl

Laurin McCracken
AWS, NWS

www.shellbell.com • 866.606.2355

“Crazy Lazy River”
pendant
(2.5”h x 2.25”w)

14k gold, Sterling silver,
crazy lace agate with
Oregon sunstone
and moissanite

Celebration of Fine Art
Studio #225-228

Silver Service with Magnolia, 13x20, Watercolor

For inquires about commissioning a still life
of your collectables contact me at
Laurinmc@aol or 817.773.2163

WWW.LAURINGALLERY.COM

MISSING AN ISSUE?
VISIT AMERICANARTCOLLECTOR.COM/PASTISSUES
OR CALL 1 877 9470792 TO PURCHASE PAST ISSUES

Create a library of fine art in your home by purchasing past
issues of American Art Collector. Enjoy timeless works of
art, follow artists’ careers, and explore gallery and museum
exhibitions and coast-to-coast art destinations that continue
to define the nation’s art market. Collectors of Contemporary
art rely upon American Art Collector to stay informed on the
latest works from the country’s top contemporary artists as
well as artwork from historic Western masters.
Our magazine allows collectors to get a real sense of art
that is coming available for sale—and opportunity to buy it
right off our pages.
Stay informed on the latest exhibits across the country,
subscribe today online at

WWW.AMERICANARTCOLLECTOR.COM

SHARI LYON
Blue Pines
encaustic, 48”x48”

www.sharilyon.com
art@sharilyon.com
480.241.7907

SHOW PREVIEW

CELEBRATION OF FINE ART
When: January 13-March 24, 2024
Where: 18400 Hayden Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85255
Information: (480) 443-7695, www.celebrateart.com

The Spirit
of Connection

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Celebration of Fine Art returns to Scottsdale with 100
fine artists showing their work and creating on site.

T

he 34th annual Celebration of Fine Art will once
again set up shop under the unmistakable white
tent that will be home to the galleries and working
studios of 100 fine artists over the course of 10 weeks
beginning Saturday, January 13.
The lively, interactive event provides a gallery and
studio experience in one, where visitors can engage
with artists, view completed works in an elegant
setting and watch them create new ones on site
where they have set up their easels and workbenches.
Because the festival runs for 10 weeks, art lovers have
the opportunity to watch a piece progress from start
to finish, and forge lasting connections with artists—
all for a single event pass of no more than $10 that is

good for the duration
of the festival.
Artists from around the country flock
to Celebration of Fine Art year after year,
bringing a palpable spirt of community and
camaraderie that spills over into the visitor experience.
The size and breadth of the show—40,000 square feet
of diverse artwork that ranges from the contemporary
to the traditional in the form of sculpture, paintings,
jewelry, glass and more—and variety of price points,
truly makes Celebration of Art a festival for art lovers of
all kinds, from beginner collectors to seasoned patrons
of the arts.
Diana Ferguson enjoys the elegance of off-loom

1
Diana Ferguson,
Olaola Flower Necklace,
glass cylinder beads,
monofilament thread,
turquoise Czech glass,
20”
2
Shari Lyon, Coastal,
encaustic, 15 x 30”

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Heidi Rosner, Brilliance,
watercolor on canvas,
36 x 48”
4
Heidi Rosner, Fortitude,
watercolor on board,
60 x 24”
5
Ray Tigerman, Spirit
Rider, acrylic on canvas,
48 x 48”
6
Kim Ballard, Six Chicks,
oil, 30 x 40”

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works. “The process requires that I have both patience
and spontaneity," she says. "It’s a marriage of being
in control and completely losing control. It’s laborintensive, but what I love most about encaustic is that
the outcome is a dreamy, ethereal painting with texture
and depth, unlike any other art form.” Lyon says the
best way to appreciate encaustic works is to see them
in person, as photographs rarely do them justice. As
seen in her work, Lyon is drawn to the imagery and
symbolism of trees because they are “stoic, grounded,
life-giving, calming and lasting.”
Shelli Kahl’s jewelry is representative of the way she
lives her life—free spirited, passionate and uninhibited
by the boundaries set by others. “I allow creativity
to take over as my hands and eyes work with the

A R T S H OW PR E V I E W

bead weaving, particularly geometric and architectural
Peyote stitch. She finds harmony and serenity in the
repetitive and efficient movements of stitching and
values the way she can fully immerse herself in the
creative process as needle passes through beads over
and over again. While the end result of her efforts
may remain in play until the piece announces itself
done, she is certain the outcome will contain beauty.
“There is a delightful amount of innovation available
to discover in contemporary iterations of this age-old
art form,” says the artist.
Encaustic artist Shari Lyon works in one of the
oldest mediums of art, painting with a specific mixture
of beeswax and damar resin. Lyon also incorporates
oil paints, pan pastels, oil sticks and drawings into her

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various metals and colorful stones,” she says. “I’m less
concerned with how things are ‘supposed’ to be done...
and more concerned with what someone will feel when
wearing the end result. I hope it makes you feel like
stepping outside of the box more often and listening
to what’s truly in your heart.”
This past year has been one of seeking peace
for painter Heidi Rosner. “It is in this space that I
embarked on a journey to create a body of work that
represents where I’m at, and where I want to remain,”
she says. While best known for bright, bold compositions, she felt the need to balance her style in a way
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that allows the viewer more space to seek and explore.
“As a result, I have been immersed in creative pursuits
in my studio working on both facets of my art,” she
says. “I’m looking forward to unveiling this work for
the first time at Celebration of Fine Art.”
Kim Ballard paints a variety of subjects, but
chooses them all for the same reason. “I paint what
attracts me emotionally and strive to capture and
communicate that feeling,” says Ballard. “Whether
it’s a figure, birds or trees, I want the subject to be
realistic and natural, and then proceed to add more
expressive elements of color, pattern and brushwork.”

7
Ray Tigerman, Scout,
acrylic on canvas, 48
x 48”
8
Judith Dickinson,
commissioned portrait,
oil, 30 x 24”
9
Heidi Rosner, Zen
Garden, watercolor on
canvas, 36 x 72”

10

11

12

10
Judith Dickinson, Lady,
oil, 24 x 20”
11
Ray Tigerman, Eagle
Feather, acrylic on
canvas, 72 x 40”
12
Shelli Kahl, Crazy Lazy
River (pendant), 14k
gold, sterling silver,
crazy lace agate,
Oregon sunstone and
moissanite, 2½ x 2¼”
13
Kim Ballard, New Moon,
oil, 24 x 48”
14
Diana Ferguson, Laren
Earrings, glass cylinder
beads, monofilament
thread, 14K gold, 3”
13

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of going beyond mere ‘likeness’ to capture the heart
and personality of the subject,” she says. “My greatest
love is to show the character, the story and the beauty
of the people who surround me.” Dickinson particularly
enjoys bringing the emotion and character of Native
Americans and the people of the West to her work.
“Also, because we work in Africa, I feel compelled to
honor these beautiful and courageous people; and to
tell their stories by painting them.”
Celebration of Fine Art is open daily January 13
through March 24 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Guests are
invited to attend the Art Discovery Series, an educational presentation held each Friday from 4 to 5 p.m.,
walk the outdoor sculpture garden, which features
nearly 100 pieces of life-sized and monumental sculpture, and enjoy lunch or wine in the cafe.
For those unable to attend in person, a number of
participating artists are featured in the online marketplace at www.celebrateart.com.

A R T S H OW PR E V I E W

Her new piece Six Chicks applies this
approach to a flock of birds, marrying the
realistically rendered birds with abstract
shapes and colors to create the feelings of
movement, and the freedom of flight.
Ray Tigerman is a celebrated
contemporary artist whose unique
style and imagery have captivated
viewers and collectors alike. His
bold paintings and sculptures provide
an immersive experience with highly
textural layers of vibrant colors and imagery
that evoke a sense of mystery, unity and connection
between the viewer, and his subject. In addition to
his new collection, Tigerman will unveil his latest
sculpture, The Wild One, during Celebration of Fine
Art’s opening night.
Commissioned portraiture is Judith Dickinson’s
passion and gift. “I want to take portraiture to the level

DOWNTOWN PHOENIX DAZZLES AT NIGHT. PHOTO BY NADER ABUSHHAB.

THE ART LOVER’S GUIDE TO
COLLECTING FINE ART IN

THE PHOENIX ART MUSEUM IN PHOENIX, ARIZONA.

I

There is something magical about Arizona in the
winter (and any time of year, really)—that juxtaposition
between the sunny skies and desert wildlife alongside
those crisp temperatures. The Sonoran Desert
is also the only place in the world you’ll find the
magnificent Saguaro cactus. In the following pages,
we’ve highlighted several hotspots around the Grand
Canyon State, organized by region. We’ll discuss artbased events and destinations, as well as other exciting
attractions. And throughout the rest of this Art Lover’s
Guide, collectors can learn about even more galleries,
institutions and arts and culture events that call the
beautiful state of Arizona home.

065

SAGUARO NATIONAL PARK IN PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA. PHOTO BY JACOB DIEHL.

n the winter season, Arizona comes to life all
across the state. It’s that time of year when the
blistering heat finally cools down, the air is light
and cities are abuzz with holiday cheer. Always
a part of that feeling of cheer are the robust art
communities in the Valley and beyond—there’s the
culturally vibrant Tucson down south, brilliant Old
Town Scottsdale and bustling downtown Phoenix
in the Valley, and lesser-known gems up north like
Prescott, Jerome and Williams (the “gateway to the
Grand Canyon”). We’d also be remiss not to mention
the gorgeous red rock canyons of Sedona, where
numerous art galleries reside.

VERDE VALLEY
Jerome

Sedona

If your travels are taking you
toward the more central/northern
regions of the state, look to the
Jerome Artists Cooperative
Gallery located in the historic old
Hotel Jerome, showcasing artwork
by more than 30 local artists from
the Verde Valley area. On the
first Saturday of every month is
the Jerome Art and Wine Walk,
featuring artist studios, unique
galleries, vintage clothing and
jewelry shops, as well as numerous
wine tasting rooms. The town's
Chamber of Commerce regularly
hosts public paint-out events like
Art in the Park where artists create
accompanied by live music. While
exploring Jerome, you’ll also find
wonderful local art from places
like Made in Jerome Pottery, Pura
Vida Gallery and many others.
Jerome also takes part in Sedona’s
Plein Air Festival in October.

In the mid 1940s, surrealist
artists and married couple Max
Ernst and Dorothea Tanning
moved from New York to Sedona,
inspired by the high desert
landscape. They also sought to
paint and connect with everyone
from local cowboys to visiting
art world luminaries like Henri
Cartier-Bresson. Sedona truly has
a spellbinding quality to it, for
artists and collectors alike.
For art lovers one of the first
things you’ll notice—after the
stunning red rock canyons
and mountains—are all of the
local galleries on nearly every
corner. Check out the robust
Tlaquepaque Arts and Shopping
Village or the Sedona Arts Center.
The Sedona Gallery Association
hosts 1st Friday in the Galleries, a
monthly showcase highlighting
artists, special exhibits and art
events. Not to be missed is the
annual Sedona Plein Air Festival
in the fall, a weeklong celebration
of gorgeous landscapes, plein air
painting and workshops led by
world-renowned artists.

THE SEDONA ARTS CENTER IN SEDONA, ARIZONA.

A GLIMPSE OF DOWNTOWN SEDONA. PHOTO BY TAVEN DIORIO.

THE VALLEY
Old Town Scottsdale
Every art lover who’s ever visited
Arizona knows that downtown
Scottsdale (known colloquially
as “Old Town”) is chock-full
of phenomenal galleries of
Western, Native American,
contemporary art and more. Check
out hotspots like Wilde Meyer
Gallery, Bonner David Galleries,
Erin Hanson Gallery, Mainview
Gallery, T.H. Brennan, Altamira
Fine Art and Legacy Gallery,
to name just a few. All of these
galleries are available to explore
every Thursday evening during
Scottsdale Gallery Association's
Gold Palette ArtWalk. And every
year, don’t miss the Celebration of
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OLD TOWN SCOTTSDALE. CREDIT: CITY OF SCOTTSDALE.

Fine Art under the big white
tents on Hayden Road, where
100 artists gather to create and
showcase their work as part of
one of the most unique fine art
experiences in the country. This

year’s celebration runs from
January 13 to March 24. Scottsdale
is also known for its boutique hotel
scene—check out Hotel Valley
Ho for a relaxing, luxurious and
uniquely Southwest experience.

THE SOUTH
Tucson

If you’re headed south, check out the
Tucson Museum of Art and Historic
Block, or Tucson-based galleries like
Eric Firestone Gallery, Madaras Gallery
and Etherton Gallery, known for its vast
collection of vintage and contemporary
photography. Also be sure not to miss
the richly vibrant Warehouse Arts
District. Beyond the world of art, Tucson
has a phenomenal food scene, influenced
by the cuisine of its not-too-far-away
neighbor, Mexico. Stop by Guadalajara
Grill for some of the best homemade
salsa in the state.

SONOITA VINEYARDS IN ELGIN, ARIZONA.

Patagonia

Continuing further south is the lush
valley of Patagonia, located in the valley
of Sonoita Creek between the Santa Rita
Mountains and the Patagonia Mountains.
The town is vibrant with Native
American and Mexican culture (it’s
only 45 minutes from Nogales, Mexico).
Art galleries, shops and restaurants
feature work by local artists during
the Patagonia Holiday Walking Tour
in November. The Sonoita-Elgin area
nearby has a number of superb wineries
and vineyards including Autumn Sage
Vineyards, Rune Wines, Dos Cabezas
Wineworks and the Meading Room, to
name just a few. For
a serene outdoor
experience, visit the
Patagonia-Sonoita Creek
Preserve, one of the
richest riparian habitats
in the region, located
in a verdant floodplain
valley between the
Patagonia and Santa
Rita Mountains of
southeastern Arizona,
within the watershed of
Sonoita Creek.

Tubac

Head roughly west from Patagonia
and you’ll hit the town of Tubac, which
gained its reputation as an artist enclave
way back in 1948 when landscape
painter Dale Nichols established an art
school near the historic landmark of
an 18th-century Spanish presidio. Tubac
is known for its small town arts scene
and is home to a wide array of galleries,
museums and boutique shops. Among
these is Cobalt Fine Arts Gallery and
the Tubac Center for the Arts, which
supports local Southern Arizona artists.
There’s also K Newby Gallery and
Sculpture Garden, home to a gorgeous
two-acre sculpture garden, as well as
artwork by prestigious sculptors and
painters like Alvin Gill-Tapia, Jim
Eppler, Darcie Peet, Thomas deDecker,
Margaretta Caesar and Josh Tobey.
Don’t miss the 65th annual Tubac
Festival of the Arts, running February 7
to 11. The longest-running art festival
in Southern Arizona, the event features
over 200 artists situated throughout
the historic village of Tubac, among the
more than 125 art galleries.

BONUS!
Arcosanti: An Experimental Town
Located in Yavapai County’s high desert about 70
miles north of Phoenix is the experimental town
of Arcosanti. The non-profit Cosanti Foundation
began building Arcosanti in 1970 with the goal of
creating a town more integrated with that of the
natural world. “An ambitious project envisioned as
an experiment in living frugally and with a
limited environmental footprint, Arcosanti
is an attempt at a prototype arcology,
integrating the design of architecture
with respect to ecology…The Cosanti
Foundation operates Arcosanti as a
counterpoint to mass consumerism, urban
sprawl, unchecked consumption of natural
resources, and social isolation,” the official

Arcosanti website notes. “The iconic structures at
Arcosanti are designed to be multi-use to extend
their utility and usefulness in facilitating the many
performances, workshops and cultural programming
that happen year in and year out.” This wholly
unique place is definitely one to experience.

067

ARCOSANTI IN THE YAVAPAI COUNTY HIGH DESERT. PHOTO BY TAVEN DIORIO.

DESTINATION  ARIZONA

1
Celebration of Fine Art,
Beacon, oil, 24 x 36", by
Gregory Sievers.
2
Celebration of Fine Art,
Clarity, watercolor, 24 x 24",
by Heidi Rosner.
3
Celebration of Fine Art,
Reddy Or Not, scratchboard
and India ink, 9 x 12", by
Cathy Sheeter.
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CELEBRATION OF
FINE ART
18400 N. Hayden Road
(480) 443-7695
info@celebrateart.com
www.celebrateart.com
Discover the wide variety
of works of art in all styles
and mediums at the 34th

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annual Celebration of Fine
Art, running January 13
through March 24, 2024.
Housed in the signature “big
white tents” in the heart of
Scottsdale, Arizona, on the
southwest corner of Hayden
Road and Loop 101, this
extraordinary event brings
together talented artists from
around the globe, each with a

3

unique vision and passion for
their craft. The 10-week long
show becomes the temporary
home of nearly 100 artists in
their working art studios. The
Celebration of Fine Art is not
merely an art show, it’s a rare
opportunity to connect with
artists on a profound level, to
ask questions and to witness
the magic of art-making

unfold before your eyes.
It provides an unmatched
experience and opportunity
to admire and acquire
exceptional works of art.
The Celebration of Fine
Art will be open daily from
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the
duration of the event.

ALTAMIRA
FINE ART
7038 E. Main Street
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
(480) 949-1256
az@altamiraart.com
www.altamiraart.com
Altamira Fine Art embraces
maverick artists who are
simultaneously attuned to
international movements
and regional inspirations.
Defying seasonality, the
gallery celebrates its stable of
contemporary artists by filling
the calendar with exhibitions
and events. For Altamira Fine
Art, art is a lens through which
to help patrons see the world
anew each and every day. This
season the gallery features
exciting new exhibitions
from Geoffrey Gersten, Jared
Sanders, Ben Steele, Duke
Beardsley and more.

1

1
A view of the gallery interior of
Altamira Fine Art.

2
Altamira Fine Art, Censored Red Poppy
No.6, oil on canvas, 36 x 30", by Ben
Steele.

3
Altamira Fine Art, Serenity, oil on
canvas, 72 x 48", by Kenneth Peloke.

D E S T I NAT IO N / A R I ZONA

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DESTINATION  ARIZONA

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MAINVIEW
GALLERY
7120 E. Main Street, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
(480) 990-1515
www.mainviewgallery.com

Mainview Gallery features
original paintings by Pino,
Alan Wolton, Kent R. Wallis,
Jd Challenger, Dale Terbush,
Karen Noles, John D. Cogan,
Lisa Danielle and Vidan and

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genres from landscape
and figurative to still life
and Western-themed work.
Owner David Guglielmo,
Arizona-born and raised,
has been an art dealer and
consultant in the Scottsdale
area for almost 30 years
and welcomes collectors to
come visit the gallery. This
year, Mainview Gallery will
have special Thursday Night
Receptions with artists in
attendance from 6 to 9 p.m.
on January 11, February 1
and 29, April 11, June 6 and
July 11.

sculptures by Elie Hazak,
Rodd Ambroson, James
N. Muir, E.C. Wynne, Ed
Copley, Dusty Kinman and
Kunda Lucas-Hardy. These
artists represent a mix of

1
Mainview Gallery, The
Peacemaker, oil, 48 x 30",
by Ed Copley.
2
The entrance of Mainview Gallery
in Scottsdale, Arizona.
3
Mainview Gallery, Just when
you thought it couldn’t get better,
acrylic, 24 x 36", by Dale Terbush.
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T.H. BRENNEN
FINE ART
7150 E. Main Street
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
(480) 994-1355
www.thbrennenfineart.com

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2
T.H. Brennen Fine Art, Condor Pass, oil
on linen, 24 x 36", by Derek Harrison.

3
T.H. Brennen Fine Art, Purple Repose,
oil on canvas, 33 x 37", by J Louis.

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A view of T.H. Brennen Fine Art in
Scottsdale, Arizona.

D E S T I NAT IO N / A R I ZONA

Celebrating figurative
art, T.H. Brennen Fine Art
holds the philosophy that
the element of beauty is
essential in art—beauty and
a profound understanding
that art cannot be accidental.
Inside the walls of this
gallery, collectors will find
artwork that provokes
thought, appreciation for
the skill and talent of the
individual, and most of all,
an inspiring experience. T.H.
Brennen Fine Art focuses
on works that range from
traditional impressionism,
post-impressionism and
living academic realists to
the more contemporary and
provocative.

DESTINATION  ARIZONA

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1
An indoor view of Wilde
Meyer Gallery.
2
Wilde Meyer Gallery, The
Days Roll By, mixed media
on panel, 48 x 48", by Laura
Donavan.
3
Wilde Meyer Gallery, Luna
Moths, acrylic on canvas,
32 x 59", by Lydia Hesse.

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WILDE MEYER
GALLERY

(520) 615-5222
info@wildemeyer.com
www.wildemeyer.com

4142 N. Marshall Way
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
(480) 945-2323
2890 E. Skyline Drive
Tucson, AZ 85718

Wilde Meyer Gallery in
Scottsdale and Tucson have
changing exhibits of original
contemporary fine art with
subject matter including

www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

abstracts, landscapes,
figurative and contemporary
Western art. A wide variety
of mediums are shown at
the gallery as well, including
paintings, bronzes, sculpture,
glass and more. The gallery
has recently added Lydia

Hesse to its gallery roster and
continues to show work by
many noteworthy artists like
Sherri Belassen, Lawrence
Lee, Connie R. Townsend and
many others.

DESTINATION  ARIZONA

20 TH ANNUAL
ARIZONA FINE
ART EXPO
26540 N. Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, AZ 85255
(480) 837-7163
www.arizonafineartexpo.com
Celebrating its 20th year,
the Arizona Fine Art EXPO
begins Friday, January 12 and
runs through Sunday, March
24 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily
under the “festive white tents”
at 26540 N. Scottsdale Road,
on the southwest corner of
Scottsdale and Jomax Roads,
next to MacDonald’s Ranch
in North Scottsdale. Season
passes cost $12; admission for
seniors and military is $10;
children under 12 are free.
Parking is free.
The popular event features
more than 75 diverse fine

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artists in 124 patron-friendly
working studios within a
44,000-square-foot space,
where guests have a rare
chance to meet the artists,
see them in action and learn
about their inspiration and
techniques. The immersive
event features a captivating
array of artistic mediums,
such as acrylics, oils,

watercolors, ceramics and
mixed media. Fine art varies
from stunning landscapes to
captivating abstracts, intricate
pottery to awe-inspiring lifesize sculptures.
Patrons can also stroll
throughout a large sculpture
garden, which includes
a koi pond with waterfall
surrounded by natural desert.

1
Harold Blaylock, son of painter Ted
Blaylock, talks with Arizona Fine Art
EXPO guests in his father’s booth.
Photo by Ark Photoworks.
2
Arizona Fine Art EXPO, Long Time
Coming, pencil and black colored
pencil, 8 x 10", by Monte M. Moore.

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MISS

OUT

ON AN

VISIT WWW.AMERICANARTCOLLECTOR.COM/SUBSCRIBE

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TODAY!

073

CO L L E C TO R'S F O CUS
STILL LIFE

A

T

MATTER of
LIFE and DEATH

he history behind the still life
genre is one many art enthusiasts are well aware of—originating in the Netherlands, paintings featuring rich floral and fruit scenes
or complex vanitas, prompting the masses
to contemplate existence through symbolic
objects. Today, we see artists carrying on
these traditions, while adding a contemporary flare of their very own.
The genre is often defined as subject
matter that is “lacking life” or “without
movement,” with the French term for still
life translating to mean “dead nature.”
However, anyone familiar with the floral
works of Dutch painter Rachel Ruysch
or Paul Cézanne’s famous works like The
Baslet of Apples, can attest that the genre
was, and is, anything but devoid of life.

INTRODUC TION BY CHELSEA KORESSEL

In 19th-century America, William Michael
Harnett (1848-1892) was pushing boundaries with trompe l’oeil in his still life subject
matter and was a leading master in hyper
realistic depictions in seemingly everyday
objects. “His paintings of objects are as
much portraiture as they are still life paintings,” remarks Maggie Adler, curator of
paintings, sculpture and works on paper at
the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.
“In [works like] Ease, it appears that the
patron of the work has just temporarily left
the room—his precariously placed cigar is
still burning, absently left behind,” Adler
continues. “Commissioned by Massachusetts
paper magnate James Abbe, the Victorian
gentleman’s library includes items that would
best convey the emotional, intellectual and
spiritual sides of his patron. Among the well-

worn books are an aged Bible, Homer’s Iliad
and William Cullen Bryant’s Popular History
of the United States, identifying Abbe as a
man of faith, learning and patriotic sentiment. We also see him as a man of music and
a lover of beauty—as represented by the flute,
violin, the cornflowers, roses and the simple,
elegant palm-leaf form of a Japanese fan.
Through everyday objects carefully rendered,
Harnett paints the idea of a nuanced person.”
We see these still life traditions carried
over into the contemporary realm in works
like Pink Zinnias in an Atlas EZ Seal. This
colorful floral display, created by George
Billis Gallery artist Peggie Blizard, incorporates what the artist considers one of the
important purposes of a still life painting—
communicating time visually. “The object
might just sit there, but if it is skillfully

1

1. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Ease, 1887, oil on canvas, 48 x 52¾”, by William M. Harnett (1848-1892). Courtesy of Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort
Worth, Texas, 1972.2. 2. Cavalier Galleries, Transparencies, oil on panel, 10 x 9”, by Robert E. Zappalorti. 3. George Billis Gallery, Pink Zinnias in an Atlas EZ Seal, oil on panel,
24 x 18”, by Peggie Blizard.

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CO L L E C TO R'S F O CUS
STILL LIFE

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4. Arcadia
Contemporary,
Balancing Act, oil on
canvas, 30 x 20”, by
Michele Amatrula.
5. Blue Rain Gallery,
By Sacred Hands, oil
on canvas, 24 x 24”, by
Roseta Santiago.
6. Arcadia
Contemporary,
Late Summer, oil on
copper, 18 x 22”, by
Sebastian Galloway.
7. Arcadia
Contemporary,
Yellow Zips, oil on
linen, 46 x 46”, by
David Dorsey.

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Through the remainder of this section, you’ll
hear from additional galleries and artists
on the significance of the still life genre.
You'll also receive tips on establishing or
adding to a collection.
RJD Gallery owner, Richard Demato,
shares, “Still life is real life, encapsulated
within a frame that often brings forth a
moment, a memory or a feeling in time.
There is a passive action in still life art tied
to the object depicted—one can recall pulling
on a favorite pair of boots or jeans, well-worn
and full of memories as in the works of Frank
Oriti. The viewer can remember seeing an
antique telephone or lantern, delightful
curiosities as the years go by and master-

077

paintings by Elena Climent, Georgia
O’Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Odilon Redon,
Helen Torr and others,” reads the PAM
website.
Prominent galleries like Cavalier
Galleries based in New York City, represent
astounding contemporary still life artists
like Robert E. Zappalorti, and works like
Transparencies, pictured here. “[He] is a
master of the sharp focus still life,” notes
gallery owner Ron Cavalier. “He creates
compositions that revel in formal illusions—of shapes and textures, reflections
and perspectives. Transparencies is an ode
to color, surface and light, as well as to the
joys of oil painting itself.”

CO LL E C TOR'S F OC U S

rendered, hopefully, a bit of magic creeps in,”
she says. “This particular piece has a softer
rendering of the water. Perhaps it’s just a day
or so older than usual but the flowers are still
fresh and crisp. By pushing a flower or two
down in the water, the color flows around the
picture and creates more visual interest.”
In addition, galleries and museums
celebrate in and uphold the still life genre
by representing and showcasing fresh
contemporary works, while harkening back
to the golden era, with classic scenes by the
maters. Just ending in May of 2023, was
the Phoenix Art Museum exhibition Still
Life: Ordinary Pleasures, that explored “one
of art’s most fundamental genres through

CO L L E C TO R'S F O CUS
STILL LIFE

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fully recreated by Emily Copeland. Both
artists capture the realness of things seen
and felt; Oriti through his life upbringing in
a Cleveland blue collar neighborhood and
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Copeland through her nostalgic adventures
through antique shops in Canada.”
When collecting the genre, Demato
says, “Art lovers who wish to bring a still

life into their collection should look for
subject matter that appeals to them on an
emotional level, pieces that will provide
them with opportunities for sustained

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13

8. Claudia Seymour, Seaglass Beads, oil on linen panel, 18 x 24” 9. Grace DeVito, Breakfast of Champions, oil on linen, 8 x 12” 10. Grace DeVito, Yellow Roses, oil on linen,
12 x 12” 11. Claudia Seymour, Tea for Two, oil on linen panel, 12 x 24” 12. Blue Rain Gallery, Lost and Found, oil on canvas, 24 x 24”, by Roseta Santiago. 13. Blue Rain
Gallery, Pueblo Stew Bowl, oil on canvas, 24 x 20”, by Roseta Santiago.

Represented by Blue Rain Gallery, with
locations in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and
Durango, Colorado, is Roseta Santiago—
well known for her depictions of Native
American figures and artifacts. “In 2000,
my first paintings were still life,” she
explains. “The process evolved from
capturing the heartbeat of the moment to
translating it onto canvas. All the objects
that stirred a deep feeling within me

079

focused on creating imagery reflective of
the contemporary world. Showcasing the
best in still life is no exception. Represented
artists, with works pictured here, include
Sebastian Galloway’s rich floral scene titled
Late Summer. Artist David Dorsey presents
a highly realistic portrayal of candy in Yellow
Zips, while Michele Amatrula displays a
close-up of bottle caps stacked on top of each
other in Balancing Act.

CO LL E C TOR'S F OC U S

contemplation, inspiration and enjoyment.”
Arcadia Contemporary gallery, based in
New York City, “maintains its commitment
to presenting virtuoso, realist works from an
international array of artists who are creating
genuinely unique, timeless and collectible
artwork,” says owner Steve Diamant. The
gallery also notes that it’s motivated to
spotlight artists who, while using timeless
painting and drawing techniques, [are]

CO L L E C TO R'S F O CUS
STILL LIFE

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16

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14. RJD Gallery, Football Helmet, charcoal on Stonehenge paper, 36 x 45”, by Emily Copeland. 15. Grace DeVito, Pendant, oil on linen, 14 x 11” 16. RJD Gallery, In These Boots,
oil on canvas, 24 x 20”, by Frank Oriti. 17. Laurin McCracken, Silver Service with Magnolia, watercolor on Fabriano soft press paper, 13 x 20” 18. RJD Gallery, Cowboy Boots,
charcoal on Stonehenge paper, 38 x 31”, by Emily Copeland.

became my subjects. I labored to convey
to the viewer what I saw in them, what
moved me. My storytelling captivated
immediately, casting a dramatic light on
the stage where I guided the viewer’s gaze.
In each arrangement and object, I found
a timeless quality in my paint vocabulary—not burdened by the past, but rather,
illuminating a priceless treasure within a
contemporary setting.”
Santiago continues, “This narrative defines
who I am and resonates with many of my
collectors today. We celebrate the richness
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of the past while embracing the excitement
of the contemporary world in which we live.”
Artist Claudia Seymour shares that she
really loves the genre of still life painting
in both oil and pastel. “Although I do use
oil paints more frequently than soft pastel,
each has its advantages,” she explains. “For
my two-person show at J.M. Stringer Gallery
opening on February 15, however, I have
focused on oils. I find it easier to stick to one
medium for a series of works than to switch
back and forth between the two. There is less
disruption and rearrangement of the studio

if I remain with one medium.” Seymour
also admits that one of the most beneficial
aspects of being a studio painter is the
ability to control all aspects of each work:
composition, lighting, size, atmosphere,
“as well as the fact that everything remains
basically unchanged over several days,” she
says. “I treasure my props, many of which
are vintage or true antiques collected over
years, and I supplement them with flowers
and fruit, fabrics, books and other natural
objects like wood and shells.”
For artist Grace DeVito, 17th-century

hope that they too are inspired by the light
in my paintings, and that it speaks to them.
Recently a collector of mine told me how
when they can’t sleep at night, they will
often sit in front of their painting collection. They said it helped to calm them, that
they showed beauty still mattered.”

081

my still life paintings because it reveals the
beautiful forms and textures of the organic
matter, curios and common everyday objects
that I paint. It’s the drama of a chiaroscuro
or the soft subtle tones of an overcast day—
light sets the mood and atmosphere.”
For collectors of her work, DeVito says, “I

CO LL E C TOR'S F OC U S

18

Dutch still life painters were her first inspiration. “The beauty of the set-ups fascinated
me and made me want to know how they
were created,” she says. “After many years
of painting and chasing that ideal, I realized
that it was the light that affected me most.
It became the impetus and inspiration for

CO L L E C TO R'S F O CUS
STILL LIFE

19

Laurin McCracken is a realist watercolorist
whose work is also largely influenced by
the Dutch and Flemish still life painters
of the 16th and 17th centuries. “My goal
is to record the world around me with a
high level of detail,” he says. “This is not
a painting style that is typically associated with the medium of watercolor. Look
closely at one of my paintings and you will
not only see the objects in the paintings,
but you will also see reflections of other
objects within the very objects I paint.”
McCracken notes that collectors “should
purchase paintings that touch their hearts.
The value of a painting is how you relate to it
over time. If it has value for you, the chances
are that it will have value later in the art
market. Look for quality in the technique
that produced the art as well as the subject.”
While Nancy J. Balmert is best known
for her large florals, she takes great pride
in producing still life paintings that feature
glass and perishable items like truffles,
champagne or small flowers, as they demand
patience and technical execution. “On the
other hand, for a change of pace, I’ve had
fun creating what I call ‘lyrical paintings,’”
Balmert says. “These are a form of still life
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19. Nancy J. Balmert, Lost Shaker of Salt, oil on canvas, 18 x 14” 20. Nancy J. Balmert, Red Red Wine, oil on canvas,
16 x 12” 21. Nancy J. Balmert, Crystal and Truffles, oil on canvas, 11 x 14” 22. Peter Swift, Egg and Rope, acrylic on
canvas, 24 x 18” 23. Peter Swift, Two Wood Screws, oil on canvas, 48 x 48”

22

based on popular songs. First, I find a song
that I like with a title that has the elements to
create a still life painting, such as a ring or a
bottle of wine, and then I add in several other
elements that are found in the lyrics. As you
might imagine, there are not a lot of popular
tunes that contain the combination. But when
I do, I’ll play the song while I’m painting and
take delight when someone sees the painting,
figures out the tune and starts singing it, too.

FE AT URED

Artists &
Galleries
AMON CARTER MUSEUM
OF AMERICAN ART

ARCADIA CONTEMPORARY

421 W. Broadway, New York,
NY 10012, (646) 861-3941
www.arcadiacontemporary.com

BLUE RAIN GALLERY

544 South Guadalupe Street
Santa Fe, NM 87501, (505) 954-9902
934 Main Avenue, Unit B
Durango, CO 81301, (970) 232-2033
www.blueraingallery.com

CAVALIER GALLERIES

530 W. 24th Street, New York,
NY 10019, (212) 570-4696
www.cavaliergalleries.com

CLAUDIA SEYMOUR

Stamford, CT, claudiaseymour@aol.com

GEORGE BILLIS GALLERY

116 Main Street, Westport, CT 06880
(203) 557-9130, www.georgebillis.com

LAURIN MCCRACKEN

Fort Worth, TX, (817) 773-2163
laurinmc@aol.com
www.lauringallery.com

NANCY J. BALMERT

www.nancybalmert.com

PEGGIE BLIZARD

www.peggieblizard.com

PETER SWIFT

pswift73@icloud.com
www.peterswiftartstudio.com

RJD GALLERY

227 N. Main Street, Romeo, MI 48065
(586) 281-3613, art@rjdgallery.com
www.rjdgallery.com

083

GRACE MEHAN DEVITO

(203) 979-2472, gmdevito@yahoo.com
www.gracedevito.com

a factor for the most part only in abstract art,
such as the work of Josef Albers and Frank
Stella.” Swift starts with simple objects—the
forgettable objects that we see every day, but
usually don’t see at all. Pictured here you
will find two exemplary scenes titled Two
Wood Screws and Egg and Rope.
What is Swift’s advice to collectors who are
interested in still life art? Look for striking
designs and superb craftsmanship.

CO LL E C TOR'S F OC U S

3501 Camp Bowie Boulevard
Fort Worth, TX 76107, (817) 738-1933
www.cartermuseum.org

As to the songs, look at my paintings and see
if you can’t figure it out before you read the
name of the painting. That’s part of the fun!”
Peter Swift’s work combines both
symmetrical design and classic realistic
still-life painting. He has coined the phrase
“symmetrical realism” to describe this type
of work. “Symmetry is a fundamental, underlying principle in art,” Swift says. “However,
during the past century, symmetry has been

23

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Previews
OUR EDITORS TALK TO
ARTISTS ABOUT THE WORK
IN THEIR LATEST SHOWS

Geoffrey Gersten, American Girl,
oil on canvas, 60 x 48". Page 94

85

UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / ARCADIA CONTEMPORARY
1/20-2/4 New York, NY

DAN I E L B I LO D E AU

Worlds within Worlds

1

1
Cherry Blossoms, acrylic
and oil on repurposed
mirror finish Lucite,
9 x 9"
2
Flower Dream, oil on
circular panel, 16"
3
Fleuramour, oil on panel,
60 x 48"

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F

lorals have been a part of Daniel
Bilodeau’s artistic output for many
years but, prior to 2022, figures took centerstage largely in a style known as “disrupted
realism.”
Over time, he noticed that painting
flowers gave him more joy than other
subjects and found them an inexhaustible
source of inspiration that he wanted to
delve into more deeply.
Several years ago, for a group show
at Arcadia Contemporary, Bilodeau, a
Montreal native based in New York, snuck
in a floral with a piece more in line with
the work he presumed the gallery expected.
“I knew that if they saw it they would be
really excited—and that was exactly the
case,” says Bilodeau. Now, in his first solo
exhibition at Arcadia, his florals will be
front and center—a resplendent display
aimed to stop viewers in their tracks.
“First of all, I intend a powerful initial
impact with the work, like walking into a
room where you unexpectedly find a big,
healthy floral arrangement,” says Bilodeau.
“When that happens we are struck—it's
reaffirming of the vitality of life. Then, I
wish to reward the viewer for approaching,
and get them interested in discovering all
the little details of the petals and capillaries
and botanical textures.”
Bilodeau brings a contemporary
aesthetic to traditional floral still lifes,
creating round works with an aerial view,
introducing unnatural colored light that
heightens the ethereal quality of the lush
bouquets in some pieces, and blurring the
petal edges and backgrounds in others.
“I’m playing with focus because a lot of
artists making highly rendered work treat
the whole surface equally. In fact, we don’t
see that way,” explains Bilodeau. “When we
look at something, there’s actually only a
small, narrow area that’s in sharp focus. I’m
trying to create an effect closer to reality
effect so it’s more like the way we actually
see.”
For Bilodeau, florals and botanicals
contain the microcosm and macrocosm,
and exploring those worlds—the external
and the internal—is a meditative act for the
artist from fashioning the arrangements to

S H OW P R E V I E W

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UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW

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pure color. They have a fragrance. They just announce
themselves with their aliveness. It jolts us to encounter
them and the endless possibilities that emerge from
nature, and how beautiful it can be.”
He draws a comparison to seeing a sunset or
hiking to a lookout, and how the sublime quality of
the landscape washes over us. “It’s equally so with
the microcosm—to gaze into these folds and patterns
and textures is to be awestruck by the complexity
and variation. There are worlds within worlds and to
really stop and take in the wonder it inspires is truly
rejuvenative.”
Bloom, consisting of a dozen-plus new works ranging
in scale from 60 by 48 inches to 9 by 9, opens on
January 20 and remains on view through February 4.

5
Quiet Light, oil on panel,
30 x 36"

089

Arcadia Contemporary 421 W. Broadway • New York,
NY 10012 • (646) 861-3941 • www.arcadiacontemporary.com

4
Daffodils Daffodils
Daffodils, oil on panel,
36 x 30"

S H OW P R E V I E W

the process of painting itself.
“My interest in art stems from a deep sense of curiosity about how the world works,” says Bilodeau. “That
merged perfectly with learning to draw and really
taking the time to observe and examine the world
around me, as well as my inner worlds, figuratively,
conceptually and emotionally.”
Even as a child, Bilodeau demonstrated an innate
ability to sustain a single-minded focus for long
stretches of time and pour himself completely into
whatever he was working on. This trait enables him
to masterfully render the finest of details and smallest
of forms that comprise each petal, each stem, and it is
that space that Bilodeau drops into a meditative state.
“I get into the zone, so to speak,” he shares. “It’s so
absorbative…time just goes by so quickly. It’s also a
reverential place, a place to respect and appreciate the
awe-inspiring nature of these flowers. The have such

UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / GEORGE BILLIS GALLERY
Through 1/31 New York, NY

B E N N E T T VAD NAIS

True to Life
W

hen looking at the new body
of work by Bennett Vadnais,
for a moment I questioned if it was
by the same artist best known for his
acrylic-based urban landscapes. But as
I studied the small-scale still lifes, it
quickly became evident they were created

By Sarah Gianelli

by the same hand. Both share the muted,
earth tones Vadnais favors, his affinity for
stark designs and abstract shapes, and
exhibit his finely attuned eye for contrast
and meticulous attention to detail.
Vadnais’ shift to still lifes is more of an
exploratory offshoot than a departure—he

continues to paint street and architectural
scenes, and still life is not a new genre for
the artist, rather one he is revisiting.
As with many artists, this shift in direction was fostered by the pandemic, when
daily routines were turned upside down,
creating unforeseen constraints as well as

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1
Blue Bottles, egg
tempera on ACM
panel, 13¾ x 13"
2
Milk Glass Vases, egg
tempera on ACM panel,
11 x 14"

091

lucent paint film with a subtly of color difficult to
achieve with other mediums.”
Unlike oils, water-based paints are not very
forgiving—once a mark is made, there is no taking it
back. For this reason, Vadnais also produces preliminary sketches and studies of his still lifes because
seeing the composition on a two-dimensional plane
helps him better anticipate the problems he might run
into while working on the final piece.
Vadnais has chosen various bottles, jugs and functional antiques in “milk glass,” an opaque to slightly
translucent material with decorative embellishments
that immediately transported me to my grandmother's
house. These objects do not have sentimental value for
Vadnais—they were chosen for their reflective qualities,
textural properties, the technical challenges they pose
and the contrast they provide with the other pieces in
the composition.
“When the objects are all white it’s hard to paint the
way light interacts with the surface,” says Vadnais, who

S H OW P R E V I E W

opportunities.
With his children out of school, Vadnais could not
spend as much time in plein air creating the studies
that his urban scenes are more heavily reliant upon.
“I took to still lifes because, unlike my landscapes,
I can do the entire piece by observation,” says
Vadnais. “I can focus on the way the light works on
the subtle textures…I’m always responding to what
I’m observing. It’s much more controlled so I can be
more precise.”
The reprieve from the pressure of producing for
shows afforded Vadnais the freedom to further hone
his skills painting in egg tempera, an ancient medium
employed by many of his favorite artists, and whose
techniques he has long applied to working in acrylic.
At home with a variety of water-based media,
working with egg tempera was a natural transition.
An organic mixture of egg yolk, dry pigments and
water, Vadnais describes the medium as “somewhere
between watercolor and gouache, a thin and trans-

UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW

3
Still Life with
Green Bottle, egg
tempera on ACM
panel, 10 x 15"
4
Three Vases and a
Lid, egg tempera
on ACM panel,
10½ x 11¼"

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landscapes to a higher degree. But really, I
kind of feel like I’m in the same mode either
way—I’m just painting light on objects.”
George Billis Gallery 527 W. 23rd Street •
New York, NY 10011 • (917) 273-8621 • www.
georgebillis.com

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urban landscapes share more similarities
than not.
“The main thing that I focus on is how
light behaves,” says Vadnais. “With the still
lifes it’s more controlled, and I can study
it more precisely; but I also love the deep
space and three-dimensionality I can get in

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considers himself more of a value painter
than a colorist. “It’s an interesting study
in how to balance your paint values when
something is almost out of the range of
what paint can imitate.”
Despite the differences in scale, medium
and genre, for Vadnais his still lifes and

UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / ALTAMIRA FINE ART
1/2-1/13 Scottsdale, AZ

G EO FFR E Y G E R S T E N

Neon Americana

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he 1930s and 1940s are some of the subjects of
Geoffrey Gersten’s new show at Altamira Fine Art
in Scottsdale, Arizona. The show, titled Americanarama,
will draw from imagery from vintage magazines, movie
studio press stills and advertising.
“Geoffrey Gersten’s paintings combine elements of
both Americana and Pop Art,” says Stacy Barr, an art
consultant at the gallery. “Geoffrey has blended these
two styles to create works that evoke a sense of nostalgia
and celebrate iconic American imagery with precision
and detail.”
In one of the new works, American Girl, which shows
a model balancing on a fence amid a field of Gersten’s
trademark dots, the artist was inspired by a Paramount
Studios press still from the 1940s. What excited him
about the image was the model’s more casual expression
and seemingly unrehearsed pose.
“There is something sweetly American about her
vibe…I just love the way everything looked back then.
The irony of it all is that mass marketing is what changed
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how everything looked, from billboards to magazines
to clothing and advertising,” he says, adding that he
layered the signage from the Beverly Hills Hotel onto the
painting to signify the “penultimate posh Americana” of
the time period. “As everything changed, it all became
very different. Ads were shot in homes that cost millions
of dollars. There were only like 17 people reading the
magazine who could afford that home. The images were
more glamourous and perfect. But I have been looking at
a lot of Slim Aaron’s photography and everything wasn’t
perfect back them. There was dirt and weeds. That’s the
look I was going toward.”
On the subject of the Beverly Hills Hotel, Gersten
says he was tempted to stay there several years ago
when he was in Los Angeles for an art show, but felt
that $3,000 or $4,000 a night for a hotel was a little
steep. “Looking back, I regret it. It would have been
fun,” he says. “It’s very hard to book a room there. They
use a color-coded card system for guests. Workingclass people get one color, celebrities get another, and

1
Fontainebleau Sand,
oil on canvas, 72
x 36"
2
Hollywood Summer,
oil on canvas, 56
x 56"
3
American Girl, oil on
canvas, 60 x 48"

Gersten’s show opens January 2 at
Altamira Fine Art in Scottsdale.
Altamira Fine Art 7038 E. Main Street • Scottsdale,
AZ 85251 • (480) 949-1256 • www.altamiraart.com

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wealth, class and beauty form the key
juxtapositions in Gersten’s artwork, which
relies on Americana of the past, along with
the modernist touches of the future, to
coalesce into his creative output.

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presidents other important people get
another. But presidents are ranked lower
than celebrities. A president can stay
there and won’t stay in the nicest room.”
These sorts of discrepancies with

UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / 33 CONTEMPORARY
1/1-1/31 Online

The Flow of Water

1
Vicki Sullivan,
Tide Is Out, oil on
linen, 79⁄10 x 94⁄5"
2
Lorena Lepori,
Narcissus, oil on
gesso board,
197⁄10 x 157⁄10"
3
Alexandra
Telgmann, Golden
Ocean Reflection Moon, oil and 24k
gold leaf and silver
leaf on aluminum
panel, 197⁄10 x 197⁄10"
4
Marianna Foster,
Hermes, oil on wood
panel, 14 x 14"
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he theme of water is explored during
a new online exhibition presented by
33 Contemporary. Within the show, which
will be available for viewing on Artsy.net,
artists have created works that incorporate
water in some shape or form—whether as
the primary subject of the painting or
simply one element of the composition.
Artist Vicki Sullivan has been painting
in plein air quite often in the past few
years, adding that it has been a refreshing
change from her studio work, which
includes portrait commissions and still
lifes. “Painting outside is balm for my
soul," she says. "Being out in nature and
responding to changing conditions really
makes the painting a whole unforgettable
experience.” Her oil on linen Tide Is Out
captures a special spot for the artist on
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the Southern Ocean. “[I painted Tide Is
Out] on site at a beach where my father
and grandfather used to fish off the rocks.
When the tide is out the rock pools are
exposed, and it is my favorite time to
paint by the sea,” says Sullivan. “Lately I’ve
been revisiting every bay and cove of my
youth and setting up my easel to paint in
plein air. As I paint, I keep an eye out for
dolphins and whales, sooty oystercatchers,
Australasian gannets and other seabirds…
It’s an amazing exhilarating feeling for
me, and I feel like each plein air painting
captures some of the essence of the day.”
This exercise also helps her loosen her
brushstrokes, which has a positive effect
on her studio work as well.
Hermes, by Marianna Foster, is the
second painting in a new series the artist

has started called Gods of the Ancient
World Today. “The idea behind this series
is about how gods like those of Ancient
Greece or Egypt would look today,” says
Foster. “I don’t think the idea of the gods
that people had in previous centuries
disappeared, they just transformed into
another form. Today’s celebrities represent
nearly the same meaning for people as did
gods from the past. People look forward to
seeing them, to meeting them, and many
people ask them for help…Hermes was the
Olympian god of herds and flocks, travelers
and hospitality, roads and trade, thievery
and cunning, heralds and diplomacy,
language and writing, athletic contests and
gymnasiums, astronomy and astrology,"
Foster continues. "He was the herald and
personal messenger of Zeus, King of the

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33 Contemporary Zhou B Art Center, 4th
Floor • 1029 W. 35th Street • Chicago, IL 60609 •
www.33contemporary.com

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Gods, and also the guide of the dead who
led souls down into the Underworld.” In
Foster’s piece, a modernized version of the
Greek god is wearing a pair of swim shorts
and leaping triumphantly into the ocean.
Lorena Lepori’s oil Narcissus depicts a
man bedazzled in pearls, looking into his
own reflection in a small pool of water.
“The myth of Narcissus is one that never
ages—certainly not in this era when narcissistic behavior is recognized, exposed and
convicted,” says Lepori. “On the other
hand, it is encouraged and facilitated by
social media. Ultimately, everybody is
looking for a pool of water to lose themselves in their reflection and dream away,
hoping to find their true self and fall in
love with it.”
Other artists in the exhibition include
Alexandra Telgmann, Katayoun Stewart,
Elena Degenhardt, Bernice Shaller,
Michael Van Zeyl and Linda Post. WATER
is available for viewing January 1 to 31 at
www.artsy.net/show/33-contemporaryw-a-t-e-r.

UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / RUBINE RED GALLERY
1/5-1/29 Palm Springs, CA

JA M E S R I ECK

What Lies Beneath
F

or James Rieck’s show of new work at
Rubine Red Gallery in Palm Springs,
California, the artist tackles deep, compelling themes. The title of the show, Dressed
to Kill, named after the famous 1980s film,
is appropriate for a series that explores
the relationships between clothing and
identity. In roughly 16 oil paintings, Rieck
employs his distinct style of only portraying
portions of his subjects executed in
great detail.
“My work is characterized by its tight
cropping, a practice often seen in contemporary advertising where figures are
cropped to emphasize the garments they
are promoting,” Rieck explains. “Cropping,
for me, is not merely about framing a
subject but a powerful tool to emphasize
the unspoken, inside and outside the
picture plane. Sometimes what isn’t painted
is just as important as what is.”
Besides illuminating select pieces of a
scene, clothes and body language have also
been a central part of Rieck’s body of work
for years. “Painting fabric has a long tradition in art history. Paint and fabric are very
similar—they both conceal and protect but
can also reveal identity, and are powerful
tools for self-expression,” Rieck says. “In
both cases, there’s a duality between what is
presented and what lies beneath. It’s a put on.

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Many of Rieck’s paintings are sourced
from catalog advertisements and promotional materials, “like annual reports or
signing ceremonies,” he shares. “How
these images are used to persuade or
‘sell’ ideas of behavior or presentation to
a viewer is fascinating to me. Many come
with unspoken communication, and by
cropping and painting them I can focus
on those gestures. Disconnected from its
original agenda, the viewer can unveil and
project ideas onto what lies beneath the
figure’s gestures.”
As part of a series of smaller paintings in
the show, pieces like Ask for It, depicting a
well-manicured hand holding a drink filled
with ice, is inspired by 1970s alcohol and
cigarette advertisements. “I’ve honed in
on the hands delicately holding glasses [in
this series],” says Rieck. “I’m intrigued by
the idea of the allure and temptation of the
alcohol in these ads. Particularly in the ice,
which can symbolize the fleeting nature
of pleasure, much like Old Master still

1
Ask for It, oil on canvas
mounted on panel,
16 x 16"
2
The Lawyers, oil on
canvas, 32 x 84"
3
First Class, oil on canvas,
84 x 60"
4
Looking Good, oil on
canvas mounted on
panel, 16 x 16"

3

Rubine Red Gallery 668 N. Palm Canyon Drive,
Suite 102 • Palm Springs, CA 92262 • (760) 537-7665
www.rubineredgallery.com

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life paintings of rotting fruit and meat are
metaphors for the ruination of something
pure. The message here being ‘enjoy, life
is short.’”
In another uniquely cropped painting,
The Lawyers, we see two figures sitting
at a reflective table with arms and hands
crossed. “In this painting, I draw inspiration from an unlikely source—an annual
report for a bank. The lawyers featured
in the painting were giving testimonials
in favor of the bank, and posing to exude
confidence and professionalism to assure
shareholders. To amplify the storytelling, I
opted for a cinematic format, cropping out
the figures’ faces and identities, leaving
only dark suits, the uniform of the lawyer,
and their reflections in the glossy tabletop.”
Rieck's thoughtful new body of work will
be on view at Rubine Red Gallery from
January 5 through 29, with an opening
reception on Saturday, January 6 from 5
to 8 p.m.

UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / GALLERY 1261
1/6-1/27 Denver, CO

Timeless and Current
I

n collaboration with the Artsol Gallery,
Gallery 1261 in Denver, Colorado, showcases a riveting group exhibition titled
Contemporary Realism Now. The show
features approximately 20 artists who juxtapose traditional forms with contemporary
concepts and “offer a thought-provoking
conversation on the evolving nature of
reality itself,” notes the gallery. “The beauty
of realism lies in its ability to stretch the
truth, to play on perceptions and push
boundaries. This exhibit doesn’t merely
capture the surface of objects and people;
it delves into the emotions, stories and

complexities that lie beneath," the gallery
spokesperson continues. "These [esteemed]
artists seamlessly combine traditional techniques with modern influences, resulting in
works that are both timeless and current.
By celebrating the nuanced experiences of
the human condition, this exhibition urges
viewers to contemplate the narratives
outside the quotidian.”
For example, artist Aaron Morgan Brown
presents dream-like, thought-provoking
scenery in his paintings. “In one sense, I’m
as traditional as they come—oil on a gesso
surface (canvas or panel),” says the artist.

“In another sense, I’m a rebel. I’m really not
interested in technique per se; I refuse to
approach my vocation with the attitude of
a gun slinger. I’m completely at odds with
the current scene, which seems very aggressively focused on materiality, goal-oriented
thinking, self-promotion and branding. I’m
more of a metaphysician, or alchemist, in
the way I think about painting—as a vehicle
for the illumination of inner states of being.”
For his exhibition piece Next Stop 2, he
explains, “The themes that are present…are
simply a few of the thoughts and emotions
that possess me, or spirits brought down to

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opaque paper. Then I print with archival inks onto
inkjet vellum paper and gild with 24 karat gold leaf.
The luminescent quality works in tandem with the
intricate details of the plants. The realism of the flora
is juxtaposed with the traditional hand applied method
of gilding. This practice has allowed me to really honor
both the method and the plant.”
Among these gems are equally impressive
works by artists Luke Anderson, Laureen Axtell,
Michael Blessing, Jan R. Carson, Don Coen, Maeve
Eichelberger, Billyo O’Donnell, Cory Pickett, David
Michael Slonim, Neal Ambrose Smith, Elsa Sroka, Pati
Stajcar, Adrienne Stein, Michael Vacchiano, Tara Will
and Diana Woods.
Contemporary Realism Now opens with a reception on
January 6 from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., and closes January 27.
Gallery 1261, 1261 Delaware Street, Suite 1 • Denver, CO 80204 •
(303) 571-1261 • www.gallery1261.com

1
Aaron Morgan,
Next Stop, oil on panel,
27 x 33"
2
Maureen Ruddy
Burkhart, Still Life:
Teasel #1, 24K gold leaf
on vellum inkjet print
(pigment ink), 7 x 5"
3
Laureen Axtell,
100% Wool, mixed
media, 12 x 12"
4
Chris Maynard
Meadow, Harken, blue
and gold Macaw and
Amazon parrot feathers,
15 x 12"

S H OW P R E V I E W

101

Earth. The stray dog has become a kind of emergency
stand-in for any protagonist—working for snacks, and
anxiously hoping for signs of affection, analogous with
the 'Fool of the Tarot' (or the artist). The box is just
a box, another fact of life. The train is one of those
classic modern industrial symbols—of movement,
speed, transience, a conveyor of consciousness. The
ladder is a traditional symbol of ascent, which goes
back to the vision of Jacob. The metallic heart balloon
is the very essence of somebody’s earthly, idealistic
notion about the meaning of love…”
Artist Maureen Ruddy Burkhart presents five pieces
of photography for the exhibition, executed in a unique
way and influenced by her experience through the
pandemic. In Still Life: Teasel #1—a part of a series of
works that focus on plants like teasel, milkweed and
“the bizarre-looking wild cucumber that attaches its
vines tightly around whatever will support it,” the
artist says. “With these pieces, I begin by using a
photographic technique that renders especially sharp
images. This is important when printing onto semi-

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UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / ANNE NEILSON FINE ART
1/25-2/24 Charlotte, NC

Points of View

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new group exhibition at Anne Neilson
Fine Art explores different viewpoints
of landscape scenes through a wide variety
of styles and mediums. Titled Vantage
Point, the show features a dynamic collection of 40 works of art by such artists as
Christopher Groves, Millie Gosch, Kim
Amell, Mary Benson, Judith Judy and
Sarah Gayle Carter.
Carter’s geometric style is seen in full
force in her oil Parterre. “[This piece], as
the rest of my landscape paintings, is an
interpretation of a photo of an actual,
specific place. In this case, an aerial view of
rural Virginia farmland,” says the designer
turned painter. “My designer eye responds
to line, form and certainly color. I look for
the color and structure hiding beneath the
surface of things. I push the world I see
into an abstracted but recognizable play
of color, texture and geometry, and all of
those proclivities are very apparent here
in Parterre.”
She explains her process: “After toning
the canvas with burnt sienna, which
I intentionally let come through in lines
and ‘sparks.’ I began with the blocky,
dark tree clusters to build the bones of
the composition. Then I broke the near
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reminder to respect nature and the strength it holds.”
In Groves’ oil and mixed media piece Wonderland,
his intention was to evoke a series of emotions and
thoughts that create a dream-like experience for the
viewer. “By [combining] organized abstracted shapes
with only ‘hints’ of representational images and colors,
I want the viewer to float within this imaginative representation of a landscape environment, and encounter
a fanciful connection to nature,” says Groves. The
painting blends the lines between abstract and representational art.
Vantage Point begins January 25 and hangs through
February 24. An opening reception takes place on
opening day from 6 to 8 p.m.
Anne Neilson Fine Art 721 Governor Morrison Street, Suite 180
• Charlotte, NC 28211 • (704) 496-9181 • www.anneneilsonfineart.com

1
Millie Gosch, Sun
Salutations, oil on
canvas, 48 x 48"
2
Christopher Groves,
Wonderland, oil and
mixed media on canvas,
30 x 40"
3
Kim Amell, Emerald
Green, encaustic, oil
and shellac on panel,
40 x 40"
4
Sarah Gayle Carter,
Parterre, oil on canvas,
24 x 30"

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and far fields into simplified, interlocking, receding
sections. Then I began adding the, in this case literal,
color fields.” The artist describes herself as a “colorist,”
although she doesn’t get too bogged down in color
theory. “It’s instinctual, I suppose,” she says, “informed,
certainly, by the years I spent developing color palettes
for custom rugs. I don’t invent color out of whole cloth,
but I do exaggerate the colors I see, as well as the
forms, in order to make a point. I want others to see
what I see and feel what I feel when I look at the world
around me.”
Amell brings to the show a top down view of
crashing ocean waves rendered in encaustic, oil and
shellac. The piece was inspired by the movement of
water and the strength it holds. “The moment when
I look out over the vast expansive body of water and
feel so small,” says Amell. “Creating this piece is very
much about creating the feeling of perspective and a

UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / BILLIS WILLIAMS GALLERY
1/13-2/17 Los Angeles, CA

PAU L PI T S K E R

Labor of Love
E

1

1
Distant, watercolor,
25 x 18"

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2
Lucky, watercolor,
20 x 15"

www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

3
Quieter, watercolor,
16 x 12"

4
Briefly, watercolor,
10 x 7"

very Tiny Little Thing is Paul Pitsker’s
first solo exhibition in three years. It
marks a departure in the watercolorist’s
work that wasn’t by choice or an organic
evolution, but rather the result of a traumatic hand injury incurred while intervening in a violent dog fight in 2022.
After the incident he couldn’t write,
much less paint, and while he has slowly
built up his strength, it has affected his
output in a profound way. The pieces are
smaller and the level of detail he once so
easily achieved, sometimes feels out of
reach. It also takes him longer to finish a
piece.
However, like most extreme life challenges, they often contain blessings that
add depth to one’s experience and, in
Pitsker’s case, also his art.
His new paintings stay true to the themes
that run through his earlier work, mainly
having to do with mortality and unfulfilled longings. His delicate, translucent
creatures are often placed in potentially
hazardous, unsustainable scenes of temporary confinement or looming disaster that
pose the question “what next?” In Distant,
two seahorses gaze at each other from
two unlikely containers, a blender and a
small pitcher potentially filled with salt
water that flowers are sucking up through
their stems.
Pitsker has incorporated text into his
new work that can be read in multiple
ways, bringing a sense of irony and humor
to his discomforting scenes. This was a
decision that grew out of the scribbling,
then the journaling that was part of his
rehabilitation.
Pitsker explains, “The text is a way of
drawing the viewer closer and offset that
tension of the memento mori and mortality
of the imagery with a narrative that can
play into the themes of unfulfilled desire
but do so humorously.”
The note in Distant reads: “I’ll wait for
you far from here almost for ever”.
“The text expresses something close to
a grand romantic gesture,” says Pitsker.
“It’s playing with the idea but falls short—
‘almost forever,’ ‘far from.’ It ties into my

2

own patterns about adjusting my own
expectations about what I can do and what
I can hope to do in the future.”
In a nutshell, that’s what this show is all
about. In Pitsker’s words, “Life is short and
prepare to adjust your expectations, but
enjoy the little miracles when they happen.”
Pitsker is still working at half his normal
pace and acknowledges he may never get
back to what he considers full speed. He

can’t make a fist or straighten his left
hand. Playing piano, another joy, has been
hindered. Surprisingly, Pitsker finds his
latest work more positive than his work
before the injury.
“I think it’s a natural response to difficulty and trauma to focus on hope, on
what’s good and positive, and not dwell on
what you’ve lost and how things could go
badly,” he says. “It’s taken me a while to get

to that place but I’m happy to be here.”
Every Tiny Little Thing opens at Billis
Williams Gallery in Los Angeles with a
reception on Saturday, January 13, from
4 to 7 p.m. and remains on view through
February 17.
Billis Williams Gallery 2716 S. La Cienega
Boulevard • Los Angeles, CA 90034 • (310) 838-3685 •
www.billiswilliams.com

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UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / GROSS MCCLEAF GALLERY
1/11-2/3 Philadelphia, PA

J E FFR E Y R E E D

The Familiar and the New
I

nspired by light and atmosphere, as well as the
landscapes of Ireland and rural Pennsylvania,
artist Jeffrey Reed presents new works in a
solo show hosted by Gross McCleaf Gallery in
Philadelphia. Opening January 11, the show,
titled Doonfeeny Studies, showcases roughly two
dozen small gouache paintings of Reed’s time
in Ireland that, in the artist's words, "reveal the
history and impact the land and the sea have on
lives and community. My paintings have always
been inspired by specific moments and observations. Light and atmosphere are the two elements
that inspire me the most…I hope that someone
looking at my paintings would have a sense of
the familiar while at the same time [discover]
something new. The light might feel familiar
but the abstract shape of a field might be a new
discovery for a viewer. This is also what drives
me as an artist—the familiar and the new.”
With a teaching and residency connection at
the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ballycastle,
County Mayo, Ireland, Reed spends a couple
months painting there every summer. “The
area is beautiful, wild, welcoming and full of
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surprises,” Reed describes. “The community and
the Ballinglen are important parts of the experience, but the weather and the land are what
bring me back each year. I rarely travel when
I am in Ballycastle. Within walking distance of
my cottage and studio there are limitless motifs,
but more importantly, there is always a different
light and atmosphere to respond to. This is
what excites me as a human and inspires me as
an artist.”
For instance, in show piece Sheds, Doonfeeny—
the title referring to the location in Ireland—we see
two buildings side by side, seemingly connected.
“[This] is a view that I see often. It is next to the
cottage where I stay in Ballycastle,” says Reed.
“There is a group of five buildings that are like still
life objects. In the evening, the light hits the buildings creating wonderful shapes. I have drawn this
grouping many times exploring compositional
options. This composition of having the buildings
up close with a distant view appealed to me.”
Reed also shares that he’s been exploring
gouache for the past three years, beginning with
the hope that it would make for good sketching.
“Through the gouaches I have explored color
and design in ways that are a little different than

1
Yellow Hill,
gouache, 6 x 7"
2
Kerry Farm,
gouache, 6 x 7"
3
Sheds, Doonfeeny,
gouache, 6 x 7"

3

4
Doonfeeny Fog,
gouache, 6 x 7"

Gross McCleaf Gallery 127 S. 16th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102 • (215) 665-8138
www.grossmccleaf.com

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what I was working on in my oil paintings…Working with gouache allows me to
combine painting and drawing pursuits.”
Regarding his process, Reed says that his
working method varies quite a bit. “I might
create a painting 100 percent on location,
100 percent in the studio or somewhere
in between,” he says. One piece in the
show, Kerry Farm, was painted on location
during a visit to Ireland's Dingle peninsula,
after a day of hiking along the coast. “The
elevated view allowed me to play with the
buildings against the intense blue of the
water,” Reed explains. “The sky seemed to
have a conversation with the buildings in
the way that they marched across the page.
I am very interested in the interaction of
the various elements of a painting and how
they work together.”
Join Gross McCleaf Gallery in celebrating Reed's latest work from January
11 through February 3, with an opening
reception on January 13 from 1 to 4 p.m.

EVENT PREVIEW / FOG DESIGN+ART
1/18-1/21 San Francisco, CA

Bay Area Love

FOG Design+Art celebrates its 10th anniversary with a
brand new program and a vibrant theme.

E

very winter, FOG Design+Art showcases some of the very best exhibitors
in art and design from across the world.
This year, 46 dealers will converge at the
Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture
in San Francisco from January 18 to 21 to
celebrate FOG Design+Art’s milestone 10th
anniversary.
“FOG was created by a group of volunteers with altruistic intentions, and it has
been sustained with unwavering authenticity,” says FOG Design+Art steering
committee member Brittany Pattner.
“I think that personal spirit of the fair really
comes through and sets it apart.”
As part of the 10th anniversary celebration, this year’s theme is “A Love Letter to
San Francisco.” Visitors will find the theme
manifested in a number of ways throughout
the fair, including the entryway installation,
which will highlight local artists, as well as
the launch of SF Art Week as an official
entity. “‘‘A Love Letter to San Francisco’
celebrates the cultural vibrancy and vitality
of the Bay Area,” says Pattner.
Galleries and exhibitors at the 2024 FOG
fair include Michael Rosenfeld Gallery,
Berggruen Gallery, Pace Gallery, Hauser &
Wirth, Gladstone Gallery and many more.

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The annual fair will also be met with
an exciting new program titled “FOG
FOCUS,” an invitational designed to showcase art by young and underrepresented
artists. “This year we are really excited to
launch FOG FOCUS,” says Pattner. The
program will be housed in Fort Mason

Center’s Pier 2 building, the former home
of the San Francisco Arts Institute (SFAI),
and features nine exhibitors, as well as art
installations, activations and on-site performances. “FOG FOCUS celebrates SFAI’s
legacy as an incubator for young artists and
an integral part of San Francisco’s creative

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Guests mingle and
explore artwork at FOG
Design+Art. Photo by
Nikki Ritcher.
2
Odili Donald Odita,
Deep (Deep Blue, Deep
Purple, Deep Red),
2022, set of three color
aquatints, ed. of 10,
17 x 13½" each (image
size); 23½ x 19½" each
(paper size). Published
by Crown Point Press.
3
A view of last year’s fair.
Photo by Nikki Ritcher.
4
Nicole Irene Anderson,
Taking Measurement of
Glory, 2023, oil on panel,
62 x 54 x 1½". Courtesy
Johansson Projects.

3

ecosystem, and expands the fair’s purview,
inviting galleries to present solo exhibitions by young and emerging artists and
artists who have not received wide institutional recognition,” Pattner continues. She
adds that FOG FOCUS will also feature
an exhibition of contemporary art by Bay
Area artists with disabilities co-presented
by Creative Growth Art Center, Creativity
Explored and NIAD. “San Francisco is a
really dynamic and creative city, and we
are excited to offer this space to showcase
cutting-edge art.”
Among the galleries that will be a part
of FOG FOCUS are Commonwealth and
Council, Crèvecœur, CULT Aimee Friberg
Exhibitions, Et al., George Adams Gallery,
Johansson Projects, Jonathan Carver
Moore, OCHI and Schlomer Haus Gallery.
A preview gala for FOG Design+Art takes
place Wednesday, January 17, from 4 to
10:00 p.m. with tiered entry.

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E V EN T PR E V I E W

FOG DESIGN+ART
When: January 18-21, 2024; Preview Gala, January 17
Where: Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, 2
Marina Boulevard, Landmark Building C, Suite 260, San
Francisco, CA 94123
Information: (415) 745-3315, www.fogfair.com

EVENT PREVIEW / ART PALM BEACH
1/24-1/28 Palm Beach, FL

1

A Palm Beach Spectacular
Art Palm Beach returns to Florida for another robust showing of
contemporary and modern artworks.

A

fter the success of last year’s Art Palm Beach
show, newly acquired by the producers of the
renowned LA Art Show, representatives are boasting
an even bigger, more thrilling event for 2024 in Palm
Beach, Florida. There will be more than 80 modern
and contemporary galleries in attendance—including
a large international presence—featuring “notable
emerging artists as well as top names from the contemporary, modern, classical modern, post-war and pop
eras,” reads the show website.
The roster of exhibitors includes prominent
galleries such as Hollis Taggart, Mark Borghi Fine
Art, Masterworks Fine Art Gallery, Sponder Gallery,
Cernuda Arte, Gladwell & Patterson, Vertu Fine Art and
Rosenfeld Gallery.
Kassandra Voyagis, producer and director of the
entire event, explains, “Last year, we created a new
and completely revamped Art Palm Beach. Under our
leadership, we took this show in a new and exciting
direction marrying both fairs in a dynamic state-of-theart bi-coastal enterprise. This year we are upping the
ante even more by adding new international galleries,
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a completely new theme and a new charity partner.”
Voyagis notes that the show is proudly donating 15
percent of the entire show’s proceeds to the American
Heart Association including the night of the starstudded VIP opening night premier event.
Returning this year is the rotating group of
museums, art institutions and nonprofits that are
part of DIVERSEartPB, highlighting a community
engagement platform exploring artificial intelligence.
“Under the expert guidance of renowned art curator,
Marisa Caichiolo, DIVERSEartPB will spotlight how
AI is reshaping humanity,” says Voyagis. “Through
thought provoking installations, live and interactive
experiences, visitors will be challenged to look at how
AI is recreating the way the human memory works
and changing our perception of what it means to be
human.”
Voyagis continues, “In addition…DIVERSEart hopes
to connect visitors with museums and nonprofit arts
organizations as they present projects/programming aimed at stimulating dialogue, generating innovative ideas and driving social change through art.”

1
A look at the 2023 Art
Palm Beach gallery
vendors. Photo by
Capehart Photography.
2
Marc Chagall (18871985), Esquisse Pour Le
‘Grand Cirque’, 1956, oil,
colored crayon, pastel
and pencil on paper
laid down on canvas,
16½ x 30/”. Presented
by Modern Fine Art
(formerly Waterhouse &
Dodd). Photo courtesy
Art Palm Beach.
3
Edward Povey, Definitie,
oil on Belgian linen,
79 x 79”. Presented
by Modern Fine Art
(formerly Waterhouse &
Dodd). Photo courtesy
Art Palm Beach.
4
Miguel Florido, The
Infinite Grandeur of
Your Love (La Grandeza
Infinita de Tu Amor), oil
on canvas, 56¼ x 55”.
Presented by Cernuda
Arte. Photo courtesy Art
Palm Beach

2

3

special programming and exhibitions, and
to purchase tickets.

ART PALM BEACH
When: January 24-28, 2024;
Opening Night Premiere, January 24
Where: Palm Beach County Convention Center,
650 Okeechobee Boulevard, West Palm Beach, FL 33401
Information: (310) 822-9145,
www.artpalmbeach.com

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subject’s life story. “[Povey’s] paintings
are his exploration of emotional realism,
his term for this style of painting, [and an]
intimate look at what it is to be human, with
all its pain and beauty,” reads Povey’s artist
statement.
Art Palm Beach, hosted at the Palm
Beach County Convention Center, kicks
off with the VIP Opening Night Premiere
on January 24 from 5 to 9 p.m., and will
close on Sunday, January 28. Please visit
the website for additional information on

E V EN T PR E V I E W

Art highlights this year include what
Voyagis describes as a “wonderful Chagall
piece that visitors won’t want to miss” from
Modern Fine Art (formerly Waterhouse
& Dodd) out of New York City. Chagall’s
dream-like scenery and poignant use of
color is on full display in the offered piece
titled Esquisse Pour Le ‘Grand Cirque’.
Modern Fine Art will also have contemporary works like Edward Povey’s Definitie, a
highly realistic painting of a female figure
surrounded by objects that hint at the

4

AWARD
WINNER

ROBIN COLE
Arvada, CO • robincole.art@gmail.com • www.robincole.art

Embryonic Journey
Cole received American Art Collector’s Award of Excellence for work featured in Oil Painters of America National Juried Exhibition, 2022

1

T

he work of Robin Cole is woven through with
silvery threads of meaning. Informed by a spiritual
relationship to nature and the curiosity of a scientist,
and filtered through the wide-eyed wonder of a child,
her work contains volumes—including direct inspiration drawn from her love of literature and fascination
with the cosmos.
The subject matter and the creative risks it entailed
have resulted in Cole’s most personal body of work to
date, and has opened up a feeling of vulnerability in
the artist unique to this series.
“Genesis is about the genesis of a soul and how it
comes into the world, and my reflections on that as a
new mother,” says Cole. “Everything else in the body of
work are etudes about different parts of the process."
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Epithalamium, the title of which means a poem
written for a wedding, was inspired by an eponymous
1969 poem by Carl Adamshick. It features two boats
bobbing in a luminous constellation of stars. Cole
folded countless paper boats for the piece which
resulted in “a highly embellished painting from life.”
Cole says, “This whole body of work is about
bringing my son into the world from the magic of
meeting another person and knowing that I wanted
and was able to create another human with that
person. And deciding to join your life with someone.
Which is what these two paintings of the boats
are about.”
The glowing orb in Embryo has a similar aesthetic—
a visual echo of astronomer Carl Sagan’s words,

1
Epithalamium II, oil on
panel, 8 x 11"
2
Maiden, Mother, oil
on mounted linen,
14¾ x 10½"
3
Embryo I, oil on panel,
6 x 6"
4
Ode to a Life, oil on
mounted linen, 6 x 12"

2

that beautiful bird on the steps and nature,
as it always does, offered up a vehicle for
that expression.”
Ironically, Cole found creative liberation
through advancing her technical skills.
She found the confidence to incorporate
figures into her repertoire, and to allow
more imagination to intermingle with
observation.
“I’ve never quite let my inner symbolist
loose like I have with this particular set
of paintings,” says Cole, adding that she
once approached painting with an almost
obsessive allegiance to accuracy. “My old
work was like an analytic nonfiction essay
where the work I wanted to create was more
akin to poetry.
“I just wanted it to be more soulful,” she
continues. “I’ve never put something this
vulnerable and personal out there. I feel
really excited about it and a little nervous
too—some of what I’m doing you’d be
raked over the coals for in art school. But
it’s really quite liberating to let that slightly
more childlike part of myself have a little
more free reign.”
Genesis will be featured in a solo show
at Denver’s Gallery 1261 in March before
continuing on to Arvada Center, in Arvada,
Colorado, in April.

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4

liminal space between the end of summer
and beginning of fall, day and dusk, and
the time “when you’ve made a decision
to become something but are still in the
process of becoming.”
Ode to Life depicts a dead bird
surrounded by flowers against an
abstracted background of bruisy tones.
The bird flew into a house window around
the same time she had a miscarriage the
year prior. Cole had wanted to include
that experience in the series but the form
it should take hadn’t coalesced. “I found

A M E R I C A N A R T CO L L E C TO R AWA R D W I N N E R

“we are made of star stuff.”
“I think about that a lot in terms of where
we come from,” says Cole. “Nobody knows
but you can sense the magic of that when
you have a family. It was amazing to feel
much like a passenger in a process that was
very magical and ancient while also being
so intimately personally acquainted with it.
[In my paintings], stardust it is indicative
of that emotion.”
Maiden Mother is a portrait of a close
friend who had recently decided to have
a child. The light and shadow reflect the

3

DANIELA WERNECK
AWARD
WINNER

Texas, USA • danielawerneck@live.com • www.danielawerneck.com • www.rjdgallery.com

Emotional Narratives
Werneck was the Second Prize Winner in International Artist magazine’s Challenge No. 137, Favorite Subjects.

1

W

hen watercolorist Daniela Werneck
has models over for a photoshoot,
she takes as many pictures as she can while
they’re simply relaxing and talking with
her. During these moments, the artist isn’t
worried about composition or pose, but
rather, capturing the genuine facial expressions and body language of her subjects.
After the session, she takes as much time
as she needs going over every photo.

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“I have been a romantic and an art lover
since I was a child,” says Werneck. “My
art is innocent, romantic and pure. [It]
conveys a feeling of freedom and hope
to the public. Just like fairytales, my
paintings tend to speak to the public, tell
stories and portray an emotional narrative,
revealing feelings and thoughts.”
Werneck was born and raised in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, surrounded by Portuguese

relatives. After getting married, she moved
to Australia and lived there for three years,
before settling in Texas in 2011. During
her adolescence, Werneck attended
private drawing classes, where she gained
her artistic foundation. However, she
considers herself a self-taught watercolor
artist.
“As an artist, I am constantly influenced
by my personal background, whether by

2

3

¹
Flair, watercolor
on Aquabord, 8 x 8"
2
Home, watercolor
on Aquabord, 36 x 18"

4
Saudade, watercolor
on Aquabord, 12 x 24"

4

In a recent work by the artist titled
Saudade, a woman rests on a table, her
gaze directed gently at the viewer. “An
untranslatable word to any language,
‘saudade’ is a feeling of longing, melancholy or nostalgia that is supposedly characteristic of the Portuguese or Brazilian
temperament,” says Werneck. “Although
sadness is a big part of saudade, you can
also feel happy as well. It’s a very complex

emotion. You’re sad that someone is gone
(whether they’re dead, moved away or
even just not here right now), but you
also feel happy for the good times you
spent together. It’s a feeling that is always
related to someone, or something, or to a
time that we would love to have or experience again.”
Werneck is represented by RJD Gallery
in Romeo, Michigan.

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my Portuguese family, my simple childhood in a poor and tropical country, my
life as an immigrant or being a foster
mother—the reason why my artistic career
started a few years ago,” says Werneck.
“All these experiences have made me a
humbler person with a more sensitive
outlook on life, and these experiences tend
to impact what I expect from my paintings
and their emotional narrative.”

I N T E R N AT I O N A L A R T I S T MAG A Z I N E AWA R D W I N N E R

3
Revoada (diptych), watercolor
on Aquabord, 24 x 24” total

FRANÇOIS CHARTIER
AWARD
WINNER

Quebec, Canada • www.francoisc.com • www.plusonegallery.com • www.galerierichelieu.com

Luminous Color
Chartier was the Third Prize Winner in International Artist magazine’s Challenge No. 137, Favorite Subjects.

I

1

n 2001, after 30 years in the advertising
world as an art director and illustrator,
Montreal artist François Chartier finally
began pursuing his artwork full time. “I felt
the need to pursue in greater depth my own
artistic journey through painting. I deeply
think that artwork should inspire!” he says.
“I love to create joyful, colorful and luminous
atmospheres in my paintings, and I hope
that they will remain, long after I am gone, a
source of inspiration and wonder.”
His bright, luminous oils capture his
still life subjects in crisp detail. Lately,
many of his works have an added layer of
being submerged under water. “My choice
of painting subject is usually dictated by
the rhythm, shape, color, light and shadow
I obtain by staging objects or flowers,” he
adds. “The themes of many of my paintings
explore the relationship of light with reflective and transparent surfaces, as they echo
my journey to understand these qualities and
convey my sense of wonder and intrigue over
them. I aim to tell a story that expresses my
unique vision, to create an image that first
moves me and hopefully moves the viewer.”
Chartier enjoys the impact of large-scale
paintings, adding that it is extremely important that he’s in sync with the image before
he begins the paintings. This can sometimes
take months.
“I try as much as possible to personalize
each painting with my own vision to make
them unique,” he says. These days, the artist

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3

is working on a solo show of flowers floating
underwater surrounded by air bubbles.
Chartier is represented by Galerie d’Art
Richelieu in Montreal, Quebec, and Plus One
Gallery in London.

1
SERENITY, oil on canvas, 48 x 60"
2
THE SKY IS THE LIMIT, oil on canvas, 48 x 60"
3
MARIE ANTOINETTE, oil on canvas, 44 x 72"

A R T I S T

Clagget/Rey Gallery, Vineyard Roses, oil, 20 x 16", Lynn Van De Water.

F O C U S

Clagget/Rey Gallery, Lemon Scarf, oil, 36 x 36", by Lynn Van De Water.

Lynn Van
De Water
W

Clagget/Rey Gallery,
Lemons are Yellow, oil,
16 x 20", by Lynn Van
De Water.

More of Lynn Van De Water’s work can be
enjoyed in person at Claggett/Rey Gallery
in Edwards, Colorado.

Want to See More?
www.galleryvandewater.com
Represented by Claggett/Rey Gallery
216 Main Street, Ste. C-100 | Edwards, CO 81632
(970) 476-9350 | www.claggettrey.com

@claggettreygallery
@galleryVailCO

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challenged herself to paint sensual
lemons using only a touch of their
natural color, resulting in a piece that
takes on a glow of its own. The fluted
white vessel is approached with a similar
joust, painting what is seen and not
simply remembered.
The embracing subject evokes the
pearlescent glaze of reflected light from
an overcast sky nearly devoid of titanium
pigment. The special significance of
this painting is the incorporation of her
grandmother’s “flower power” scarf from
the 1960s—a personal yet elegant element.

AR TIST F OC U S

eaving together pattern, light and
color builds the complex layers
behind the work of Lynn Van De Water.
Through the lens of early masters, she
applies attentive details as she arranges
her compositions. A playful use of
mediums and designs juxtaposed against
a stimulating backdrop allows her flow of
creativity to speak volumes.
During a recent trip to Italy, Van De
Water manipulated the free form of situating the inside world against the outside
environment. Working directly from her
Italian villa’s finestra in the Bergamo
countryside, the artist composed her next
arrangements. Sweeping the bounty in
an armful of flowers and greenery from
the grounds of the villa, she arranged her
bouquet against the pillowy clouds and
horizon. Vineyard Roses captures a warm
breath of the Bergamo sun, the arrangement luminously bathed and backlit light
while messages of the arid horizon flank
the star of the scene as they dance off the
canvas.
For Lemons are Yellow, Van De Water

A R T I S T

F O C U S

Sunlight Ahead, oil, 20 x 20"

Damaged but not Destroyed, oil, 20 x 20"

Resilient Beauty, oil, 20 x 20"

Barbara Schilling
F

or more than 35 years, Barbara
Schilling did art restoration work on
other artists’ paintings. “I did some of my
own when I could but it was hard to find
the time,” says Schilling. “I retired from
restoration about five years ago and was
finally able to focus on painting.”
Schilling studied the work of contemporary masters and took workshops
from several of today’s top artists. “Their
generous sharing of knowledge was so
critical to me,” she says. “Learning the
skills to create good art is the cornerstone
of a successful painting.”
However, the day came when Schilling
realized she didn’t wish to paint like
anyone else. “I wanted to find my
personal voice,” she says. “I felt the best
way to accomplish that was by allowing
myself the freedom to experiment and
explore. I discovered it was the energy

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within a painting that I was most
interested in.”
For the first time, Schilling felt like
she truly understood what Van Gogh
was trying to achieve in his emotionally
charged works. Since then, her work has
become more expressionistic, with bolder
brushwork and colors. “I love the tactile
feel of pushing thick paint around and
using broken color,” says Schilling. “I have
moved away from a more literal translation of my subject to a more emotional
response. I believe very strongly that an
artist needs to always keep growing and
challenging themselves.”
While her work is still representational,
it is more about the textures, the colors
and the energy than before. She spent
several years painting exclusively from
life, but now prefers the more relaxed
atmosphere of the studio.

Although she does use her own photo
references, she is “not a slave to following
them” and much of her work comes from
her imagination. The photos are simply a
jumping-off point.
“My paintings are an emotional reflection of my connection to nature, Schilling
says. “Often my subject or composition
has an underlying message. I try to recognize what it is within myself that draws
me to paint a certain subject and then use
color, composition and brushwork to back
up that story or idea.”

Want to See More?
(616) 340-6737 | www.barbaraschilling.com

/schillingbarb
@barbaraschilling7205

A R T I S T

F O C U S

Ancient Moat (Zion National Park), pastel on archival board, 9 x 12"

Ancient Pavers (New Mexico), pastel on archival board, 9 x 12"

Laura
Pollak
L

Ancient Roundabout (Horseshoe Bend), pastel on archival board, 12 x 12"

Want to See More?
laurapollak.artist@gmail.com | www.laurapollak.com
Represented by Perspectives Gallery
112 S. 6th Street | Petersburg, IL 62675 | (217) 361-7929 | www.perspectivesartgallery.com

/laura.pollak.12

@laurapollakartist

AR TIST F OC U S

aura Pollak’s works have gained global
attention in juried shows, museums,
private collections and publications worldwide. Her ability to create “visual magic”
has garnered her top awards.
The majesty of the Southwest has
inspired a new series called Ancient
Architecture, where Laura finds the parallels
between the power of nature and the buildings we see around us.
“Creating art is only part of the process,”
says Laura. “Like a dialogue between
friends, art must be shared in order to
complete the circle."
When looking to own original art, Pollak
says, “It is important to find something that
‘pulls you in’, and evokes memories and
emotions, by using the magic of light
and color.
“As you see a ‘special’ painting for the
first time, and realize you just cannot live
without it, you realize that a piece of art can
infuse energy into your soul,” she says.
Pollak believes that investing in art is
always wise. “And to purchase art you love,
well, that’s brilliant,” she adds. “It becomes a
window to your world and a haven for you to
enjoy over and over again. And remember,”
Laura says, quoting gallerist Toma Wolff,
...‘if you own it, you can touch it!’”
Sixteen paintings by Laura are now
on view at Perspectives Art Gallery in
Petersburg, Illinois.

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A R T I S T

East Coast, acrylic and oil on canvas, 32 x 32"

F O C U S

Happy Night, acrylic and oil on canvas, 40 x 40"

Daniel
Raynott
B

orn in France in 1962, Daniel Raynott
started painting very early, visited
museums around the world and made
it the basis of his learning. He currently
lives and paints in Ireland.
As a graphic designer in the 1980s,
Raynott collaborated with various French
magazines. His paintings are executed with
graphic precision; very clean, bright, and
full of color. His frequent stays in the United
States since the 1990s, particularly in
California, are the origin of his inspiration.
From his time spent on both coasts,
Raynott keeps a colorful nostalgia
alive by creating canvases tinged with
optimism and contras, portraying dream
villas with sleek modern architecture
and swimming pools sparkling with
transparency.
Raynott offers us a sunny journey with
each of his paintings, the warmth of Palm
Spring’s lush oasis, the freshness of San
Francisco, and East or West Coast homes
with clean lines, large bay windows,
natural lighting and a minimalist feel.
The speak to the joy of living and
celebrate the stunning architectural villas
and their swimming pools shimmering
with translucent turquoise. He often
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Dream House, acrylic and oil on canvas, 50 x 44"

paints his villas facing the ocean because
he was born near the sea. “It’s all about
that feeling of peace and fun that you
get from being near the water,” he says.
“There is no limit when you look at the
horizonit—it's an infinite dream.”

Want to See More?
www.raynottart.com

@raynott_artist

A R T I S T

Dream a Little Dream of Me, colored pencil, 22 x 17"

F O C U S

Lovingly, colored pencil, 21 x 18"

Eileen Nistler
E

Aunt Clara’s Collection VI, colored pencil, 9 x 8"

Want to See More?
www.eileennistler.com
Represented by Deselms Fine Art
303 E. 17th Street | Cheyenne, WY 82001
(307) 432-0606 | www.deselmsfineart.com

Eileen Nistler Art

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a memory that I enjoy incorporating in my
art,” she says. “My grandmother had highly
starched doilies in the room that I always
stayed in when I stayed with her.”
Nistler also grows many varieties of
peonies on her ranch. The first one was
a gift from her mother, and remains a
continuing inspiration for the soft pink
flowers that show up in so many of her
paintings.
Nistler often arranges her still life
compositions on a large rustic shelf that
was made with a plank from their corral on
a ranch in northeastern Wyoming.
“I love to juxtapose opposites,” she
says. “The rough, wind-weathered wood
carrying the feminine flowers or lace is a
recurring component in my art.”
More than 40 of Nistler’s works in
colored pencil will be featured in a
solo show at Nicolaysen Art Museum
in Casper, Wyoming, from January 12
through March 31.

AR TIST F OC U S

ileen Nistler can sum up how she feels
about painting through the Jordan
Peterson quote, “Do what is meaningful,
not expedient.”
Among her influences, she cites Rubens
and Caravaggio and the chiaroscuro
idea of value. She too likes to depict her
subjects in the spotlight with the edges
receding into the blackness.
“I am inspired by many things that
were grand and wonderful to me as a
child,” shares Nistler. “I loved the show
Bewitched and on that show the befuddled
Aunt Clara had a door knob collection.
That intrigued me a lot. I loved the
beautiful glass door knobs in our home
and understood completely why she
collected them.”
Some of Nistler’s paintings are of
costume jewelry. “My grandmother and
my aunts were classy ladies that had
lovely jewelry,” says Nistler. She also often
includes lace doilies in her art. “That too is

A R T I S T

F O C U S

Debbie Mueller
D

ebbie Mueller calls herself “an accidental artist.” “After 30
years of practicing medicine, and believing I had no artistic
ability, I discovered painting after reluctantly agreeing to paint
with my mother, a life-long hobby painter,” she explains. “Within
just a short time, I realized I had discovered my life’s passion and
embarked on this exciting journey as a professional artist.”
From the beginning, Mueller was drawn to the work of other
artists where light and shadow were “the stars of the show,”
and was fortunate to find guidance from some great teachers.
She started out doing mostly landscapes, and challenged
herself with painting in plein air, but in the last few years, her
focus has shifted to still lifes. “It has all the benefits of plein air
painting—the joy of painting from life, but without the burdens
of changing light, wind, bugs, rain and so on,” she says. “I am
free to create a composition that pleases me and find bold colors
often not found in the outdoors.”
Mueller often finds her subjects in her kitchen, and has
been able to indulge her love of Midcentury Modern design
by collecting and painting objects in that style. “I also enjoy
creating master copies of famous paintings by including some
of my art books, open to a well-loved page, in my compositions.”
About the works featured here, she says. “I am drawn to the glow
of light shining through citrus and seek images that create a
sense of nostalgia and remembrance for the viewer, whether it’s
a cozy cup of tea, or the joy of a sweet, iced doughnut.”

Glow, oil on board, 8 x 8"

Pastel Panache, oil on linen, 18 x 18"

Want to See More?
(603) 767-5645 | www.debbiemuellerart.com
Represented by ARTNOVA Gallery
463 Main Street | Chatham, MA 02633
(508) 469-9222 | www.artnovagallery.com

/latebloomerartist
Homage, oil on linen, 18 x 18"

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@thelatebloomerartist

A R T I S T

Fall Maples, oil on panel, 10½ x 16"

F O C U S

Spring Runoff, oil on panel, 10½ x 16"

David Kiehm
“B

ecause my subjects are wildlife in their
environment, inspiration can be found
everywhere, from a circling hawk to a stalking
heron, or frogs in our pond,” says David Kiehm.
“For me painting ideas are easy to come by!”
Kiehm paints in a realistic style because
he wants to create scenes that are rich in
information. “Light on a rock, leaves floating on
a stream or the feathers on an owl are critical
for me to create visual texture,” he says. “These
visual clues help evoke memories from the
viewer that they can relate to another time and
place.” For Kiehm, details matter.
The most critical element in any of Kiehm's
painting is good design and he tries not to
complicate his work with overt messages,
believing that if his paintings are well-executed
that will create enough interest for any viewer.
“I strive to capture the feeling of light, sound
and even the cold in snow scenes," he says. “All
these elements combine to make every painting
a unique personal experience.”
Kiehm can be found every day in his
studio located in the foothills of the Catskill
Mountains in New York, where he lives with his
family. He adds, “There is never enough time
to paint all the ideas that flood in from all the
beautiful animals and scenery.”

AR TIST F OC U S

Want to See More?
(607) 286-9222 | dave@deaddriftstudio.com
www.deaddriftstudio.com

/david.kiehm
Up Periscope, oil on panel, 14 x 11"

123

@davidkiehm

S LD!

American Art Collector magazine has changed the way artists, galleries and collectors
connect. It has closed the gap that previously existed in the traditional art market. Spectacular
and instant SOLD! stories keep rolling in. Check out some of the highlights of the sales and
connections achieved from the pages of our magazine and throughout the market.

1

1

Amanda Greive sells piece featured
in a preview of an exhibition at
Wausau Museum of Art
Painting the Figure Now, a preview of
which ran in the October 2023 issue of
American Art Collector, is a yearly group
show hosted by the Wausau Museum of
Contemporary Art in collaboration with
PoetsArtists dedicated to showcasing
contemporary figurative works. Featured
in the article was Amanda Greive’s
showpiece An Infinite Escape, which
sold shortly after the issue was released
through the online platform Artsy. Greive
painted An Infinite Escape after she
began to take her mediation practice
more seriously. “This painting was the
product of my practice, as well as internal
conversations about creating time and a
safe space to revel in solitude,” she says.
The woman holds a bounty of blooms
over her face as one might use a pillow to
block out unwanted stimuli. For Greive,
“the flowers also serve as a symbol of
her individuality, and the woman is
completely immersing herself in that
oneness.”

Rain Gallery in Santa Fe sells
2Blue
piece by featured artist Robin Jones

Robin Jones painted If Only We’re Brave
Enough to See It for a show titled Arkteia

124

www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

2

that opened in late October 2023 at Blue
Rain Gallery’s Santa Fe location.
The title of the painting comes from
the poem The Hill We Climb by Amanda
Gorman and depicts a young girl in the
Gabra tribe, a semi-nomadic people who
live in the highlands of southern Ethiopia
and northern Kenya. She is accompanied
by the Red-veined Dropwing, a dragonfly
found across most of Africa.
The piece, which pays tribute to the
Gabra, who strive to live in balance with a
challenging environment, was purchased
by one of Blue Rain’s long-time clients who

came to the opening and was compelled to
make it their own. “The client appreciates
the artwork as a form of artistic expression,
with the title linking to a meaningful poem
by Amanda Gorman,” says Blue Rain
director of sales, Merlinda Melendrez.
“The combination of the visual and literary
elements make the painting a unique and
thought-provoking piece of art. Overall,
the painting’s story adds depth and
meaning to the artwork, making it not just
a visual piece but a reflection of cultural
significance and a statement on pressing
global issues.”

by Mary Calengor sells fresh
3Aoffpiece
the easel at Anne Neilson Fine Art

“Tuareg Bowls was fresh off the easel and
into the gallery when an online buyer
who has long admired Anne Neilson
Fine Art inquired about it for her new
home in Mexico,” shares gallery director
Logan Sutton. The painting was inspired
by authentic wooden “milk” bowls that
once belonged to the Tuareg tribal people
that inhabit the Saharan regions of North
Africa. “The women in the tribe carve these
incredible bowls out of a single piece of
wood, not an easy commodity to find in the
desert, and are highly prized possessions
passed down from one generation to the
next,” explains the artist. “They seem to
always exhibit signs of heavy wear such
as cracks that have been stapled together,
chipped edges and a dark brown patina
from various products mixed to work like
glue. I found these bowls to be so beautiful
and the history of the people that made and
used them is just so fascinating. I knew I
needed to paint them and preserve this rich
history through my art form.” Sutton adds,

3

“The collector felt so connected to the beauty in the detail,
and the piece is now hanging in a place of honor in their
home in Mexico.”
wasted no time in securing piece by Julia
4Collector
Jenkins through Modern Eden Gallery

Julia Jenkins’ painting Persephone’s Return to the Underworld
was purchased a few days after the opening reception of
Harvest, a group exhibition at Modern Eden Gallery in San
Francisco in fall of 2023. “This particular piece grabbed me
instantly when I saw it on Julia’s Instagram,” says collector
Cindy Kennedy. “So much so that I raced over to Modern
Eden’s site, terrified it would have already sold. I was
desperately in love with it, both because it is her work and
because the myth of Persephone is one that I’ve been attached
to since I was a child—it is such a powerful story of trauma,
and a mother’s grief and strength. I bought it immediately
without a moment’s hesitation and felt intensely grateful I
had seen it in time because I knew it would have sold quickly.”
The gallery notes, “This painting was the first piece we
have shown by Julia Jenkins and we couldn’t have been
more thrilled to place the painting with one of our regular
customers who turns out to be a long time collector of the
artist with well over a dozen works by Julia already in her
collection.”

125

4

S OL D

Interested in having your SOLD! story featured in the
pages of American Art Collector magazine? Email Sarah
Gianelli at sgianelli@americanartcollector.com to find out
how you can share your recent sales and successes.

INDEX » JANUARY 2024

ARTISTS IN THIS ISSUE
76

Gosch, Millie

Amell, Kim

102

Grasso, Victor

Anderson, Nicole Irene

109

Greive, Amanda

Axtell, Laureen

101

Grovers, Christopher

Amatrula, Michele

Pitsker, Paul

104

22, 48

Pollak, Laura

119

124

Povey, Edward

111

102

Quadland, Michael

51

Bach, Del-Bourree

32

Harnett, William Michael

74

Raynott, Daniel

120

Ballard, Kim

61

Harrison, Derek

71

Reed, Jeffrey

106

Balmert, Nancy J.

82

Hesse, Lydia

72

Rees, Timothy

40

Bilodeau, Daniel

86

Ho, Quang

39

Rieck, James

98

Blizzard, Peggie

75

Horton, Heather

57

Rosner, Heidi

61, 68

Brunetti, Heather
Burkhart, Maureen Ruddy

55

Jenkins, Julia

125

Santiago, Roseta

76

101

Jones, Robin

124

Schilling, Barbara

118

63

Seymour, Claudia

78

Sheeter, Cathy

61

Sievers, Gregory

68

Butler, Elizabeth

24

Calengor, Mary

125

Kiehm, David

Carter, Sarah Gayle

103

Koscianski, Leonard

Chagall, Marc

111

Lee, Brianna

56

Steele, Ben

69

Chariter, François

116

Lepori, Lorena

97

Sullivan, Vicki

96

Cole, Robin

112

Levitina, Julia

52

Swift, Peter

83

Copeland, Emily

80

Louis, J

Tabaczuk, Kesja

55

Copley, Ed

70

Lyon, Shari

60

Telgmann, Alexandra

97

DeVito, Grace

78

Martin, Bertrand

38

Terbush, Dale

70

Dickinson, Judith

62

McCracken, Laurin

80

Tigerman, Ray

61

Donavan, Laura

72

Meadow, Chris Maynard

Dorsey, David

77

Moore, Monte M.

Dzhurayeva, Olesya

56

Morgan, Aaron

100

Werneck, Daniela

Kahl, Shelli

123
cover, 42

39, 71

101
73

Van De Water, Lynn

117

Weisman, Gary

50
114

Ferguson, Diana

60

Mueller, Debbie

122

Xeus, Vincent

37

Florido, Miguel

111

Nistler, Eileen

121

Zappalorti, Robert E.

74

Foster, Marianna

97

Odita, Odili Donald

108

Ziegler, Treacy

53

Galloway, Sebastian

76

Oriti, Frank

80

Peloke, Kenneth

69

Gersten, Geoffrey

126

102

www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

85, 94

Visit www.americanartcollector.com/backissues and
replace that damaged or lost issue today.

INDEX » JANUARY 2024

ADVERTISERS IN THIS ISSUE
Altamira Fine Art / Jackson, WY

Raynott, Daniel / Dublin, IE

25

Richard J. Demato Fine Arts Gallery / Romeo, MI

2-3

Arcadia Contemporary / New York, NY

Cover 2, 1

Arizona Fine Art Expo / Scottsdale, AZ

35

Schilling, Barbara / Grand Rapids, MI

27

ArtFest Fort Myers / Fort Myers, FL

20

Seymour, Claudia / Wilton, CT

33

Artisor / Scottsdale, AZ

19

Southeastern Wildlife Exposition / Charleston, SC

29

Ballard, Kim / Scottsdale, AZ

58

Swift, Peter / Rockville, MD

31

Balmert, Nancy J. / Seabrook, TX

21

Terbush, Dale / Phoenix, AZ

15

Bennett Prize, The / Pittsburgh, PA

Cover 3

Tigerman, Ray / Tubac, AZ

26

Blue Rain Gallery / Santa Fe, NM

Cover 4

Uline / Pleasant Prairie, WI

29

Wilde Mayer Gallery / Scottsdale & Tucson, AZ

11

Celebration of Fine Art / Scottsdale, AZ

8

Claggett/Rey Gallery / Edwards, CO

9

Diana Ferguson Jewelry / Scottsdale, AZ

58

Dickinson, Judith / Brighton, CO

33

FOG Design + Art / San Francisco, CA

10

George Billis Gallery / Fairfield, CT & New York, NY

7

Grace DeVito / Stamford, CT

17

Heidi Rosner Fine Art / Scottsdale, AZ

18

Kahl, Shelli / Big Bear City, CA

59

Lyon, Shari / American Fork, UT

59

Mainview Gallery / Scottsdale, AZ

13

McCracken, Laurin / Fort Worth, TX

128

5

MISS

OUT

ON AN

Issue

35, 59

Mueller, Debbi / Durham, NH

28

Nistler, Eileen / Upton, WY

12

Pollak, Laura / Naples, FL

23

Portrait Society of America / Tallahassee, FL

31

www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

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