ART OF THE DAY: Malcolm T. Liepke
by Michael P. on Feb.21, 2012, under Art of the Day, Malcolm T. Liepke
In keeping with yesterday’s theme of “less is more,” here is a prime example by Malcolm T. Liepke. As opposed to Aron Wiesenfeld’s narrative set ups, Liepke is a minimalist when it comes to mark marking. His brush strokes are as simple as they are expressive. With a grouping of gestural marks modulating slightly in value and color, Liepke can describe just about anything. Whether it’s facial features, textile patterns, or hair— Liepke is a master at saying the most with the least amount of marks. His economy of mark making can be deceiving though. The legions of Liepke followers, fans, and imitators can attest to the fact that just because the marks are simple doesn’t mean his signature technique is.
Check out a piece from his latest show this past December. There’s this glob of paint just sitting on this girl’s shoulder. We all know why it’s there, and what it’s doing, but when you really stop and think about it—- that’s just a glob of paint. That gorgeous head of firey red hair consists of a couple marks and a lot of our imagination. Liepke doesn’t try to hide his materials, or some secret technique—- he wears it all like an oil soaked badge right up in front for all to see.
Malcolm T. Liepke, “Chanteuse,” Oil on Canvas, 14″ x 10″
ART OF THE DAY: Aron Wiesenfeld
by Michael P. on Feb.20, 2012, under Aron Wiesenfeld, Art of the Day
After trolling around the internet this morning, I became drawn to the concept of saying a lot with a little. As a guy who tends to ramble, you may be surprised by how much I revere the ability to understate with maximum impact— especially with artists, and most definitely when it elicits a visceral response . One thing led to another, and suddenly I’m scrolling through images looking for how many different ways that can apply to realist painting. So, let’s see if I can stay focused enough this week to actual explore that concept with a few paintings. Maybe I’m just influenced by the tone that February wears so well, but I thought Mr. Wiesenfeld would be a great point to start from with simplicity. Additionally, I came across this painting from 2008 that wasn’t part of any of his one man exhibitions, so I thought it might be a treat to show something that hasn’t had the same exposure as a lot of his other works.
As you all know, there are many different avenues to explore in the genre of representational painting, and many ways to explore this idea of “less is more.” Wiesenfeld is a master of implying a larger narrative than what he visually presents in his images. He goes to great lengths to allow the viewer to develop their own conclusions. By keeping his visual content to a minimum, and composing them in thoughtful ways, he is able to build narratives that extend beyond the confines of the canvas. In this regard, Wiesenfeld has his own brand of gestalt that favors simplicity and ambiguity to that of detailed descriptions and obvious answers.
Aron Wiesenfeld, “Ruth,” Oil on Canvas, 24″ x 25″
ART OF THE DAY: Daniel Adel
by Michael P. on Feb.06, 2012, under Art of the Day, Daniel Adel
February is down time for a lot of galleries as it tends to be a rather sleepy month in the city. There is often less foot traffic this month, so we use it to catch up on all kinds of gallery stuff. Today, for instance, was spent combing through the racks and taking a thorough inventory of everything in our Soho gallery. It’s a rather tedious job, but it’s always fun to look at a bunch of art work— that’s kind of why we’re all here in the first place. Every once in a while, we come across things that make us wonder why they’re still unclaimed.
So, today I have a great little black fabric Adel painting that has taken residence in the gallery for far too long. It’s one of those pieces that often compliments larger Adel works, but often gets over shadowed by the scale. Fortunately, the sense of scale is lost on Facebook, and you can see this great piece front and center. Adel really is a still life master, and a slave to invention. He might spend a lot of time painting cloth and paper sculptures with similar compositions, but he is constantly looking for new ways to describe contour, light, and edges. He’s never content to repeat a set combination of techniques. Adel is always challenging himself as a painter to expend his vocabulary. If you ever have a chance to really explore a dense body of his work, you will be amazed by how many technical nuances this guy purveys.
Daniel Adel, “Protean,” Oil on Panel, 14″ x 11″
ART OF THE DAY: Donald Jurney
by Michael P. on Feb.05, 2012, under Art of the Day, Artists, Donald Jurney
Superbowl Sunday is kinda weird. Especially in the city. Let’s just say, it tends to be a quiet day at the gallery. So, before everything goes bonkers and starts smelling like chips and beer, here is a last taste of subtlety for your day— It’s my personal favorite Donald Jurney painting that we currently have in the gallery.
Donald Jurney is an incredibly traditional painter, with tasteful landscapes that explore minor shifts in color and value with total mastery. I can always appreciate a finely executed painting. Personally, (I don’t feel alone in this…) I have an eye for drama. Whenever Jurney decides to explore nocturnal landscapes— I’m completely hooked. He uses complimentary color theory to the best capacity with those deep blues enveloping the sky penetrated by little shots of warm orange light. It combines all of his Barbizon School influences with the feeling of anticipation that a great N.C. Wyeth illustration brings. As soon as the sun goes down in his landscapes, they become more than just land, and sky— they become dramatic settings inhabited by characters that are left quietly unseen, and humbled by the vast nature surrounding. Which inevitably, humble the viewer as well.
Alright— I’m going home to catch the game. I know Donald is out somewhere trash talking some Giants fans…. Enjoy!
Donald Jurney, “A Moonlit Night,” Oil on Linen, 24″ x 30″
Malcolm T. Liepke in Architectural Digest
by Michael P. on Feb.04, 2012, under Malcolm T. Liepke, News
It’s one thing to name drop celebrities that stop by the gallery, or when their designers pick art for them. It’s a whole different story when celebrities publicly name drop painters they collect. Brooke Shields graces the cover of this month’s Architectural Digest with her Manhattan town house to reveal some really great works in her collection. In addition to personal gifts from Keith Haring, and the portrait commissions of her two daughters by Will Cotton, Shields shows off a classic Malcolm T. Liepke oil. A preview of this month’s issue is online at their website. Feel free to investigate for yourself– http://bit.ly/AhcFUG
ART OF THE DAY: Julio Reyes
by Michael P. on Feb.01, 2012, under Art of the Day, Julio Reyes
Welcome to February, folks. It’s a quiet winter month in New York City. We’re still recovering from all of the excitement of Los Angeles— that sounds dramatically vague, but it’s true. We just received all of the art work from LA in the gallery yesterday, spent today rehanging the gallery, and started sorting out and packing all of the sold works from the show. It’s hard to imagine the physicality of handling the 75 pieces of art that our booth was comprised of. It doesn’t seem like much when you’re looking at jpegs, but the physical space that all that stuff takes up is mind boggling sometimes. Then, start considering the amount of sleep the owner of the gallery Steve loses while the works are in transit from point A to point B— and you can start getting an idea of what it is to be in the gallery biz. Good times. On to the point!—
When this much work comes in and out of the gallery at once, there is a lot of moving and shifting and coming across works from the not-so-distant past. It’s been a while since I’ve really rallied about Julio Reyes, whose first one man exhibition was just this past November. I never got around to blogging about “Holding On,” which was one of the more monumental pieces from the show. Reyes is one of those painters that finds beauty in the craft and material of painting. He is easily one of the last painters I would recommend if you were looking for something to match your couch. He is very much an artist’s artist with great technical ambition, and no qualms about challenging his audience with his imagery. Sure, he’s not throwing controversial subject matter into our faces, but he’s not content to paint sultry faces ad infinitum either. He is an ambassador to the heart of painting, reminding us to respect the craft and remember that beauty can be found in places beyond our own pop culture limitations.
Julio Reyes, “Holding On,” Oil on Linen, 20″ x 50″
ART OF THE DAY: Michael Chapman
by Michael P. on Jan.29, 2012, under Art of the Day, Michael Chapman
While the ability to paint is obviously a quality we look for in painters, a signature style is one of the key elements that attracts us to an artist, and one of the main reasons we even find them in the first place. Michael Chapman is a fantastic painter whose work is a unique combination of influences informed by his personal skill set and perspective, making for an instantly identifiable aesthetic. There is more to being a stand out painter than mastering anatomy and texture. At the end of the day, painting is a means of communication. At some point, every artist has to ask themselves whether they are being lost in a wave of white noise, or if they’re cutting through it. Imagine an ocean of beautifully rendered plaster casts, reclining nudes, and floral still lifes. Michael Chapman is somewhere up on the beach periodically glancing at the foaming water while having a well articulated conversation about mid 20th Century Americana with Brad Kunkle and Aron Wiesenfeld.
Michael Chapman, “Light, Fuel, and Speed,” Oil on Canvas, 20″ x 40″
ART OF THE DAY: Steven Skollar
by Michael P. on Jan.28, 2012, under Art of the Day, Steven Skollar
I really have no long winded art speak to get into this morning. It’s Saturday and I’ve just been scrolling through images of works on their way to New York from LA. As the guy that was manning the fort in New York while the LA show was happening, there are a lot of works that I haven’t even seen in person yet. Then there are other pieces that I saw for a minute between arriving from the framerand then being packed away for shipping. So, I’m pretty excited to see all of the new works arrive and get a chance to spend some quality time with them.
Of those pieces, there’s this little UFO sighting piece from Steven Skollar that I’ve been looking forward to seeing in person. If you recall his last show in the fall of 2010, he started experimenting with these great Maxfield Parrish-esque landscapes with these great flying saucers ominously floating through the twilight sky. He has continued exploring that theme, and I’m pretty excited about it. It seems like a complimentary direction for a guy who has established himself with classically painted portraits of robot toys. He’s a fantastic painter with a fresh perspective on classical realism. Besides, who doesn’t love UFO’s and Maxfield Parrish?
Steven Skollar, “Visitation,” Oil on Canvas, 26.5″ x 22″
ART OF THE DAY: Joseph Todorovitch
by Michael P. on Jan.25, 2012, under Art of the Day, Joseph Todorovitch
In representational figurative painting, the dividing line between a master and a novice is the ability to paint hands. There is no physical element more telling of a painter’s abilities than a convincing set of human hands. Often, they are conveniently cropped out of portraits, or hidden in subtle ways. You know you’re dealing with real talent, when a painter confronts a pair of mitts and totally owns it. Joseph Todorovitch has managed to completely knock it out of the park on this one. Not only did he capture a convincing set of hands, but he managed to embrace the expressive qualities of them—- which to me is going above and beyond mastering anatomy and physiology. It’s one thing to understand anatomy, it’s a whole other thing to be able to use it as an instrument of expression. Todorovitch is a modern master, with a soft spoken technique, a true understanding of the human form, and the ability to reflect the human spirit.
Joseph Todorovitch, “Fairchild,” Oil on Linen, 30″ x 26″
ART OF THE DAY: Daniel Sprick
by Michael P. on Jan.23, 2012, under Art of the Day, Daniel Sprick
This week has put me in a fairly reflective state. I’ve been thinking heavily about last year’s LA Art Show and how it set up a year long dialogue between the gallery, our artists, collectors, press, and all the great fans of this gallery. Now that another great run in Los Angeles has come to an end and a new cycle is beginning, I can’t help but imagine what this year might bring. Before long, I’m considering the patterns of life, the relation it has to art, and the concept of mortality. Maybe that sentiment comes from avoiding the growing stack of web updates that need to be made today. Maybe it comes from the Daniel Sprick painting of a goose carcass in my peripheral view while sitting at the front desk.
Either way, there is a fantastic brand new oil from Sprick that is on the way to New York after a stunning debut in Los Angeles this past weekend.
While Sprick has fought the urge to include any animal or human remains in this composition, he still manages to illustrate the finite nature of life with what may be the first painting of broccoli I’ve ever really noticed (at least off the top of my head). With an eerie pallet, aided by a fleeting light source, Sprick is able to continue his ongoing exploration of our relationship with life by casting a diverse grouping of melancholic produce to play our parts.
Daniel Sprick, “Onions and Cabbage,” Oil on Panel,18″ x 24″
