Arcadia Fine Arts Gallery Online Log / Blog

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

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″

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″

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″

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″

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″

Today is the final day at the 2012 Los Angeles Art Show, and I have to say– it’s been a good show for us. We had the chance to debut a great batch of new works from a large cross section of our favorite painters, while making some new friends, catching up with familiar faces, and paying a few bills. As a gallery, we can’t complain. (Although, as the guy typing this, I must confess– I’m in Soho with a bunch of ice on the ground, and while I greatly enjoy being a part of this whole thing, I would appreciate it if the guys could bring back some of that 80 degree weather.)
Anyways, as you know {since you’ve been reading these posts all week (thanks!)}, The LA Art Show is where we preview the year in shows on the way. This year marks the return of Francis Livingston to the New York show scene. Livingston’s last show with us was in the fall of 2008, which was a strange time. After thoroughly exploring the urban landscape over the last ten solid years, Francis is ready to take those themes to a new level by juxtaposing a series of unexpected elements into those scenes, tackling different setting, and injecting a new sense of adventure into his work. While many people know Francis as a painter with a serious painting career in galleries and illustration, most people don’t realize his intense love for science fiction and comic books. Well, long story short— that influence is bubbling to the surface on his next one man exhibition, which will debut this fall. Get a taste of the new direction with his new rendering of a day at Penn Station.

Francis Livingston, “Penn Station,” Oil on Panel, 60″ x 60″

Coming off the heels of his wildly successful one man show this past May, Aron Wiesenfeld is not getting in the habit of sleeping often. I’m not sure if his imagery is influenced by his work ethic induced insomnia, or the other way around. 2012 is going to be a major year for Aron, who in addition to debuting three new works in Los Angeles this week, will also contribute one piece to a group show in June, then top it all with off a brand new one man show this fall. Drawing viewers in with an elegantly smooth technique, and a consistently gorgeous color pallet, Aron is a master at keeping us all engaged by building subtly dramatic narratives that swell with each question that they raise. Enjoy Wiesenfeld’s latest exercise in answering questions with more questions.

Aron Wiesenfeld, “Snow As A Girl,” Oil on Canvas, 56.5″ x 44.5″

Last year, Brad Kunkle had a pretty good time hanging out in Los Angeles during the LA Art Show. He had two new works that sold out within 24 hours of the opening, and he was just having some fun getting away from the brutal east coast winter. This year, Brad is bound to his easel in the woods of Pennsylvania painting like the mild mannered madman that he is. There is one show that Brad Kunkle is deeply concerned about this year— and it just happens to be his own one man show this April in Soho. Easily the most anticipated sophomore show at Arcadia since Jeremy Lipking’s sellout exhibition in 2004, Brad has his work cut out for him. Mr. Kunkle was kind enough to give the good people of LA a preview of one piece from that upcoming show– “Bird of Paradise.” Kunkle is exploring new boundaries compositionally while subtly injecting a wider pallet into the equation. Sticking to his love of gold and silver leaf, Deco design work, and Pre-Raphaelite imagery— Kunkle is sure to keep the fire ablaze. Take a good long look at the new piece, and stay tuned for his new show this April.

Brad Kunkle, “Bird of Paradise,” Oil with Gold and Silver Leaf on Panel, 30″ x 40″

2011 was a pretty grand year for Ron Hicks, with a knock out fashion heavy one man exhibition this past April, and new works in two different Arcadia group shows. He has to be one of the hardest working painters around these days. After years of hustling, he’s really stepping into the head of the pack as one of the most recognizable and collected painters in our stable of artists. Consistent with his reputation, Ron is coming out of the gate strong this year with a brand new large oil of a couple romancing in Italy. He has a fantastic grasp on pallet to set a mood and environment with those great signature brush strokes. If you happen to be in LA this weekend, make sure you get a look for yourself at the LA Art Show.

Ron Hicks, “Lovers Italiano,” Oil on Linen, 50″ x 50″