Arcadia Fine Arts Gallery Online Log / Blog

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″

Remember how I spent the entire month of March talking about how Daniel Sprick is one of the greatest contemporary still life painters?  Well it’s still true.  Check out this painting called “Amaryllis.”  Notice those two total random pairs of red brush strokes directly above and below the right of the flowers?  That’s Daniel Sprick reminding us that he is a mere mortal using terrestrial oil paint.  Thanks for the reminder, Dan.

Daniel Sprick, “Amaryllis,” Oil on Panel, 20″ x 20″

This morning has been spent sitting at the front desk of the gallery with intern Brielle and art handler extraordinaire- Sergio, considering the possibilities of world expiration and what artist would be most appropriate to post for such an occasion.  What better painter is there to summarize mortality and judgement than Daniel Sprick?  Seriously.  He’s been talking about this stuff over the course of his entire career.  Here is a classic painting from about 7 years ago featuring a beautifully rendered snaggle-toothed skull from a head-on perspective (which is quite rare for Mr. Sprick at this point in his career).    We’re all imagining what direction his work would take in a post-apocalypse art market.

Daniel Sprick, “Skull on Table,” Oil on Panel, 36″ x 48″

Only 5 copies left of the Liepke Retrospective and APVM dvd combo for our April Fools promotion–

The first 50 people who respond to this special Facebook offer,
will be able to buy “Liepke: A Retrospective” 300-Page, coffee table book
for a special discounted rate of only $75.00 plus $25 shipping AND a free copy of
Michael Klein’s masterful American Painting Video Magazine DVD Vol. 1
featuring extended profiles on painters Brad Kunkle, Daniel Sprick, and Michael Grimaldi.
The Liepke Retrospective book is normally $125 plus $25 shipping in the US.
FOR THE FIRST 50 PEOPLE who call Arcadia Gallery at 212-965-1387 and order!!!
Get the book AND the DVD………Only an April Fool would pass up this offer. No joke.
Call Now: 212-965-1387
(This offer is only valid within the United States.)

While going over titles for Daniel Spricks latest show, it became quite apparent how thoroughly influenced by literature Sprick is. For every single painting, Sprick managed to recite poetry, or bible verses pertaining to the outcome of each piece. So, to give his fans a full Daniel Sprick experience, here is the poem that influenced this painting:

Daniel Sprick, “Through My Fingers,” Oil on Panel, 60″ x 60″

“A Dream Within A Dream” by Edgar Allan Poe

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

Today is the opening of the Daniel Sprick show “Flesh and Bone.” Here is a detail shot of another great painting from his new one man show. Sprick has the amazing gift of balance. While the theme of this painting is in reference to the final judgement described in the book of Revelations, hence the scale on the table, the concept of balance extends throughout the painting.

Notice the constant push and pull of warm and cool light. Notice the balance of focus between the objects that Sprick is trying to bring attention to, versus the objects being pushed away with a soft focus.

Notice his range of textures and surfaces– the smooth, crisp white sheet, playing against the coarse, grainy rug; the broken egg shell opposing the delicate flowers; the dense patterns offsetting the broad solid colors in the walls and the sheet.

This piece is a constant balancing act that offers a sense of calm while contemplating armageddon.

Daniel Sprick, “First and Last,” Oil on Panel, 30″ x 24″

The surface of a painting is one factor often taken for granted. This is one of those paintings that would be criminal to ignore in that regard. Sprick manages to literally capture the surface texture of the wood and the grain of the bones. He’s not just describing surfaces, he’s creating them.

Daniel Sprick, “Teaches Us To Number Our Days”, Oil on Panel, 30″ x 24″

To continue our Daniel Sprick themed week in honor of his next one man show, here is another detail shot of a great new painting called “Les Fleurs Du Mal” in reference to the volume of poetry by Charles Baudelaire.

What makes Sprick a great painter, is not his superior technical proficiency alone, but rather his ability to bring intellectual depth to the objects that may otherwise seem unrelated. While it is mesmerizing to analyze his incredible vocabulary of textures– notice how effortlessly he describes the full range of opacity between this grouping of objects; what is most impressive is how deep below the surface of a still life Sprick invites us all to dig.

His work dares his audience to begin questioning the meaning of an arrangement of objects, and end questioning the meaning of their existence.
Come witness his visual poetry March 19th at Arcadia Gallery.

Daniel Sprick, “Les Fleurs Du Mal,” (detail), 19.5″ x 15.5″

Just to drive home the fact that the new Daniel Sprick show is opening this Saturday, we have resolved to post preview images of the new show everyday until the show’s opening. Of course, the best way to see the paintings, is to come for the opening Saturday March 19th.
For those of you who can’t make it, here is a great detail shot of a piece called “Dust.”

If you investigate the items composed in this painting, you will notice a common theme pointing back towards the title. Sprick really wanted to underline the concept of the transitory nature of life, but in a delicate, subtle, and somewhat dark way that treats the theme with beauty and grace.

Daniel Sprick, “Dust,” Oil on Panel, 42″ x 50″

There are few painters as brilliant as Daniel Sprick. The things this man does with paint are extraordinary. Here is a sneak peak from his show coming up in March.

“Human Skeleton” Oil on Panel, 30″ x 24″