Arcadia Fine Arts Gallery Online Log / Blog

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″

After skimming through a bunch of files and images, I stumbled across a batch of old school Arcadia transparencies.  Back in the day before digital photography, all of the paintings received by the gallery would have to be photographed and processed on 4″ x 5″ transparency film.  There would always be little debacles over where we could send our limited copies for ads, magazine articles, and catalogs.  It’s amazing how quickly digital photography has changed the industry.

So, I have decided that everyday this week, I will show some classic works from the 2001 to 2006 archives of Arcadia Gallery.  All of these works have been spoken for quite some time ago, but it’s great to take another solid look at them.

Enjoy this classic from Michael Chapman entitled “Evening Walk” from his first exhibition with us around 2003.  This is a fine representation of his trademark taxidermy animals.  I love Chapman’s thick paint surface, and his ability to create these great, moody scenes.  His sense of composition stems from a deep appreciation for mid century American abstract painters, who composed by colors and shapes, as opposed to subject matter.  That factor is what gives Chapman’s work a surrealist feel.  Can anyone else see that influence in his work?

Michael Chapman, “Evening Walk,” Oil on Linen, 22″ x 28″

While at first glance, viewers tend to comment on Michael Chapman’s stylistic resemblance to the work of Edward Hopper, but upon further investigation, one might find that his work has much more of a resemblance to mid century American abstract painters.

Chapman is composing his images from a design aesthetic to capture a feeling as opposed to objectively documenting a factual moment. The surrealism achieved in his work is merely a bi-product of his abstract approach to design.

Beginning with broad shapes of color, Chapman introduces modes of transportation, animals, and people as elements of design as Diebenkorn would introduce certain signature marks, shapes, or color forms within his abstract experiments. Chapman teaches us that there is more to representational painting, than being realistic.

Michael Chapman, “North American Pastoral,” Oil on Canvas, 44″ x 58″

“American Fire Watchers” is a breakthrough piece for Santa Monica based painter Michael Chapman. Featuring his signature Americana surrealist interior landscape, Chapman is breaking beyond the history of painting and introducing the world of cinema into his perspective. Montgomery Clift is gracing the screen of a drive in movie represented in a painting within Chapman’s painting. Invented nostalgia has never looked so good.

“American Fire Watchers,” Oil on panel, 42″ x 56″

Greetings all!  It’s officially summer in New York, and what better way to celebrate than by shipping out to the Hamptons for an art fair.  Steve and Michael J. are setting up the booth right this minute, and I thought it would be a great time to give you a preview of the new work that will be debuting at the show.

Art Hamptons opens Thursday night July 8th for the Opening Preview then continues Friday and Saturday from 11am-7pm, and Sunday 11am-6pm.  The show takes place at Sayre Park, Bridgehampton at  223 Hampton Road, Southampton, NY 11968.  Feel free to stop by to say hello and check out our booth.  It’s right in the center of the show at Booth #306-308.

If you happen to be in the city this week, feel free to stop by the gallery as we have a summer group show going on with some cool stuff from Jeremy Lipking, Michael Klein, and Joseph Todorovitch.

(Preview the new works BELOW…)

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Arcadia Gallery returns tho the Annual event of the east end, ArtHamptons 2010. With new works from Malcolm Liepke, Jeremy Lipking, Michael Klein, Michael Chapman, Joseph Todorovitch and many more. This year, ArtHamptons will include 80 Galleries from around the world in a 50,000 square foot air conditioned tent.

Arcadia Fine Arts Booth 306-308

Show hours

Thursday, July 8, 6pm – 9pm
Opening Preview Party

Friday, July 9, 11am – 7pm
Saturday, July 10, 11am – 7pm

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As you can see, we’re just about to send a cargo boxes full of work to The San Francisco Fine Art Fair.  The fair opens May 21st with  a lot of great new work from Ron Hicks, Malcolm Liepke, Matthew Cornell, Michael Chapman, Daniel Sprick, Joseph Todorovich, and Aron Wiesenfeld, plus some brand new work from up and comers Kerry Brooks and Julio Reyes.

Stay tuned for previews of the new work…

Julio Reyes @ the Arcadia booth with American Art Collector editor Amy Elliot

Julio Reyes was one of the many artists whose work was featured at our booth this month at the Los Angeles Art Show 2010.  We received a bunch of new work for the art fair, most of which is posted below.

The show this year was at the LA Convention Center for the second year in a row, a marked improvement from the previous years spent at The Barker Hangar.  Response this year was great, as there were lots of red dots scattered throughout the booth.  Collectors seemed enthusiastic to be collecting again.

Joseph Todorovitch stopped by the booth for a while.  He brought in a significant amount of new work including a piece called “Succulents” that he is submitting for the 2009/2010 Portrait Society of America competition.  We are eagerly looking forward to his upcoming show with us in October 2010.  Todorovitch also had a piece in a group show that same weekend called Who Killed The Music, which was curated by Will.I.Am, which also featured a new piece from Jeremy Lipking.

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Welcome to the big, official blog of Arcadia Gallery.  This is where you can find all of the most up to date news about what our gallery and our artists are up to.  Enjoy!