Arcadia Fine Arts Gallery Online Log / Blog

‎….and we’re back from the U.S. Artists Show in Philadelphia, PA. We definitely had a great time and met some fantastic collectors, artists, students, appreciators, and dealers. If you were in town and able to pass by our booth, I’m sure you noticed a classic example of Dan Adel’s work. This one definitely turned heads and started some interesting conversations. There were two Adel’s at the booth, and it always blows my mind how many different ways the guy can describe the same subject matter and continue to make it interesting. He is always exploring value, edges, scale, and color with an adventurous and nearly scientific curiosity.

Daniel Adel, “Headwind,” Oil on Linen, 40″ x 36″

Matthew Cornell is slowly and surely becoming one of the most strangely exciting and unpredictable painters working with us today. He’s a quiet and fairly cryptic painter, who only tells us that we’re receiving artwork, but rarely actually gives us any idea what we are about to receive. This results in 5 x 6 foot crates with giant wave paintings, or small fedex boxes with one tiny landscape enclosed. With his latest painting to be featured in our Small Works Show, Matthew is back to his intimately small scale, but he has made a departure in subject from the wave paintings that have built his career. Initially painted with our floral group show in mind, [but just a little bit too late (look for the flowers btw....)] this painting features a weathered Florida home, beautifully rendered in Matthews signature single hair brush technique. Look close enough and you can feel what it’s like to endure hurricanes for decade after decade.

Matthew Cornell, “The Studio,” Oil on Panel, 9.5″ x 11.5″

After making tremendous waves with his American Painting Video Magazine project, Michael Klein has returned to the easel with a new piece just in time for the US Artists show in Philadelphia. There is an interesting consideration of proximity at play in this painting. While the figure is close enough to the viewer to see Klein’s delicate handling of textures, the artist creates a great distancebetween his subject and audience by refusing to reveal the subject’s face. With his still life work, Klein has the incredible ability to find the most humanity in the moments of it’s absence. Bringing that concept to a portrait might seem like a cold prospect for some painters, but for Klein, it is a comforting place to be.

Michael Klein, “Karina Esperanda,” Oil on Linen, 48″ x 24″

Happy Saturday everybody. I hope this post finds you in a kindly air conditioned environment. The streets of Soho are pretty sticky today– it blows my mind that people are buying Ugz in the summer. Anyways, this kind of still, humid New York summer weather has made my mind wonder off into Kerry Brooks-windy-rural-landscape territory. This is my favorite new piece of hers from the New Faces of Realism Show, and I don’t think I’m alone. It’s one of the most crisp drawings I’ve seen from Kerry, and it hits hard with all of those great unsettling vibes. She’s exploring new territory in this piece while really refining her craft.

Kerry Brooks, “Trespass,” Graphite on Paper, 4.5″ x 4″

Alright, it’s been busy here in Soho. Not gonna lie. It’s the kind of situation where the days just fly by because of how much is going on. It’s not good to let the days pass you by, so I’m taking a moment this summer afternoon to stop and check out the robots staring at me opposite the front desk at the gallery. Cesar Santander has outdone himself again. This is easily his most ambitious painting to date. At 63, he has the same fervor towards painting that I see in the wide eyed 22 year old painters that come in to study the details of every Daniel Sprick painting in the gallery. It’s easy to get complacent about craft when approaching retirement age, but this guy is just hitting his stride with no sign of calming down. Check out his reflective light….

Cesar Santander, “Exploration Group Alpha,” Acrylic on Panel, 36″ x 48″

For the first time in the ten years of Arcadia Gallery’s existence, we are curating a themed group show.  Flora Abunda opens July 7th during the height of summer, and features a great selection of our key artists making work that references flowers in some form or fashion.  Jeremy Lipking, who has is one busy and asked about guy, has delivered a straight forward take on the floral still life genre.  While the composition is incredibly simple, take note of the range of complex textures, and opacities throughout the painting.  It takes a lot of work to make something look so effortless.

Jeremy Lipking, “Flowers on the Table,” Oil on Linen, 30″ x 20″

This week has been a blur of great art surrounded by great people.  Thursday night was the opening reception of our New Faces of Realism group show in celebration of Arcadia’s 10th Anniversary.  Additionally, last night was the closing reception for American Artist Magazine’s Weekend With The Masters.  One of the pieces on display is this fantastic little Kerry Brooks drawing.  I’ve raved about her work on here over the last few months, and this new batch of work does not disappoint.  Her technique is becoming increasingly crisper, while her compositions are becoming more refined, creating a very classy presentation with her signature dramatic edge.

Kerry Brooks, “In The Garden,” Graphite on Paper, 4″ x 4″

This evening counts the opening of our latest show: New Faces of Realism, which features fresh visions of contemporary representational painting from some talent that is flying far below the radar.  Jordan Sokol is one such talent, who as I am typing this is stretching two brand new paintings for the show.   He is currently a teacher at the Florence Academy, and while you can see that classical influence in his work, he’s making work that has a distinct edge that is all his own.  Just so you can get to know him a little better, here is a snap shot of Jordan’s studio, accompanied by one the pieces he is currently stretching that happens to be OF his studio.  A studio tour AND a great painting.  Who can ask for more?

Join us tonight from 6 to 8 to see Jordan’s new work, and meet the guy as well.

Jordan Sokol, “Torso,” Oil on Linen, 20″ x 14″

Today was spent hanging the New Faces of Realism Group Show at the gallery.  It has definitely been a good days work, especially considering all of the events coming up for the gallery in the next few weeks.  While we’re hanging this show, we’re also color correcting the catalog for the upcoming Flora Abunda Group Show, and sending out mailers for the Art Hamptons art fair that opens in two weeks.  Crazy day.  Crazy month.  It’s the end of a long day, and no matter how busy it has been, it’s amazing to look up and see what’s on these gallery walls.  Enough rambling though….

The point of this post is Peter Greaves.  I don’t know if everyone totally understands the scale of his work.  So, I have posted an image that is the actual size of the painting.  If you want to see details of this, I invite you to attend the opening tomorrow night where his work will be accompanied by a magnifying glass.  Otherwise, a blown up jpeg just isn’t going to do this work justice.  The opening is Thursday June 23rd from 6 to 8.  Come view some amazing new talent, including Peter Greaves.

Peter Greaves, “Heather 1,” Oil on Panel, 2.25″ x 2″

Sincerely, I will be the first to admit that Arcadia Gallery is not a gallery that relishes in the experimentation of media.  Our tastes are pretty set on traditional, classic media.  Subjects, styles, and content can veer in many directions— but the bottom line of what we show stems from a firm love of oil paint, and advanced technical abilities.  So, it may come as a shock that we have fallen in love with an artist’s work that consists of mixed media collage and pastels.   Crazy, right?  Not really.  Check out this piece called “The Bouquet Will Arrive Tomorrow.”  It totally checks out– classical technical ability, combined with themes of earnest beauty (between the figure and the floral arrangement), and a timelessness about it that COULD have been some out-there sketch from a Pre Raphaelite or an oil arrangement from an impressionist or some really great illustration from the 1960′s.  The skill is there.  The subject is there.  Timeless.  Classic.  Hey!  It works.

Come check out two new works from Ann Marshall at our New Faces of Realism show opening this Thursday June 23rd from 6 to 8 at Arcadia Gallery.  In the mean while, get your nose to the screen to get into this great piece.

Ann Marshall, “The Bouquet Will Arrive Tomorrow,” Pastel and Mixed Media on Paper, 27″ x 39″