Posts from ‘Contemporary Art’
Isn’t this just so lush?
Heather James Fine Art has some new works in they’d like you to see. This Spring-like, exuberant abstract oil-on-canvas entitled Revised and Expanded, is by contemporary artist John Millei (b. 1958). He’s a Los Angeles painter, a native to that city. His work, often whimsical, caught my eye, and I did a little lookin’ around.
Millei’s paintings are expansive; this work measures 36 x 42 inches. Writer Donald Kuspit, in writing about Millei’s “Maritime” series of works—painted some five to ten years after this work—described the artist’s canvases as “enormous, magnificent paintings, mural-like in their panoramic scope and imposing scale, and executed in what can only be called a grand Abstract-Expressionistic manner.”
Six Stories, a show curated by artist and educator Bronwyn Minton, is on exhibition at the Art Association February 17-March 30, 2012. An opening reception takes place at the Art Association’s Glenwood Lobby Gallery on February 17, 5:30 – 7:30 pm. Works in the show are inspired by favorite books read in childhood. Invited artists include Alissa Davies, Calla Grimes, Jenny Dowd, Rachel Kunkle Hartz and Suzanne Morlock.
“I kept coming back to Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney, a wonderful book about a young girl who is told by her father that the one thing she must do in life is make the world more beautiful,” says Davies. “Combining the book’s essence with another favorite, Charlotte’s Web, was my inspiration. I hope to invoke beauty with my pod-piece, as well as a “web” that snakes up the gallery’s wall.”
I love you so much I could eat you right up! That’s what Paul Meyerheim’s 1915 oil painting “Lion and Lioness” says to me.
Ain’t love complicated? The National Museum of Wildlife Art (NMWA) plans on having some Valentine’s Day fun exploring the complexities of love and romance. Tuesday, February 14th, NMWA’s evening happening, Mix’d Media, will host a “love/hate” museum scavenger hunt. “Love Is In the Air – Or Is It?” takes place at the Museum 6-9:00 pm.
I had not heard this, but NMWA’s Amy St. Pierre says its common practice for museums to conduct naked scavenger hunts on Valentine’s Day! (Where are those museums, and how do I find them?) “Our subjects are naked all the time,” says St. Pierre, assistant curator of education for the museum. “So we’ve decided to remove the anthropomorphism and send our guests in search of true animal instincts.” The Jason Fritts Trio will set the mood, and thematic refreshments will be served. There will be chocolate. Attendees also get a chance to create small, ‘lovely’ sketch/journaling books. And, you may be entered for a chance at romance-inspiring prizes including dinner for two at Trio Bistro and wine from The Liquor Store. Cover is $5. Become a Museum member and get your name entered in a raffle for $150 gift certificate to Adventure Rentals. XXOOO! www.wildlifeart.org
A message from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:
“To create more friends and fewer enemies, we can’t just win wars. We must find common ground and common purpose with other peoples and nations so that together we can overcome hatred, violence, lawlessness, and despair….By investing in [our] common humanity we advance our common security because we pave the way for a more peaceful, prosperous world. Through its temporary exhibitions and permanent collections, ART in Embassies intrigues, educates and connects—playing an ambassadorial role as important as that served by traditional diplomacy. Connecting people to people through the visual arts advances freedom of expression and invites an exchange of ideas.”
Mari Andrews’ Like a Language and Rakudo Naito’s Nature Constructed share an opening reception at the Tayloe Piggott Gallery on Friday, February 10, 5-8:00 pm. The white light in the work conveys winter’s soft delicacy, its silence and ability to allow us to see new the shy details of bare branches, spores, and the simple lines of a leaf. Fluid femininity and structural systems wrought from nature are explored. The show remains up through March 27, 2012.
I’m going for it here: Andrews’ constructions of wire, pine needles, delicate branches and what looks, in press materials, like lichen, are certainly–at least in part—meditations on women’s reproductive organs. Nature as feminine. Tubular constructs terminate in mossy, circular portals. Flattened ovary and fallopian-shaped sculptures are heavily textured and the color of shells mixed with seaweed; expanded hearts. White, lacy blossoms float airily. Beaker-shaped pods and vessels intertwine—the fairest of mermaid necklaces. Indeed, Andrews’ work is highly intimate. Continue Reading
