Posts Tagged ‘Heather James Fine Art’
Frank Tenney Johnson (1874-1939) Apaches at Moonrise (Eventide)
“The point of the show, and everything else we do at Heather James, is to bring works of excellence by a large variety of artists and genres to the viewing public and collectors. This show is no exception,” says Heather James Fine Art’s Shari Brownfield, gallery director. “Our goal is to always be searching for fine examples of paintings or sculptures by great artists. When you get all these greats together, and curate them either into an integrated thematic or genre show, it’s amazing the conversations elicited just by hanging certain works side by side.”
Joseph H. Sharp (1859-1953) Taos Moonlight
Right now Heather James Fine Art, known for its Post War, Contemporary, Latin American, Impressionist and Modern Art, as well as collections and works from all corners of the earth, is showcasing an impressive collection of (and I’m linking you to the best-known museum for this genre, the Autry) American Western Masters. Now on display at Heather James’ Palm Desert location, the works come from a variety of private sellers. Together, they comprise one hell of a show. Represented artists are Maurice Braun, Gerald Cassidy, William Gollings, E. Martin Hennings, Frank Tenney Johnson, William R. Leigh, Frederic Remington, Joseph H. Sharp (sigh…love Sharp) and Olaf Wieghorst. Provenançes include institutions such as the Smithsonian, the Museum of Fine Art in Santa Fe, the Gerald Peters Gallery and private collections in Jackson Hole, Dallas and Houston, Denver, and the state of Florida.
She’s not real. But she sure looks real. Walk through Heather James Fine Art’s front door and see if you aren’t fooled by the gorgeous girl, seductively kneeling, eyes closed, sensual lips barely apart, clad in a short, filmy, black dress—and meditating.
“Kneeling,” by Milwaukee artist Marc Sijan, is, says he, an homage to humanity’s fascination with its own myriad forms. “Kneeling” is mind-blowingly realistic, and irresistable. Gentlemen, in case you didn’t know, women check each other out all the time. I was drawn like a bee to a flower by this polyester resin and oil-paint sculpture. Timidly I approached her; could I sense a heartbeat? Would she move? If she had, I’d have jumped out of my own skin. Was she really that gorgeous? As you near this magnetic work, you’ll notice her “flaws,” imperfections we all have: freckles, visible veins, some evidence of an oily complexion, the beginnings of a wrinkle, a tiny scar. And it’s these details, not immediately visible, that we sense from across the room, ultimately drawing us towards her.
Photo Swiped from Cary Tijerina
Travis Walker’s got the local artists’ trumpet sounding again! He’s found a new home for Teton Art Lab, “Big Haus,” and that home is located at 160 South Cache, in Jackson, WY. An opening romp takes place Friday, June 22, 2012,beginning at 6:00 pm. 160 S. Cache is south of Pearl Avenue, and methinks it’s the green-ish building on the street’s east side, near the Center for the Arts. Lots of little businesses have been housed in there, and it’s historically been the meeting place for Teton County Dems.
So there’s space again for Jackson’s young artists! No wonder I see Wendell Field bicycling so happily around town, just smiling away. Private studio space will house the likes of
Jackson artists XOWYO, Dedicate, Brooke Kemmerer, Field, Mike Piggot, Aaron Wallis, Abbie Paffrath, Travis Walker, Tristan Greszko, Camille Davis, Jenny Francis and Cara Rank. Recent work by Craig Spankie and Scotty Craighead will be on exhibit.
Walker says that spaces for printmaking and exhibitions will enjoy devoted space as well.
Big Haus’ opening reception is free, and there will be refreshments. A fundraising silent art auction will be held—monies raised go to support another Walker project, this summer’s Caldera Festival. Pica’s Taco Truck will be on hand—I wish they’d park their truck permanently in the middle of town somewhere, then I’d get more Pica’s! Â http://www.facebook.com/events/295538400540048/
Spring. It’s sort of gray, sort of promising, wet, windy, soft—-and Spring suggests we use this time of year for contemplation.
When presented with the image of “Curved Horizon Hogosho with blue and gold” by Japanese artist Kyoko Ibe, I melted like snow in 50 degree weather. And imagined the sun.
Heather James Fine Art currently has Ibe’s artwork, constructed with washi—traditional Japanese paper—on display. A recent show of her works at the gallery’s Palm Desert location was reportedly a great success.
“The ancient Japanese believed divine spirits resided in the paper and Ibe maintains such veneration,” the gallery writes. “The functional role of paper has diminished, the aesthetic role of paper as a spiritual medium is more apparent and has succeeded today in reemerging as an art media. Appropriating old handmade paper and handwritten documents, Ibe recycles them into new forms of washi. The ink of the original sources remains embedded in the fibers of the paper, such that the new paper is uniquely variegated with shades of gray and intrinsically connected to the past.”
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.”
