Posts Tagged ‘Jackson Galleries’
Kaidi Dunstan’s first show took place some 20 years ago, in a small Deloney Street gallery. In a matter of hours, the exhibit was close to sold out. Her first collection of oil paintings, a grouping of still lifes and portrayals of the female human figure were so masterfully painted as to remind us of the great Post Impressionists Gauguin and Cezanne. Dunstan’s compositions were inspired by some of the former’s paintings of Tahitian women, and a small study of a bowl of cherries could have been snatched from the latter’s studio. Dunstan displayed, with her premiere show, a genius for mixing and applying paint. Evident, too, was an affinity for capturing exotic color and patterns.
Transported, Dunstan’s first Jackson show in some years, opened February 22 at the Tayloe Piggott Gallery. An opening reception takes place Friday, February 26, and the exhibit remains up through April 17.
Dunstan currently lives in London. Her life, recently touched by personal tragedy,—she lost her husband to cancer—remains enigmatic to the public at large. Though Dunstan’s work is contemporary and her colors echo those of the Expressionists, her work can be likened to Kiki Smith’s “Victorian” artistic interpretation of mourning. Dunstan continues to work on the human figure, but her work has become almost completely abstract. Faces and human forms are transparent and Dunstan’s paintings are marked by overlapping lines and mosaics of color. Structurally, she’s turned her paintings inside out. They look as if they were complicated to create, and they are. Dunstan uses transfer paper as a material on which to sketch, then transfers that drawing to another surface like canvas or paper. She can use her original image over and over, and so creates multiple layers of the same image in a single work.
Often, Dunstan’s forms seem to be dissolving before our eyes.
“The human figure holds an enduring fascination for me providing both oddness and mystery,” says Dunstan. She has incorporated media images of daily disasters into recent work, and is otherwise taking materials from the world at large into the maze of her compositions. Through the imposed mystery and hints of grief emerge works that, with their bow to biology and minutiae, speak of teeming life.
The large nude double-portrait I purchased at Dunstan’s first show remains the centerpiece of my own little art collection. And to this day, it’s often mistaken for a Gauguin by those seeing the painting for the first time.
It’s all about the light. Landscape painter and pastel artist Jennifer Hoffman’s work is, as I’ve said many times, imbued with light so delicate it’s,…okay, I’ll say it: heavenly.
Hoffman, represented by Galleries West, debuts her new exhibit, “Transcending,” this month. The show runs July 16-August 5 and is a compilation of new regional landscapes, as well as works depicting views of places recently visited by the artist. The show includes oil paintings and pastels. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, July 16 from 5-8 PM during the Jackson Hole Gallery Association ArtWalk.
A painter and a sculptor, Hoffman first made her mark with her feminine, poetic pastel compositions. She calls her palette muted, a description that under-serves her mastery of light. It is, as she says, meditative.
“I’m a big fan of the Tonalists. I love the glowing light of dawn and dusk, and the 
subdued values of rainy and foggy days. I’m much more interested in the subtleties of a scene than in big contrasts. I am equally interested in communicating the internal and external in my work. I think subject, composition, and palette are often more reflective of my internal state than the physical environment. Creating a work of art is, for me, a transcendent experience,” says the artist.
Hoffman has a devoted following, and Galleries West owner Debbie Bunch notes that Hoffman’s painting style is quiet and unassuming; it stands apart from most local painters’. Hoffman often works alongside landscape painters Ned Jacob, Scott Christensen, Kathy Wipfler, Greg McHuron and others.
And, Hoffman’s pedigree is as long as my arm. Her work has been included in the NMWA Western Visions Miniature Show, the Western Regional Juried Exhibit, the Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters National Exhibition, and the 9th Annual Pastel 100, an international competition where she was awarded 3rd Place. Hoffman is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America and an artist member of the Oil Painters of America and the Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters.
For more information or to see additional artwork by Jennifer L. Hoffman, contact Galleries West Fine Art at 307-733-4412. Or, visit www.gallerieswestjacksonhole.com and www.jenniferhoffman.com.
Item #2: JACKSON HOLE ART FAIR!
Hey, it’s July!
So it’s time to share
‘Bout that annual gig
The Jackson Hole Art Fair!
Or “Art Fair Jackson Hole”
As it likes to be called;
Nobody asked me—I’m not involved.
No matter the title
It’s a time we’re aware
Of Art that is new,
And Art that is rare.
If it suits you, please dine
On big chocolate éclairs.
Hey, man
Don’t be bored;
Sometimes Harrison Ford
Comes to check out the art
And he brings Flockhart!
Buy ceramics, toys, fiber!
This poem’s the town crier
For an art fair weekend
Come rain or come shine-er.
Paintings, baskets, jewels, tents;
Sunscreen and some fivers
All make for a day
The whole family could die for!
See the Fair! Have fun.
This poem is so done.
What: Art Fair Jackson Hole 2009
When: July 17, 18 & 19
Friday and Saturday 10am- 6pm, Sunday 10am-4pm
Where: Miller Park, 2 blocks west of the Town Square
Admission is $3 and all proceeds support the Art Association
307-733-8792
amyf@artassociation.org