Direct Art
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VOLUME 18
Andrea Kowch
Ambiguous Narratives
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Wanderlust Oil on panel 15” x 11”
Dean Fleming
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A Carbon Atom 12” x 9” Collage
Al Lewis www.AlLewisConcept.com 2 Direct Art / Volume 18
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Ayton & Lowly
The Book of Souls
thebookofsouls.tumblr.com
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Without meeting, save the course of modern electronic interchange, they labored to fashion a book that in its resonant yet intangible presence spoke of the ineffable encountered in the known.
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Memories of the Bronx 72” x 44” Oil on canvas
Andrew V. Kennedy http://andrewvkennedy.com
Direct Art Volume 18
HIGHLIGHTS 8
GENOMA CONTEMPORARY virtual, real, geolocalized
10 SLOWINSKI in the future ... 14
ANDREA KOWCH narratives that compel
22
E. THURSTON BELMER within a living space
32
ELENA DEL FABBRO sense on a blank sheet
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ROSE FREYMUTH-FRAZIER generalizing the feminine
74
JERAMY TURNER enforcing the ruling order
My portraits deal with the issue of human dignity, and notions of the individual in American society. Veteran of the Bulge focuses on a member of the ‘Greatest Generation’. Andrew V. Kennedy
Andrew V. Kennedy Veteran of the Bulge Oil on canvas 72” x 44”
Direct Art Editors: Paul Winslow, TP Lowens Art and Design: Trevor Pryce / Technical Assistant: Terell Stanley All unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, slides and other materials must be accompanied by postage and self-addressed envelope. All artwork and images in this publication are under the exclusive copyright of the artists. Reprinting or reproducing these images by any means in any form is prohibited. President / Director / CEA: Tim Slowinski SlowArt Productions, 123 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534, Tel: 518-828-2343, SlowArt@aol.com, www.slowart.com Financed in part by a grant from the UCODA Institute for Developmental Studies in the Arts
Produced 2011 in Hudson, New York, USA
SlowArt
Printed in The Peoples Republic of China www.directart.org
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Genoma Contemporary: Virtual, Real, Geolocalized Stefano Mitrione, op016sm05 Installation and video performance Courtesy Virtualgeo Srl
September 3rd to November 26th, 2011 Reception: September 3rd, 2011, 4pm Ex Wales Pavilion at Venice 54th Biennale context Giudecca 808, 30133 Venice, Italy Curator: Oriana Carrer
Makoto Kobayashi, Stefano Mitrione, Maryanne Pollock Andrzej Rafalowicz, Tim Slowinski, Jurgen Stolte Arkiv Vilmansa e Alkistis Wechsler
www.genomacontemporary.com 8 Direct Art / Volume 18
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Director and Author Erminio Paolo Canevese, Virtualgeo Srl Antonio Canova's George Washington Marble Courtesy Antonio Canova Museum, Italy
Stefano Mitrione Chemical dream Photography 28” x 20”
The Genome is the chromosome complement contained in a cell’s organism. The Genome includes both the genes and the “DNA“ of each human being and, as such, it makes us potentially different from each other even if we all come from a single ancestor. In the same way Artists taking part in Genome are the “Genes” contained in the exhibition space and have in themselves the “Chromosomes” from which stems the ideas of the exhibition process itself. Genome is the entirety of the artistic metamorphosis’ space, actors and objectivity. The artists of this exhibition, which curator Oriana Correr together with its creator and organizer, Virtualgeo Srl and Base.exib Design Tm, wanted in the context of the Venice Biennale, were selected in accordance with this same point of view, in order to hypothesise the invisible dialogue between Humanity and Technology, emotion and calculation, real and virtual world. The result is an unexpected mix of short startling dialectical circuits that make the viewer stand in front of a choice where borders are visible because of the diversity of the Media used to originate them, but where the flow of transmitted information alternates in an invisible way between the multiple subjective andobjective diversities, creating in turn a self-sufficient micro-organism like in fact in the case of the cell itself. “Genome” as in DNA fingerprinting in Art (today), but also in music (yesterday). In fact who does not remember the Venetian group that enjoyed great success with their Hip Hop atmosphere in the Venice and Trieste neighborhoods ten years ago. It is also true that art is timeless and spaceless and it looks anywhere for a source of inspiration. Thus Nebo and later Nasdaq, founders of the Genome
group, collapse on a hypothetical visual dimension of a name that made ??history in the Venetian underground, and now seems to revive in the names of these international artists: Makoto Kobayashi, Stefano Mitrione, Maryanne Pollock, Andrzej Rafalowicz, Tim Slowinski, Jurgen Stolte, Arkiv Vilmansa e Alkistis Wechsler. The resulting product is a multimedia event in the 54th Venice Biennale context, curated by Oriana Carrer, who is now considered by many an icon for trends and colors, with her blond hair and large black glasses that hide magnetic eyes reserved only for selected few. She began her career after her honors degree in Art History, no less than at the Biennale Giovani Barcelona. They, the invisible coordinators of the brand new Genome Contemporary exhibition, and we refer to Erminio Paolo Canevese, president of VirtualgeoSrl, with his personality that is strongly oriented to the internationalization, and Leonardo Kucharski, co-founder of Base.exib Design USA, followed by a large group of professionals and staff that make up the backscene of Genome Contemporary. We know all about them now, as well as the exhibition space, in this case the Ex Pavilion of Wales (UK) - which this year has been moved on to its new home of Santa Maria Ausiliatrice, where the renowned Tim Davies of the Tom Rowland gallery of London will exhibit. So Genome Contemporary has the difficult task of keeping a famous area alive; an area which is famous both because of its “genetic DNA”, and because of the British celebrities in the last four Venice Biennale, who were able to give it an excellent imprinting chromosome; that is, artists like Paul Seawright, Cerith Wyn Evans, Simon Pole, Bethan Huws, Peter Finnemore, Laura Ford, Paul Granjon, and more recently Richard Deacon e John Cale.
Organizator Leonardo Kucharski, Base.exib Design Tm Press Office Base.exib Design Tm press-office@base-exib.com www.base-exib.com -Stefano Mitrione Artistic consultant of the Curator and Founder of Base.exib Design Tm Base.exib Design Tm | The Worldwide Design and Technology organization
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0039 0438 561455 style center 0039 02 871 58531 call center 0039 02 871 58538 messages 0039 02 871 51919 Fax www.base-exib-us.com
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The Road to Ruin [A Race to Nowhere] Acrylic on canvas 24” x 38”
Right: Chicken Soup Acrylic on canvas 56” x 42”
SLOWINSKI There’s a lot of politics in my work, but I never thought of myself as a political artist. My work is more autobiographical, I feel I’m just documenting my life. When I first started painting I used family photos taken by my father as a subject for paintings, then with photographs I took myself of siblings and friends. When I gave up photo based art back in the early 1980s, my subjects were all imaginary, but the paintings still documented my life as they illustrated the world around me. It’s unfortunate for my art really, that the life I have lived has been one of continuous killing and wars. My early childhood was lived in the Vietnam era, from there we moved onto covert wars, to Iran-contra, Grenada, Panama, Nicaragua, the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan (to name a few) and now we are in the unending, eternal war on terror. I didn’t really plan it, but my art, particularly in the past ten years, has been overwhelmingly about these subjects. Perhaps not for the better, and I wonder what I would have created 10 Direct Art / Volume 18
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and what my life would have been like if we lived in a peaceful world. It’s sad really, the entire world seems to be a mess, economies crumbling, whole countries seeming apathetic and depressed, and to me it all seems to stem from the killing and wars. I made a small painting recently, it’s on page 13, based on a domestic incident—also a little autobiographical— but not directly war related, at least not one of tanks and guns. It felt quite good to make it. I think I am going to make a conscious effort in the future to avoid these war related paintings. After all, we can choose what we paint to some degree...and I will...just as soon as I finish this huge painting I am working on now, set in Afghanistan, with Mr. Peanut, the Doughman, and Gumby coming out of Alladin’s Lamp with guns drawn. The Holy Trinity is looking down from the clouds...oh no...it’s actually the Wolfman, Frankenstein and the Mummy. When that’s done, for sure...
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The Road to Hell Acrylic on canvas 24” x 20”
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A Domestic Incident Acrylic on canvas 12” x 24” www.directart.org
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Andrea Kowch Ambiguous narratives that compel the viewer to engage are the heart of my work. The stories and inspiration behind my paintings stem from life’s emotions and experiences, resulting in narrative, allegorical imagery that illustrates the parallels between human experience and the mysteries of the natural world. The lonely, desolate American landscape encompassing the paintings’ subjects serves as an exploration of nature’s sacredness and a reflection of the human soul, symbolizing all things powerful, fragile, and eternal. These real yet dreamlike scenarios serve as metaphors for the human condition, all retaining a sense of vagueness to involve the viewer in uncovering the various layers of mood and meaning, despite the fact that my main idea will always be present.
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As a people, we share a common thread, and as active participants in an ever-changing modern world, the purpose of my work is to remind viewers of these places that we feel no longer exist, and to recognize and honor them as a part of our history that is worth preserving. In juxtaposing the human form with animals and a bygone uninhibited American landscape, I provide glimpses into “rooms,” those oftentimes chaotic places we possess internally. The rural, Midwestern landscape of my home state serves as backdrop for the stage of human emotions and the animals present are vehicles for expressing the feelings and underlying tensions suppressed behind the human mask. Symbolic explorations of the soul and events concerning our environment are expressed through the combination of these elements to transform personal ideas into universal metaphors.
The Feast, 60” x 84”, Acrylic on canvas, 2011 (pg. 14) The Feast was born out of a commission request to create a table scene of sorts, and is my largest painting to date. The unique challenge of creating imagery on such a large scale allowed me to truly test and push my boundaries. The figures in this piece are one hundred percent life-size, allowing viewers to participate in the whole scene when they stand before it. I wanted to create a narrative laced with tension and mood where various windows and doors behind each figure contain something unique, symbolizing different thoughts and states of mind, themes and motifs commonly present in my work. One of the main purposes of this work is to allow viewers to raise their own questions as they interact with the characters and environment.
Marsh Hare, 30” x 30”, acrylic on canvas, 2010 (above) A further exploration in mood and color, Marsh Hare is a scene where I wanted to create a sense that something is slightly askew. The feelings present in this work are meant to arouse questions on the part of the viewer, and my own love of strange and eerie atmospheres led me to paint Marsh Hare with the purpose of evoking the mystery and intrigue often associated with quiet marshes, where nature’s creatures lurk in the rushes, their presence and murmuring sounds creating an otherworldly, magical realm all their own. I want viewers to look at this painting and feel the dampness, hear the echo of a crow, the rustles in the silence – to feel as if you’ve fallen down the rabbit hole.
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No Turning Back, 24” x 48”, Acrylic on canvas, 2008 One of my earlier, more personally influenced paintings, No Turning Back embodies the realization that experiences present themselves to teach us about ourselves, leaving us with a feeling of gratefulness for them in the end due to what they show us and the positive ways in which they ultimately shape us. This painting represents the glory of new beginnings after coming to terms with things past and moving on. While it may seem strange, even destructive upon first glance, the intent is to promote reflection. In agriculture, field-burns occur each year to cleanse the earth of any lingering diseased crops and prepare the land for re-seeding. In the manner fire paves way for nature’s re-growth, the flames symbolize purification and renewal. Will the house catch fire? That’s where a lot of the suspense lies in this piece. The figure, unbound, is not in the house, and the swallows that nested in the upstairs room are leaving, too. All the living creatures are free, while the old, decaying house, a symbol of the past, will either remain or burn to the ground; a matter of choice. Seemingly perilous on the surface, there is an odd sense of “safety” that lies beneath.
Night Hill, 36” x 24”, Acrylic on canvas, 2010 Originating from a desire to explore a night palette, as well as to represent the mood and mystery associated with night itself, Night Hill speaks of those still moments where our subconscious takes over. Each time I look up at stars I can’t help but realize how small I feel alongside the universe as it stretches up and on into dark oblivion. We make up such a small part of it, despite our immense impact; mere fireflies circling about, lighting the way before flickering out. I came across this very stagecoach at an antique shop on the side of the road one day. It was strangely intriguing to me, and I thought, why not put it up on the hill? It encompassed an ethereal almost spiritual quality, like an artifact of the supernatural realm, where all things legendary and ghostly dwell. Fire holds several meanings for me, and I often find my thoughts unintentionally centering around duality as I paint, coming to realize its steady presence at the core of my pictures. The real and unreal, history and the present, opposing emotions, endings and beginnings, nature’s seasons and cycles, all of it is present there. I wanted this painting to capture night’s magical quality, when imaginary illusions become tangible realities.
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The Travelers, 36� x 36�, Acrylic on canvas, 2011 A trip on the verge of going awry, The Travelers involves an attitude of both panic and indifference; when we become unconscious of what we are actually doing because we are so caught up in our heads. The world, however, stops for no one as animals reveal, continuing to go about their tasks, driven by their basic needs in their uncomplicated ways. There are several contrasting emotions here. The neutral sky and hazy landscape gives this painting an air of ambiguity, which further serves the purpose of this picture, as I wanted its essence to be one of dark playfulness tinged with uncertainty. www.directart.org
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Pheasant Keeper, 36” x 48”, Acrylic on canvas, 2011 Inspired by the natural world and our primeval attachment to it, Pheasant Keeper, speaks to the ways in which we, as humans, “attach” ourselves to things of meaning to us. Windows for me often serve as portals to alternate states of reality, revealing landscapes that oftentimes both mirror and contradict inner longings of the portrayed characters. The air of fixed isolation permeating the room contrasted with the free, unrestrained landscape is reflective of being in a state of limbo between the physical and the spiritual, ready to face the new and unknown, but held back, unable to escape. Tone and atmosphere were important factors for me in this.
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Sojourn, 72” x 60”, Acrylic on canvas , 2011, (pg. 19) The concept for Sojourn came about out of an initial curiosity to create a composition involving butterflies as a subject. I also wanted the structure of an old farmhouse to figure prominently in the scene, a large looming shape where I could indulge in exploring the details of all the old farmhouses I so love discovering on back road haunts, that are now leveled and no more. In several ways, Sojourn serves as a lingering homage to a past where things were so much purer, simpler. But like butterflies, which are in a constant state of transformation and migration, such is life, where things come and go, leaving it up to us to choose what’s worth keeping and preserving. Butterflies have always served as symbols of hope and beauty throughout the ages, creatures that, despite their delicate fragility, still must brave long and brutal migrations. Even so, their short rests along the way are one of nature’s most beautiful and fascinating events to behold. The contrast between them, the women, and the house was something that struck and appealed to me in my mind’s eye; like a fusion of past, present, and future.
Andrea Kowch www.andreakowchillustration.com Represented by Richard J. Demato Fine Arts Gallery www.rjdgallery.com www.directart.org
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Anti-Memories and Gut Theory I use stop motion animation, because it stands right on the border of fantasy and reality. I take advantage of a broad language of allegories in my work. As an Iranian artist and social activist, I am interested in individual’s creative ways to challenge the existing authorities. For example, the hidden networks of power that can exist in family relationships (Anti Memories,) or in social conventions and obligations (Gut Theory.)
The puppets are made the way that they can move little by little, in front of the camera, and they can stand on their feet without any thread. I use photo for different facial expressions and to add to their liveliness. Anti Memories is a 7 minute stop motion animation. In this piece I show an unstable relationship between two friends (a girl and a chicken) in a fantasy and humorous way. A time machine travels backwards in time and narrates the story about “trust.”
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Gut Theory is a 5 minute, black and white stop motion piece. While we are living in the world that is surrounded by networks of power and control, we find new ways to experience freedom; food, clothing, cars and etc. At the same time we are surrounded by a variety of cultural products such as books, movies and music to choose between. But the essence of this freedom is consumption; Our unavoidable desire to own the objects, to have them and to make them parts of us, to “digest� them. The books have become products that have to be consumed, processed, and thrown away. This piece is consisted of three sections. These episodes can be the nightmares of the individuals, who wake up in this world every day and still have the nostalgia of having a deep intimate relationship with the objects, and the world outside.
Tara Najd Ahmadi www.Taranajdahmadi.com
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The Resurrection Oil on canvas 72” x 84”
E. Thurston Belmer The figures in my work emerge within a living space. While at first the interiors appear distinguishable, the space breaks and folds into a mental atmosphere that invades the viewer’s psyche. Each scratch on the canvas becomes a wound on the surface of the mind as well as on the distance between figures and the space in which they inhabit. The figures are an emotive access point that interacts with the viewer. Their presence, handling and demeanor relate to the viewer and invite them to feel. They become anchors that involve the viewer within the situation presented. An individual then finds meaning in the images through their own experiences. My large-scale paintings are related to the body of the observer by forcing them to navigate the space that the paintings inhabit. The viewer compiles an individual 22 Direct Art / Volume 18
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sense of the image by occupying various proximities to the object. The image then becomes whole through the viewer’s fragmented navigation. In a sense the paintings become an event in which the viewer’s own interaction sustains the image; a viewer feels the sting of the event without the circumstance. My work then functions in the way that the mind creates and recalls memories by combining a series of allusive elements on a singular picture plane to imply a narrative. These fragments are emphasized through the use of dramatic lighting, which severs the image, offering a situation without a reliable conclusion. The viewer relies on intimate response to find even a small sense of resolve. The paintings then mimic that which we endure; they are the hardships and unavoidable
Judas Oil on canvas 70” x 90”
“Judas” falls apart formally. The images composition” is lyrical and all of the visual elements contained in this painting are slightly off in perspective except for the figure. Using perspective as a tool, this image becomes remarkably unstable. What is left of stability is only that which is the most emotionally unstable, the figure itself.
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The Emperor Oil on canvas 108” x 48”
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The Social Three Oil on canvas 54” x 96”
trials that inform who we become. The tactility of the paint simulates the formation of scar tissue through its obsessive layering and glazing. The infliction of paint on the surface conveys the alteration of self through the healing process. Although scar tissue desensitizes sensation in the body, the representation of paint as scar tissue heightens the viewer’s response to sensation. Through the experience of viewing the paintings the viewer is offered an emotional opportunity for release and a fuller understanding of self. The viewer can internalize the experience of the work and through introspection is offered an opportunity for
personal growth. The figures become trapped within their construction while simultaneously they enter the audience’s personal space. It is for this reason that the images beckon for a resolution that can never be found; a struggle for power and understanding is therefore realized. The paintings then operate much like the daily interactions between intimate bodies. These experiences are abstract and intangible; the paintings represent an emotional reality rather than a physical reality. I choose to challenge the signifiers inherent in representation by recognizing the illusion of solidarity in our experience of what it means to be alive.
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The Conception Oil on canvas 72” x 84”
I am. I am. I am. Oil on canvas 102” x 60”
The Figures in “The Conception” lose some individuality and perform as a unit. Group psychology is understood through the use of subtle gestures in an utterly empty space. That empty space is emphasized with a single window that carries the image. Bringing together military uniforms from different and powerful nations “The Conception” challenges America’s sovereignty and placement in a newly built world that is bent on complete globalization.
Using Sylvia Plath’s, “The Bell Jar” as a title reference the spectrum of emotion in “I am. I am. I am.” is clear from the moment a person lays eyes on it, what becomes unclear is the interior that surrounds the figure and the way in which the female figure spills out into the viewer’s personal space. The image then has the potential to become as invading to its audience as the interior is to the figure itself.
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E. Thurston Belmer www.ethurstonbelmer.com
Sergio Villamizar, Saint Morphea, Woodcut, 24� x 16�
The cat in this piece is associated with desire, pride and vanity. Other symbols are infinity and transformation.
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Pyropainting is a very precise and unique method for creating artwork. First, I start a controlled fire and take pictures of the blaze; exploring the complex formations and capturing the movements of the flames on a digital camera. I slowly stalk around the fire, concentrating on finding the most interesting angles that portray the flames as if they are coming to life. Next, I manipulate the digital images into a rough composition. Whether the flames erupt into a gritty Gothic city skyline or the form of a demonic wraith, I make use of the organic quality of the fiery licks to create a base for my artwork. I then dive deeper into the piece, creating sharp, captivating details with acrylics. By finalizing the artwork with painting, I can create hauntingly realistic images with their own individuality and story. The result is an intriguing presentation of what one artist can see and create out of a fire and some paint.
Pyro (detail) 24” x 36” Mixed media
Michael L.Stewart www. pyropainter.com www.pyropainter.com
Blood drunk 24” x 18” Mixed media
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Play 84”x 36”x 40” Stoneware, porcelain, steel, found objects
Grenadierre 48”x 18”x 18” Stoneware, steel
E
ric R. Nichols
My symbolic images compare and contrast the complexity of cultures, gender, age and the self, analyzing an evident departure from balance. The pure love, and innocence of a child is paired with the complexity of the loss of love as a result of war, both having completely opposite psychological states. I offer my analysis of cultural developmental psychology and societal influence on children and how it effects the evolution and separation from a unified whole. Another significant study is the fascinating difference between the male and female psyche and how it plays a vital role in irrational behavior, cause and effect, responsibility and ownership within romantic relationships. Identifying the infrastructure of the negative allows me to see, understand and initiate the positive.
www.backwardse.artspan.com www.backwards-e.com www.directart.org
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Portrait Fiction #5 Oil on Linen 36� x 24�
Matthew Oates My most recent body of work explores the point when an image of a person exits the world of fictional caricature and enters the world of portraiture; being seen as a representation of reality. I use a specific process to first create objects in three dimensional space as sculpture, and then render them as a two dimensional image. Seeing the painted portrait, the viewer gathers certain information, hopefully causing certain questions to arise. Is this painting based on the image 30 Direct Art / Volume 18
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of a real person? Does or did this person exist at all? When I look at some of my favorite paintings, these are the type of questions that interest me as well. Velasquez painted several portraits of King Philip IV. Looking at each one reveals different features and expressions. When I question which one is the most faithful to the actual person, I begin to feel that the answer is completely subjective.
Portrait Fiction #7 Red in Red, Oil on canvas, 40” x 36”
http://gymnasium.tumblr.com
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Elena Del Fabbro
August - Fear is The Engine, Digital collage with handmade drawings and elaborated photos/digital art print, 40” x 83” This work is the result of many months of incubation even though the practical realization did not last long. The faces of the protagonists are made in moments of great terror, where the hand moves almost unconsciously, driven by the unconscious.
I begin with pure color instead of shape, it is an instinctive and passionate process. As the work develops, I form lines, shapes and consistencies. I have worked for years without color, but now I am choosing it again. I use black and white drawings from my past and make them into something new. This is the core of my expression.
I rarely start with something that makes immediate sense on a blank sheet. I tend to fish from my unfinished projects, drawn by chance during my past, so I can give dignity to what looks abandoned and neglected. To create the mixture, I use the computer, as it enables me to use techniques and concepts which are not necessarily homogenous - often they come from
Branches Like Veins (associations such as branches) 37” x 83” Digital collage with handmade and digital drawings. Veins and branches are like my thoughts and my associations, uncontrolled, uncontrollable and fleeting. The focus of this work is the roots, branches and veins extending into infinity.
Sand, 20” x 12” (opposing pg 33) Handmade drawing with pens, markers and pastels on paper. Veins and branches return here, spreading forever as thoughts and obsessions that fill reality. They call me to live in their micro infinitesimal dimension. It is deep, rich but disabling.
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something different from their arrival point. It is the same method that I use for more traditional works; they are often born for other purposes, which have now lost their usefulness. Going on I have moved from an attention towards people – to what you can actually guess about their own story – to an attention towards their relationships. I am obsessed by relations and bonds, I am attracted by what you see and by what can be externally observed. I am interested in desire and suffering, and in dignity and strength where you would least expect them. I often trace compassion, strength and courage. I am talking about need of a personality to be complete, full and to the need for spirituality proximity. I am interested in the social sphere. In the end I look for so long that I feel I am wearing out all of this. I look until the stillness of my stupor does not become “being aware of so much beauty.”
Canide Handmade drawing with pens, markers and pastels on paper 12” x 20”
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Lately, I have started to become fascinating by the environment that contains all these relationships. I am still curious and fascinated by mothers as well, I tend to represent them everywhere. I find out traces that lead back to the mother: I have represented devouring, demure, absent, obsessive mothers. I have created characters that who they are due to their mothers. I believe we are what and who we are due to their intervention; I find this relationship extremely fascinating. Generally, however, I am not so conscious about the characters that I use. The fulcrum is the relationships and the bonds that strike my imagination; it is their tangle that becomes a representation of positions in space. I think about the structure of the relations and the environment and create a body and a scenario to suit a personality. I try to create associations through colors and shapes that illuminate the bonds between its components and the nature of the different characters.
Eggs Digital collage with handmade drawings and elaborated photos/digital art 58” x 78”
Domestic incidents Digital collage with handmade and digital drawings and elaborated photos/digital art 45” x 83”
www.elenadelfabbro.com www.directart.org
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Nothing Sacred Acrylic on canvas 36” x 48”
Bob Doucette http://www.bobdoucette.com
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Whenever I Meet You Oil on wood 16” x 16”
In my art I express my memories and emotional experiences of pain, pleasure and sadness. Various cultures and ideologies are included. In addition, I reveal the dark, gritty side of myself that is hidden deep inside. The dark side is dismantled once, restructured, and represented by the big eyed punk nymphets, my alter-ego. Therefore, my art is always impulsive, private and free--an imaginative world composed with paint and by uniting different textures. Many junk elements collected from all over the world are mixed, and the color flood is like a chaotic contemporary society. You might find an answer in my art if you feel that you are restrained or restricted by something that you can’t see, or if you are worried about something.
Private Blue Oil on Wood 24” x 18”
Mari Yamagiwa mariyamagiwa.web.fc2.com
Dreadful Delights Composite photo illustration 12.45” x 8”
I Believe Oil on wood 18” x 11”
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Stimulus Oil on linen 53” x 50”
Rose Freymuth-frazier My paintings are allegorical portraits of the contemporary female experience and consequently, self-portraits. The subjective experience I portray is that of a generalized “feminine” and the gender-role expectations of women. The backgrounds are intentionally void, limiting the narrative aspects to the corporeality of the women. Each piece comes from my desire to address archetypal, stylized, or cliched feminine experiences. I confine the subjects in a refined veneer, and detail these experiences within the female figure--in all of its beauty, absurdity and perversity.
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At right: Three Nurses Oil on linen 54” x 70”
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Hostage Oil on linen 28” x 36”
Bruised Oil on linen 28” x 36”
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Hounded Oil on linen 58” x 72”
Rose Freymuth-frazier www.roseff.com
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Comparison: Vincennes and Kagoshima City Charcoal on paper 85� x 52.5�
Christopher Troutman http//:troutman.art.tripod.com
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More Than MEat #6 Graphite on paper 59” x 98”
Julian Farrar
www.julianfarrar.com
In this series I want to use flesh to literally ‘embody’ a thought. I want the patterns and textures I observe in the skin to serve as a vocabulary, hinting at the idea that drives all that is seen on the surface.
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EUPHEMA ROBINSON www.slowart.com/euphema
Oil pastels on paper Left: Clandestine Pocomania, 57” x 32” Right top: Tropical Escapism, 44” x 46” Right bottom left: Trance, 22” x 29” Right bottom right: Hup! Hup!, 22” x 29”
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Apollo with Cancer Pen & Ink, glitter on paper 30” x 40”
Jeffrey Katrencik http://www.katrencik.com
Portrait of Job Pen & Ink, glitter on paper 35” x 35” 46 Direct Art / Volume 18
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Holy War Charcoal 22” x 30“
Nathaniel Infante “The Madness of man is a divine spectacle: in fact, could one make observations from the moon considering the numberless agitations of the earth, one would think one saw a swarm of flies or gnats fighting amongst themselves, struggling and laying traps, stealing from one another, playing, gamboling, falling and dying, and one would not believe the troubles, the tragedies that were produced by such a minute animal destined to perish so shortly. “ -Michelle Foucault, Madness and Civilization My work is a reflection of consumer society as if seen through a slightly warped mirror that displays a more satirical and saccharine world of prisons, tragedy, power, destruction and ignorance. I often depict scenarios that contain strange and unusual imagery. This imagery is meant to comment on various aspects of modern life in order to help clarify and make bearable the chaos, which exists in humanity. “Holy War” and “Holywood” are part of an ongoing series called “Holy Land” which uses satire and word play to explore the things we consider holy or sacred. In these (and other works) common motifs occur. One example is the
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striped prison uniforms that reference groups that have been marginalized from society and are considered unfit by social standards. One common theme is the depiction of “natural” disasters or cataclysmic events such as floods and earthquakes or man-made disasters such as 9-11 and the BP oil spill. Typically, characters appear unaware and unaffected by the events that are unfolding around them. This is because I feel there is a void in humanity and a denial of responsibility, which prevents us from evaluating our collective selves. Historically, artists have been compelled to produce images of crisis in times of conflict and like them; I feel a sense of urgency to articulate my own anxieties and observations.
Monstrum Mixed media 32“ x 42”
Some of my works such as “The Decline of Memory” are more personal in nature. This image is based on my grandfather’s struggle with sundown syndrome, a form of dementia. Others such as “Monstrum” are more open to interpretation as they were developed from abstract compositions that dealt more with form rather than content. Regardless, my more “abstracted” works retain a sense of narrative that invites the viewer to apply their own meaning to them.
nathanielinfante.com Holywood Charcoal 22” x 30”
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Matthew 4:19, 2011 Oil on masonite 30� x 24�
My paintings exist in a place saturated with sex. Where youthful appearance elicit desire, within beliefs based on repression, where guilt is the most noble emotion. A place where balance is found.
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William Gant
williamgantart.com
Coup d’Etat Oil on canvas 64” x 96” You Are Special Today Oil on canvas 40” x 42”
The watermelon’s proportion is compatible with the human figure, more so than a lot of fruit. It is obese, “rubenesque”, bulging at the brink of exploding from its own fertility. It is a vessel of complimentary colors- rich, velvety reds against deep greens. The intricate pattern of light to dark green stripes run along its surface, wrapping around the melon, enhancing the volume visually. It can be easily personified. A delicate skin, encasing a heavy mess of red, wet, juicy innards.
David Pettibone
www.davidpettibone.com
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Mother and Step Child Divided Mixed Media 18” x 24”
Alex Chavez No sacred cow, or for that matter, sacred images go untouched or escape transformation by the ever-seeing eye of these “Mash-Up” creations. The unexpected and the grotesque, the sacred and the profane, the past and the future all find a home in many of my recombinant artworks. The art of the past masters, ads, cartoons, signs and symbols from around the world all get mashed up in the macabre art grinder and seasoned with a bit of black humor. An extravaganza of image overload, surrealistic cows, day of the dead cast, art is dead poster baby, masters’ images reconfigured, and a host of more misshapen creations and artifacts. I was born and raised in East Los Angeles. After graduating with a bachelors degree in Fine Art, I painted portraits and murals for ten years. In 1997 I moved with my wife to Taos, New Mexico. Taos is the town of my maternal roots and it seemed a great place to raise our two children. Taos is a great place to quietly work and there I perfected my unique style, craft, and vision. I’m represented by galleries in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, and recently have shown work in New York, Paris, Brussels, and Berlin. Wherever pop surrealism is making an impact, I go there.
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MICHAEL REEDY mikereedy.com Untitled, Mixed media on paper, 45� x 26� This piece evolved significantly from conception to completion. As the work evolved the darker overtones were replaced with more saccharine and poetic symbols such as pinwheel candies and hummingbirds. As a result, I believe the work now sits oddly (and much more effectively) between hope and despair, and is all the better for it.
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Emerald Ash Borer Oil on canvas 30” x 40”
Dave Channon These paintings are from my Intersections series. In Emerald Ash Borer, the creature perches on an ash twig, a common North American tree likely to be devastated by this half-inchlong cambium-munching insect. Beneath, we see an aerial view of California highways. This perspective draws a comparison between two forces that have spiraled out of control and cause havoc in the environment. American ash trees will likely be replaced in natural forest succession by other more resistant varieties. What will succeed our highways after their period of explosive growth is over? The Gypsy Moth caterpillar erupts in plague-like outbreaks every dozen years or so, defoliating entire forests. The Gypsy Moth was accidentally introduced almost a century ago to the Americas by an entrepreneur who unsuccessfully attempted to crossbreed it with silk worms. In an outbreak year, hikers in June walk through bare-branched forests whose floor is green
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Gypsy Moth Caterpillar Oil on canvas 18” x 24”
Lantern Bug Oil on canvas 30” x 48”
Pasadena Frog Oil on canvas 30” x 40”
with fragments of stripped leaves. Moth frass drops from above, billions of tiny black specks that hit the ground with the continual hiss and tick of muffled sleet. Branching leaf veins echo the patterns of traffic flow. When an exotic species enters a new territory, it often finds no natural enemies to control its population. Cyclical caterpillar infestations usually burn out in two or three years as their populations explode and crash spontaneously. Humans, with no real predators to restrain our growth, must find a better way to achieve harmonious coexistence with nature. The Lantern Bug is a flamboyant insect and not a destructive pest. It is native to Costa Rica, where pockets of wilderness retain spectacular levels of diversity unimaginable to dwellers of the paved North American continent. Its huge crimson proboscis probably plays a role in the selection of sexual partners. In an ironic twist, cars speeding by in the background appear more like tiny insects with glowing lanterns of their own. In addition to locomotion, the shiny carapaces of the vehicles also play a role in mating displays. Capitalism is a runaway engine that consumes and expands without regard for the ultimate end. Innocent creatures like the Lantern Bug and the entire magical, mystifyingly beautiful web of life on this planet are doomed unless we discover a way to check the spread of capitalism and restore the balance of Gaia.
Asian Longhorn Beetle Oil on canvas 30” x 40”
www.esopuscreek.com www.directart.org
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This and That: Photography/Digital Imaging 30” x 20”
Pat Swain The Chickens of Cappadocia The fowl in these capricious yet beautiful images are indigenous to the environment in which they were composited—Cappadocia, Turkey. The first impression upon viewing these images is a sense of equal parts fun and mastery. As much attention is put into the formal qualities of the work as is given to their droll subject matter. In many of the images, the shapes of the chickens with their cockscombs and feathers are put into dialogue with similar rock formations. We see a full treatment of the landscape photography form, as well as a surreal/pop portraiture of creatures all too familiar, yet equally odd as they appear in Swain’s compositions. In the Romantic tradition, these landscapes often convey the sublimity of nature being surveyed by the lone individual. The unfamiliar, exotic quality of these
selected landscapes create the sense of mystery and surprise, with the chicken as some sort of Romantic “high priest.” Here, however, this priest has been ironically supplanted by the chicken, who is humorously elevated to something approaching nobility and the heroic. Besides the chickens’ comical air, the artist relies on the universality of the chickens themselves. The first representations of chickens in Europe are found on Corinthian pottery of the 7th-century BCE. The poet Cratinus (mid-5th century BCE) calls the chicken “the Persian alarm.” There are twenty-four billion chickens in the world now, making it the most abundant bird on the planet. Thus, the archetypal “hero” has become, in these images, poultry instead of “man.”
www.patswainphotography.com
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With These Wings, I Will Fly Photography/Digital Imaging 22” x 17” If These Wings Could Fly Photography/Digital Imaging 30” x 20”
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“Hallelujah!” 2011 30” x 22” various inks, gouache, acrylic polymer, dry pigments, mica powder, pearl mica flakes, oil size, Japanese colored silver leaf, variegated leaf/ Arches watercolor paper
Giovanni Forlino My recent work is a bird-inspired extravaganza. Months ago, I was making works on paper featuring many types of animals, drawn in a calligraphic, Japanese influenced style. At some point I purchased a long, multicolored, wing feather from a blue-gold macaw. Soon I had many hundreds of feathers, and found a person who is my parrot feather ‘dealer’! Around this time, my drawings became more colorful, and then thicker, and turned into paintings. The paintings then evolved to become sculpture and also animation. I have many interesting projects in the works now. I’m also working on a handpainted animation of tropical birds with musician Shea Bartel and film maker Alex Gabucci. Robin Scheines and Jack Farrell are my two wonderful assistants. Robin has become the world’s master of ‘Feathering.’ She gorgeously and precisely ‘feathers’ wood panels, and papers, and we are coming up with some very radical ideas together. Jack and I are in the midst of some printing projects together, which I am 58 Direct Art / Volume 18
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beginning to post on my website now. Birds, snails, Werner Herzog(my hero!), “The Wizard of Oz”, and also vintage baseball cards are some of the primary subject matter. The recent, thickly painted birds are interesting to me, as they seem to be the very beginning of a new time of my expansion. The birds have left the paper now. Entering sculpture and animation. The red image to the right is a silver gelatin print of a family posing near a fire, pretending to be reading. The photo was meant to be black and white but the technology could not handle a glowing fireplace. The photo is ‘feathered’ in gorgeous, scarlet macaw covert body feathers. Framing such an awkward artifact so lovingly and organically is a nice touch. It’s like seeing the foibles in one’s culture, and having compassion.
www.giovanniforlino.com
Heart 2011 Silver gelatin print, Lineco adhesive, scarlet macaw covert body feathers 15� x 12� www.directart.org
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All works acrylic on canvas, 5� x 5�, clockwise from top: Grouper, Mandarin Fish, Potato Cod, Clown Frogfish
Kathleen Benton An artist achieves representation by practicing abstraction. When a painter attempts to represent that which is observed, the process is one of dis-understanding the subject in order to employ true observation. The artist must disengage her knowledge of the thing which she is attempting to capture in order to record what she actually sees: the lines, shapes, colors, light, shade, and proportion as they would appear as if a jigsaw puzzle. The paintings are four from a series of Camouflage Fish. Camouflage allows an animal to remain unnoticed by blending in with its
environment. The most common example of camouflage is an animal with coloration and patterns similar to its surroundings. As the creature is observed in nature, it becomes almost indistinguishable in the larger picture of its habitat. As a subject matter for painting, the camouflage fish become a source of play with the practice of painting. The cryptic fish in situ confuses both figure and ground by possessing the same colors and patterns. The result is a puzzle of both representational and abstract painting, in practice for the painter and for the viewer. I
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www.kathleenbenton.com
Eagles’ Nest Acrylic on canvas 48” x 78”
The Great White Shark represents Mankind’s current attitude towards our natural heritage. I paint disappearing landscapes, peoples and wildlife, so thought it a very relevant subject.
Ted Hayward www.tedhayward.com Great White Acrylic on canvas 78” x 96”
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Alchemical Sunrise, Oil on canvas, 29” x 22”
“Alchemical Dawn” is a metaphor. In alchemy there are three stages of the Great Work. Underlying this piece is the end of the first stage – Nigredo. Nigredo is a process of refinement and preparation for a purification which is both physical and psychological in nature. The painting is constructing in accordance with the principle of the traditional of the alchemical rebus. The meaning of the dialogue between the painting and the viewer. The painting provokes a question, and when it is the right question, the viewer can discover a nonverbal meaningful answer. This, in turn, can lead to a new question and answer on another level. Alchemical Dawn was featured in “Explore Alchemy” (2007) by Cherry Gilchrist as an example of the continuing alchemical tradition in contemporary art.
Alchemical Dawn A vacant lot Crumbling gravel Desolate grounds A skull of Perhaps a muskrat The spirit of Sprite Smothered in a can The crack of dawn Fireflies falling asleep Exhausted Burdock and clover Common for low lands A riverbed nearby Almost dried out In spring It floods You can’t see the river It’s beyond my canvas
Summer heat Announcing the end Of the Nigredo There in the distance In a strip of light The two of them Male and female Plant the seedlings The road in the back Leads to the horizon Or maybe nowhere Or simply to the sun The background grows brighter Prefacing the advent Of the Alchemical Dawn
Natalia K. Danilin nataliartgallery.com
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Workers Dismantling a Wrecked Juggernaut Digital illustration 48” x 31”
Lee DiCintio The epic events of our world are not always obvious. Humans tend to overlook what is beyond our immediate view, although our own labors are mirrored in various facets of nature. Ants embody the industrious quality of humanity. It’s an incomplete reflection: theirs is a world of ruthless utilitarianism and simple logic. Devoid of emotion, with only the goal to survive, they work as one, and when it’s necessary, they move mountains. No individual has desires beyond its genetically-assigned station. For simple creatures, it is the perfect society, and a spectacle of efficiency.
http://robotparrot.com/art/
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Amelia Thread painting 24” x 40”
Robert Forman I began making yarn paintings in 1969 while still in High School. I had been fooling around with paint in my parent’s basement when one day I incorporated my mother’s embroidery thread into a collage. A line of thread is similar to a pencil line. My string pictures become my finished drawings. In college at The Cooper Union I kept yarn painting to my self. My professors liked my drawings but told me that I painted like I had never done it before. My painting
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professor Jack Whitten asked what we did during vacation and was disappointed that no one had worked on their art. I volunteered that I’d spent the vacation working on a project but it wasn’t exactly painting. My explanation was poor, so he had me bring my string picture to class. After visiting my studio he told me to stick to string and he would consider them paintings. In 1990 while browsing a Greenwich Village Flea market I purchased my first Huichol yarn painting. I realized
Family Thread painting 24” x 32”
that this unknown artist from a culture I knew nothing about spent much of his time as I did. In 1992 I traveled to Mexico as a Fulbright Fellow to talk shop with fellow yarn painters. Visiting Huichol communities and meeting Huichol artists transformed my worldview and especially my art.
Robertforman.net
My picture Amelia is composed of nine drawings melding the myriad aspects of my daughter’s personality at the age of eight. Below: Studies for Amelia
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Mother-Child-Chicken Oil on wood 25” x 35” Untitled Oil on wood 20” x 16”
Hyemi Cho The subject of chickens and eggs for me is an allegory for the strength of maternity. Chickens are exploited by man. We feed them chemicals and reshape them to suit our needs, we take their eggs, and we kill them for meat for the cheap source of protein that they are. In spite of this, chickens persevere. The metaphor echoes the dynamics of my own family. My mother had to withstand many pressures in her life brought on by my father. This was a consequence of political, cultural and social pressures in Korea at that time and being a Korean woman in Japan. In my paintings I explore the internal and spiritual strength of chickens as a metaphor for this forbearance.
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Emporium of Earthly Delights Acrylic on panel 24” x 48”
Anna Zusman
www.annazusman.com
Suprina Kenney www.2ndsouls.com
Seduction Mixed Media and Found Objects 24” x 56” x 26”
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Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden Oil on panel 38” x 47”
Robert Farmer Myths and folklore undergo stylistic adjustments and reinterpretations all the time, and the book of Genesis should be no exception. The story of Adam and Eve is a cautionary tale, emblematic of humankind’s loss of innocence and a lasting testament to the wrath of malevolent deities. The author(s) of Genesis utilized supernatural imagery, in the hope of giving the story a timeless, allegorical tone. This is where the myth fails, and miserably so. Talking snakes? Magic fruit? It is all very pedestrian. I thus decided to improve upon the story by inserting characters that I found more provocative. Replacing the traditional, banal form of
Adam and Eve with that of the ferocious Cyclops was an obvious move. Inserting a unicorn into the role of the fruit was, in fact, a twofold improvement: 1. Unicorns are inherently superior to magic fruit. 2. By having Adam and Eve eat the unicorn, we are provided with an explanation of the present nonexistence of unicorns. Thus, Adam and Eve should henceforth be remembered as ravenous Cyclopes expelled from paradise for eating all of Yahweh’s unicorns.
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King George Oil on board 10” x 8”
The title of this painting, “King George”, refers to the most recent King George the W. The multiple eyes are a commentary on our current world of hyper-information where the constant barrage of inputs has compromised our ability to understand and act. As the portrait suggests we have been reduced to consuming receptacles.
During the last few years I have done a series of paintings in both red and orange. They seem to make an appropriate palette for a warming planet. But I also would like to mention that I am a big fan of Phillip Guston’s paintings and his influence is certainly evident.
Jay Schmidt
www.jayschmidtart.com www.directart.org
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Criminology Acrylic on canvas 78” x 98”
My pictures were born from an obsession with surviving the obliteration of humanity. Painting and drawing allows me to envisage this aftermath scenario, through a commitment to image making and to the medium of paint and pigment as powerful means for expressing such fantasies. Perhaps we are already living in a postapocalyptic era, the consequence of any number of events, from Hiroshima and Chernobyl to post--industrial environments like Detroit. In Criminology, the focus shifts to a structured landscape in an attempt to imagine the architecture of post-- apocalypse. In The Memory Machine, I reassembled images I had collected from various sources. I was attempting to visualize an alternate dimension, void of any identifiable landscape.
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Not too dissimilar to The Memory Machine, the drawing Heads visualizes a Hellish afterlife, with a potentially infinite number of souls floating in eternal darkness. Recently I’ve started drawing the apocalyptic event as well as the aftermath, in Untitled, murder, execution and suicide contribute to mass anarchy, symbolized by the Queens head on a stick.
Bobby Nixon
www.bobbynixon.blogspot.com
Untitled Pigment liner on paper 8” x 11”
Heads Pigment liner on paper 12” x 9” The Memory Machine Pigment liner on paper 27” x 39”
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I photograph toy soldiers in a formal portrait studio setting. The eerily human expressions and detail of these miniatures confound our expectations and elicit discordant responses. My intent is not to glorify the soldier, but to find a truth in the guise of plastic and lead. We are constantly bombarded by images of war and conflict, and we become numb to the horrors that are manifested. Though we want to avert our eyes from the reality these ‘unreal’ images evoke, and the politics that are the context of their pain, these portrait urge us to continue to look. Reality becomes and irreparable disconnect. I want to bridge the disconnect.
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My work is political
They are self portraits
HOWARD HEYMAN
www.photo122.com www.directart.org
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Congo Oil on canvas 118” x 167”
Jeramy Turner
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In our image saturated society the nervous system is visually stimulated, often far beyond our ability to process, by art. We have come to view this aspect of our existence as inevitable, as part of nature, as something that has always been around in its multifaceted incarnation. But Art’s historical role has been exponentially extended beyond our wildest dreams. It is hard to see this as a very new development, but indeed it is. Imagine Europe a few centuries ago, when paintings and sculpture functioned as mythological or religious storytelling, or aristocratic engrandisement. Visual art was fundamentally an
enforcement of the ruling order. It served to deepen religious belief (and concurrent control by the Church establishment) and perpetuate a social hierarchy in which the rich and powerful were ordained to their overseer position. The swarming multitudes, the peasants, slaves, and later, industrial workers, were meant to serve and suffer. Artists had a job to do: to keep the house tidy and strictly in order, and as such they were hired by the rulers to do so as convincingly as possible. Their occupation was to keep the populace in a state of belief, no matter how unjust or absurd this might be. And no matter how ridiculous and fantastical the mythology, the artists’ job was to make it simply a part
of reality. Painted and sculpted images could perform this function. But the revolutions that swept Europe in 1848, toppling one monarchy after the other, brought with them the crowning of the Bourgeoisie as the new ruling class. The shattering of the old world order brought with it the questioning of all that was divine. Ideologies as well as political rule were up for grabs. Perhaps because artists have to concentrate so intensely and therefore critically upon what they are depicting, artists tend to be thoughtful creatures. Perhaps because the advent of the Bourgeoisie brought them a sudden impoverishment as the “free market” opened www.directart.org
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Founding Fathers Oil on canvas 78” x 78”
its treacherous maw, artists joined up enthusiastically with the revolutionary ideologues of the time. They flocked to the new Bohemian culture, living in garrets and consorting with the lumpen proles. Now without patrons, suddenly on their own to sell or starve, artists of the 19th century often joined sympathies with the destitute and the new urban industrial workers, and took to painting these people as People, in and of itself a thoroughly revolutionary concept. (Examples of this are seen in the works of Courbet, Toulouse Lautrec, Van Gogh.....). Then such artists as Goya and Daumier created work that was itself part of the Revolution. Not simply depictions of the People, but statements, bold and brazen and extraordinarily rendered, their art was a visual voice of marvellous power in 76 Direct Art / Volume 18
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the battles against the ruling classes and their warmongering. It was this that only until recently has been seen as Political Art. Art of resistance, proud and clear, against the Rulers and in deep sympathy with the Oppressed. Joining this tradition, and potentially killing it, would be the Socialist Realism of Stalinist Soviet Union and the art of China’s Cultural Revolution. Political Art was socialist, Communist, revolutionary. And by the strictures of these ideologies, it was of necessity clear. A higher education was not needed to understand this work. Nor was it necessary to proceed with a particular language of the art world. Images spoke loudly and forcefully for themselves. Written words were forfeited to visual images in order to insure international comprehension.
Oil Spill Oil on canvas 60” x 78”
In the 1930s political art took on a Stalinist-led proscription: it had to be printable (i.e. the woodcuts of Lynn Ward) and had to be immediately purposeful for the cause of revolution. Picasso’s “Guernica” came out of this period, when the United Front was leading the American Artists’ Union, and much discussion was had on what political art must and must not be. Images were often nearly illustrations from the Communist Manifesto. The desired result replicated written propaganda: a depiction of victims of oppression alongside a raised fist and muscles of a revolutionary worker. Certainly some bold and marvellous artists took this proscription beyond preconceived limits: Thomas Hart Benton, for example, in the US, and David Alfaro Siquieros, Jose Clemente Orozco, and Diego Rivera in the astonishingly powerful Mexican mural movement. The Vietnam War and the subsequent shattering of
all that was “establishment” that took place in the ‘60s, broke through the stathis of political art. Along came Edward Keinholz who blatantly refused limitations in his scathingly horrific\hilarious sculptures, Jack Levine, Peter Salle, and Leon Golub to bring forth the visualization of rage, art that far surpassed words in exposing the warmongering monsters and their social set-up. As the ‘60s waned and the ‘70s and ‘80s brought Foucault and Derrida as theorists to replace Marx and Mao, what passed as political changed gradually and also quite radically. There were new developments: obscure art that looked political, styled to say things that baffle in their indirectness. Possibly the artists consciously censored themselves, steering clear of anything that would castigate them as Communist. Political art also became the war cry of the elite, in the guise of anti-capitalist causes, to disguise their vested interests. www.directart.org
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Zivilisation Oil on canvas 59� x 78�
The big museums such as the Whitney, MoMa, or Guggenheim, along with mega galleries, were showcasing work that touched on the political, but by the arts’ shirking of taking a forceful stance against the system that fed them, reduced political art into a language only accessible to the Foucault-educated who knew the appropriate language. A very important recent exception to all this was the Abu Graib work of Ferdinand Botero, at the Marlborough Gallery in New York. This highly successful artist created hundreds of depictions of tortured prisoners, filling the gallery with the unthinkable, his conscience. And at the Marlborough Gallery, there was a small placard on the wall over the reception desk: the artist has decreed that none of this work is for sale. But generally, the corporate art world has managed to monopolise by edging out independent galleries, and then systematically replacing style for teeth. But in the shadows of the spotlights lurk others. There are a number of bold-minded artists who truly and vehemently oppose the corporate ruling order, and who have been creating daring works that speak out with rage and uncompromised understanding. 78 Direct Art / Volume 18
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These artists represent themselves. They have no backing, no gallery support. Only a few brave galleries, often artist-run or alternative spaces, have the courage to promote these artists, but lack any sort of art world legitimacy. Political art without an audience is meaningless. These artists do not use art primarily for therapy or catharsis. Nor are these works home decor. They have instead a profound purpose, which is propagandistic in an expansive, positive definition of the word. They are intended to deepen understanding, to expose, to simultaneously anger and amuse. And, in order to be effective, they are skillfully rendered and alluring, often using contradictory elements of shock and humor.
jeramyturnerpaintings.com
Horseman of the Apocalypse 24th 1987 Toy guns /epoxy resin/ steel
Malcolm Poynter
www.malcolmpoynter.com www.directart.org
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Spaceface Mixed media 55” x 47”
Precarious Oil 40” x 30”
Sabine Blodorn
Melissa Jones
www.yessy.com/SabineBlodorn
www.melissajonesfineart.com
Sweet Rides Oil on canvas 24” x 36”
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Fitting In Oil on canvas, 36” x 48”
Crash Oil on canvas 19.5” x 47”
Steve Scheuring stevescheuringfineart.com
Pile of Soldiers Oil on canvas 48” x 60”
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Elizabeth White
(My) What-were-we Thinking Cap from the series “Dirty Bombs” Burrs over burlap Cap sculpture 18” x 12” x 12”
Mauricio Almeida I began drawing at an early age and have been actively painting for the past twenty years. After graduating from high school, I attended duCret School of Art in Plainfield, NJ. I do work for private commissions and work as a Senior Graphic Designer for Novartis Pharmaceuticals in NJ. My work blends a love of illustration with a love of surreal subject matter to make the unbelievable believable.
http://facebook.com/MoShowGraphics Time Bomb Oil on Board 14” x 14”
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Existence of Balance Oil on canvas 50” x 28”
James Jahrsdoerfer
www.elizabethart.net
Caroline Tied Up Oil on canvas 24” x 16”
The work I have been trying to do recently has no intention of being more than a study on myself. I don’t try to talk about social, political, cultural or spiritual issues on a painting. The only interest and the only subject I can truly make an artistic statement or exercise about is myself. The Painting Caroline Tied Up shows my wife, after 12 years married to me. It shows, almost explicitly, what I feel I do to her and what my perception of how she feels about it is.
I used a more realistic approach on this one, merely because I was trying to be faithful to her beauty. I guess I was also trying to be as objective as I could with the technique so it would leave very little doubt or room for interpretation from the viewer.”
Mario Ucci
www.uccimaru.com
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Wave Theory 36”x 36” Oil on wood panel
My imagery springs from a deep sense of wonder, which is most strongly triggered whenever I encounter great art or great science. I am inspired by the action of powerful forces such as volcanic eruptions and whirling tornadoes, by the mysteries of gravitation and magnetism, and by the repeating patterns that abound in nature. Extra terrestrially: images of supernovas, solar flares, Saturn’s orbiting rings, and spectacular spiral galaxies, all fascinate me. Within an art historical context, I have drawn from multiple “isms” including aspects of Surrealism, Cubism, Futurism, Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, and Conceptual Art. My current series is derived from multiple perspectives of curved lines, often converging or diverging, from which bold curvilinear patterns are generated. Different patterns are grouped and juxtaposed into vibrant, swirling, surging, and at times vertiginous compositions. Wet-into-wet and directional brush strokes enhance the sense of flow, circulation, and motion within each piece. Because these basic curvilinear forms occur in such diverse contexts - from the sub-atomic to the cosmic in scale – my work encourages a multiplicity of interpretations.
Odalisk 36” x 40” Oil on wood panel
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Torrent 36” x 36” Oil on wood panel
Burton Rein http://www.burtonreinart.com/
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Red Hester, 22”x30”, Charcoal, dry pastel, and conte on hot-pressed watercolor paper
Julie Bilyeu
Coping Ugly Drawings
Currently showing at: Kaleid Gallery, 88 S. 4th St., San Jose, Ca. U.S.A. Holistic Herbal Healers in San Jose, Ca. U.S.A.
jab2298@yahoo.com
Gallery of Hearts Acrylic on canvas 18” x 24 2011
Just Makin’ Sure Pine/Acrylic/Burned 20.4” x 16.5” x 3.25”
Russ Bitner
www.russbitner.com 86 Direct Art / Volume 18
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Jordan E. Brooks www.JEB.MOSAICGLOBE.com Jordanboardan@yahoo.com
The Green Man Stoneware, oil, found objects 30” x 27”
The Mechanic Stoneware, oil, found objects 31” x 36” x 16”
Georgia Jones Godwin Imago : Reliquary : Archetype : Memento These sculptural figures are my fusion of a variety of traditions in which figurative art serves as a vehicle for memory. Some of these include Roman funerary imagines and Catholic reliquaries, but I apply their power of memory to the living as well as the dead, and to archetypes as well as individuals. I believe that applying a clay-centered but mixed media approach to my sculptures reveals the versatility of clay. I use stoneware as both the main star and as the glue that holds the composition together. As an oil painter, I regard the unfinished surface of low-fired ceramics as a canvas in three dimensions. Incorporating objects into my ceramics creates a sense of limitless possibilities.
georgiajonesgodwin.com www.directart.org
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Innocence Mixed medium 15� x 19�
I believe in life it is often easier to stay in the darkness than to journey towards the light. In my art, pain refines beauty in at its ugliness. I always draw what I feel, my dreams my nightmares, the sickness and the health, fears and hopes, letting my inner child play free, unrestricted by any rules. My art reflects my spiritual struggle with emotional emptiness and death of the conscience of the world around me, the mental sickness, narcissism, and the fallen state of an ego driven society.
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My quest is for true spirituality of humility and purity, and true humanity which acknowledges its imperfection and vulnerability. Sin makes colors richer and decay spoils innocence, and everything has its end, but despite human fragility and weakness, the promise of heaven on earth is never too far from our grasp. The inner peace is attainable despite our intrinsically flawed nature. I like to think there is a glimpse of hope, and streak of light in each of my paintings. Olga Rudnitsky is a self-taught artist, writer, and a children’s book illustrator.
Red Horse Oil on canvas 24” x 36”
The Mother of a Narcissist Mixed medium 10” x 8”
Fallen Angel Oil on canvas 24” x 48”
Dream Oil on canvas 18” x 24”
Olga Rudnitsky www.themagicmask.com
www.directart.org
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Golden Nautilus Roams with Smiling Buddha Acrylic on canvas 30” x 30”
Taxonomy Anomaly Pencil on paper 16” x 16”
Kong Ho
Bethan McFadden
www.kongho.com
www.bethanmcfadden.com
Baerine L. Latex on canvas 24” x 30”
Trevor Kelley
www.trevorkelley.com Keiren Latex on canvas 30’’x 40’’
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Wisteria Watercolor 20” x 28”
Trumpet Vines Watercolor 20” x 28”
Alayne Abrahams
www.alayneabrahams.com
Winner of 2007 ARTV Muse Award in Drawing
Pink Moon Diva - Watercolor 14” X 20”
Ode to Burne Jones Watercolor 14” x 20”
Vermeer Revisited Watercolor 20” x 28” www.directart.org
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Recollection of a Dream Pen/Ink 39” x 60”
Joshua Allen Waszak
http://waszaksart.moonfruit.com Of Love and Blood Pen/Ink 7.75” x 19”
Door Knocker, Chromogenic Print, 16” x 24”
Ian Fishley
http://www.fishley.com Dry Okra, Chromogenic Print, 16” x 20”
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Construction on the Landscape of Life Mixed media on stacked canvas 24” x 36”
Deborah Jean Burdin www.djeanstudio.com www.directart.org
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Thinking Photography 40” x 28”
Manuella Muerner Marioni www.arte-manuella.ch fine@arte-manuella.ch
Into the Unknown 5” x 7” Bizbod paper clay ceramics cone 6 firing
Rachel Walton
Yuduvudu@gmail.com www.flickr.com/photos/yuduvudu
The Seedling: Divine Unity Oil on canvas 36” x 36”
Jessica LaPrade www.jessicalaprade.com
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Flying Into the Red Mixed media on canvas 60” x 48”
In Trunco 45” x 47”
Laura Buss
www.bussfineart.com
Bundles In life the physical body is the foremost manifestation of individuality. In death it becomes the property of the group. No one buries themselves. Ritualized burial secures the body into the social strata. The group confers upon it status, power, role, and story. Inspired by archaeology, these Bundles are paintings (oil and gold leaf) of burial, the point at which the body undergoes this transition.
Griffalcon 33” x 49”
Set the Clock You need to set the time follow these steps: For accurate, clock must be correctly. sleep timer sleep sleep
Warren Padula, from the Song of the Zombies: Janet Goleas and Dennis Oppenheim, 44” x 60”, www.wpadula.com
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www.ivankustura.com
Ivan Kustura
Thurston Belmer A Viewer’s Solace