Tides and Textures v1 by SPONDER GALLERY| BOCA RATON

TIDES & TEXTURES

At The Boca Raton Beach Club

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TIDES & TEXTURES

At The Boca Raton Beach Club

Andrew Blauschild Alex Katz

- Ruth Avra & Dana Kleinman

Kx2

Martiny Alessandro Puccinelli

Jonathan Smith

Patrick Tagoe Turkson

Donald

Andrew Blauschild (1971–2024)

A native of New York City, Andrew Blauschild began his photographic journey at the age of twelve, ultimately forging a singular vision rooted in both the urban landscape and the coastal rhythms of Long Island’s East End An avid surfer and lifelong observer of the sea, Blauschild developed a distinctive body of work that captures the raw beauty and communal spirit of New York’s surfing culture His lens offered a deeply personal yet universally resonant narrative of water, motion, and memory

Blauschild was the founder, creative director, and principal photographer of Kookbox Surfboards, a venture that emerged organically from his close relationships with professional surfers and his immersive documentation of their lives. His work is particularly noted for its use of dye sublimation printing, a technically rigorous and vivid process he learned under the mentorship of master printer Charles Griffin. This method allowed Blauschild to infuse his photographs with a saturated, almost cinematic quality that became a hallmark of his visual language

His acclaimed Ghostboard series and expansive seascapes have been featured in exhibitions across Connecticut, Montauk, and the Hamptons His photographs have also appeared in collaborations with major cultural and fashion institutions, including Ralph Lauren, Oscar de la Renta, The New York Times, and The New York Observer, and are held in numerous private collections

In the Fall of 2023, Blauschild was the subject of a major profile in The Surfer’s Journal titled Finding Andrew, which reflected on his thirty-year career and his deep, meditative connection to the ocean. The article stands as a lasting tribute to a life and practice shaped by salt, light, and artistic devotion.

ANDREW BLAUSCHILD

GHOSTBOARD #8

digital pigment print, 24 x 42 inches (paper) / 25 75 x 43 75 inches (framed)

Alex Katz (b. 1927, Brooklyn, NY)

Alex Katz is one of the most influential American artists of the postwar era, celebrated for his bold, reductive portraits and luminous landscapes Born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, Katz was deeply influenced by his Russian émigré parents and their passion for the arts He studied at The Cooper Union in Manhattan, followed by the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine where painting from life became central to his practice

Katz emerged in the 1950s New York art world alongside poets and painters of the second-generation New York School His signature style flat, vivid planes of color, cropped compositions, and cool emotional restraint distinguished him from both Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art, while engaging with elements of both. Beginning in the late 1950s, Katz expanded his practice into painted cutouts and shaped aluminum portraits that occupy real space, blurring the line between painting and sculpture

In the decades that followed, Katz explored themes of portraiture, nature, light, and movement across painting, printmaking, collage, and design His subjects range from intimate depictions of his wife and muse Ada to sweeping “environmental” landscapes and night scenes His process often begins with snapshots or iPhone photos that are cut and collaged into preparatory studies, from which large-scale paintings are realized

Katz has been the subject of more than 250 solo exhibitions worldwide, with major retrospectives at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Guggenheim Bilbao, and the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York His work is held in over 100 public collections, including MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate, and the Albertina. In 1996, the Colby College Museum of Art established the Paul J. Schupf Wing, dedicated to Katz’s work, underscoring his enduring legacy in contemporary art.

ALEX KATZ

LARGE BLACK HAT (ADA)

edition 4/25, 2013 Silkscreen on Saunders Waterford hot press 410 gsm paper, 62 x 58 in.

AKX2 (Artists Ruth Avra and Dana Kleinman)

KX2 is the collaborative moniker of artist-sisters Ruth Avra and Dana Kleinman, whose mathematically inspired sculptural works merge industrial materials with painterly surfaces Since forming their partnership in 2007, Avra and Kleinman have created a visually striking and conceptually nuanced body of work that explores geometry, symmetry, and human connection through the fusion of metalwork and abstract painting Their artistic dialogue is defined by balance between structure and fluidity, logic and emotion, nature and technology

From a distance, KX2’s works appear bold, minimalist, and architectural. Upon closer inspection, however, the viewer is drawn into the tactile surfaces of meticulously hand-sanded aluminum and the layered subtleties of acrylic and mixed-media painting. Each piece becomes a point of visual meditation, inviting a moment of pause in an increasingly overstimulated world The sisters view their collaborative practice as both an intellectual and emotional pursuit seeking to harmonize scientific precision with artistic intuition

While rooted in formal aesthetics, KX2’s recent work has embraced themes of ecological awareness and environmental fragility Through geometric abstraction and spatial interplay, the artists underscore the delicate balance of the natural world Their works act as visual reminders of our place within larger ecosystems, offering an aesthetic path toward reflection and environmental mindfulness

Since their debut as KX2, the artists have been featured in numerous exhibitions across North America and internationally. A defining moment in their career came in 2008, when they were invited to represent the United States at the prestigious Beijing Biennale held at the National Art Museum of China a milestone that established their presence on the global art stage. Their work has since been acquired by a range of private collectors, corporate clients, and public institutions

In addition to their conceptual and aesthetic commitments, KX2 maintains a strong ethos of environmental responsibility The artists incorporate up to 50% recycled aluminum in their metalwork and make use of reclaimed materials, including canvas, whenever possible reflecting a belief that sustainability and beauty can coexist within the artistic process

Avra and Kleinman currently reside in Southern Florida with their respective families, maintaining an active studio practice grounded in collaboration, experimentation, and shared vision Through their evolving body of work, KX2 continues to engage audiences with art that is both formally rigorous and spiritually restorative.

SAND DRIFT

2023 Repurposed industrial pipe with acrylic on wood, 20 elements, dimensions variable - each element has 10 5 inch diameter

KX2 RUTH AVRA & DANA KLEINMAN

ART MEETS BEACH CLUB ELEGANCE

For those seeking a destination where luxury and culture intersect, the Boca Raton Beach Club offers an unforgettable experience, one where art, nature, and hospitality converge in perfect harmony thanks to the careful curation of Sponder Gallery 21

line, and chromatic precision

The portrait’s serenity is not passive; rather, it holds space within the visual field, anchoring the exhibition through a poise that mirrors the Beach Club’s architectural clarity.

Juxtaposed with Katz’s minimalism is the materially dense 354 Yentsie Obiaa 1 by Ghanaian artist Patrick Tagoe-Turkson

Composed of found

At the heart of the installation is Large Black Hat (Ada) by Alex Katz a seminal example of the artist’s ongoing commitment to portraiture as both formal exercise and affective encounter Katz’s rendering of his wife, Ada, beneath a sweeping brim evokes the visual vocabulary of leisure while distilling his signature approach: the flattening of form, economy of

flip-flops meticulously assembled on suede, Turkson’s work transforms discarded remnants of global consumption into a monumental statement on sustainability and the African shoreline as both literal and metaphorical site The work resonates not only with the exhibition’s coastal theme but also with larger discourses of postcolonial materiality and ecological stewardship.

Jonathan Smith’s photographic series Falls introduces a meditative temporality to the curatorial ensemble

Towering chromogenic prints such as Falls #36 and Falls #46 render cascading water in hyper-detail, dissolving the boundary between documentation and abstraction These images harness the sublime through a modern lens, echoing 19thcentury romantic landscape photography while evoking a contemporary awareness of environmental fragility.

Alessandro Puccinelli’s Mare series further deepens this engagement with the oceanic sublime In works such as Mare

D351 and Mare 411, the sea is not merely depicted it is personified. Captured in shifting states of calm and tumult, Puccinelli’s seascapes blur the line between representation and introspection. His black-andwhite pigment prints conjure a space where natural force and interior emotionality become indistinguishable in the tradition of the Romantic sublime reinterpreted through a 21stcentury lens Andrew Blauschild’s Ghostboard photographs offer a distinct cultural inflection within the exhibition, drawing on surf iconography as both autobiographical and symbolic gesture

As noted by Cristin Longo, Registrar at Sponder Gallery, the curatorial intent is both thematic and experiential: to construct a narrative that reflects the specific environmental conditions of Boca Raton while inviting guests into contemplative aesthetic engagement

This fusion of site-specific resonance and curatorial cohesion transforms the Beach Club into a living gallery, where each work contributes to a collective meditation on place, material, and meaning

Importantly, the exhibition foregrounds sustainability and environmental consciousness not merely as thematic undercurrents, but as central ethical commitments Turkson’s repurposed materials, Puccinelli’s atmospheric seascapes, and Smith’s sublime waterfalls all compel the viewer to reconsider their relationship to the natural world one that is no longer passive, but participatory and accountable

In this sense, Tides & Textures elevates the Beach Club beyond its role as a site of leisure. It becomes, rather, a locus for cultural dialogue and artistic inquiry, a place where luxury is redefined not through opulence alone, but through intellectual and emotional richness The exhibition contributes to the evolving cultural identity of Boca Raton, offering a platform where global artists and local sensibilities converge

As guests wander through the property, they are not merely observers but participants in an unfolding narrative one in which art, environment, and human presence coalesce In its most profound moments, Tides & Textures offers what the best exhibitions aspire to provide: a space of reflection, wonder, and connection.

By Gabriel Diego Delgado

Donald Martiny (b. 1953, Schenectady, NY)

Donald Martiny is a contemporary American painter whose work transforms the immediacy of gesture into sculptural form Best known for his monumental brushstroke-inspired paintings made from water-based polymer and pigment on aluminum, Martiny applies his materials directly with his hands, bypassing brushes to create dynamic, large-scale compositions that exist somewhere between painting and relief sculpture His works appear to freeze motion in time bold arcs of color and texture that pulse with energy, rhythm, and physicality “Brushstrokes,” he notes, “are dances trapped in paintings ”

Educated at the School of Visual Arts, the Art Students League of New York, New York University, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Martiny developed a practice rooted in action painting and material experimentation. He works on the floor in a physically immersive process, manipulating pigment with gesture and precision, then mounting each work on aluminum to float slightly off the wall The result is a painted object that emphasizes both movement and mass, emotion and control

Martiny’s work has been exhibited in museums across the U S and Europe, including the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, the Cameron Art Museum in North Carolina, the Alden B Dow Museum of Art, and Falmouth Art Gallery in the UK His paintings are held in notable public collections such as the Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento), the Newcomb Art Museum at Tulane University (New Orleans), the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, the Lamborghini Museum in Bologna, Italy, and the Lobby of One World Trade Center, NYC

Now living and working in Connecticut, Martiny continues to push the boundaries of abstraction, exploring how scale, gesture, and material can communicate the primal force of the human touch.

Alessandro Puccinelli (b. 1969, Pisa, Italy)

Alessandro Puccinelli is a contemporary photographic artist whose practice is centered on an enduring and poetic engagement with the sea Working exclusively in photography, Puccinelli captures the vastness, mystery, and emotional resonance of water through a highly personal and evocative lens His images, often stark and monochromatic, are meditations on both the physical force of nature and its psychological parallels.

Puccinelli began his photographic journey assisting commercial photographers before establishing himself as an independent professional. Over time, photography evolved from a profession into a deeper form of self-expression, offering a means to document not only the external world but also internal emotional states His career has taken him to Marina di Pisa, Brisbane, Lisbon, and Portugal’s Alentejo region coastal landscapes that have continuously nourished and informed his practice Across these settings, Puccinelli developed an increasingly profound relationship with the ocean, which serves as both muse and metaphor throughout his body of work

His long-term series Mare, initiated in 2005, remains the cornerstone of Puccinelli’s oeuvre With careful precision and emotional clarity, Mare captures the sea in all its contradictions: serene yet volatile, timeless yet ever-changing From crashing swells and storm-churned waters to the quiet detritus washed up onshore, each image reflects the ocean’s grandeur, repetition, and unpredictability. In Puccinelli’s hands, the sea becomes a mirror of the human condition a source of intimacy, contemplation, and emotional turbulence.

For Puccinelli, this connection to water is not merely symbolic; it is biographical Childhood memories, the physical act of surfing, solitary walks along the coast, and a recurring longing for proximity to the sea all inform his work Like the Romantic painters of the 18th and 19th centuries who sought the sublime in nature, Puccinelli uses photography to articulate the ineffable to render visible the emotional forces that churn beneath the surface of contemporary life

While Mare continues as an ongoing and primarily black-and-white project, recent years have seen Puccinelli experiment more with color, extending his aesthetic vocabulary while remaining faithful to the thematic essence of the sea Parallel projects such as Furore, Identity Disruption, and Plastic Galaxy serve as conceptual extensions of Mare, diving into the sea’s environmental, psychological, and symbolic dimensions through innovative visual techniques.

Puccinelli’s work is represented by Sponder Gallery (Florida), Iris Gallery (Massachusetts), and Chroma Gallery (São Paulo) His photographs continue to captivate viewers across international audiences for their formal elegance, existential resonance, and ability to evoke the eternal, unknowable pull of the ocean

ALESSANDRO PUCCINELLI

MARE 411

edition of 3, 2019 Archival pigment print, 47.25 x 70.75 in. paper / 56 x 79 in framed

Jonathan Smith (b. 1978, United Kingdom)

Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY

Jonathan Smith is a British-born photographer known for his large-scale, immersive photographs that explore the silent majesty and transitory beauty of remote landscapes With a background in both fine art and documentary photography, Smith creates meticulously composed images that blur the boundary between visual journalism and poetic contemplation His work is a sustained inquiry into the enduring power of nature and the impermanence of the physical world

Smith holds a BA (Honors) in Fine Art from the University for the Creative Arts in Canterbury, UK, and completed a diploma in Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism at the International Center of Photography in New York (2000–2001). Early in his career, he worked closely with celebrated photographer Joel Meyerowitz, assisting in the production and printing of Meyerowitz’s work an experience that honed Smith’s sensitivity to both scale and detail

For more than 15 years, Smith has dedicated himself to photographing landscapes particularly those shaped by glacial, geological, or atmospheric forces His process is deliberate and immersive, often involving multiple visits to a single location in order to capture its essential character The resulting photographs, rendered in a refined and dreamlike color palette, are meditations on land, water, air, and time Locations such as the windswept edges of southern Patagonia or the icy terrains of northern Iceland have served as the stage for Smith’s quiet explorations of sublime isolation and environmental transformation

Smith’s imagery often excludes any sign of human presence, emphasizing the landscape’s autonomy and ancient rhythm. His works hover between realism and abstraction, inviting the viewer into liminal spaces where scale becomes ambiguous and time seems suspended. These vast photographic fields, printed in large format, evoke a visceral connection to place while offering a contemplative space for viewers to consider their own relationship with nature

His practice has earned recognition from numerous institutions Smith is the recipient of several awards, including the Hearst Biennial Award, the Magenta Foundation Award, the PDN Annual Award, and the Photography Book Now Blurb Award His work has been featured in notable publications such as The Smithsonian Magazine, The Royal Photographic Society Journal, PDN (Photo District News), and Art and Architecture

Through a lens of restraint, clarity, and reverence, Jonathan Smith continues to document the impermanence of the natural world elevating each landscape into a site of quiet revelation.

2024 Photograph, 50 x 90 in

JONATHAN SMITH

FALLS #36

JONATHAN SMITH

Ed of 3, 2024

Photograph, 70 x 56 in

FALLS #9

JPatrick Tagoe-Turkson

Lives and works in Takoradi, Ghana

Patrick Tagoe-Turkson is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice blends environmental consciousness with cultural reflection through an array of materials, forms, and conceptual approaches Based in Takoradi in Ghana’s Western Region, Tagoe-Turkson engages with themes of sustainability, ecological fragility, and community, producing works that span painting, installation, land art, and mixed-media assemblage

He holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, and has exhibited extensively across the globe. His work has been featured in over 100 exhibitions in countries including France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Canada, Germany, South Korea, Japan, China, Austria, Mexico, the United States, Senegal, Nigeria, Haiti, South Africa, Romania, and Hungary His art is held in notable public and private collections, including the Royal Ontario Museum (Canada) and the Casoria Contemporary Art Museum (Italy)

Deeply committed to the intersection of art and environmental advocacy, TagoeTurkson’s work frequently incorporates repurposed or natural materials sourced from local landscapes His practice often centers on site-responsive installations and projects that reflect a concern for ecological sustainability, traditional knowledge systems, and the resilience of communities affected by environmental change Through vibrant color, organic forms, and evocative surfaces, his artworks evoke both ancestral memory and urgent contemporary narratives.

Beyond his studio practice, Tagoe-Turkson is a key cultural leader and educator. He currently serves as a lecturer in painting at Takoradi Technical University, where he also curates the annual PaintSculp Art Jury and Exhibition, fostering emerging talent and dialogue within Ghana’s art ecosystem He is the founding director of Aesthete Ghana, a platform for organizing nature art workshops, residencies, and exhibitions that bring artists and communities together to explore sustainable creative practices He is an active member of several international land art and environmental art collectives, contributing to a growing global network of artists using creative means to address ecological challenges

Patrick Tagoe-Turkson’s work stands at the confluence of art, education, and environmental stewardship transforming discarded materials and forgotten traditions into resonant visual languages that speak to both local experience and global concerns

354 YENTSIE OBIAA 1

2023 Found Flip Flops on Suede, 143 x 56 in.

PATRICK TAGOE TURKSON