Blog Posts - Mapanare.us Constantly.Consuming.Culture.

The Hunt Gallery (Sandwich, UK) Showed Paintings By Michael John Hunt At Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019

4/12/2019

Six Places, Four Chairs

The Hunt Gallery (Sandwich, UK) showed paintings by Michael John Hunt at Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019. The gallery exclusively shows work by Hunt.

Looking at Hunt's paintings you may think "BFA from here, MFA from there, years studying with this and that noted artist in their studio." None of that is the case. Hunt, an English painter born in 1941, is totally self-taught.

Hunt's paintings are generally still life or landscape. The light in these paintings is remarkable (and photos do not do them justice). You get an actual sense of time of day, the heat, the direction of the sun. They are remarkable.

<.i>Colonnade

Dean Borghi Fine Art (New York) Showed Work By Frank Stella, Theodoros Stamos And Neil Williams At Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019

4/11/2019

Bonin Night Heron by Frank Stella

Dean Borghi Fine Art (New York) showed work by Frank Stella, Theodoros Stamos and Neil Williams at Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019.

Stella is a painter, sculptor and printmaker. Back in the 50s when Abstract Expressionism was all the rage? He went against the grain. His work, at the time was more minimalist. He also was noted for using house paint in his paintings, eschewing the "painterly." He is one of the most highly regarded living artists.

To read an interesting interview with Stella go to BOMB Magazine.

Stamos, born in New York, was an early Abstract Expressionist. His work, in the 1950s, was influenced by East Asian art (this includes the painting below). Unfortnately for Stamos he is more remembered for being involved in the defrauding of the Mark Rothko estate than his art. You can read more about him at the Phillips Collection website.

Williams was an abstract painter who often (but not in the piece below) worked with oddly shaped canvas. He was a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute. He exhibited in New York extensively during the 1960s and 70s. Much of his work is geometric in nature. Sadly he died young, at the age of 53.

Non-objective by Theodoros Stamos

Untitled by Neil Williams

LG Tripp Gallery (Philadelphia) Showed Work By Miriam Singer At Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019

4/11/2019

LG Tripp Gallery (Philadelphia) showed work by Miriam Singer at Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019.

Singer's work is based on her recollections of Philadelphia. She works, from memory, then turns the piece into a work of imagination. The pieces are colorful, joyful and fun to try to figure out WHERE the artist was thinking of for a particular work.

These pieces are multi-media (markers, pencil, glue, printing etc). The layering is complex. You can see more work by clicking on the gallery link above.

Seraphin Gallery (Philadelphia) Showed Work By Arman And Phillip Adams at Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019

4/11/2019

Untitled by Arman

Seraphin Gallery (Philadelphia) showed work by Arman and Phillip Adams at Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019.

Arman's piece is a broke violin cast in polyester resin. The artist is associated with the New Realist movement. He started as an abstract painter but, in short order, began working in sculpture. There are often broken, hacked and smashed objects in his sculpture.

Adams attended the University of Georgia (BFA) and University of Pennsylvania (MFA). He lives in Philadelphia. This meticulous piece is oil and graphite on panel. The hyper-realism of most of this work contrasts with the one out of place feature. A number of his pieces use a similar construct. Whatever the artist's intent it gives the viewer an opportunity to create reasons, create stories around the piece. It can be made personal.

Origins by Phillip Adams

Trident Gallery (Gloucester, MA) Showed Work By The Late Zygmund Jankowski At Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019

4/10/2019

Trident Gallery (Gloucester, MA) showed work by the late Zygmund Jankowski at Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019.

Jankowski, from Indiana, was a commercial artist by day and a serious artist by night. This, of course, isn't accurate because commercial art is serious art. Fine artists want to sell their work just like commercial artists. The divide is not such a vast chasm.

Regardless, in the early 1970s, he moved to Gloucester, Massachusetts and worked full time on his fine art. You may seem other paintings by him that are sort of impressionistic landscapes, many using earthy colors, browns and dark oranges. Apparently his later work became brighter in color.

I confess that I am not 100 percent sure the piece below is BY the artist. You can see more at the gallery site linked above and at the site of the Cape Ann Museum.

Stanek Gallery (Philadelphia) Showed Work By Francis Di Fronzo At Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019

4/10/2019

Stanek Gallery (Philadelphia) showed work by Francis Di Fronzo at Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019.

Di Fronzo holds a BFA from the University of California (Fullerton) and moved east to study at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts where he earned an MFA. He was also the recipient, in 2004, of the Pew Fellowship in the Arts. The artist lives in California. See more HERE.

There is something lonesome about the work. Empty, unmoving trains or train crossings are often featured. Other subjects include seemingly deserted buildings and airplances. All are bathed in a soft light. They are realistic but at the same time so "painterly." These works are also, for lack of a better way of putting it, quite American.

Grenning Gallery (Sag Harbor, NY) Showed Work By Ben Fenske At Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019

4/10/2019

Red Shirt by Ben Fenske

Grenning Gallery (Sag Harbor, NY) showed work by Ben Fenske at Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019.

Fenske is from Minnesota and has lived and worked in both Sag Harbor and Florence, Italy. The color in his work calls to mind the Impressionists but there are some stylistic elements that seem almost classical. The use of perspective suggests otherwise.

JSF Contemporary (Philadelphia) Showed Work By Thomas G. Brady At Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019

4/6/2019

JSF Contemporary (Philadelphia) showed work by Thomas G. Brady at Philadelphia Fine Art 2019.

Brady is the primary focus of the gallery. The work is expressive and colorful ranging from landscapes to wild, sometimes vaguely disturbing human figures (well, SOME of them are vaguely disturbing).

The landscapes seem to use an economy of brush strokes to create living, deep vistas.

Merritt Gallery (Haverford, PA) Showed Work By Hunt Slonem At Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019

4/5/2019

Merrit Gallery (Haverford, PA) showed work by Hunt Slonem at Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019.

Attendees at various art fairs around the USA (perhaps abroad too) may be familiar with Slonem's pireces depicting rabbits and parrots.

Slonem was born in Maine and he is a painter, printmaker and sculptor. He apparently has some of the subjects of his work on hand; he has an aviary of tropical birds. Not sure if he has rabbits or butterflies as well.

Visit huntslonem.com for more information .

Sky Rocket

Isabelle De Joantho Showed Work At Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019 Via Carre De Artistes (Philadelphia)

4/5/2019

Des Mesures

Isabelle de Joantho showed work at Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019 via Carré d’artistes (Philadelphia). The artist was born in Montreuil (just outside Paris).

She mixes figures (often dresses with no occupant) and abstraction. Likewise she mixes paint, ink and objects in here pieces. Her work is thoughtful and , indeed, literary in its scope.

The best art is often a piece that has a story or inspires the viewer to make up their own story. This piece is mortar, metal, acrylic and found objects on canvas.