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

Harper's Books (New York / East Hampton) Showed Work By Marcus Brutus at Expo Chicago 2019

9/25/2019

Harper's Books (New York / East Hampton) showed work by Marcus Brutus at Expo Chicago 2019.

Brutus, from Maryland, is a self taught artist (an oft underrepresented group at art fairs). He lives and works outside Washington DC. Brutus studied science at St. Johns University and worked in the fashion industry. His first solo exhibit, The Uhmericans, opened September 12, 2019 at Harper's Books. You can seem more HERE.

His pieces are personal and historic (the reference to one of Africa's best film directors below is an example). They are realistic but not photographic, instead presenting stylized portraits.

Jim Dine Showed "Jim's Head With Branches" Via Richard Gray Gallery ( ) As Part Of In/Situ At Expo Chicago 2019

9/23/2019

Jim Dine showed Jim Dine's Head with Branches via Richard Gray Gallery (Chicago / New York ) as part of In/Situ at Expo Chicago 2019.

Art aficionados know Dine as a print maker and a painter but he is, obviously given the above photo, a sculptor as well. He is almost David Hockney in the rage of media and styles he works in.

Miguel Florido Was One Of Many Cuban Artists Shown By Cernuda Arte (Coral Gables) At Expo Chicago 2019

9/22/2019

Umbral

Miguel Florido was one of many Cuban artists shown by Cernuda Arte (Coral Gables) at Expo Chicago 2019.

Florido's work often employs what looks like a single color but if you tried to count all the different shades of green in Our Love Flows (below) you would be at it for weeks. There is a lushness to these works, a depth that draws you in. At first a sense of simplicity and then, as you observe, motion, light and life.

Even Umbral (Threshold), the flag piece to the left here, isn't as simple as it seems, there are cracks and distortions in the flag, almost a weariness (if that doesn't sound strange).

El Amor Fluye and Mi Alter Ego

Lena Henke Shown As Part Of In/Situ Program At Expo Chicago 2019

9/22/2019

Lena Henke shown as part of In/Situ program at Expo Chicago 2019.

These pieces by Henke are only part of the work being shown here as part of In/Situ. Die Kommenden II is a piece from 2018 that consists of a series of characters in the form of purple rubber masks. They were originally the protagonists in a comic strip.

See more from the artist HERE.

Anila Quayyum Agha's Work Shown By Sundaram Tagore Gallery At Expo Chicago 2019

9/21/2019

Anila Quayyum Agha's Work shown by Sundaram Tagore Gallery (New York, Singapore, Hong Kong) At Expo Chicago 2019.

Agha, a Pakistani-American artist, examines global politics, mass media, cultural identity and gender identity in her stunning multi-media pieces.

The piece below, Shimmering Mirage, is lacquered steel and a halogen bulb. It projects a pattern on the walls, the floor. It is a unique, eye catching, yet at the same time, subtle piece.

You can see more from the artist at anilaagha.com.

Wexler Gallery (Philadelphia / New York) Showed Work By Roberto Lugo At Expo Chicago 2019

9/21/2019

Melting Pot (II)

Wexler Gallery (Philadelphia / New York) showed work by Roberto Lugo at Expo Chicago 2019.

Lugo is a unique talent, a potter, a spoken word poet, a grafitti artist and a social activist. Each piece here is a comment on the struggles of black and Latino communities. This series specifically deals with the plague of gun violence which is disproportionately felt in these communities.

Lugo makes his point via the tea pot. Each pot has an image of a black or Latino Civil Rights leaders or cultural icons. The aristocratic association of the teapot juxtaposed against the image of these leaders is also mixed with pieces of firearms, rendering both pot and gun unusable.

Find out more about the artist at robertolugostudio.com.

Mary Abbott's "Red Aries" Shown At Expo Chicago 2019 By McCormick Gallery (Chicago)

9/21/2019

Mary Abbott's Red Aries shown at Expo Chicago 2019 by McCormick Gallery (Chicago).

Abbott was another woman who was part of the New York School of abstract expressionists. Just in this year's Expo Chicago there have been numerous female artists from (or connected to) the New York School. Many are well-known and prominent--now.

They had a much harder time than it seems like from our current perspective. A fascinating piece on this can be found at Ideelart (some of this piece can be disagreed with but it is, nonetheless, fascinating)

Abbot, who passed away earlier in 2019, often used brighter colors than this piece. She was a lifelong devotee of abstraction and did live to see her work recognized, although not on the level of her male counterparts. She is an artist who should have been better known in her time.

Fort Gansevoort (New York) Showed Work By Micheangelo Lovelace At Expo Chicago 2019

9/21/2019

Late Night Rendezvous

Fort Gansevoort (New York) showed work by Michelangelo Lovelace at Expo Chicago 2019.

Lovelace was born, lives and works in Cleveland. He has been exhibiting since the early 1990s.

The pieces at Expo were nigh time urban landscapes, paintings loaded with meaning both direct and subtle. There is also history here. These pieces are made from history. You can look at them over and over and each time you will find something new.

Life After Dark

Alan Koppel Gallery (Chicago) Showed Work By June Leaf At Expo Chicago 2019

9/21/2019

Scroll with Figures (Family on aRaft)

Alan Koppel Gallery (Chicago) showed work by June Leaf at Expo Chicago 2019.

Leaf, from Chicago but living in New York City, creates abstract paintings with a story. These pieces are another part of the artist's work, kinetic sculptures. The pieces here fall into that category. The scroll obviously suggests motion (and may, be capable of motion).

Leaf was born in 1929 and attended the Institute of Design (once known as the New Bauhaus) and later received a B.A. in Art Education from Roosevelt University and an M.A. from in Art Education at Institute of Design.

Scroll with Figures (Family on aRaft) and Glasses

Jane Lombard Gallery (New York) Showed Work By Sarah Dwyer And Elizabeth Schwaiger At Expo Chicago 2019

9/21/2019

Retador by Sarah Dwyer

Jane Lombard Gallery (New York) showed work by Sarah Dwyer and Elizabeth Schwaiger at Expo Chicago 2019.

Dwyer, born in Ireland, lives and works in London. Her work includes both figures and abstraction. If you look closely you can see areas in her work with extensive layers of paint while others show fabric. Retador, however, is watercolor, pastel and charcoal on paper. Caherdaniel Hoar Frost is oil and charcoal on linen. Different media but the same overarching style. Find out more HERE.

Schwaiger lives and works between Texas and New York. This piece, Po oil, ink, watercolor and pastel on canvas. There is something striking that calls to mind something Soviet in it. Not "Soviet" in the sense that it resembles art from that era but rather that its grey figures recall the actual figures of that time. They recall the grey reality rather than the fake ideal. This is, of course, an interpretation of the painting that likely has nothing to do with the artist's intention but it does tell you how thought provoking the work is; it tells a story to the viewer. Find out more HERE.

Caherdaniel Hoar Frost by Sarah Dwyer

Pool Crowd by Elizabeth Schwaiger