Category: - Mapanare.us Constantly.Consuming.Culture.

Annely Juda Fine Art (London) Showed This Piece By Leon Kossoff

10/10/2013

Annely Juda Fine Art (London) showed this subtle, heavily textured work by Leon Kossoff. Kossoff is a British painter. He paints mostly images of London, his native city. He is still alive and kicking at the ripe old age of 87. He was once offered a CBE (Knighthood) and turned it down. He also doesn't generally do interviews (there is one on Youtube).

His work is expressive an while the colors are often, at first glance, subdued when you look closer you see so much color in the detail. His work is truly remarkable and has a look all its own.

I wish I had done a better job of photographing this piece and I expect the gallery had more of his work on hand. I apologize and recommend that you head to the gallery website to see more and better images of his work.

P.P.O.W. Showed Work By Carolee Schneemann, David Wojnarowicz and Julie Heffernan At Expo Chicago 2013

10/9/2013

Self Portrait as Catastrophic Failure by Julie Heffernan

New York's P.P.O.W. Gallery has noteworthy work by a variety of artists at every show they attend. Even if you just go to art shows as a spectator, not buying, not taking notes, theirs will be one you recall. This year's Expo Chicago was no exception.

You cannot get an idea of Julie Heffernan's painting from this photograph--it is five and a half feet square for one. But more than that the color doesn't translate.

David Wojnarowicz' Science Totem looks a lot more like itself in this image. The artist did several pieces like this but they are not his only work. P.P.O.W. represent the artist's estate.

Carolee Scheemann's paintings below are a little hard to get at via photos (in part because some of them are smaller pieces). The video, shaky handed as it is, may help.

Science Totem by David Wojnarowicz

Paintings by Carolee Schneemann

Tenebration

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery (New York) Had Works By Milton Avery, Hans Hoffman And Morris Graves At Expo Chicago 2013

10/9/2013

Pulsating Heart by Hans Hoffman

These pieces by Milton Avery, Hans Hoffman and Morris Graves were shown by Michael Rosenfeld Gallery (New York) at Expo Chicago 2013.

The gallery focuses on American artists from the 20th an 21st Century. The artists above are a pretty good list of American artists from the 20th Century. They have held over 160 exhibitions and published over 100 exhibition catalogs in their over two decades.

Of these pieces the Graves still-life most caught my eye and, since we've written in the past about Avery and Hoffman why not go on a little about Graves?

Graves was a native of Oregon. True the the wanderlust that seemed to grip the youth of the 20s he became a merchant sailor for years, then wandered the USA before, at least briefly, settling in Texas. He wound up in Seattle, then Ireland and finally Northern California.

Graves was a self-taught painter and it is vaguely amusing how the gallery website almost apologizes for this, as if it is impossible to be self-taught and be good. You need an MFA dammit! (ahh..New York!). His work was influenced by his travels, especially his eastern travels (and contact with eastern religions). The piece below has a certain Zen quality to it. In addition to the gallery website you can find out more about Graves HERE.

Mother's Boy by Milton Avery

Winter's Bouquet by Morris Graves

Hollis Taggart Gallery Showed Works By Alexander Calder, Theodoros Stamos And Sam Francis

10/9/2013

Greek Rug Mountain Laurel by Theodoros Stamos

These pieces were shown by Hollis Taggart Gallery (New York) at Expo Chicago 2013.

You should know Alexander Calder. He was a sculptor and painter whose unmistakeable works have become ubiquitous at art shows. Many galleries hold pieces by the prolific artist--and his work is popular now. The gallery has a great bio on the artist at their website.

No matter your level of art knowledge you will, if you visit museums, art shows, galleries, eventually run into artists you don't know . Sam Francis was a new artist to me as was Theodoros Stamos.

Francis is known for his color. Was he an abstract expressionist? Was he a color field artist? I really cannot say. Ask an art historian. The piece below seems more abstract expressionist but, really, how much does what "school" an artist belonged to matter? Did it matter to them?

Ringmaster and Horse By Alexander Calder

Untitled by Sam Francis

McCormick Gallery (Chicago)/Vallarino Fine Art (NYC) Showed Work By Norman Bluhm And Benny Andrews At Expo Chicago 2013

10/8/2013

Hell's Bell by Norman Bluhm

McCormick Gallery (Chicago) and Vallarino Fine Art (New York) showed these two pieces by Norman Bluhm and Benny Andrews.

Bluhm was a Chicago native who studied architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology (at a very young age). He later served as a bomber pilot and, following his service he studied art in Europe. He is considered a major American abstract painter.

Andrews, born in Georgia, had sharecropper parents who encouraged his creativity. He wound up attending the Art Institute of Chicago and later moved to New York City. He often painted groups of paintings on a single theme.

Untitled (Still Life) by Benny Andrews

Jonathan Boos (New York) Showed Pieces By Milton Avery, Oscar F. Bluemner And Charles White At Expo Chicago 2013

10/8/2013

Fisherman and Wife by Milton Avery

Jonathan Boos (New York) showed work by a number of notable artists at Expo Chicago. These included: Milton Avery, Oscar F. Blummer and Charles White.

All three of these are notable American artists (of quite different styles obviously). Avery, a native of New York state, was a member of the Art Students League of New York. It is telling how many wonderful artists have roots in this school, especially from Avery's era.

And Avery's work is both figurative and abstract. He is one of the early abstract painters in the USA. When we think of "abstract" we often think of works that are not representing reality at all but that is, of course, not always the case.

There are several distinct periods in the artist's work. A good place to find out more is at the MoMa website.

Pagoda (Red Tank West Quincy) by Oscar F. Bluemner

Oh, Mary, Don't You Weep by Charles White

Ricco/Maresca Gallery (New York) Showed Work By Martin Ramirez At Expo Chicago 2013

10/8/2013

Untitled (Caballero in Red Shirt No. 2)

by Martin Ramirez

Martín Ramírez' estate is represented by Ricco/Maresca Gallery (New York). His drawings were often created in one of the hospitals the artist was committed to after being found, disoriented, in the streets of California.

A native of Mexico Ramírez moved to the USA in 1925. His is a common story; he came here to try to support his family back home. While here he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He spent the rest of his life in various institutions. Some of his pieces are vast in scale, he pieced them together on the floor of his hospital room.

His story, in addition to being the story of an immigrant, is also one that shows how much someone with a mental disorder can offer society. Many critics and scholars consider him one of the greatest and most innovative artists of the 20th Century.

Untitled (Train and Tunnel) by Martin Ramirez

Marianne Boesky Gallery (New York) Showed Work By Salvatore Scarpitta At Expo Chicago 2013

10/8/2013

Marianne Boesky Gallery (New York) showed this pieve by the late Salvatore Scarpitta at Expo Chicago 2013. Scarpitta was born in New York in 1919. His work is held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Los Angeles County Museum, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, The Whitney Museum of Art and many others. He was also the subject of 10 solo shows at Castelli Gallery in NYC.

Scarpitta is best known for his sculptures, although born in New York City he grew up in Los Angeles. He is an interesting character. He served during World War II recovering art stolen by the Nazis (I wonder if he is a character in the new George Clooney movie?), remained behind as an artist in Italy and was a race car driver.

His work often used found objects and, unsurprisingly, often hat a motor car theme.

More Cuban Artists Via Cernuda Arte At Expo Chicago 2013

10/7/2013

Guardian del Paraiso by Wilfredo Lam

If you are in the market for Cuban art you should head to any show Cernuda Arte (Coral Gables, Florida) participates in early. There always seem to be an inordinate number of little stickers next to their artist's pieces. This is true both of the rather pricey Cuban masters and the emerging artists the gallery also supports.

Shown here are works by Wilfredo Lam, Gina Pellón, Lilian García-Roig, Manuel Mendive and Vicente Hernández . All of these are artists we've mentioned before at various shows at the gallery or as part of Art Week in Miami.

Paintings by Gina Pellón

Sugar Maple by Lilian Garcia-Roig

Paintings by Manuel Mendive

Bujamey de las Nubes by Vicente Hernández

Massimo De Carlo (Milan/London) At Expo Chicago 2013

10/7/2013

Massino De Carlo Galleries have locations in Milan and London. The Milan location opened in 1987 and the London followed in 2009.

I cleverly neglected to get the names of the artists or the pieces shown here.

But I felt that, nonetheless, I should show pieces from the gallery. You can go peruse their websites (linked above) if you have an unquenchable curiosity. It is a good thing to do in any case as they represent a number of impressive artists.