Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Mid-Year Exhibition at the National Academy



My painting "Elliott 2" (acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40 inches) will be exhibited at the National Academy of Design through February 2, 2016.

The portrait combines grisaille and color applied in the expressionist manner, partly inspired by these paintings by Willem de Kooning, Frank Auerbach and Paul Wright.

The model Elliott Ortiz is a Venezuelan dancer and choreographer who is a resident artist at Art Space PS109, in New York City.

I hope that you can attend the opening reception tonight from 6:00-8:00 pm, or otherwise see the show if you are in the upper east side of Manhattan.

Mid-Year Exhibition
December 14, 2016 to February 2, 2017
National Academy of Design
5 East 89th Street
New York, NY

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Louis Ebarb at Heights Cafe, Brooklyn



My friend Louis Ebarb is exhibiting some paintings at the Heights Cafe in Brooklyn Heights.

Louis was born in Brooklyn, studied at Pratt Institute, and paints scenes of daily life in Brooklyn in a realist style inspired by the Ashcan School.

Louis has exhibited at the Surmrit Gallery, Jersey City NJ, Fraga Gallery, New Orleans, LA, the Belanthi Gallery, Brooklyn NY, the Temple Gallery, Vails Gate, NY; the Brooklyn Waterfront Artist Coalition's Pier Shows I, II and III and the State University of New York's Victory Arts Gallery, Saint Francis College, Brooklyn, NY, The New York Mercantile Exchange, New York Law School and many other venues.

Here are a few of his oil paintings on display at the Heights Cafe.I do hope you can see this wonderful show if you are in the neighborhood.




Sunday, November 6, 2016

John 5


I recently completed a portrait, John 5, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40 inches.

I've painted John a few times before: 1, 2, 3, 4. This painting turned out to be fairly realistic with a limited palette, though I did explore glitch and pixelation during my process.

Here are some progress shots over four 3-hour sessions:


Thursday, September 8, 2016

Dea 5


Here are some photos of Dea 5 installed in a collector's home in the Upper West Side, New York City. I have written about the painting previously, and it remains one of my favorite pieces.


Monday, August 29, 2016

Amiel Weisfogel

My friend Amiel Weisfogel is showing a selection of his paintings at Rex in Hell's Kitchen, 864 10th Avenue (between 56th and 57th Streets), New York City.

I hope you can drop by if you're in the neighborhood!

Monday, July 4, 2016

Crystal and Rosanna 2

I recently completed two paintings - Crystal and Rosanna 2 - both 30 x 30 inches, acrylic on canvas.

These paintings have a decidedly pop feel with bright primary colors. I'm not sure why I went in this direction - there is glitch, for sure, but the 70s vibe is new to me. Lately, I've been looking at Andy Warhol, Chuck Close, and Mickalene Thomas, so perhaps their hard-edged, and purely American, aesthetic made its way into these paintings.

Thanks for checking in and have a Happy 4th of July!

Crystal

Rosanna 2

Monday, June 27, 2016

Gerhard Richter

Here's a video and a few photos from Gerhard Richter's recent show at the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York City. 

Such a dazzling exhibit - I never thought that his abstractions would work so well on a smaller scale. The colors were incredible and would be a valuable reference for any artist.







Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Creative Mischief 2016

 

My portrait Christophe 3 will be exhibited at the National Academy's annual Creative Mischief event starting tomorrow in NYC:

The 5th Annual Creative Mischief Exhibition
National Academy Museum
1083 Fifth Avenue, New York City
Opening Reception: Wednesday, May 18, 2016, 6:00 – 9:00 pm
Exhibition Dates: May 19-29, 2016
Gallery Hours (for Creative Mischief only):
Monday – Sunday 11 AM – 6 PM

Christophe 3 was part of my series of larger than life-sized head studies (24 x 30 inches, acrylic on canvas). I started the painting with skin tones but gradually covered it in red, in part because I wanted to try another monochrome like Raven 6, but in a different hue.

I hoped to achieve vibrance and push-pull dimensionality using variations on a single color. I used a warm red (orange) against a cool red (pink), with blue-gray shadows to anchor the lights. I also kept the brush strokes free and facial features loosely defined in order to preserve the abstract quality of the image.

It's a bit of a riff on Freud and Auerbach but in terms of contemporary portraiture, I was perhaps thinking of Cian McLoughlin, Edwige Fouvry, and Andrew Salgado.

I enjoyed painting Christophe 3, which ended up decidedly un-classical in technique and spirit. I'm happy that the National Academy chose it for its exhibition.

Here are some progress shots over four 3-hour sessions:


UPDATE:

Here's a selection paintings from the second floor of the National Academy Museum on the last day of the Creative Mischief exhibit.

So sad this beautiful building, the former Huntington Mansion. will be sold after the show closes. It's the end of an era, but hopefully not the end of the National Academy School, founded in 1825 and among the most prominent art schools in the nation.

Monday, May 9, 2016

"Light Breeze" by ChiFung Wong

My good friend Matthew (ChiFung) Wong is exhibiting some beautiful flower paintings at Resobox in Queens, NY.

ChiFung's works feature refined botanical designs over gold or silver backgrounds. inspired by Isson Tanaka, a Japanese Nihonga artist from the Shōwa period. If you're in the area, I hope you'll have a chance to see this inspiring blend of modern and traditional Japanese aesthetics.

Details:

Light Breeze, Flowers for Fortitude: A Collection by ChiFung Wong
May 2 – June 7, 2016
Resobox
41-26 27th Street
Long Island City, New York

Biography:

ChiFung Wong was born in Macau, China and educated in Japan. He received his Ph.D in Fine Art at Kyushu Sangyo University Japan in 2006 and a certificate at National Academy School of Fine Art in 2013. After becoming a graduate research assistant and lecturer at K.S. University, Department of Fine Art, Faculty of Fine Arts in 2003 for 4 years, ChiFung traveled to New York and became a Sumi-E painting lecturer here at Resobox in 2014. He has exhibited his artworks in Japan, the United States, Britain and Australia.


Here's a video from the opening reception:



UPDATE:

Selected paintings by ChiFung Wong are now available in Manhattan's Upper West Side at:

Jimmy's Custom Framing
2204 Broadway
New York, NY 10024
212) 799-6535

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Two New Paintings

I recently completed two large paintings, Elliott and Dea 5, both acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 inches.



In contrast to the loose brushwork of Freddy 3 and Christophe 3, for these new paintings I focused on unbroken lines, sharp edges, and simple color themes.

These works seem a lot less experimental than my previous efforts, but I was trying out some ideas on push-pull spatial effects (Hofmann), optical mixing (Seurat), and synesthesia (Kandinsky). In addition, I've been looking at portraits by Warhol and Alex Katz and thought it might be fun to emulate their bold, in-your-face graphic style.

This process required more premeditation - i.e. nailing the drawing in the first session, rather than letting it emerge organically.through repeated sittings from the model. In some ways I appreciated the lack of indecisiveness, but I also missed the intuitive breakthroughs that can sometimes happen when you're not really sure of what your final image is supposed to look like.

I'm currently working on a new portrait, which can go either hard-edged or less so. Let's see where it takes me.

Update:

 Here are photos of both works in collectors' apartments:


Friday, March 4, 2016

Twitter Art Exhibit NYC

My small painting "Male Head Study" (watercolor and gouache on paper) will be included in the Twitter Art Exhibit in NYC:

Trygve Lie Gallery
317 East 52nd Street
New York, NY 10022
March 31 to April 21, 2016
Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 11-6, Friday 12-6, Saturday 12-5

The show will feature over 1,000 artists from 35 countries. All postcard-sized artworks are priced at $35 and will benefit the Handmade Program at Foster Pride in New York City. I hope you'll have a chance to drop by and support this worthy cause.


UPDATE: The reception was a great success. Thanks to Tom Alm for acquiring my submission! Here's a photo of his purchases framed on his wall:


I'm also pleased to add these works to my collection.

Daniil Belov (Moscow)

Jerry Shawback (Los Angeles)

Here's a video from the opening night:


The 2017 Twitter Art Exhibit will take place at Stratford-upon-Avon, UK. Details will be announced later this year.

Monday, February 8, 2016

"Gods and Godesses" by Carol Berman


My good friend Carol Berman is having a solo exhibition at the Producer's Club, 358 West 44th Street, New York City.

Carol is a practicing psychiatrist whose paintings explore the unconscious, and mythology in particular. Carol's show was organized by the International Women Artists' Salon and will be on view for the entire month of February.

Here's a preview:



More images here.

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

New Photography 4

Here are some new photos on Instagram, featuring fall/winter scenes and urban photography. Like my previous posts (1, 2, and 3) I used my iPhone and the Aviary app for quick touch-ups.