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4 NOW
Gilles Giuntini
Anahita Mekanik
Edmond Praybe
Carolyn Sheehan
clockwise from left: Carolyn Sheehan, Untitled, 2014, mixed media on paper, 48 x 32 inches
Gilles Giuntini, The Modesty of Claret Petacci, 2014, mixed materials, 34 x 38 x 24 inches
Anahita Mekanik, Deliverance, 2013, mixed media, 60 x 18 x 18 inches
Edmond Praybe, Evening Light, 2015, oil on panel, 12 x 16 inches
December 1 - 19
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 5, 3 - 5pm
First Street Gallery caps off the year with 4 Now,
an exciting new exhibition that celebrates the unique and dynamic
visions of four of its newest artists, Gilles Giuntini, Anahita Mekanik,
Edmond Praybe, and Carolyn Sheehan.
Gilles Giuntini fabricates
complex intimate narratives that reference both historical and personal
events. These carefully crafted pieces are at once seductive but beyond
reach. The viewer is drawn in, but kept at a distance. This physical
tension is at the core of each piece. Through irony and humor Giuntini
weaves disparate scenarios into something familiar...a world of paradox
and hypocrisy.
Anahita Mekanik
is a story-teller who speaks through the random objects that find their
way into her life. The more damaged, old and ordinary these are, the
more potent are the memory and message they carry. By giving a new soul
to these abandoned treasures, she participates in the universal ritual
of transformation.
Edmond Praybe makes
paintings that attempt to reevaluate perceptions of the environment he
inhabits while celebrating the union of observation, invention, and
memory. The works are literal explorations - made on-site or at least
partially so - as well as artist explorations, dealing with a variety of
attitudes concerning color, structure, scale, and narrative. Edmond
searches for broadly identifiable themes and feelings in the image,
while also depicting a specific sense of time and place in each piece.
Carolyn Sheehan
creates art works that are best described by color and images. She
combines creativity and imagination with emotions in every piece with
the sole purpose of not only creating an aesthetic that impacts the
feelings but causes pleasure as well. Every piece is worked like a
sculpture: three dimensional and take shape in a style in which the icon
is always the focal point.
For more info go to:http://www.firststreetgallery.org/exhibitions/2015-2016-season-archive/4-now-press-release/
Gallery Hours: 11 am - 6 pm, Tuesday through Saturday
526 West 26th Street, Suite 209, New York, New York 10001
646-336-8053 · 646-336-8054 (fax)
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Showing posts with label figurative. Show all posts
Showing posts with label figurative. Show all posts
Monday, November 30, 2015
Monday, November 2, 2015
Elizabeth O'Reilly at George Billis
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| Elizabeth O'Reilly, Window Reflections, oil on panel, 2015, 13 x 10 inches |
Elizabeth O’Reilly’s work is flat up close. The “economy of paint” makes for thin washes
of observed color and shapes laid on slick. The paint
is transparent oil, heavily diluted, and dry on the surface. The integrity of color, definitive use of
shape, and impeccable drawing makes these images transform at a short distance
to lush, colorful, deep spaces. The
interesting play of light, reflective surfaces, juxtaposed to deep open
windows, and brilliant use of white as color make this collection of intimate
paintings one of the best shows to see as a painter right now. The show closes November 14 so if you are a
painter get in there fast!
See more: http://www.georgebillis.com/elizabeth-oreilly.html
My personal favorite:
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| Elizabeth O'Reilly, Black House, Blairstown, oil on panel, 2014, 7.5 x 11.75 inches |
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Is First Street Figurative Gallery?
Is First Street Figurative Gallery?
"An artist-run gallery, First Street's
dual mission is to exhibit and promote the work of talented artists and to
provide the public with an opportunity to see and learn about contemporary art
in a more accessible milieu than that offered by commercial galleries. The
gallery remains focused on the presentation of art in the figurative tradition
but embraces a wide diversity of styles, media, and interpretations of
'figuration'."
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| Hans Hofmann's painting 'The Gate', 1959–60 |
What is Figuration/Figurative Art?
I just got an opening announcement/invite for a “figurative
show” and it was a show specifically for work rendering the human form. It got me thinking. “Figurative” is a word often misused by
gallerists and artists alike. The idea
that this word means art that has to do with the human figure is prevalent but
while art deriving from the human form is certainly figurative, not all
figurative work involves the human form.
Wikipedia defines figuration the same way First Street Gallery does:
"Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism,
describes artwork—particularly
paintings and sculptures—that is clearly derived from real object sources, and
are therefore by definition representational. "Figurative art"
is often defined in contrast to abstract
art:
Since the arrival of abstract art the term figurative has been used to
refer to any form of modern art that retains strong references to the real
world.[1]
Painting and sculpture can therefore be divided into the categories of
figurative, representational and abstract, although, strictly speaking, abstract
art is derived (or abstracted) from a figurative or other natural source.
However, "abstract" is sometimes used as a synonym for
non-representational art and non-objective art, i.e. art which has no
derivation from figures or objects.
Figurative art is not synonymous with "art that represents the human
figure," although human and animal figures are frequent subjects."
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| Still Life by Ruth Miller |
I speak for myself but my understanding with regards to FSG is that we are a gallery partaking in the figurative tradition but not exclusively so. It is all about the quality of the work and the individual behind it. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Why? I am interested having this discussion and getting as much input as possible on the subject. I think that this is the best forum for this kind of discussion and I am hoping to get some opinions. What are your two cents?
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| View from Smith College by Stanley Lewis |
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