Artist Portfolio Magazine Issue 17 - The North vs The South

artist

PORTFOLIO magazine

issue 17 ArtistPortfolioMagazine.com

artist

PORTFOLIO magazine publisher ben walker editor ingrid reeve ArtistPortfolioMagazine.com

Artist Portfolio Magazine was created by artists for artists.

It features artists from around the world, averages over 46,000 unique readers per issue and continues to grow. In 2013, we decided to start "zooming in" on communities, cities and regions around the world.

The North vs The South is our third issue that is “zooming in” on the regional art scenes of The Northern US and Southern US States. Choosing the art that came from these regions was a difficult task and we really like the choices we made for this special issue of Artist Portfolio Magazine.

Along with our regional art exhibition we are pleased to showcase selected art from MyArtContest.com’s 2014 Realism Art Exhibition.

Thank you to all the artists who participated in our various art exhibitions that are held throughout the year. Without you we would not exist.

Enjoy!

ArtistPortfolioMagazine.com MyArtContest.com

cover art Diana Synatzske

Zippo Fire Stoneware, 04 Glaze 23" x 14" x5" page 29

Copyright© 2014 Artist Portfolio Magazine All contents and images cannot be reproduced without written permission from artists. Artists in Artist Portfolio Magazine retain rights to their images.

CONTENTS

The South page 6

Realism page 48

The North page 66

Call for International Artists International Art Exhibition ArtistPortfolioMagazine.com DEADLINE: August 3, 2014

2014 Landscapes Art Exhibition MyArtContest.com Art Submission Dates: April 15, 2014 - July 15, 2014 We are pleased to announce an open call for Landscape Art. Open to all artists worldwide.

Landscapes are works of art that feature scenes of nature: mountains, lakes, gardens, rivers, etc. They can be oil paintings, watercolors, gauche, pastels, photographs, phone photos, digital art, etc ...

Landscape can also refer to: cityscapes - views of an urban setting urbanscape - same as cityscape seascapes - views of the ocean waterscapes - views primarily featuring fresh water

MyArtContest.com

Brian Somerville Nashville, TN claybeast.com claybeast@claybeast.com

Brian Somerville received his BFA from the University of Evansville in Indiana and an MFA from Florida Atlantic University. He has taught classes and workshops and worked as a commercial artist for a number of years.

Brian’s work consists primarily of sculptural animal figures that are built solid, hollowed, reassembled and then covered with images carved by hand.

His beasts are often entertaining, but carry important social, political and personal meanings. Brian is currently the artist in residence at OZ in Nashville, TN.

The Visionary ceramic, metal and epoxy 34”x 21”x 17”

The Darkness is Lighter Four Feet from a Spider - Ceramic - 24" x 22" x 22"

Barnstormer - Ceramic, Foam, Epoxy, Wood & Metal - 76.5" x 84" x 35"

Shell-Shocked - Ceramic, Foam, Epoxy, Wood & Metal - 36" x 13" x 25"

Julia Howell Summerville, SC juliakim9@hotmail.com Born and raised in Charleston SC, and now living and working in Summerville SC. Julia is a self-taught artist working with charcoal, pen, acrylic, oil, and on occasion found objects. Started drawing at the early age of 4 using art as an escape from traumatic events. Her work is based on inspirations from environmental, cultural, and political events as well as the simple beauty of everyday life. Not afraid of using color and, using color to display the emotional settings of her work, and how she has expresses the world around her. Some of her work is based on actual imagery from everyday life that grab her attention, and others are based on flights of fancy that occur spontaneously.

Screaming Dryer - Oil - 18" x 24"

Deaths Sacrifice - Oil - 60" x 40"

New Moon - Oil - 22" x 28"

Danger Acrylic 28" x 22"

Manns Aval San Diego, CA manssaval.com

Manss is an artist and long-time fine art photographer who works and resides in San Diego, California. Inspired by Nature’s patterns and textures his works transform inanimate objects into faces, designs and complete figures that present our environment in a different, more intimate perspective.

As primary medium he concentrates on photography, acrylic and oil on canvas, and mixed media techniques. Among his other interests are sculptures, video and film. He has a broad background in media, communications and the sciences (including a Ph.D.).

Manss’ work elucidates dreamscapes and the space postulated, but not yet evidenced by cosmology. String theory suggests individuals in one universe can have a counterpart in another universe sharing characteristics. These parallel universes may also intersect in time and space, facilitating travel between these bubbles. Through a juxtaposition of images his work captivates movements in time and space, creating enchanted sceneries with animals at center stage.

His Heron Dreams series orchestrates the grace, agility and elegance of these birds into evocative, dramatic, romantic, sometime surreal symphonies of pure natural beauty. His works levitate between fantasy and mysterious quantum space, leaving the viewer in meditative explorations of familiar memories, dreams and perhaps alien realities. In his recent Eden series, he presents seemingly futile avian attempts to evade environmental infernos of a disintegrating planet. The series Through the Looking Glass is an intriguing journey into a realm where imagination ostensibly morphs into reality. Are objects conventionally considered “inanimate” observing us, expressing their sorrow or delight? Manss takes clues from Nature's patterns and transform these into faces, designs and complete figures that present our environment in a different, more intimate perspective. As one art critic remarked, ’his work is characterized by a sense of impromptu and instinctive freedom’.

His fine art and photographic work has received many national and international awards. He has participated in juried shows at New York’s See and BWAC exhibitions, the Linus Gallery, Pasadena, CA, San Diego’s Lyceum Gallery, Museum of the Living Artist, William D. Cannon Art Gallery, Poway Center for the Performing Arts, Bonita Museum and Cultural Center, Rancho Santa Fe Art Gallery, La Jolla Art Gallery, the San Diego Fair Fine Art Show, Art above San Diego, many other national and international venues, including Florence, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Toronto and Merida. He is recipient of an International Fine Art Photography Award, 2013, and was selected by ArtBuzz 2014 Juried Fine Art Search, Photoshoot Oceans 2013, Four Points Contemporary, the William D. Cannon Art Gallery for the 2013 Juried Biennial Exhibition in Carlsbad, California, the 22 Annual Juried Exhibition of the Athenaeum Museum, San Diego, a solo exhibit at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts, the Rancho Santa Fe Art Gallery and Art San Diego 2013. nd

Polar Bird - Mixed Media - 26" x 26"

Tidal Wave - Oil on Canvas - 48" x 48"

Artic Volcano - Mixed Media - 48" x 40"

Tony Corbitt, Jr. Sarasota, FL selphroadstudios.com mailto:tonycorbittjr@gmail.com

Portrait of Gregor Oil on Linen Panel 5" x 7" Tony Corbitt Jr is a self-taught artist, living and working in Sarasota FL. His talent was recognized at an early age, placing “Best in Show” in every art contest he entered, often winning over children many years his senior. Corbitt’s family was very supportive of his passion and encouraged him to attend a magnet high school. Unfortunately, the art program emphasized abstract design over representational painting and he was never completely comfortable with abstract work.

“It was a bad direction for me. Everyone in my class was doing it and of course, I had to as well. It just ended up confusing me. It was never my voice.”

With no traditional training available and his finances preventing him from pursuing art school post graduation, he slowly grew disillusioned with the idea of fine art ever being a viable career choice.

“I gave it up upon graduating high school. I didn’t know what to do with my life. I got a job at a vet clinic and thought that was it. I was going to spend the rest of my days walking dogs.”

As much as he tried to ignore it, he kept finding himself drawing the animals he worked with. Over the years his pile of drawings grew and he soon found himself desiring to put his efforts to canvas.

“When I finally decided to get serious about art, in my mid twenties, I found myself struggling with oil paint until I started making Xerox copies of works by the Old Masters. I would come home from my day job exhausted and tediously copy numerous Velazquez portraits, note for note, brush stroke by brush stroke. Over time the tones and colors began to match more closely. It really helped train my eye and hand.”

In addition to “master copies,” Corbitt started life drawing daily, filling sketchbook after sketchbook with a multitude of subjects.

“Nothing seemed to escape my attention. I drew everything from the teeth-marks left on a horse stall wall, to a dead rat caught in a trap. Trees, boarding airplanes, people in bars, dogs and wheelbarrow tires… I drew everything!”

Inspired by the French masters of the late 19 Century, Corbitt favors the wet on wet approach of oil painting.

Emphasizing tonal relationships with broad sweeps of a loaded brush. He insists on painting from direct observation, as opposed to working from photographic reference. th

“I discovered that painting from direct observation is challenging and often unforgiving, but the sense of immediacy it endows a painting is invaluable. Working from the round creates an intimacy between the subject and myself. This personal connection is paramount, and I just can’t get that working from a photograph, isolated in a studio.”

His subjects are places close to his home, people he knows personally, or even the fish he catches on his Kayak in Sarasota.

“I can remember a quote by Toulouse-Lautrec’s grandmother, I’m probably butchering it, but she says ‘when my sons shoot a duck, they take a threefold pleasure in it: with their guns, their pencils, and their forks.’ This is how I live. I can’t seem to fully enjoy an experience unless I’m sketching it or breaking out the easel. I’m obsessed.”

Tony Corbitt continues to sell his original work through his website and avenues of social media. Proving to himself that fine art is indeed, a viable career.

Dakin Dairy Farm Oil on Canvas 16" x 20"

Sidewalk Fare - Oil on Canvas - 5" x 7"

The Bass - Oil on Canvas paper - 8" x 12"

LaĂŤtitia Lamalle-Donaghy Boca Raton, FL laetitiadonaghyphotography.com laetitiadonaghyphotography@gmail.com

LaĂŤtitia Lamalle-Donaghy is a multi-media fine artist. She is a photographer, painter, illustrator, graphic designer and visual communicator.

Born in France, she moved to the United States at the age of 15. She speaks French, English and Italian. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a focus in Photography, and a minor in Political Science from Florida Atlantic University.

A lot of her pieces explore the experience of looking more purposefully at an item or person, and her knowledge and manipulation of formal qualities allow the viewer to develop a deeper appreciation for her subjects. These same qualities show in her politically motivated piece Life on the Farm, a body of work that takes a critical look at the abusive practices that take place on factory farms. Her work has been featured in juried exhibitions and in printed media. While she enjoys creating aesthetically pleasing images, she also uses her medium as social commentary for awareness and toward the advancement of animal welfare. She lives and works in Boca Raton, FL.

Life on the Farm - A Commentary on the Brutality in Factory Farms. - Archival Inkjet Print - 16x20

Life on the Farm - A Commentary on the Brutality in Factory Farms. - Archival Inkjet Print - 16x20

Life on the Farm - A Commentary on the Brutality in Factory Farms. - Archival Inkjet Print - 16x20

Diana Synatzske www.dianasynatzske.com dianasynatzske@dianasynatzske.com Studio Curly Tail Panther Studio PO Box 1663 Stephenville, TX 76401

I grew up in middle class Texas where the culture welcomed smoking cigarettes, eating fried chicken on Sundays, and riding in cars without seat belts. My work revolves around certain truths and my experiences as a child. With my work I want to open a door into my personal narrative bringing all the wreckage that comes with it. My most personal feelings will be spelled out in the form of detail, surpassing substance in order for the viewer to experience the discourse. My sculptures, typically ceramic, tend to examine the corporeal and responsive connections associated with the object.

It is my identity of self.

Steamer Trunk - High Fire Stoneware, 04 Glaze - 11.5" x 17" x 10"

Zippo - High Fire Stoneware, 04 Glaze - 23" x 14" x5"

Chest of Drawers High Fire Stoneware, 04 Glaze 22" x 10" x 6"

Lunch Box - High Fire Stoneware, 04 Glaze - 15" x 17" x 8"

Judie Lee Mt. Dora, FL simplymodernart.com

Judie, a contemporary artist works in a myriad of mediums such as acrylic, mixed media, glass fusing, metal sculpture and recycled art. Her favorite remains acrylic. Intense riffs of color are harmoniously infused into a kaleidoscope of layers. Being self-taught and quite prolific, she stumbled onto painting in 2008. She likes to create large bodies of work and is currently working on a project called "Knockers and Daisies", paying homage to women over 40 is her inspiration.

She thinks women are powerful, emotionally charged and resilient Judie, was born in Ohio, lived in Seattle for many years and now resides in Mt. Dora, Florida.

Caitlin 2 - Acrylic on Wood Panel - 48" x 48"

Kerstin 1 - Acrylic on Wood Panel - 48" x 48"

Kate 1 - Acrylic on Wood Panel - 48" x 48"

Catlin 1 - Acrylic on Wood Panel - 48" x 48"

Cagney King Fortville, IN cagneyking.com cagneyk@yahoo.com King Studios: 2 West Main Street - #8 – Greenfield, IN. - 46140 Gallery Representation: Castle Fitzjohns Gallery, New York, NY My current work encompasses layer on layer of textures, and loose palettes designed to invite the viewer deep into the painting. I want to draw people in; then push them back. This push and pull with mediums and textures takes me on a journey of discovery with each painting. The journey is a path determined both by my desire to communicate the idea, and the paintings desire to exist in a certain energy and light. My desire is to communicate frozen moments in this otherwise inundated and de-sensitized world, causing people to want to stop, and open themselves up to feeling and experiencing that moment in their own context.

I am working constantly and experimenting endlessly to find the perfect mix of mediums and layered culminations to create my art. I currently utilize graphite, charcoal, sand, cement, spray enamel, acrylic, and oil to build up texture and emotion.

“I encourage EVERYONE to see the world as a painting! Look for colour, not criticism. Look for shapes and tone, not race. Look for beauty, not cynical distress. See the light out of all the dark. And above all, leave this place better than you found it.” -Cagney King

Lash Out Mixed Media on Canvas Charcoal, Acrylic, Spray Enamel and Oil 24" x 23"

Blow Me Mixed Media on Canvas Charcoal, Graphite, Acrylic, Spray Enamel, Oil Stick and Oil 36" x 48"

Extinct Mixed Media Graphite, Acrylic, Spray Enamel and Oil 30" x 48"

Silent Scream - Mixed Media on Canvas, Charcoal, Acrylic, Spray Enamel and Oil - 36" x 48"

Hayley Gaberlavage 2040 Magazine St New Orleans, LA 70130 404-840-3906 hayleygaberlavage.com studio@haleygaberlavage

In my paintings I contemporize the out-dated. A self-proclaimed vagabond of the Deep South, My sentiment for bygone attitudes depicts the vibrant slow-pace of Southern afternoons. My recent collection of figurative paintings, capture the complexity and vitality of the American South and the characters that live in New Orleans. Preferring turquoise blues, olive greens, muted tones and unfinished background surfaces, My technique allows time into the work, the acknowledgment of memory, which is imperfect, always unfinished, and congruous to the retro aesthetic and mood.

Rosemary - Acrylic on Canvas - 14" x 20"

Fieldman Acryic on Canvas 30" x 40"

Summer Swim Acrylic on Panel 24" x 24"

Gayle Acrylic on Panel 12" x 12"

Issa Abou-Issa Houma, LA issaart.com

I am NOT Related to the Planet of the Apes Collage 5" x 7"

opposite page >> Fuck the World Collage 11" x 9"

I'm Bringing Sexy Back Collage 12" x 9"

ArtistPortfolioMagazine.com

30" x 30" digital print on aluminum

Paul Pinzarrone pinzarrone.com paul@pinzarrone.com

KatieArminieArt.com

Upcycled Mason Designs

Surfboard Sculptures by

Douglas Cross dcross@oceanarrowhead.com OceanArrowhead.com

etsy.com/shop/UpcycledMasonDesigns

Image: AllisonFay_C_3-18-13--11AD

Dan McCormack Dan McCormack 13 Beehive Rd Accord, NY 12404 dan_mccormack@yahoo.com ulsterartistsonline.org/user/130

Phil Couture Kyoto, Japan philcouture.com mail@philcouture.com

Born in Quebec, Canada, raised in Central Florida, and currently residing in Kyoto, Japan, Phil Couture is a self-taught realist painter focusing his work on themes from the Far East. Exploring new cultures is a constant source of inspiration for Phil's work. "I enjoy painting and drawing what piques my interest, which usually includes visiting cultures from around the world." After moving with his wife from Florida to Japan in 2011, Phil became fascinated with Japanese figures and landscapes and continues to explore exotic and interesting themes. Aside from winning numerous awards, his paintings and drawings hang internationally in private collections.

Maiko Satohana Oil 53 x 33cm

Aki - Oil - 59 x 44cm

<< opposite page Ryouka Oil 12" x 9"

Junihitoe Oil on Linen 31" x 17"

Michael Dumas Lakehurst, Canada natureartists.com/dumasm.htm

Trade Goods - Oil - 6" x 8"

Mill Cloth - Oil - 6.75" x 7.25"

Dan Pyle West Hollywood, CA danpyleartist.com

Joyride - Charcoal with Pastels - 16" x 31"

Can Can - Charcoal - 16" x 20"

Michael Ward Costa Mesa, CA tmichaelward.com/michaelwardartist.htm

Consequences - Acrylic - 24" 30"

Holly Kavonic South Lake Tahoe, CA hollykavonic.com

Massai Mother and Child - Oil on Canvas - 18" x 24"

Craig Cossey Eaton Rapids, MI craigcossey.com

North River Garden Club - Acrylic - 26" x 19"

Gia Elisa Holderman League City, TX giaelisa.fineartstudioonline.com

Waiting - Oil - 22" x 28"

Ira Upin Philadelphia, PA iraupin.com

Impossible Burden - Oil on Panel - 36" x 36"

Mairin Egge North Wales, PA mairinegge.com

Yun Charm Leung Hong Kong leungyuncharm.hk

Whose Kids are They? No. 1 - Watercolor - 104 x 235 cm

Steve Ko Lewisville, TX stevekoartstudio.com

Someday - Oil on Canvas - 72" x 48"

Armin Mersmann Midland, MI arminmersmann.com

Study of Steve Parkhurst - Graphite - 32" x 32"

Peter Gough Novia Scotia, Canada petergough.ca

Running for Open Water - Acrylic on Canvas - 25" x 50"

Michael Benevenia

Michael Benevenia is an artist working out of North New Jersey. His work is predominately in steel and primarily interested in personally reflective, meditative Montclair, NJ forms. He received his BFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts, went to HoHokus School of Trades for Structural Plate Welding and worked for The Sculpture mbenevenia.com Foundation supervising installation and building of monumental metal sculpture. He mikebenevenia@gmail.com currently works out of his studio in Montclair, NJ and will be starting an MFA program at Maryland Institute College of Arts in the fall.

A More Perfect Union - Cast Gesso and Acrylic on Canvas - 30" x 30"

Paolo - Cast Gesso and Acrylic on Canvas - 48" x 26"

Terremoto - Cast Gesso and Acrylic on Canvas - 48" x 26"

Tartaros - Cast Gesso and Acrylic on Canvas - 50" x 40"

Ira Upin Philadelphia, PA iraupin.com

Ira Upin was born in Chicago in 1948 and grew up in the city and then the suburbs.

Probably, as has been the case with many artists, as a child he was given positive encouragement about what he did creatively. Whether it was true or not, at a young age if an adult tells a child he is good at something he tends to believe it.

He won a scholarship out of high school to the Minneapolis School of Art, but turned it down. Coming from a traditional suburban background, there was a strong influence to do something practical to make a living. Becoming an artist was not one of them. After going to 2 other universities he landed at the University of Illinois to study medical illustration, a logical choice, to put his meticulous drawing skills to use, illustrating medical and biological subject matter. Luckily he had a professor who encouraged his fine art possibilities and told him he could make a living by teaching art. By the time he entered graduate school on another scholarship at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore he didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to teach. He just wanted to make art. His mentor there was Grace Hartigan the abstract expressionist. With her influence and insights he became convinced of that choice. He graduated and received a Tiffany Foundation Fellowship that paid his living expenses for about a year as he embarked on his career as an artist.

Upin currently lives and works in Philadelphia, PA where he has resided since 1973.

Driven Oil on Panel 36" x 36"

Fat Cat - Oil on Panel - 36" x 36"

Zero Gravity - Oil on Panel - 36" x 36"

Police State - Oil on Panel - 72" x 72"

Britt Snyder Northborough, MA brittsnyder.com

Depth Oil on Panel 48" x 24"

Swim - Oil on Panel - 48" x 37"

Box - Oil on Panel - 24" x 27"

Tanya Gadbaw Potsdam, NY tanyagadbaw.com Tanyamg@mac.com

Tanya Gadbaw was born in Watertown, New York in 1983. She received her BFA from the State University of New York at Potsdam, NY in 2008 and her MFA at the Southern Illinois University of Carbondale, IL in 2011.

Gadbaw has exhibited in the US and abroad in solo and group exhibitions including shows at Lexington Art League LAL Loudoun House Gallery in Lexington, KY, Museo Regionale Di Scienze Naturali in Turin Italy and Zhou B. Art Center Chicago, IL. Her work has also been featured in The Popcorn Farm, a literary journal, and The Fresh Paint Magazine Issue III. Tanya Gadbaw lives and works in Potsdam, New York. You can find more work at www.TanyaGadbaw.com.

Transition of Memory Oil on Canvas 20" x 20"

Exploration of Bits and Pieces - Oil on Canvas - 14.5" x 16"

Memory of a Ceramony - Oil on Canvas

Hunting Season 1 Oil on Canvas 19" x 24"

Karli Henneman New York, NY karli-henneman.com karli@karli-henneman.com

Karli Henneman was born in Idaho. She spent her teenage years working internationally in the fashion industry, before attending Parsons and receiving her BFA in Fine Art. After graduating from school she created an art workshop for children in Rwanda, with Rwanda Works. Upon her arrival back to the United States, Karli relocated to San Francisco, where she spent several years before returning to New York to study art therapy at NYU. This element of her life merged art making along with her study of psychology. Karliâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current body of work embodies conceptual ideas of self-perception and identity. She pulls images from fashion magazines and vintage images from LIFE and collages them upon her abstract paintings. By deconstructing mass produced faces, she intends to create â&#x20AC;&#x153;masksâ&#x20AC;? for the viewer to find themselves in her work.

opposite page >>> With Myself Mixed Media 72" x 48"

Lonely, NY Mixed Media 40" x 30"

My Type - Mixed Media - 48" x 36"

Life and Worth - Mixed Media - 60" x 40"

Hildy Maze East Hampton, NY hildymaze.com hmaze@optonline.net

Hildy Maze was born in Brooklyn, NY,USA, educated at Pratt Institute studying graphic design. While at Pratt Hildy worked part time and after graduation full time at Push Pin Studios with Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast. She continued working with Milton Glaser Inc. while free-lancing as a graphic designer/illustrator doing three- dimensional assemblages and constructions. After several years of working commercially, she turned her attention to more personal work of painting and drawing in her loft in Tribeca, NYC. However.....

Hildy's genuine education began upon meeting Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist Meditation master.

Spending 10 years with Trungpa Rinpoche until his death in 1987 she studied and practiced Tibetan Buddhist meditation, Shambhala art and culture, Dharma Art, brush stroke meditation practice, Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging), all based on the mirror-like expansive wakeful nature of mind. Reflecting on the years with Trungpa Rinpoche and her ongoing meditation practice and study she absorbed and translated into her process and images what he transmitted, along with her personal experience of the recognition of the awakened nature of mind.

After 12 years of living in New York City Hildy moved to East Hampton, NY in 1984 to live and work in an environment she truly considers home, the ocean and bay. During the last several years Hildy Maze's work has involved simple paper. She says," paper has an organic environmental quality. It responds immediately to causes and conditions, is impermanent meaning it ages, becomes fragile, is affected by light yet will remain as those things we search for and cherish possibly in the attic or basement, an archeological site, or a memory.

Pedestal of Desire - Oil on Paper - 49" x 28"

Birth Moon Rises Over the Aires Point - Oil on Paper - 40" x 41"

Woven Into the Pattern of Path - Oil on Paper Collage - 31" x 38"

Not Two - Oil on Paper Collage - 38" x 48"

Jinwoo Lee Brooklyn, NY jinwooart.com leejinwoo7@gmail.com Studio 1014 Grand st #6 Brooklyn, NY 11206

Sister - Oil on Canvas - 20" x 23"

Birth - Oil on Canvas - 16" x 20"

History Portraits 1-06 - Oil on Canvas 8" x 10" << opposite page Birthday Oil on Canvas 16" x 20"

Mary Chiaramonte merrysee.com maryc@merrysee.com Richard J Demato Fine Arts Gallery, Sag Harbor NY

As a child, Mary Chiaramonte helped her family live simply and farm their land. She had no TV or other distractions, and was encouraged to entertain herself with objects in nature. Left with the workings of her imagination and observations of the world around her, she translated her understanding into paintings and drawings. She continues this practice today, taking much of her momentum from the people that surround and affect her. Hanging between darkness and light, Chiaramonteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s paintings offer a narrative that echoes a provocative daydream, communicating the human disposition and the mysteries therein. Her unending exploration surfaces in her paintings with an ambiguity that asks the viewer to wonder at our world as she does. Chiaramonte lives and works in Bon Air, VA.

The Fables - Acrylic on Wood - 24" x 36"

Coyote - Acrylic on Wood - 24" x 16"

Hex - Acrylic on Wood - 20" x 13"

Day Fade - Acrylic on Wood - 18" x 24"

Tess Barbato 70 Chiswick Road Apt 17, Boston, MA 02135 tessbarbato@gmail.com tessbarbato.com 631-804-0450

Tess Barbato is a young, 21st century American realist oil painter whose work is conceptually driven. She possesses a larger than life vision that results in incredibly detailed portrayals of the most mundane of objects.

Tess inherited her artistic sensibility from a long line of family artists. A lifelong struggle with dyslexia compelled her to use art as her preferred means of communication. And for Tess, communication has always been paramount. She is an artist with something to say, a master of delivery in the form of wry paradox.

She is currently working out of her in-house studio in Boston where she lives with her fiancee and two cats.

$20 - Oil on Canvas - 18" x 30"

$2.03 - Oil on Canvas - 28" x 30"

$4.20 - Oil on Canvas - 36" x 58"

$1.63 - Oil on Canvas - 38" x 36"

Alex Taveras Ozone Park, NY celesteprize.com/alex.taveras

I am a self-taught artist of Dominican American descent. These works of art depict my most innate primal feelings about the experiences of my life. I am inspired to create these works through intuitive visions I receive on a regular basis.

May it be a thought or an image that suddenly triggers something internally, directing me thoroughly and synchronistically without premeditation through my work. I simply follow my intuition and cut off my ego from the process .I use acrylic mixed with water, joint compound, plaster wrap, particle board, and found objects. Together I believe they create a synchronized symphony of textural peaks and valleys that create nuances that are only heightened by the addition of color, which I apply without using a brush. I create the work as a relief sculpture completely void of color using various sized spackle knives . Then when my vision is fully manifested sculpturally, I place the piece on the floor and proceed to paint pouring all colors in one sitting without a brush. I then let gravity take its course. The painting is most alive at this point because of the pooling of so much liquid the colors literally rub together to give off a gradation of line, color, form, and space. It creates what I believe is the perfect marriage of painting and sculpture.

My work may be steeped in tradition but I believe it is absolute in its uniqueness. I have created my own technique and rules, that I continually break and recreate pushing the limit further every time. My figuratively abstracted sculptural paintings will inevitably become audio and visual installations expanding farther and farther from its canvas encompassing all aspects of contemporary art. And in doing so, possibly creating a new archetype.

Sacrificio Mixed Media on Wood 243 x 213 x 12cm

La Llave Perdida - Mixed Media on Plywood - 121 x 91 x 8cm

Metaphysic Mixed Media on Wood 91 x 121 x 12cm

Valentina - Mixed Media - 121 x 205 x 12.7cm

ArtistPortfolioMagazine.com