Fine Art Magazine - Winter 2012/2013

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AN INTERNATIONAL COLLECTION OF ART FAIRS • GALLERIES • MUSEUMS • ARTISTS & MORE

FINE ART MAGAZINE • WINTER 2012/2013 • FEATURING CHARLES CARSON, MUSEUM MASTERS INTERNATIONAL, ETHEL KENNEDY, ARTISTS, ART FAIRS & MORE

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NATALYA NESTEROVA: CHRISTIANITY? JUDAISM? December 12, 2012 - January 12, 2013

Natalya Nesterova, LAST SUPPER, 2008, oil on canvas, 60 x 90 in.

ALEXANDRE GERTSMAN CONTEMPORARY ART 652 Broadway, Floor 2, New York NY 10012 Tel 646.344.1325 By appointment only

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Specializing in Contemporary Russian Art

DECEMBER 2012 • VOL. 37 No. I

Rudik Petrosyan, Page 39

Circa Something’s Bob Baker, Page 34 Victoria Moore, Page 3 Irina Kasperskaya, Page 36

Alexandre Gertsman, Page 6

Charles Carson’s creative genius Page 10

Alina Cho, Hamptons Film Festival Page 2

Museum of Russian Art, page 32

Michel Boutbard, Page 46

founded in 1975

PUBLISHER JAMIE ELLIN FORBES NYC Contemporary Art Fair Page 49

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Fine Art Editor-in-Chief Victor Forbes with artist Anne Bachelier at CFM Gallery, NYC at booksigning/opening of Anne’s new Poe book, Page 63

SPECIAL THANKS CHRISTINA COX, CHARLES CARSON, STEPHANE CARSON, HAIG PRINTING, RICHARD ROTHBARD, MARGO GRANT, MARILYN GOLDBERG, Dr. BOB BAKER, MERI PETROSYAN, INGA BOUTBOUL, ALEXANDRE GERTSMAN, FRANKLYN MENA/AMELIA MOORE, LALA TER-ABRAMYANTS, ALEKSANDR BULKIN

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Fine Art Magazine • November 2012 • 1

Nathan Lane

Richard Gere

Alec Baldwin, Hilaria Baldwin

HAMPTONS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2012

Regina Calcaterra, Chief Deputy Suffolk County Executive; Stuart Match Suna; Joanne Minieri, Deputy Suffolk County Executive and Commissioner for Economic Development and Planning

Nate Parker, Boyd Holbrook, Elyas M’Barek, Alicia Vikander, Stuart Match Suna, Scoot McNairy, Domhnall Gleeson

PHOTO ESSAY by JAMIE ELLIN FORBES

A

lec Baldwin noted in his open letter as honorary Chairman of The Hamptons International Film Festival 2012 that “What began as a simple, local event, driven by our shared passion for and curiosity about cinema, has grown into what Variety recently called ‘one of America’s most glamorous displays of the best in cutting-edge cinema.’”

This year Fine Art Magazine covered the stars—Nathan Lane, Richard Gere, Alec Baldwin—while Chairman Stuart Match Suna, Executive Director Karen Arikain and Director of Programing David Nugent as HIFF brought to the public all the energy and excitement of their 20th Anniversary Festival.

Fans, founders, movers and shakers came out to meet the stars at parties hosted by Variety magazine & The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, among others. The New York Film Critics Circle participated in a round table discussion for the fourth year straight. Sparkle and pizazz were lent to all of the hosted events by the festival sponsors, American Airlines, Capital 2 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

Nathan Lane, Hawk Koch, Ann Roth, Hilaria Baldwin, Alec Baldwin, Festival Director Karen Arikian and Stuart Match Suna, President of Silvercup Studios and Chairman of The Hamptons Film Festival

One Bank, Baume & Mercier Silver Cup Studios. Grants were distributed by NYSCA, The Suffolk County Film Commission, and The Long Island Community Foundation highlighting the importance of role the cinematic arts plays in our culture.

There is coverage of HIFF 2012 on fineartmagazine.tv featuring interviews with

Susan Cohn Rockefeller about her newest film Mission of Mermaids, Director Dan Mirvish on his presented film Between Us and actress Julia Garner on her leading role in Electrick Children and others who all create a clear picture of the artist as they explore their media.

Please check out all of our coverage at youtube. com/fineartmagazine

Gina Bradley and Susan Cohn Rockefeller at HIFF

Susan Cohn Rockefeller’s “Poetic Ode to the Ocean”

By JAMIE ELLIN FORBES At the 2012 Hamptons International Film Festival Director Susan Cohn Rockefeller, a documentary filmmaker whose in-depth look at critical issues in our world has won top awards at many film festivals across the United States and internationally, describes her new Mission of Mermaids as “a poetic ode to the ocean about the myth of the mermaid.

It is my plea to get more people involved in ocean conservation.”

“We want to be able to dream and to think outside the conventional box to solve some of these complex problems. The mermaid is really about taking time for yourself and giving yourself time to rest. I use this analogy to show that the ocean needs time to rest also. If we allow it to do so and protect the fish habitat and enforce the laws, the ocean will rebound.”

“The earth,” she continues, “is a living organism and in terms of humanity, we are one ocean and one world. Today, over one billion people rely on fish as their major source of protein and that will increase dramatically as the world population nears nine billion in 2050.”

Working with “Paddle Board Diva” Gina Bradley, who “has been a mentor in so many ways,” the duo did an hour and a half of filming as they paddled on the pristine waters of Sagaponack, which is included as a montage at the end to show what people can do individually. “Gina’s an ambassador for the water and my hope is we can get mermaid ambassadors all over the world to save the oceans. In terms of art, in almost every culture there is a mermaid or a siren, so the idea is to blend myth and fact and stories and statistics to create a wake-up call to save our oceans.

“What I hope will come out of my film is that as many people as possible who see it will become active and create a movement to get people involved to help the oceans.”

The complete interview is available o n l i n e a t htt p://www.yout ube.com/ watch?v=0emT5d8fnBE)

Victoria Moore, Sensuous Waves, 22” x 30”, oil on canvas

The Transformative Nature of Water

M

By VICTORIA MOORE

ostly recognized as a figurative most violent events man has wrought on her painter, with The Fish as the symbol waters; the atomic and nuclear weapons tested for my astrological water sign, it feels in the Pacific Proving Grounds. While many instinctive to bring these mythological god- are familiar with the tests conducted on land, desses to form on canvas. As a Pisces, I will fewer are aware the US Government took their testing off-shore. be under the spell of I feel inextricably the sea for a lifetime tied to the ocean as and her influences will part of the collateral pull on me until my damage from those ashes are cast into her 50’s era Cold War watery depths. oceanic tests. I am I celebrate the a m on g s t t h e f i r s t oceans’ mysteries as born to be classified a painter, viewing as second generation it from perspectives radiation exposure and quite different than know all too well some traditional researchers. of its consequences.

Her life-force shows The repercussions up in a variety of ways of what my parents’ throughout my work, generation have done her history in the form to our oceans will of submerged cultural forever have impacted relics and her elusive them and the ripple creatures appear in effects linger. the form of whales, It is a precious dolphins, jellyfish, delicate balance we waves and mermaids. have with our oceans Mysteries of life can reveal themselves Victoria Moore, Ascension, 24”x 36”, oil on canvas and every generation needs its delegations through the creative and ambassadors to protect them globally. The process. Often the exploration becomes visible lore of the mermaids, the beautiful harmonies on the canvas while the artists’ inner vision of the sirens songs or the beckoning nymphs may be less evident. My relationship with will continue to inspire sailors and artists well the ocean and how man has compromised into the future to celebrate the sea seductress. her is intensely personal. It began with the Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 3

Brenda Simmons, Mayor Mark Epley, Bob Chaloner, Nick Korniloff, Pamela Cohen, Steve Bernstein presenting check to Southampton Hospital

Marilyn Goldberg, legendary marketing star of Museum Masters Internatioinal

Art Southampton Director + Partner Nick Korniloff, Mike and Jennifer Tansey, Pamela Cohen, Director of Partnerships and VIP Relations

Prominent International Collectors Flock to Inaugural Edition of Art Southampton Presented by Art Miami International Modern & Contemporary Art Fair Carves its Niche & Draws 11,750 Attendees

Gallery Owner Tripoli Patterson,

Lola Schnabel Galleries Report Strong Sales from “Underserved Market” for High Quality Contemporary & Modern Art

Planning Started for 2013 Edition

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New York Rangers ice hockey superstar Rod Gilbert and Judy Gilbert 4 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

he Inaugural Art Southampton July 26-30 presented by Art Miami ended on an exceedingly high note with exhibitors reporting important sales throughout the weekend and, indeed, right to the closing. From the Opening Night Preview, word of mouth was extremely positive and what had been termed the art event of the season became the event of summer with attendees calling it “a not to be missed experience.”

This first edition produced by Miami’s longest running and the country’s most respected international contemporary & modern art fair drew raves from both collectors and art dealers and literally drew attendees from around the world. Dealers and art enthusiasts gave it an “A+”.

Art Southampton kicked off with a VIP Preview to benefit Southampton Hospital attracting over 3,600 attendees including many of The Hamptons’ most prominent collectors, cultural leaders, socialites and philanthropists with Art Southampton Director + Partner Nick Korniloff and Pamela Cohen, Director of Partnerships and VIP Relations, on hand to welcome guests.

Overview CONTEXT & Art Miami

MIAMI: “A Mini Art City” World-famous for its stylish gallery-like decor, its outstanding quality and extraordinary variety, Art Miami showcases the best in modern and contemporary art from more than 125 international art galleries. Anchor art fair to the city of Miami, Art Miami (www.artmiami.com), the premiere international modern and contemporary art fair, and the inaugural CONTEXT Art Miami, Miami’s newest international emerging and cutting-edge art fair, will kick off Miami Art Week with the season’s most eagerly anticipated cultural event, their highly acclaimed Opening Night VIP Preview on Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012, from 5:30 to 10 p.m. which this year will benefit the Miami Art Museum.

The Miami Art Museum will host a specially curated on-site booth in the Art Miami Pavilion for the duration of the Fair, with information about next year’s reopening of MAM as the Pérez Art Museum Miami in a new Herzog & de Meuron-designed facility Mel Bochner, Head Honcho, alongside Biscayne Bay. The Pérez Art Museum Miami will open Luc Dratwa, Subway 5694, Print on Monoprint, 2012 Fujifilm Paper, 180gr, Epson in downtown Miami’s Museum Ultrachrome Pigment Ink Diasec, 39 Park as a world-class museum for x 59 in. ed. 10, 2012 the city’s thriving community of artists, designers, collectors and “We are happy to utilize its avid and growing art-engaged the Fairs and our exclusive public.

Coinciding with the VIP preview as a conduit to 23rd edition of Art Miami. create awareness and help CONTEXT will feature a curated group of 65 international raise significant funds for galleries representing exceptional the museum.” emerging and mid-career artists, including solo artist installations, Nick Korniloff Art Southampton Director + Partner immersive environments, curated projects and multimedia exhibits in a state-of-the-art, 45,000 square-foot pavilion directly With the combination of Art adjacent to Art Miami.

Miami’s 125 exhibiting galleries CONTEXT Art Miami will and CONTEXT’s 65 exhibiting Kalish Michael, Eckert Fine Art also feature seven Berlin-based galleries, the Wynwood Arts contemporary galleries that have been selected by a panel of expert District will be transformed into a mini art city, featuring 190 galleries curators and art critics. “ART FROM BERLIN,” presented by the from 21 countries within 250,000 square feet of curated indoor and Galleries Association of Berlin (LVBG), is officially supported by outdoor exhibition space. the State of Berlin and the European Union (EU) and will feature “We are excited to introduce the new Pérez Art Museum Miami the Berlin Lounge, presented by Haus am Waldsee. This marks the to the international art community at Art Miami” says MAM Director first joint presentation of Berlin galleries that will showcase the works Thom Collins.” Art Miami has always been very supportive of our of Christine Rusche, Christine Klatt, Franziska Klotz, Levke Leiss, institution and the local scene, and we are grateful to have such a Sussane Ring, Inka and Niclas, and Eva Bertram. generous partner.”

Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 5

Academician Natalya Nesterova , Honorary Artist of Russia, and Alexandre Gertsman

Alexandre Gertsman Contemporary Art:

International Understanding from Moscow to Manhattan

T

By SAMUEL GRIGSBY

he term “Russian art” for many Americans still evokes images of stoic Soviet monuments and the stillness found in paintings characteristic of socialist realism. These same Americans, however, would see their conceptions of Russian art cast to the wayside upon viewing the diversity, splendor and talent of the works showcased in the Alexandre Gertsman Contemporary Art gallery in NoHo. Closed to the public, the gallery operates as a sanctuary for the works of the stars and the up-and-comers of the Russian art world alike. It is a space where pieces of all media gather to alter the art world and prove that Russian art is more than outdated posters and lifeless statues of leaders of days gone by.

As the gallery’s name evidences, Alexandre Gertsman is the prime mover behind the New York exhibition space and the recent resurgence of interest in Russian art in the United States. Born in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, Gertsman began his career in architecture, graduating with honors from the Architectural Academy in the same city and winning a Silver Medal for his diploma project in the All-Soviet Union Competition. He pursued post-graduate work at the Moscow Central Research Institute of History and Theory of Architecture. By the time Gertsman moved to the United States in 1992, he already had years of 6 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

experience as a freelance art critic and art lecturer, making for an almost effortless transition to a life dedicated to fine art and its curatorship.

Gertsman, founder of the International Foundation of Russian and Eastern European Art (INTART), has built his career on connecting an international community of artists and art enthusiasts.

Well before opening the doors of his personal gallery in 2009 he had already curated over forty traveling exhibitions of Russian art in some of the most prominent museums of Moscow, St. Petersburg, New York, Washington, Aachen, Venice and Vienna, among many others.

Gertsman’s shows have generated outstanding reviews from the New York Times, New York magazine, The Associated Press, The Washington Post, Artforum, New York Social Diary, Moscow Times, and TASS, and have also made the New Yorker’s and the New York Times’ Critics Lists of New York’s most highly recommended exhibits.

One of Gertsman’s most prominent connective projects is the American Friends of The Tretyakov Gallery Foundation, an organization that he founded to promote the appreciation and exchange of Russian culture and art between American art fanatics and The Tretyakov Gallery: the national museum of fine art in Moscow. The foundation’s 2002 Inaugural Ball attracted a number of the world’s most iconic and wellknown patrons of the arts, including Donald Kendall, Founder and former CEO of PepsiCo and pioneer of American-Soviet trade, and Dr. James

Boris Orlov, THE MOST IMPORTANT, 1989, mixed media, 60” x 60” Academician Tatyana Nazarenko, National Artist of Russia, and Alexandre Gertsman

Billington, The Librarian of Congress and a scholar of Russian culture, with renewed passion for the arts, as the New York Times explores in the who chaired Mr. Gertsman’s First Tretyakov Ball. NBC News anchor 2005 article “New Slavs of New York: All Bling and No Borscht,” which Linda Baquero, supermodel Natalia Vodianova, and Olympic champion features Mr. Gertsman as a primary representative of the new Russian Oksana Baiul were hostesses in different years, Hollywood superstar community in New York City.

Gertsman does not allow his gallery to rigidly serve as just another Elijah Wood guest-starred, world-renowned virtuoso pianist Vladimir Feltsman recited, principal performers of the Metropolitan Opera and New York exhibition room, but instead devotes it to a multitude of American Ballet Theatre sang and danced, and Valery Ponomarev’s purposes. Visitors to the gallery may casually consider a new direction Big Jazz Band entertained. Fashion designer Donatella Versace, of art collecting one day, then find themselves seated at a lavish candlelit dinner in the same gallery Tony Award-winning the next evening. This Broadway producer Barry is not due to lack of Weissler, and awardoptions, for Gertsman winning recording artists certainly has many as the George Michael and Patti owner of one of the most LaBelle have all supported prominent galleries of the organization and its Russian art in the United events.

States. Rather, it goes The rapport back to the concept of Gertsman developed with exclusivity, but this time some of the biggest names for Alexandre Gertsman of the contemporar y himself. Nobody does Russian art world along what he does; he is the with the influx of Russian only gallery owner to art and art fanatics to display the art he shows the United States aided with such an intimate him in expediently and connection to the artists effectively opening his themselves. Even as successful NoHo gallery. luxurious fundraisers There is little fanfare carry on and the famous for the façade of the 2005 Tretyakov Ball at the Metropolitan Club.

Valentin Rodionov, Director of The Tretyakov faces come and go, it Alexandre Gertsman Gallery; Thomas Krens, Director of The Guggenheim Museum; and Alexandre Gertsman, President is all about the art for Contemporar y Art The American Friends of The Tretyakov Gallery Foundation Gertsman.

Gallery. The building’s The galler y has front is much like many others along Broadway except for the small name placard next to the welcomed the names of some of the most prolific Russian artists of call button. Upon entering, however, guests may feel as though they the era. Gertsman’s gallery features the works of a number of artists have stepped in through the hidden entrance of an exclusive, members- with pieces in the permanent collections of world-renowned museums only venue, for that is precisely what the Alexandre Gertsman gallery like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, The Guggenheim New is: exclusive. Keeping the space closed to the public retains the premier York, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, status of the art inside and remains consistent with the clientele: seasoned the Tate Gallery in London, and, of course, Moscow’s own Tretyakov art collectors and critics as well as a new wave of Slavic-American elite Gallery. Gertsman does not shy away from any particular style of art for Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 7

Alexandre Getsman and sculptor Edwina Sandys at the gallery

Mihail Roginsky, COMPOSITION, 1990, oil on canvas, 80” x 60”

Alexandre Gertsman, Christine Ebersole, Tony Award Winner, and Bill Moloney, artist

The pieces and artists featured in the gallery demonstrate a key theme of international understanding

his exhibitions. Sculptures in bronze and plaster stand next to paintings the Russian art world. Artists like Kandinsky Prize-winner Kirill in a variety of styles hanging on the walls. His exhibitions and shows Chelushkin, Vladimir Clavijo-Telepnev, Alla Esipovich and Olga have touted everyone from conceptualists like Ivan Chuikov, Komar Tobreluts bring their work to Gertsman as one of the first points of & Melamid, Alexandr Kosolapov, Boris Orlov, and Leonid Sokov contact in their rise to glittering reputation. With the juxtaposition of to sociopolitical artistic voices such as Rimma & Valeriy Gerlovin, paint and sculpture, large and small, modernism and conceptualism, Gertsman’s gallery may sound Ilya & Emilia Kabakov, and like a hodgepodge of drastic Mikhail Roginsky. On multiple differences. On the contrary, occasions, the gallery has featured every piece is carefully selected individual artists for their own and meticulously placed to fit personal exhibits. Celebrated in the theme of the show and Russian artist Academician the gallery itself. The Alexandre Natalya Nesterova is a frequent Gertsman Contemporary Art contributor to Gertsman’s gallery Gallery exudes harmony in all shows, securing her own solo of its functions, and guests need exhibition in 2010. Another only gaze upon the visage of name familiar to connoisseurs of the unique works on display as Russian art is Tatyana Nazarenko, they are reflected in the gloss of National Artist of the Russian the hardwood floors to receive Federation, who has submitted a the message of cooperation and number of her works to a variety understanding that the gallery of Gertsman’s showcases on top promotes. of her 2011 solo exhibition. Both The pieces and ar tists Nesterova and Nazarenko are featured in the gallery demonstrate winners of the National Award of Jim Dale, Tony and Obbie Awards Winner, Oscar Nominee; Frank Blocker, a key theme of international Russia and The Triumph Award.

Drama Desk Award Nominee; and Alexandre Gertsman understanding: that of change.

Alongside the works of renowned artists in the gallery lie pieces by the up-and-comers of Looking through the catalog of pieces in Gertsman’s gallery allows 8 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

Ivan Chuikov, WINDOW LXVI, 2005, oil on board, 60” x 40”

Connecting Russian artists to American patrons has certainly developed a new direction of art collectiong…

Rimma Gerlovian and Valeriy Gerlovin, TREE OF LIFE, diptych, photograph, 80” x 40”

viewers to see a memoir of Russia’s changes over the past decades.

The works simultaneously speak of tumult and triumph, and guests who fully comprehend these past and present changes will clearly see both the tribulations of Russia’s as well as the glamour and luxury of today’s top Russian models and forerunning businessmen. However, the understanding in Gertsman’s gallery goes deeper than visualizing a social transition and promoting a new class of art, for the gallery owner also dedicates himself to the betterment of the arts and humanity alike.

He hosted at his gallery a number of non-profit fundraisers and humanitarian events, as well as performances: he has held soirees for Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and Congressman Joseph Crowley, Crown Princess Katherine and Prince Alexander of Serbia’s Foundation, and a retrospective by Sir Winston Churchill’s grand-daughter, sculptor Edwina Sandys. Christine Ebersole, Tony Award winner, and Jim Dale, Tony and Grammy Awards winner, have partaken in the events, and Daytime Emmy winner Kim Oler along with Drama Desk nominee Frank Blocker have performed at the occasions. Alexandre Gertsman has used the gallery to host book-signing parties for his friends Pulitzer Prize

nominee David Margolick, prominent British journalist and writer and Founding Editor of The Times Nicholas Wapshott, and leading Russian art historian and former Head of Russian Sotheby’s Dr. Alla Rosenfeld.

Whether open for a fundraiser or an exhibition, the Alexandre Gertsman Contemporary Art Gallery certainly holds an important place in the Russian art world and the New York art scene alike, and has been aptly characterized as “the center of Russian culture in the city” by the Russian-American Press. By keeping his art space exclusive and closed to the public, Alexandre Gertsman himself reassures the importance of the art and artists he displays as something more than just depictions of beauty; they are marks on the history of the art world as well as the contemporary sociopolitical sphere. Connecting Russian artists to American patrons has certainly developed a new direction of art collection, but has also fostered an environment of communication and cooperation between two regions that have historically had more than their fair share of differences. Because of the exchange of ideas and visions that Gertsman has initiated through his gallery, when the doors close and the exhibitions change, it is about more than just art; it is understanding.

Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 9

10 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

CHARLES

CARSON 35 years of creativity

Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 11

C A R S O N I S M M O V E M E N T Le chant des oiseaux coloré, 60’’ x 40’’, acrylic on canvas, Carsonism movement 12 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

“I will not paint if I have nothing to say.”

By VICTOR FORBES

U

P AND DOWN THE AVENUES, the buildings in New York City, (considered by many to still be the modern day capital of the art world) are decorated with the work of the world’s best-known artists: Stella, Lichtenstein, Oldenberg, Picasso, Kline, Indiana and de Kooning to name but a few. There are massive paintings and sculptures by these and many other all-time greats housed in lobbies, entrances, boardrooms, parks and offices. Attaining the heights reached by such stalwarts would seem to be the goal of most every artist who sets brush to canvas, chisel to stone or ink to paper. So much art has been created over the centuries that to be merely recognized is an accomplishment; to sustain a life of creativity is a triumph.

To be hailed as an all-time great and have your work sell in the millions of dollars while you are still alive—that does happen, even if only to a very select group. There are a myriad of factors that contribute to entering into that realm, no singular formula.

Often greatness is in the eye of the beholder, embellished by simple twists of fate, connections and timing. Pure talent, originality and depth of message will only get you so far. Bob Guccione said

that it took a great leap of faith to see his artistic dreams come to life. “There was a time,” said a well-known dealer who has placed works in major museums, “when you could succeed just on the quality of the art alone, but today you could be the greatest artist in the world and if you don’t know the right people and have the right friends, you often remain unknown. You have to be a showman and a promoter on a much bigger scale than even in the day of Dali and Warhol, plus you now have to be technically savvy to capture the world market. The world got smaller. You have to be popular everywhere, not just New York, Paris or Spain.” Art is a product now, not just a creation. It needs to be marketed, auctioned and accepted by the mass media. The factors that bring recognition to some and lack of same to others are not simply intangibles any more. Such elements are taught more in business and marketing programs than in art schools.

People studying art today are told by their professors to prepare to starve, to find other ways to use their artistic talents so they can earn a living. But if anyone said this to Charles Carson, he certainly wasn’t listening.

Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 13

Éclipse de Fruit, 30’’ x 40’’ Acrylic on canvas, Carsonism movement

C R E A T I V E

G E N I U S

Petit bouquet de tendresse, 16” x 11” Acrylic on canvas, Carsonism Movement

Éveil printanier, 24” x 16”, acrylic on canvas Carsonism Movement

14 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

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IEWING A CHARLES CARSON painting is akin to reading a Hemingway short story. A Clean, Well-Lighted Place comes to mind. Both are exquisitely sparse, expertly rendered. Immersed in a collection of Carsons in a gallery or museum is like having a full-length novel unfold right before your eyes. Indeed, the artist himself notes, “My painting is a spontaneous projection of that which I feel. I stand before my canvas like an author before his blank page.” Hemingway, of course, is an undisputed giant of literature while Carson is peaking in mid-career success. The legendary author is known, perhaps to his detriment, as a “man’s man” and the artist, in his way fits that mold. He is strong and confident, succinct in his manner on canvas and in person. Dedicated to his cause, he spares no effort to manifest brilliance in every brush stroke, describing his energy as emerging from an “unexplainable force, trancelike”, that causes one to surpass limitations. As Hemingway developed a new style of writing that is oft-imitated, never attained, Carson has created a new way of painting that takes a similar heightened position in the mainstream of contemporary art, a form that is universally accessible but impossible to be duplicated by another. A language all his own forever to be known as “Carsonism.”

Hemingway captured the popular imagination with a revolutionary sentence structure, almost militaristic in cadence, that somehow translated into stories of great emotional depth blending despair with valor, hopelessness with redemption, and great love with great loss. It is certainly a valid comparison to put these two side-by-side for indeed Carson is an undisputed master, a Maestro of his own form. An originator of a visual lingo that knows no bounds, the compositions soar as his spirit allows. Creativity flies, moving ever-onward, staving off unholy forces. Carson’s paintings strive for perfection like Hemingway’s sentences. There’s not a wasted word nor a misplaced droplet of color. Who paints like this today?

Theoretically, it doesn’t matter. Not to Carson because he invented his own very specific mode of expression which involves a very personal creativity. His great gift requires great discipline. Putting the time in, often in solitude, expending the greater part of a 24-hour day painting.

However, if science could shine a microscope into a person’s mind and examine his make-up, Carson would outshine many.

In the annals of art history, Carson certainly claims a portion of attention. “Nothing,” he says, “can resist the human will. Man must explore all facets of his freedom. The forces within us are instruments of overachievement.” The will to be one with the world, to belong to the stars and to the grains of sand came to him in the same breath. “The mountains, rivers and oceans, all that make up our universe are sacred places more precious than a golden altar.”

The origins of Carson’s style were formulated in the interior of the Catholic churches he visited as a boy. Whether situated in a rich parish or a modest village, the buildings were reflections of baroque tastes dictated by centuries of religious architecture. “It was required,” notes the artist, “that the House of God be the shiniest and most sumptuous of all.”

This decor provided Carson’s first aesthetic feelings and discoveries. These edifices of stone and glass planted the seed of a dream, of a vision of beauty. Where else could a young boy view the transformed light of the sparkling stained glass windows or admire the amazing talent of the artists who sculpted the statutes and painted the images of the Way of the Cross? For Carson, even Sacred music has often consecrated artistic vocations. Silence and contemplation played a subliminal role in creating strong, lasting images.

“As a young child, I attended the religious ceremonies. I observed everything—the “trompe-l’oeil” paintings, the priestly garments embroidered in gold, the gathered crowds. I recall these things to

What creative energy ! “...one must recognize the undeniable talent of Charles Carson for his exceptional sense of chromatic harmony: his blue inspires dreams, his red surprise the eye, his yello illuminates the heart...”

“A chromatism that is at once harmonious and audacious, a play of transparencies and depths, dynamic composition and a continually renewed sense on innovation. Here is the winning recipe that propulses the artist from one success to the next.” /2003 Arévik Vardanyan, Advisor in art and museology this day with emotion. I was already under their spell when I passed through the heavy church doors. I had a precocious awareness of symbols – dipping my index finger in the fountain made me feel pure and legitimized. For what purpose you may ask? To enter a sumptuous treasure trove. To feast my eyes on everything shiny, the dancing flame of the lanterns, the candelabras. Mingled with the odor of melting wax from the candles, floating in the air, the scent of incense…”

Depending on the hour of day, the light from the exterior would bounce off the plaster saints, bringing their glass eyes to life. The angels of the stained glass windows would become animated. He was transported to another world. “Obviously, only today can I measure the impact these events had on my imagination, in a sublimated and softened memory.”

It is these memories that have served as the basis to create a new style — a completely new pictorial language — that makes an appearance on the scale of artistic values in a way that has nothing to do with the current directions, genres or styles that are mostly found in today’s or any day’s art market. Born in Montreal in 1957, Charles Carson has been devoting himself entirely to his art since 1983. Over the years he has participated in numerous exhibitions in Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia and South America. At the age of 33, Charles made his own discovery of Latin America and lived in Columbia for nearly 10 years. Here he produced extraordinary and exotic works, yet he always retained his sensitivity, depth and vivacity, as well as the dynamic range and variety of composition. Yet his paintings still hint at the winters of his youth — those gray storm-clouds that visit his works and give them a striking three-dimensional feel. “Although born in Montreal, I spent many years living in remote country settings where Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 15

Au jardin de mes amours, Acrylic on canvas, 58” x 38”, Carsonism movement

“Today I am no longer preoccupied by the foibles of life.

To the contrary, I allow myself to go with the flow and to let my imagination run free. It is the best way to face life.”

I pursued my chromatic search before moving to South America.

I wanted to live new experiences, artistically as well as culturally. I developed a passion for skin-diving and gained artistic inspiration from scenes on the ocean floor, from the multitude and variety of colors to the cathedral light produced by the sun piercing the ocean surface.

One day, I nearly lost my life during a skin-diving expedition.

The whirlpool that nearly swept me away did not affect my love for open water.”

Be it the roar of an ocean or the flow of a river, the excitement of the potential danger manifested in broad strokes of the pallet knife, in blue sheaves and successive waves, to form the pictorial theme of a marine scene in the Carsonism or mosaic movement.

Influenced through his admiration of van Gogh, Cézanne and Turner, at thirty-three, Carson spent time in Latin America where the 16 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

spirit of inspiration gleaned from Columbian and other landscapes led him to a new personal era of expression through his imagery.

Carson made a name for himself there, where he held numerous exhibitions and developed an amicable relationship with Fernando Botero. While many native artists left for Europe and America in search of fame and fortune, Carson found international recognition from his stay in South America. The influence the painters, topography and people of Colombia exerted upon the young Carson, and the vibrant and ancient culture that he absorbed, is evident in much

of his work today.

In recognition of his contribution, a life-size statue of the artist in bronze has been on view in a major Cartagena public building since 1997. He also created a monumental mural entitled El Caballo del Mar

Croisade en eau tropical, 20” x 16”, acrylic on canvas, Carsonism movement

Carson’s travels were the impetus for his deep feelings regarding the social and ecological problems of today’s societies. His fascination with and love of nature occupies a primary place in his creations. A major turning point in his work were tropical scenes combining colors usually associated with a Caribbean sunset.From this starting point, he produces even greater depth and power than would seem conceivable from the paint.

What technique manages to get such verve from color, and yet such detail? Again, it can only be described as “Carsonism.”

His physical control is always evident and he paints in bold strokes of incredibly vibrant color yet with a delicacy and intimacy that touches an emotional chord in the viewer. The making one of the strength and softness is the basis of the resultant beauty. This masterful technique has gained the artist a legion of collectors and admirers internationally and his works Chant printanier, 60” x 40”, Acrylic on canvas, Carsonism movement are sought after by serious collectors around the world. for the main hall of Cartagena’s principal airport, and he executed What is especially interesting and exciting about another mural entitled Yo hice lo que tu querias for the Church in Santo Carsonism is the fact that he was determined from the onset to Domingo (a renowned Heritage Monument). contain his desire to be recognized as an exhibiting artist until he was

Carson a discovery … “Carsonism”, 1992 “In my capacity as art expert and historian, it has given me great pleasure to examine a significant quantity of the artist’s paintings.

I was struck by their freshness, dynamism and rhythm -- the freshness and vivacity of the palette, the dynamism and diversity of the compositions, the rhythm that animates each segment of his paintings, much like the best jazz piece whose sense of improvisation opens up the instinctive structure of the melody and animates it with its syncopated syntax. If one prefers, it can be compared to a Scarlatti sonata or a Vivaldi concerto whose variations and modulations define the structure and subtlety of the piece.”

Carson gives his paintings a depth that makes the best demonstrations of perspective pale in comparison…none of contemporary art’s well known “isms” seem appropriate and I must resign myself (with great satisfaction I might add) to naming this new movement: CARSONISM !”

Guy ROBERT, (1933-2000) Founder of the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, art historian, writer and editor, author of an analysis in which “Carsonism” was described in glowing terms.

Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 17

confident that his body of work — from the very beginning — would be unique in a world where imitation, appropriation and other flattering forms of self-indulgence were and still are rampant. Carson’s approach was like that of a monk, or a martial artist in training who would not come out to do battle until totally confident that the results would end in victory. Of course, there are no guarantees in this life of anything, yet Carson took that leap of faith, based upon years of study, trial and error and inspiration.

Early in his career, the artist employed traditional techniques, gaining inspiration from his environment. His early figurative works left him unsatisfied and he started to lean towards a semi-figurative and extremely personal style of painting. This technique, along with his unique pictorial language rapidly affirmed themselves and his talent was revealed with each new creation.

The artist produces extraordinary works that exhibit sensitivity, depth and liveliness, as well as dynamism and variety of composition that characterize his work. “From an early age, I was in search of other sources of inspiration. I was born with a personality that was exuberant, imaginative and inventive. My inherent curiosity instilled in me the desire to delve beyond a simple explanation of how something worked. My persistence helped me to find answers to many questions – not necessarily the best answers or those that were for my own good.

Carson’s imagination led him to a sense of a place beyond, higher, farther, deeper. He was seeking out a unique destiny with other universes to discover. Hence his fascination with the underwater life, so evident in many of his paintings and other universes perhaps yet to be discovered. His goal was to create a life for himself as an artist that was not subject to anyone’s authority. Refusing to follow a predetermined path, he greatly preferred the unknown.

In international art exhibitions, Carson’s work stands alone. His stalls are sanctuaries in which he and the viewers can escape to a tranquil place, inhabited with a realistic presence of the aforementioned storm clouds but marked with a placidity, a bouquet if you will of sweetness and softness. The flowers, the fish and the birds are created with a power reflected the divinity of their creation, represented by an artist who considers it his right to transform a concrete image of the eye into something different guided by his innate sensitivity and an artistic gift that allows him to incorporate into his works personal feelings, to share his universe of color, dreams, thoughts and emotions.

Carson says, “The art of painting is to forget the subject matter; it no longer exists, relegated to the shadows, lights and reflections of color.” van Gogh may have said the same 18 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

Fleurs enlacés aux chants des oiseaux parfumés, 36”x 36”, Acrylic on canvas, Carsonism movement

There is one constant in all of the analyses and for each of the experts and art historians and it is this: Carson’s work generates energy, an unparalleled “joie de vivre” which is reflected in a mastery of forms and transparency of colors. thing. They both take the reality of a scene and transform it into their own very specific concoction that somehow, when put together, is a coherent, emotional and brilliant force.

Watching Carson at work is like watching a tiger in his natural habitat. Stalking his prey, the artist is firm in his quest. The quest being perfection, that is to make something, lterally out of nothing that has an impact on one’s emotions and beyond that, to get the world to recognize his creations as valuable entities in the continuum of art history. It may be legitimately asked, how many artists are so instantly recognizeable that critics had to come up with a name, i.e. a school of thought even, for the produced work. That Carsonism has caught on is not just a freak show or the work of a great publicist. The fact is he has taken all the schools that have come before him, blended them into his subconscious and developed his art form.

Carson is far from one-dimensional and a follower of no one. He would not exhibit a single painting until he was certain he had created an approach that could only be attributed to him.

It came after years of contemplation, hours of experimentation and decades of polishing a format that came to be known as Carsonism.

How many artists are so attached to a style that the world recognizes it by the artist’s own name? Was there an artist named Impression?

Or Modern? No. Carson created his style, his language and whether it was because he was ostracized in gym class for lack of athletic ability, or because his family didn’t send him to a fine art finishing school, or whatever the reason, Carson put himself in front of that blank canvas, or whatever else he was working on, and made it resonate with his own words. It’s a language we all can understand, no matter the country of our origin and it is a lot easier to communicate internationally in this manner.

Émerveillement, 30” x 30”, Acrylic on canvas, Carsonism movement

W

hat Carson has done is invent an approach to life that is that of a warrior wielding a paintbrush for a sword, A ninja in paint. His mannerisms are disciplined.

There is no waste or obfuscation. Everything is crystalline. Shining, bright and brilliant, even in the way he operates the front end of his business, travels to exhibits, sets them up, prepares the wall space of an exposition so that every inch is maximized. He is not going down without a fight and every aspect of his creativity is measured.

Hemingway’s sentences are short and sweet. Could he write like Fitzgerald or

Faulkner or Steinbeck? Maybe. Pollock could draw. He could render so that when a fool looks at a drip masterpiece and says, “My kid could do that,” well maybe. But he certainly couldn’t knock out a realistic charcoal passable sketch which gave Pollock credibility with the so-called cognoscenti.

Therefore one might ask, could Carson create in another manner? Maybe is the answer again. But it is clear he never wanted to be anything other than an original. What is true about Carson and many other great artists is that they put the time in, often in the deepest of solitudes, to accomplish their

vision. This is the part that is most daunting for a human being. Have you read that the author of numerous best-sellers, Harold Robbins, with all the money he needed, had one room painted in his home totally black, with only a desk, typewriter and single pointed spotlight attached from the ceiling to shine over his shoulder onto the matter at hand, in his case words on paper? Carson’s fierce spirit of determination and invention is akin to this. Even the small paintings—not to be confused with a minor work because none of Carson’s work can be deemed minor — contribute to the thematic line of his Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 19

20 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

Bouquet de fleurs, 16” x 12”, Acrylic on canvas, Carsonism movement

How did you grow into becoming an artist?

I

did not attend a fine ar ts school despite my desire to do so.

Neither my family nor social environment fostered such pursuits .

R e g a rd l e s s , t h i s d i d n o t i n h i b i t my p e r p e t u a l s e a r c h fo r a p i c t o r i a l l a n g u a ge .

The “still life” paintings that I was working at during this time were academic exercises. The subject matter was of little importance. These studies allowed me to explore space and depth, two elements that would be crucial to my future work.

I was also doing glass etching with a diamond tip. By superimposing layers of glass, I produced the three dimensional effect that I was looking for. I experimented with various processes, including: collage, copper, paint and grass. The inspiration came from my discovery of the magnificent Lalique crystal in Europe.

Although this creative technique was received positively, I was not through searching. I continued to perfect my technique for juxtaposing colors, using acrylic to create vivid abstract forms. On a linen canvas, I spread pieces of colored glass, complemented by strokes of acrylic to create an impression of haut-relief. Then, to make the colors explode, I highlighted them with an ultra bright lacquer. I was fascinated and seduced by the art of the master glassmakers of Murano and to emulate their artistry, I heated huge, multi-level ceramic ovens, created moulds and inserted my glazed pieces at a temperature of 2,000 to 3,000 degrees.

What kind of artist tools did you employ?

I desperately wanted to reproduce with paint, the textures, forms and transparency of stained glass windows.

I used oils, acrylics, pastels and charcoals in my artistic process. All recovery areas served to advance my experimentations for adherence and durability.

I spared no effort during these years of experimentation with special effects and contemporary art. I would drop bags of paint from the roof of the house and rush to see the splatters they created on the sidewalk!

Or I would use a drill to spin a panel I had coated with different colors of acrylic paint. Not to mention the balloon filled with paint that I would burst over a canvas… I even used an old bicycle wheel to spread colors on a canvas to see the effect it produced.

Once, I nearly burned my house down experimenting with a special lacquer. This misadventure brings a smile today. I learned that paint and fire do not make good partners. In my efforts to recreate the “Murano effect”, the wooden roof of my studio as well as the work in progress were reduced to ashes.

This incident, as is often the case with fortuitous scientific experiments, allowed me to perfect a mixture of glass and epoxy finished with a blowtorch.

I lost count of the number of plaster moulds that were sacrificed for the cause. Not to mention the kilos of glass tiles used during the mosaic experiments. Since those days, I have used an acrylic paint that is more malleable for the textures, dries more quickly and allows for multiple layering of color. My first subjects were bouquets of flowers, done in an abstract style.

For me, the message necessarily had to be communicated with the proper tools. I strove to find a language that was personal.

It was both a quest and a challenge.

Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 21

“Carson to the ism” … “Hero of Creativity” – Let the next writer come up with a better catch phrase, for now that is a standard they have to top.

MOSAIC MOVEMENT

“Charles Carson’s painting is divided into two approaches which are both distinct and complimentary. One was even named Carsonism by some art critics and historians. This approach is not easy to describe, but generally speaking it is composed of an infinite succession of slightly oblique strokes which, on the surface, add maximum energy to our perception of theme and subject, with the whole being animated through subtle transparencies which are quite sensational, creating an impression of depth and color. It’s like an incessant flow of particles — all the same size — which sweep the paint with fascinating, even disconcerting regularity. Carson’s second approach is simply that of mosaic. As its name suggests, we find a fragmentation of form and surface characteristic of the mosaic style. In both instances the artist endows the surface of his canvasses with great energy, creating an altered state in which his powerfully metaphorical universe is expressed.”

— Robert Bernier, art historian

Sensation, 30” x 30”, Acrylic on canvas, Mosaic Movement 22 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

Magazine Parcours, The Advisor of Arts - Winter 2004

Un entre-deux monde en constante vibration, 24” x 108”, Acrylic on canvas, Carsonism movement

It is an artistic and creative fact of life that Carson goes about his work with a precision that is almost unfathomable. vision. The point may be not only to create a new language, but to say something in it by taking the alphabetical fragmentation of each word and making them into a coherent statement of power. An artist uses various tools to perform such a task and Carson’s experiments (successes and failures) with glass and kilns and explosions and his years of sitting in Catholic churches as a youth in rich and poor parishes of his native Quebec and being enthralled by the imagery and refractions of light on and through the glass are well-documented.

Carsonism came about through his adaptation of the aforementioned media into application by brush on canvas. Not since Pousette-Dart has anyone done this with such power and coherence. While Pousette-Dart built his paintings up with oil, sometimes over the course of 30 years, and created embryonic universes within and without the rules of art — brilliant universes of revolving natural forms that from a distance as well as from up-close reveal secrets of creation unknown to most mortal men — Carson, in devising his approach, takes a similar path to a similar result with a voice all his own. In addition to his soulful work, what I loved best about Pousette-Dart comes from a story his wife Evelyn related just before his one man show at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Richard told the curator that if his banner outside was one inch smaller than Picasso’s, they could forget about the show.”

Soleil levant, 60” x 60”, Acrylic on canvas, Mosaic movement

www.charlescarson.com Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 23

Solitude, 60” x 30”, Acrylic on canvas, Mosaic movement.

24 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

While nowhere nearly as famous or collected as Picasso, at the recent Armory art fair, the Poussette-Dart’s were flying off his gallery’s wall at about $400k for a 30” x 40”. Mid-show, I heard the dealer call Evelyn asking for more.

That, say more than a few scholars and critics, is how it will be for Carson. He is young enough to attain that level; also skilled enough and also original enough. He’s going to France for three years to concentrate on making museum pieces and they will have to think hard to come up with better a headline than this: “Carson to the ism” and “Hero of Creativity.” Let the next writer come up with a better catch phrase, for now that is a standard they have to top.

Whether fighting off the gym class bullies or working his way out of a cylindrical spout of water in which he almost drowned, Carson’s paintings show a power that opts for life. In the Carsonism pieces, he recreates natural scenes with deconstructionist vengeance, the three dimensionality of his minute dollops of sculpted paint surround the spaces, fill the emptiness.

That’s Carson to the ism. Clean, well-lit. Fully functional but esoteric.

“Oh, there’s a bird amidst all that,” a viewer would note. Or a fish. Or a reflection from light cascading to the depths of the sea or a natural burst of energy from a trip up the Amazon. Carson has been there and done that and the main thing is that he gives these scenes, these segments, these minute conglomerations of acrylic a glazed energy so that when they are combined into one unit you see exactly what he wants you to see. The veil is opened, but the real question is: “to what?”

That’s where the art critics come in. They know and they have seen. Carson isn’t saying.

It was more than enough for him to invent this style and then to top it off with what he calls the “Mosaic Movement.” This is a whole other field of dreams, but if you could chop off a bunch of square inches on a mosaic and drop it into a canvas of Carsonism, they would work together. Blend somehow in unity. After all, wasn’t it the American poet/philosopher Eli Siegel, founder of Aesthetic Realism, who was famous for his statement, “Beauty is the making one of opposites.”?

Yes, it is an artistic and creative fact of life that Carson goes about his work with a precision that is almost unfathomable. Look at a masterwork

by Vasarely. A modern viewer could not imagine anything being executed like that without the help of a computer generated graphic. Carson’s pieces are puzzles that come together as a triune entity of paintbrush, palette and painter as One and they must become as one integrated into the format necessary to produce masterful depictions of whatever the artist envisions. They work as if a Sumi-e drawing because Carson makes no sketches, no pre-conceived notions. Just step up the plate and hit the ball out of the park.

As successful as he is, there is a hunger to Carson that seems to be unquenchable. An insatiable thirst to do more, to do better, to be the standard by which all other artists are measured.

“Charles Carson presents us with magnificent visual richness.

The viewer must learn to read - consciously or not - the scenes or subjects being proposed. Carson interprets and transposes with great strength and subtlety. An attitude that within the visual arts world, precedes and follows all major careers.” – 1993 Jacques de Roussan, (1929-1995) Historian, publisher, writer and art consultant.

Imagination - 60” x 30”, Acrylic on canvas, Mosaic movement

“My first inspirations for the Carsonisme and mosaic movements came from Quebec. The stained glass windows of our many churches as well as the color and transparency of the province’s spectacular autumn scenes fascinated me. The image of autumn leaves reflecting in the river culminated in the mosaic movement.

In my younger years, I was fascinated by sunligh-t shining through stained glass windows. This image has always had a hold of my imagination which probably explains why I have always sought to replicate this transparency and luminosity and to create the effect of light coming from behind the canvas. Both the Carsonism and mosaic movements are reflections of water in motion.”

— Charles Carson

Cascade haut en couleurs, 24” x 24”, Acrylic on canvas, Mosaic movement

In this world, there is a train to glory and Carson is a passenger, riding close to the front.

John Dunne made this statement for eternity: “No man is an island” and that’s for sure. “It matters not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.” Carson sees this and his stance as an artist of great individuality is tempered by his compassion for the earth and his fellow man. His paintings are manifestations of his thoughts and deeds, his hopes for a better world, a just world, a beautiful world of peace and harmony. Knowing this about him further fuels our interest in his creative vortex — a whirling mass of sensibility and sensitivity to

not only God’s love but our obligation to our Creator to return favors granted. This is the meaning of the creative life in which we strive for greatness, recognition, riches and fame (of course) but in doing so, seek to bring mankind along with us. It’s a long train running, this train for glory, and the sensitive ones are prone to fall by the wayside. Carson tempers his passion with great control, seemingly, in his work and this may just be the key to unlocking the magic in his imagery and in his reason for being. Getting his message out to as many as possible is a motivating force in his life at this time and recognition Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 25

Collection Golf le GRIFFON

Soleil d’Automne, 96” x 144”, Acrylic on canvas, Mosaic Movement

“To be able to know such an artist during his lifetime is extremely rewarding.”

By CHRISTIAN SORRIANO, Paris 2009 Art no longer holds any secrets or mysteries for a seasoned pro like me. Copyists, imitators and opportunists are quickly unmasked; self-proclaimed “artists” daubing in images of the sea, flowers, bodies or faces that have no soul, no emotion.

Shunning popular trends and cheap visual effects, Charles Carson reveals the many unique facets of his immense poetic skill in each and every one of his paintings. They offer a breath of life, his life, questioning and delighting the minds and trained eyes of connoisseurs.

Charles Carson has staked his claim to artistic posterity, for today one proclaims “it’s a Carson” in the same manner that one refers to the works of immortal artists like Picasso, Matisse, Warhol or Basquiat.

Christian SORRIANO, president de Drouot cotation en Paris & Charles CARSON - Marseille, France 26 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

Christian SORRIANO, President of Drouot Cotation, Expert in Arts and Antiquities, Expert in public auctions, Expert and assessor with the Customs Commission, Expert for Administrative Tribunals, Expert with the International Union, Official government representative, by ministerial decree dated December 2, 1992, with a mandate to organize the “Art and Antiquities Professions”

“Charles Carson has the art of deconstructing his designs with an astonishing elegance. The purity and transparency of colors and their juxtaposition bring them all into a harmonious whole stemming from and inspired by the pleasure of handling forms. These enigmatic compositions, transformed in the laboratory of his fertile imagination clearly show the mastery of the artist.”

— LOUIS BRUENS Art historian, writer and expert, Founder of Académie internationale des Beaux-Arts du Québec

Neige d’automne, 60” x 24”, Acrylic on canvas Mosaic movement

Vibration en transparence, 24” x 24”, Acrylic on canvas, Mosaic movement

from the media and an ever-growing group of collectors fuels this. Carson is building a legend and could that be said about you and me? And if not, why not? If Carson could do this, why can’t any of us? and that seems to be what he is telling us in a language we can understand: the language of creativity. We are all born with certain gifts and it is up to us to discover and exploit them. Carson’s placid demeanor houses a fury inside which must come to the forefront.

Fortunately for him, and us, it does. Whether he will go down in the annals as the great master many think he is, time will tell. One thinks that if a Carson is placed side by side with any contemporary or even historic work of art, the Carson will rise to the top, in much the same way that musicians can be compared, or ballplayers or even journalists. What it all

comes down to in the end is how deeply we are committed to developing and perfecting the kernel of greatness that resides inside us all.

How often we miss the mark and come up short, whether in art or life, and how often must we push ourselves, pick ourselves up dust ourselves off and start all over again? As often as it takes, say the great ones. Therefore in this period of time, it is a great to be alive while Charles Carson walks the earth and paints his paintings.

Strong and calm, he leads us on a straight and narrow path to our pre-ordained destiny.

After all, we weren’t born here to be mediocre, were we? The pursuit of greatness is open to all. The force of real love is the fuel, combined with talent innate, that gets us where we have to go, less we fall by the wayside and have to come back and do it again.

““I think that Charles Carson has a very bright future because he takes care of his painting and he takes care of the people who buy his paintings.

It’s very important for a painter to follow up with the things he creates and for me, this is something human.

So I think that if he continues to love people, I’m sure that his fans will all remain friends with him because he is great company and they’ll continue to support him.”

– CHAMPLAIN CHAREST, MD, Renown wine enthusiast and avid art collector, was a close friend of Jean Paul Riopelle, with whom he shared passions. The two men met in Paris in 1968 and remained close throughout the years.

Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 27

Victor Forbes at the Carson New York City exibition

When Carson meets his maker, it is certain he will be told, “Well done…You have been faithful over a little; I shall set you over much; enter the joy of your Lord.”

Carson says he has learned much in his 55 years on this earth. I have learned much simply by observing him, his actions, his work ethic and the response to it. While I have many objects of art in my environment, the Carson stands out as a champion. Not for its size, but for its power. It is a conglomeration of everything the man represents: legitimacy, attention to detail, the yin of softness and the yang of accountability. A light emanates from it. Herein lies the secret to human happiness: get it done and get it done right.

There’s a serenity, as if feng shu-ing life from the inside out.

Carson makes a case that we can have it all. Teaching by example deep wisdom, Carson’s paintings simplify dichotomies, pinpointing pathways to understanding, what the yogis call self-realization. Hendrix said, “Love can be found anywhere, even in a guitar.” Carson seems to be saying it can be found in a simple brushstroke, a collection of which brings thought to life, a triumph of good over evil. Of mind over matter. Of gain over loss. Thankfully, we have on earth, in our midst, in these pages, a representative of the power of a still, small voice speaking to us amidst the storm. With an artist like Carson at work, it is indeed a good time to be alive, if for no other reason than to see what will be his next creative invention.

Victor Forbes is Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of Fine Art Magazine, published continuously from New York since 1975

28 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

I am responsible for laboratory analyses and expertise in archeology and works of art, better known as the Laboratoire LEA. Our job is to authenticate works of art, that is, to make a scientific study of a work of art. We analyze the material that defines the essence of an artist in order to thwart forgeries. We analyze the composition of the constituent materials of a work of art in order to discover the gestures, the experience, and the creativity of the artist. I believe that our work is very rewarding and that it’s an opportunity because we get to meet great creators, great artists and beautiful works, which can sometimes be of very humble origin. This is the case, for example, of the first drawings in a decorated cave or the primitive writings of an ancient manuscript. But this can also be a brush stroke of a Leonardo da Vinci or the touch of a van Gogh, a Matisse, a Monet or a Chagall. So many great creators, great artists, who in their own way, help shape our evolution and humanity. I like to say, quite simply, that the works of these great masters are also important and bring as much information as the equations of Albert Einstein.

So, you ask me, through all this, where does the work of Charles Carson stand?

Well again, we are very fortunate. To be able to know such an artist during his lifetime is extremely rewarding, because we know for a fact that his work will shape our evolution and humanity.

Charles Carson is a great creator. His work is inimitable, personal, spontaneous.

I don’t know of any other work that resembles his. It is halfway between abstract and figurative art, it is not part of any movement or trend. His work is a superposition of materials, of shapes, colors, drawings that create a world of its own that is visually very rich, so rich that it even creates a world of sound.

To be copied is the fate of great artists and Charles Carson will not escape this.

His work is extremely unique, and we know from experience that it is very complex to copy his work, but it is also what defines the quality of a great artist, in this case a great Canadian artist.

– BÉATRICE SZEPERTYSKI (Director and Founder of the Laboratoire d’analyses et d’expertises en archéologie et œuvres d’art, a laboratory for analyzing archaeology and works of art that is better known as the Laboratoire LEA, Bordeaux, France. Scientific expert in art, Expert in the central office against the trafficking of cultural property)

Mosaïc Cube sculpture (6 X faces 24’’ x 24‘’) Mixed media, Mosaic movement

“I deeply wanted to develop an original method of painting because I find it trite to simply paint what the eye sees. This led to attempts to dematerialize landscapes into more abstract and figurative forms. I am flattered that many … have analyzed my pictorial language and commented on its uniqueness and originality.”

– CHARLES CARSON

Parfums florals, 36” x 36”, Acrylic on canvas, Mosaic movement Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 29

Vitrail en transparence - 24” x 24”, Acrylic on canvas, Mosaic movement

Émerveillement, 20” x 20”, Acrylic on canvas, Mosaic movement

Chef de file, 12” x 48”, Acrylic on canvas, Mosaic movement

Vision nouvelles, 24’’ x 24’’, Acrylic on canvas, Mosaic mouvement.

30 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

Fleurs de Magnolia, 36” x 36”, Acrylic on canvas, Mosaic movement

Charles Carson: A Master For Today

Jamie Ellin Forbes, Fine Art magazine publisher interviewed by Yannick Gauthier for “PeopleOV” at Charles Carson’s New York City exhibition.

By JAMIE ELLIN FORBES

O

ver 37 years of publishing an art and cultural magazine, we have had the privilege of meeting so many gifted people over this long a period of time. Can you imagine what it would be like if people didn’t have art? It would be a terrible plight. It’s a great honor to be involved with people in the arts. Some artists have risen to great acclaim and importance while others fall by the wayside, but the intrinsic stories of the artists are pretty much the same. Each brings his or her own need to communicate to the viewer through a window they open to their soul to express something deeply personal to the next level. I saw that the paintings of Charles Carson have a unique language. Initially, it was difficult to discern what the abstracts were telling me. Now I understand them very well. The language of the more Impressionistic pieces — the dreamscapes — I felt was very unique with the color usage and balance. The florals and seascapes invite you into the space to taste the colors. You are part of the process of whatever this moment is that the artist is describing. You are welcomed into the imagination of the process, which is far deeper than a mere snapshot. Here you will find the inspiration and mystique involving the colors combined with the rendering of the line: defined and united, yet singular in their presence, made all the more powerful by their coalescence and shared space which not only enrich the composition, but enable the viewer to comprehend the essence of the artists’ vision.

The application and creation of the form is married to the colors so that the composition becomes very free, very available for people to enter into. The quality, the union — the synergy — brings success as the artistic statement is there and quite inspiring. Researching, reflecting and understanding, I could see that Charles has a great drive, capacity and great enthusiasm for the art. The level of his painterly energy carries the artistic statement through, bringing it to life and making it readily understandable. His colors serve the message even as the message serves the color. Carson, through his unique approach and visual language, lets people know immediately through the finished product what is that piece of the dream, that metaphor he is describing — his alphabet, as it were. When you do this successfully, you instantly have the viewer, if not you lose them.

My initial foray into writing about Carson’s art was like a food for me. Describing Carson’s experience and offering it to people to enjoy was and continues to be, incredibly satisfying. Energetically, when viewing his work, Kandinsky, Mondrian, Picasso and van Gogh come to mind. Although one could say that there are those influences, Carson has a great respect for any artistic process that is authentic, that it is important to avoid ephemeral fashions and trends.

Why Carson? He has a tempo. You can’t just paint and extrapolate unless you know form. You have to be able to paint in order to extrapolate as if the light is coming through so he applies the paint with a structure and energy that results in an almost kinetic activity in a stationery work of art. The form that results through this enhanced application of color is obviously from his subconscious yet well-studied intent. His vision allows him to step between the spaces and resultant colors not only emerge, but they vibrate. As one form transitions from dream to reality and reality to dream and the abstract in-between, Carson manages to keep the transparency and the colors incredibly clean, which is rare. They are built, they have definition and there is a certain texture to the resultant paintings that is complex to arrive at. This combination of harmony and tempo is very complex and difficult to arrive at yet, via his painterly process, Carsonism emerges and it is unlike any other school of thought to date. He set out to be singular, to use the standard materials as no one before him has and he has succeeded. There are elements of this work that I have not seen elsewhere nor have I seen this technique done elsewhere. He is the only one in the world doing this style. Founding a process, a language and an artistic technique all his own, Carson is well on his way to taking his place among the great artists of the era.

L’oiseau d’or dans mon jardin, 60’’x 48, Acrylic on canvas, Movement Carsonism Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 31

Joan Hus, Restoring Visual and Artistic Freedom.

Pen on paper.

Nicholas Zalevsky, The stairway where my brother fractured a finger. Oil on canvas.

Museum of Russian Art Hosts International Competition

The Museum of Russian Art recently hosted a reception to celebrate the winners of the 2012 International Art Festival competition: UkrainianAmerican painter Nikolai Zalevsky; graphic artists Joan Hus (Flanders, Belgium); Benjamin Sack and Taiwanese photographer Zeno Chen.

This reception, which was the culminating event of process that began last February, marked the opening of four solo exhibitions dedicated to the winners.

The 2012 International Art Festival was the brainchild of MoRA Director Margo Grant, who wanted to create a vehicle to identify, promote and support outstanding contemporary artists.

Ms. Grant has long been active in the field of international business and cultural exchange between the United States and Russia, and has expanded her activities in recent years to promoting cultural exchanges with Brazil, Israel and Africa. Ms. Grant recruited two friends, writer and television producer Patrick Clark, and artist/programmer Vlad Danilov, to work with her in organizing and promoting the competition.

After the competition was launched online in February, hundreds of works were submitted from all over the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Naturally, there was a very strong contingent of American artists, but the quality of the competition was greatly bolstered by the entries by artists from places such as England, Taiwan, Israel, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands and many others. A panel of judges chaired by art scholar Margaret Dikovitskaya, author of “Visual Culture,” selected 60 outstanding works, which were exhibited in a well-attended group show at MoRA in late summer. One of the purposes of the group exhibition was to allow the judges to see works that they had only seen by means of digital images, in person. Given the temperamental differences among the judges and the great variety of works on display, the debates were very intense. The results, however, are inarguable: the organizers were delighted to 32 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

recognize four outstanding artists, whose work is of indisputable quality and intelligence.

Benjamin Sack, who sold two works

during the exhibition, has created an intricately designed series of “humanized cityscapes.” In the manner of Modernist novelists and poets, Sack incorporates all manner of “interwoven allusions to the sciences, humanities, art history, mythology and religion,” playing off the “rhythm of a thousand structures.” Sack, who lives and works in Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C., was proclaimed by fellow graphics category winner Joan Hus as an “incredible young man at the start of a great career.”

Joan Hus is a professor of philosophy and a published writer who believes that the visual aspects of art are what make it unique and powerful.

While she incorporates words (literally, in one case, the word “words”!) into her graphic works, she believes in reaching the viewer through a sensual and philosophical appeal to the eye. In 2006-2007, Ms. Hus created a project she called the RedNOTEBOOK experiment: “a handwritten philosophical essay about art, 400 pages long with 200 illustrations, in which the similarities and differences between the drawing of words and the drawing of pictures are made visible.”

Nikolai Zalevsky, a “hyper-realist” painter whose depiction of a nailed hand blocking the entrance to a subway station was far and away

Benjamin Sack, Jupiter No.1. Pen on paper.

the most controversial and shocking work at the group exhibition, is a consummate technician whose works juxtapose natural and man made painting objects in a realist style, but with obvious incongruities of scale and character. Mr. Zalevsky had passionate opponents as well as strong defenders on the jury, but he is undeniably a highly skilled and intelligent artist whose paintings provoke strong feelings and emotions. . The International Art Festival is proud to bring his work to a larger circle of art connoisseurs via his award.

Zeno Chen, who is a published poet as well as an outstanding photographer, has been active in the field of photography since 1988.

His work took on more of an artistic character after he began to study painting in 2000, and he now defines his activity as “using photography as a means to create art.”

The International Art Festival will continue to work with these outstanding artists to find other avenues to bring their works to the attention of the art public. At the same time, planning is underway for the next event, which IAF hopes will be as successful as the 2012 competition.

Zeno Chen The Pretender, Digital photograph

Angels Gather in Celebration of National Museum of Catholic Art and Library in Washington, DC

Kevin Gordon with his painting of Kateri Tekakwitha

Martyrdom of St. Jacques Berthieu

by Eric Armusik

Christina Cox, Founder of NMCAL presents the Life-Time Achievement Award to Donald Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington

Patron angels were in attendance at the “2nd Annual Roman Black Tie Gala”at The Italian Embassy on September 26th, 2012 hosted by the Board of Trustees of the National Museum of Catholic Art and Library (NMCAL) and the Ambassador of Italy to the United States and Mrs. Claudio Bisogniero at which The NMCAL Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Donald Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, for his outstanding service to the Catholic community.

A dinner gala reception was held to support the new museum, which is being relocated from New York to Washington, DC. NMCAL is currently hosting with the US Embassy of the Holy See in Rome an art exhibition called “Saints and Angels” to commemorate the Canonization of 7 New Saints which was celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI on October 21, 2012. Proceeds raised from this Gala are to support the museum’s traveling exhibits this year.

“Our major collection of religious artworks, paintings, sculptures, books and manuscripts has been on loan for traveling exhibitions for the last 4 years to The Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and The Historical Society of Washington,” said Christina Cox, the museum’s founder and president.

In addition to Cardinal Wuerl, the black tie event honored some of the museum’s leading benefactors with the NMCAL Angel Leadership Awards: Ambassador Miguel H. Diaz, US Ambassador to the Holy See in Rome; Major Chuck Kilbride, Retired US Marine Corps, Director of Toys for Tots Program; Thomas Hale Boggs, Jr., Chairman of Patton Boggs; Michael J. Massimino, NASA Astronaut/Engineer - Hubble Space Telescope; Ambassador Elizabeth Frawley Bagley, US Ambassador to Portugal 1994 - 1997; Demaurice F. Smith, Executive Director of the NFL Players Association.

The NMCAL Legendary Award was presented posthumously to Edward J. Malloy (1935 - 2012), former President of the Building and Construction Trades Council of NY. The NMCAL Humanitarian Award will be presented to Fountain Of Joy And Comfort Foundation and its Founder, Paul Odili.

All the honorees have a strong belief in their Catholic faith, which guides them as leaders in their communities.

Organizers unveil unique artworks for NMCAL’s traveling exhibition: Celebrating The 7 New Saints. “An important example of the mission of the museum, as it inspires and teaches through art, this exhibition is a gift of goodness and holiness toward a world today so in need of beauty and peace. After the dinner and award presentations, guests will be treated to a special musical performance,”commented Ms. Cox. “We are honored to host the Annual Roman Gala – the Italian Ambassador Bisogniero said. “We believe this is a very significant initiative for the promotion of the Roman Catholic art in the US. In particular, I wish to congratulate His Eminence Donald Cardinal Wuerl for the Lifetime Achievement Award for his role as a spiritual guide, his hard work on delicate social issues and his dedication to spreading the Catholic culture all over the world.”

Karen Salis, Maria Byers, US Ambassador Diaz of The Holy See, Christina Cox, Gala Chairwoman, Mariavelia Savino, Victoria Barton, Marianna Kornveya, Jamie Ellin Forbes, NMCAL Gala Chair Ladies.

Patrick Cox with NASA Astronaut, Mike Massimino

Sister Carmen Salles Y Barangueras

by Luis Peralta

About the National Museum of Catholic Art & Library NMCAL exists to collect, preserve and interpret the history of JudeoChristian artworks, artifacts, books, documents and manuscripts as they relate to the Catholic/Christian experience in America. The Museum’s broader purpose is to support, foster and promote awareness and appreciation of Christian art, literature, music, film and dance while promoting patronage of all sacred and spiritual art. The Museum’s exhibitions and lectures serve to bring to light historical facts pertaining to Christian relations to all faiths through art, literature and artifacts.

The museum is tax-exempt under section 501(c) and was incorporated in 2010 Washington, DC. Plans are to establish new collections of contemporary pieces from artists internationally. The NMCAL is currently hosting traveling exhibits and will be open in 2014.

please visit www.nmcal.org for further information

Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 33

Perfectly Vicious Love

By VICTOR FORBES EDDIE REHM INSTALLATION AT CIRCA SOMETHING GALLERY, BELLPORT, NY

“Who in the devil is Stevie Ray?”

In those seven little words. Albert King proposes the Twainian query of a lifetime. We will now appropriate that phrase (if Dylan can, so can we),just like Stevie Ray Vaugn lifted those manly bends from his hero Mr. King — the legendary, incendiary Master of the Flying V as seen by millions on Canadian National Television’s “In Session” series and available on DVD and the youtube here. So the question now is: “Who in the devil is Fast Eddie Rehm?”

Fast Eddie is a plumber, by trade, an artist by choice. Gifted with talent in both fields, Fast Eddie responded by creating his first bona fide masterpiece, “InSTALLation.” Using the tools of his trades, from sawz-all to Sharpies on materials that would have added to the already-over-flowing landfills of his beloved South Shore of Long Island, Eddie rescues toilets, plungers, various lengths of pipe and brings in collage,penmanship, private iconography, digital prints and even a little philosophic graffiti. As in his born-to-die message, the clock is ticking, listen to Stevie and Jimmy: “Tick Tock.” Time is slipping away. So Eddie has created a legitimate work for the ages and he is just about 30 years on the planet. Stevie was about the same age at his coming out party on that television show. Stepping up with Albert, making him laugh, stop in awe at times when he played rhythm for him....Fast Eddie is there. He doesn’t have to go up, he doesn’t have to down.

Ideas manifest from Fast Eddie – and we go back to the Stevie Ray thang, because he merits your attention if you

haven’t experienced his art form, or a re-visit from those who know his work. Clapton is on a tribute talking about him, and on a different segment BB King echoed his sentiments. “Stevie never runs out of ideas. The music just flows through him. He never has to stop to think of what he is going to do next or worry about repeating himself. I can’t do that,” said BB. “Neither can I,” said Eric.

So it is with Fast Eddie Rehm. I haven’t watched him in action but I know enough about plumbing to know you get dirty and sometimes have to deal with drek on a few levels. In his work, Fast Eddie offers a fingah to the establishment, whether art or contractor, and with vigor drowns canvas after canvas with venom, rage, energy, color, abandon and affection that somehow work as singular, coherent artistic statements. As a collective, they run together, a concert set-list.

It is like Stevie playing “Texas Flood.” In some hands it’s a blues song, yes, but coming out of Stevie, the music is unearthly.

“Channeled.”

Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 31

Photo By Jamie Ellin Forbes, Fine Art Magazine

EDDIE REHM

Eddie Rehm

Comparing him to Clapton is like comparing Jackson Pollock to Roy Lichtenstein.

Pollock was jamming, no doubt. (Sub-)Consciously dripping paint beneath him, bent over like a monk doing penance. Fast Eddie takes a long time to make a painting – even the little ones. There are processes too complex to describe, but if he was left with only a blade and a Sharpie, Fast Eddie would make it work. Did Pollock have to stop and think about what he was going to lay down next? Did Lichtenstein? You decide.

Midway through the show Albert tells Stevie, “I wouldn’t have missed this for nothing in the world.”

“I’m glad I came,” said Stevie.

That’s how most felt at the Eddie Rehm exhibition at Circa Something, which closed out the Summer 2012 season. Eddie had been in enough shows by now, but never as Fast Eddie, headliner. He was particularly nervous this night. The gallery was all his. There was no false bravado, or false humility. There was something charming and decent about the way he carried himself. The way he graciously accepted accolades and spoke about his work. He was changing the world, or at least how we perceive the world or act in it, one painting at a time, one viewer at a time. The effect? Inspiring. Raunchy yet elegant; sophisticated yet pedestrian, the toilet was the centerpiece of the show, the focal point of his masterpiece.

If Ed Harris could play Pollock in the movie, it would be Paul Newman playing Eddie. That’s why we call him Fast Eddie, after the character in “The Hustler.” Fast Eddie was a dichotomy: confident and scared. This conflict often found Fast Eddie in hot water. They broke his thumbs but not his spirit.

Albert continues, “I want you to pick up on these things. I know you can do it. You’re qualified. The most important thing is the better you get, the harder you work. You can’t say, ‘Well, I got it made, I got enough.’

“I won’t.”

“That’s a promise. You’re gonna be better than what you are.”

“That’s the whole point.”

Albert tells Stevie one last thing. “There’s lots of guitar players out there. They play fast, they don’t concentrate on soul, but you got32‘em both.” Just like Fast Eddie Rehm.

• Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

Tie Girl

Dr. Bob Baker, at his Circa Something Gallery, Bellport, NY, site of Eddie Rehm’s ground-breaking solo exhibit,

Circa Something Fine Art © Circa Something Gallery GALLERY OWNER / DIRECTOR Dr. Bob Baker, drbob4fun@aol.com 117A South Country Road, Bellport, NY 11713 (631) 803-6706 www.circasomething.com

7

QUESTIONS FOR

I rina K asperskaya

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orn in 1976 in Leningrad. Irina Kasperskaya graduated in 2001 from The Saint Petersburg State Art and Industry Academy. Painter and graphic artist as well as children’s poet, she is a member of the Union of Artists of Russia and the creative association, “Little Ice Station” and winner of the “Muses Petersburg” competition. Irina works in oils, pastels, etchings, lithographs and monotypes. Since 1997 she has been a participant in numerous exhibitions in Russia, Europe and the USA. 1) When did you become interested in painting? As far as I remember, I began to answer without hesitation the question “Little girl, who do you want to be when you grow up?” around the age of three. Prior to that I was also considering becoming a ballerina. Sometimes I would also wonder about a musical career, but we had no space for a grand piano. What followed was the usual artist track in the USSR: childrens’ art class, art school, prep courses, the Academy. Painting was my passion from the start (however by training I’m a graphic artist). My mother used to collect art books and postcards and I remember being fascinated by them as a child. Especially memorable were two – a postcard set with the works of Andrew Wyeth and a black-and-white pocketbook “Myths And Legends As Depicted In The Works From The Hermitage Collection.”

2) What is your training? Academy of Art and Design, department of book graphics and printing.

3) Who are your inspirations? I draw inspiration from nature, sometimes people, Teddy bears, animal skulls, coffee, music and good artists such as van Gogh, Rembrandt or Basquiat. Most inspiration comes when I begin to work on a new painting.

FineArt ArtMagazine Magazine• •December December2012 2012• •3636 Fine

4) How is the art scene where you are and how does it affect your work? To my deepest regret, the majority of art in my country is similar to most other parts of the Planet, excluding, perhaps, those rare places still untouched by civilization. Words like “modern art” “installation”, and “concept” often stand to cover up lack of professionalism and individuality. I don’t altogether dismiss self-taught geniuses, but they are very rare, just as rare as any other type of genius. At the same, time I know some powerful and talented artists who do not suck up to the market and are known in only very small circles and only thanks to the Internet. Their art inspires me just as much as that created by the masters of the Renaissance. I’m especially happy with a group of very active young artists from St. Petersburg – painting is alive!

5) What are some of the artistic victories you would like to share with us? I believe my exhibition life is turning out very well with many interesting projects and personal exhibits in St. Petersburg, New York, Paris, Tokyo and Helsinki. I am proud that my work was once shown along with the paintings of Oscar Rabin, but I consider the real victories those that were won against my own laziness, weakness and temptation to take on a purely commercial project. My works vary, of course, but I am never ashamed of any paining that is signed “Casper.”

6) How has your style evolved? Evolution of style. Hmm...

One artist said once, “If a person at 20 has a style, it means he is already dead. :)” I learned for many years, tried all kinds of directions, all kinds of printing and book graphics, exhibited installations, copied the works of the old masters and ancient book miniatures, did bookbinding for many years (outside of my academic requirements) studied African art. Our teachers gave us a serious education and a bunch of open possibilities. I’m very thankful to them.

That which I call “my style” (with a measure of hesitation) appeared around eight years ago when I moved away from graphics and onto oils. Same style, but the color palette changes depending on the mood and paint availability!

7) What are your plans and hopes for the future concerning the growth of your body of work and new styles and visions you are manifesting? Future plans are to stay busy. I’m planning to maintain momentum, to have one or two personal shows per year, every time showing something new and fresh. I dream of much spare time to spend in the company of interesting people, to travel, to be part of interesting group projects. To return to etching, and to publish my second children’s book.

B y V I C TO R FO R B ES Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 37

Unreal Reality, 30” x 48”

LALA TER-ABRAMYANTS

“Art Must Advance Along With The Times”

“I

Red Impression, 30” x 40”

believe that art is a science that cannot stand still on the basis of mere reproductions from nature,” says the vibrant and dedicated artist Lala Ter-Abramyants whose work is carving out her distinctive personal vision with a unique stylistic approach that involves voluminous amounts of built up oil paint which is almost as akin to clay-modeling as it is to brush stroke on canvas. In her ever-expanding body of work, the artist, from her Bronx, NY studio, is forging new ground by using color and texture as a single entity to mold a third dimension on a two-dimensional canvas. This approach opens unlimited possibilities for the use of a variety of colors and textures to represent the dynamics of space. Her expressiveness 38 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

Interaction I, 36” x 48”

The Seasons - Winter

transcends the boundaries of conventional aspects of painting. In these works, she employs the means of abstraction to recreate the powerful color schemes and energy of van Gogh along with the vibrancy and movement of Kandinsky, her major influences.

“Art,”she continues, “must advance along with the times.” To this end, she has created

a very personal triptych (The Tree of Destiny, The Tree of Life, and The Tree of Love) which she considers the three hypostases of human existence.

In addition to her series on nature and “the Blues,” Lala also created The Signs of the Zodiac which examines the varying energies and nuances of each zodiac sign. –VICTOR FORBES

RUDIK PETROSYAN

Dancer, oil on canvas

Thriving In The Art Center Of The World

“When you love, you create; you live with the God presence. God is Love. I always feel the presence of God. So it is the same with the people I portray. I am entering inside of their heart and soul and try my best to put that on the canvas.”

Recipient of honors and prizes on three continents, with recent

By VICTOR FORBES exhibitions in called upon to portray Saints and luminaries of the Church with major portrait commissions, an artist was all Petrosyan mbraced by scholars, pundits and those who find joy ever wanted to be and all he is today. As early as the age of three, his and solace in a well-executed and uplifting work of sculptures attracted attention and it was strongly encouraged that he art, Rudik Petrosyan was recently welcomed to the be sent for special training. From early childhood he was well aware United States of America as an officially recognized of his elected direction. Since his arrival in the US, he has participated “Artist of Special Merit” where he continues his in many gallery exhibitions and competitions here and abroad. course of artistic and spiritual growth. “I am so happy to be in The Petrosyan home was a cultural center. “My father, who the art center of world,” he stated recently from his studio in had visited many countries, fervently believed that the main focus New Jersey, not far from the Hudson River and New York City. of his life was to construct and build up Armenia—culturally and “For decades I was painting the enraptured beauty of my country economically—to reach the level of the more developed nations. of birth and strangely enough, the nature here reminds me of the countryside of Karabakh in my homeland, Armenia. Now My dream in life was to ensure the art of my native country became I draw from all seasons of New Jersey. It is so beautiful here.” competitive and recognized internationally.”

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Fine Art Magazine • November 2012 • 39

Still Life With Pomegranates (3)

Doing their part, the Petrosyan boys drew and sculpted with such proficiency that the kindergarten teachers in their hometown of Stepanakert were showing the older children in the school how advanced these youngsters were. While in the third grade, a sculptor from Yerevan (the capitol of Armenia and one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities) was engaged by the municipal government of Petrosyan’s hometown Stepanakert to personally instruct the boys. At the same time, an older female sculptor (who was also a noted artist) came from Leningrad, so they took classes with her. This was followed with a visit by another artist from the Leningrad Academy of Art, and further studies with an Armenian artist who studied at the Moscow Academy of Art. At a very young age the Petrosyan brothers became, in the words of Rudik, “very professional artists with professional skills.”

Rudik’s art, his every act of creativity is, in his words, “an offer back to God what has been given to us. We know if we have talent in anything it is from God and first we have to give Him back what He gave to us. We have to do our best, nothing should stop us.” Hence kindness and humility pour from Petrosyan’s persona, extended via his brush and palate on to his subject matter and into the world.

While the static images of these paintings reproduced in books, magazines and on the web are without doubt demonstrative of his prowess, the goodness, solace and love resonate far more deeply in person. Petrosyan infuses in landscapes, portraits and still lifes the delicacy and strength that is the hallmark of a gifted and grateful artist putting all his tools to work.

“When I was studying art in college and in the Academy of Art, we were studying Italian Renaissance, European Renaissance and so on and it all was about Christians. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion, doing so in 301 AD. No 40 • Fine Art Magazine • November 2012

one can make us believe less in God.” On a recent visit to his studio, entering his space one is treated to an array of work that runs from the most intricately depicted traditional icons to life-size portraits of Archbishops, saints and revered leaders of the Orthodox church. These are remarkable not only for their artistic execution, but for the sheer generation of emotion and power imbued in each. Is it possible to express such optimistic hope and spiritual fruits in a brushstroke? to carry it to completion in a single painting? to extend it to a lifetime’s body of work? In Rudik Petrosyan’s case, the answer is an unequivocal YES. There is truth and beauty in these works, like reading a Psalm.

In 1956, at the Maxim Gorgy Armenian Secondary school, the artistic reputation of this third grader reached far beyond the limits of his school. Paintings and sculptures started to be sold, and people were buying his creations, he recalls, “with great pleasure.”

The young prodigy began to frequent an array of artistic facilities where he soaked up technique after technique in a variety of media.

The Painters Group at the Pioneer’s House in Stepanakert and the Regional District Painting and Sculpting Center at Stepanakert in the Studio of the Master Artist Baghdassarian were followed by exceptional success at regional Children’s Expositions. For their contributions to the artistic reputation of their school, the Public Civil Education Board decided to cover all the financial expenses of the brothers, who were enrolled in the workshop of the professional sculptor A. Haroutunyan.

“From that day forward,” said Rudik, “we started studying the secrets of professional art.”

Further studies continued under the sponsorship of the Regional Public Educational Department at the private studio of the talented Youry Avedissian advancing the Petrosyan’s knowledge in the sphere

“I learn every day from nature, from life.”

Sunny Day

Fine Art Magazine • November 2012 • 41

Adoration of Magi, oil on canvas

In My Studio, oil on canvas

of sculpture, drawings, color paintings, and large and small size compositions.

In 1963 another talented sculptor come to Stepanakert from Leningrad. He was 80 years of age and people were calling him “Dadig.” He was invited to execute a State Artistic Mission. “My brother and I often visited his workshop where we earned valuable knowledge, counseling and professional secrets. I was enrolled at the Fine Arts Studio recently inaugurated at the cultural Hall in Sepanakert, which was managed by a professional Moscow-educated painter, Krisha Dadourian. More than fifty students were studying in his studio, and he was always stating, ‘I don’t know who among you shall become a painter, but, I am more than convinced that Rudik shall definitely become a great painter.”

In order to be enrolled Terlemezian Institute of Fine Arts, the creative activities of the brothers had to be displayed. Witnessing the high professionalism of these works, the admission people hardly believed their eyes. Such an advanced level had not been seen by the examiners; not from Stepanakert or Karabagh or from Yerevan or any city or region in Armenia.

“Stating they didn’t believe in the veracity of my works, I immediately responded and asked for a piece of paper, explaining that I could prove on the spot that these were my creations. Barely a few minutes passed and they exclaimed with joy and admiring exclamations that they were amazed. They started giving us different gifts – color paints, brushes, and other painters’ items. The Director of the Institute, Ohannessian, also offered us a large box of paints, stating, “Boys, you are accepted.” They even suggested our sitting as third graders. But my brother and I preferred to start everything from the very basis, because the aforementioned “Dadig” from

Leningrad was always saying, “In order to attain heights, and conquer difficulties, the professional foundations must always be very sound.”

He then attended Yerevan’s Institute of Fine Arts for six years.

Awarded the Medal of Leonardo da Vinci for his “outstanding creative activity, exclusive, utter devotedness to humanistic art, for permanent improvement of his professionalism, for the reason that in his creative work he managed to combine Romanticism, Impressionism and Realism at the same time preserving traditions of European High Renaissance and the Early Renaissance” Rudik continues on his path, his “elected direction.”

“It is never enough for me to be completely satisfied with what I have created,” he concludes. “Once I finish a painting, I have a fervent desire to create another that is greater than the previous one.”

According to Carl Jung, one’s vision becomes clear only when one looks into his or her heart. Rudik has done so and his art illuminates his path and that of his many admirers. The beauty sometimes transcends reality, sometimes embellishes it.

“When you love, you create. I feel God’s presence around, working on deepening and perfecting my skills. Beauty originates with God and personifies His being. His light breaks forth through the canvas. God is love. I always feel that. So it is the same with the people I portray. I am entering inside of their heart and soul and do my best to put that on the canvas.”

Recently in Beirut a church was attacked. A collection of Petrosyan paintings inside were slashed and destroyed. “I am still hurting how people can do something like that. The good thing is that God sees everything. I hope that there will come a day that people will stop hating one another, stop fighting each other, and know that they have only one enemy: ignorance.”

42 • Fine Art Magazine • November 2012

MICHAEL

SINGLETARY

Mike White, collage, 2007

G

“BALL WAS A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF MY LIFE”

rowing up in the Lester Patterson houses, how A graduate of New York’s prestigious High School could it not be? But while he resided in the of Art and Design on East 57th Street, Singletary was Bronx, he “lived” in the Met, (the Metropolitan sought after by Syracuse as much for his prowess Museum of Art) where he was enthralled by the with the brush on canvas as he was for his capacity Caricaturo artists of Italy. “I led two different lives to brush back the opposition from under the boards. when I was growing up in the Pattersons,” recalled Though his collegiate career was cut short due to an the artist from his home in injury, his power and finesse Silver Springs, MD. on the hardwood translated to Recently retired from a a confident brush stroke and long-term production career an exuberance of expression in at CBS where he worked with any and every style and subject everyone from Walter Cronkite matter that interested him. to Dan Rather to Katie Couric, Influenced by his favorites, Singletary has always led Romare Bearden and Benny a double life. First as a boy Andrews, Jackson Pollock also growing up preferring lifewas in the mix, “believe it or drawing classes to shooting not,” said Singletary who did hoops, then as a recruited a couple of paintings honoring collegiate power forward for him in the Chocolate Series the legendary Orangemen of and even met Pollock’s crowd.

Syracuse University, followed “In New York City in the ’60s CHRIS KRALIK PHOTO, Bronx NY 2008 by a highly successful and onand ’70s, art was everywhere,” going career as a visual artist he said. “The opportunities in the very competitive New York art scene while he were there. I was optimistic. Quite frankly, this was held down his day job in the big-time media world.

America. America is good that way.”

Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 43

Jazz

“They called me ‘Michelangelo’ back then and I had to hide my portfolios behind the bushes so I wouldn’t get ridiculed. Things that were a natural part of growing up. But those projects,” recalled the artist, “were like a big family. You couldn’t hide, everybody knew what was going on and we watched out for each other. “I started when I was really young, doing art when I was around six or seven. I was really, really into it. I studied art all the time. Ball was a very important part of my life then also as I watched great players Pablo Robertson, Jackie Jackson, Mike Switzer, Booby Green, Bunny Horne. PS 18 was the Mecca where people came to play ball…but I didn’t ever want to play basketball. I wanted to play baseball but there were no baseball fields where I came from. When you had ball it represented a lot. It was a manhood kind of a thing. Where I grew up, we did what we had to do. Syracuse was really good for me. It kept me off the streets but at Syracuse I got so discouraged at the whole sports thing, it was like a factory and I gravitated more to art.”

Singletary went to Africa one summer, then Europe on a Damrosch Scholarship. “That was kind of like winning the Emmy Award. I felt very good about it the more I get into being an artist, I found so much for me to get to.” “I left CBS happy. Working there, I met almost everybody. Now,” said the artist during our interview at the height of Linsanity, “I want to meet Mr. Jeremy Lin,” astutely adding, “Cats want to play when they know they’re gonna be getting the ball.”

Multi-talented in both television and radio, Singletary successfully held the position of producer or associate director for over 30 years working with Martha Stewart, Dan Rather, Walter Cronkite, Mike Wallace, Greg Gumbel, Morley Safer, Brent Musburger, Kurt Gowdy, Charles Collingwood, Charles Osgood and a host of other major journalists.

Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 44

Soloist

Blackie

Blackeye Peas Eaters

Singletary has exhibited in over 300 different fine art shows including The American Craft Museum, The Bayly Museum, Harlem Studio Museum, Whitney Museum, The Hudson River Museum, The Nueberger Museum, Sotheby, The Museum of Arts and Design, Lew Allen Gallery, Lubin House Gallery, The Jazz Museum, The Countee Cullen and Schomberg Center for African American Studies, Essie Green Gallery, Lloyd Vann Gallery -Chelsea (The Chocolate Hip Hop Show), Atelier Gallery (New York), Pepsi Cola, Kraft General Foods, and Readers Digest. He has also exhibited with many noted artists, including Andy Warhol, Romare Bearden, Chuck Close, Red Grooms, David Hockney, Robert Indiana, Lowell Nesbitt, Claes Oldenberg, Fernando Botero, Phillip Pearlstein, Robert Mapplethorpe and many, many, more. His slides are currently included in the Museum of Modern Art Library. He has also been featured in Ebony Magazine, American Artist Magazine, Black Art Magazine, American Visions Magazine, and is the official artist for the “New York City Basketball Hall of Fame.”

His work has been featured in Spike Lee’s films “Mo Better Blues” and “Jungle Fever”, “The Cosby Show”, “227” and “The Guilding Light”. His very successful Jazz Series of over 100 paintings celebrating jazz and the people who play “the music” has been internationally acclaimed and represented in many art galleries and art magazines. He has also exhibited with many noted musicians including the late Dizzey Gillespie and Nancy Wilson and many of these jazz paintings have been used as CD covers for Don Pullen (Random Thoughts), Bobby Watson (Post-Motown Bop), Bill Saxton, and Blue Note Records. A documentary film of these works entitled The Jazz Painter (Kiro Films) has recently been shown in Tokyo, Japan. One of his prints, Cottonfield Blues, is in the collection of the United States Library of Congress.

His most recent exhibit, The Chocolate Hip Hop has been shown at the Lloyd Vann Galleries, Chelsea and at the New York “Chocolate” Show and featured in articles in the Gannett Sunday News and Gotham Magazine as well as a televison feature on BET Nightly News. Listed

in Who’s Who in American Art, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in the East, and Who’s Who in Entertainment, Singletary earned his BFA at Syracuse University and studied at the Art Student League at Vermont Academy, Rhode Island School of Design; University of Ghana, West Africa; University of Guadalajara, Mexico; Fountainebleau Music and Fine Arts Conservatoire, France (Damrosch Scholarship).

Recent curatorial credits include the Sept 11 Artist Response exhibit at the Pelham Art Center (May 2002). He also served as a member of the Gordon Park’s Advisory Committee for the Hudson River Museum exhibit Half Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks.

In 2012, Michael’s work was chosen to be in the General Electric 6th Annual African American History Month exhibition at their Stamford, CT headquarters’ gallery. He was also a semi-finalist in the Bombay Gin Artisan Series Finale at the International Vision Gallery in Washington, DC in 2011. He had two spectacular exhibits at the Muruka Gallery and Bus Boys and Poets Gallery in the nation’s Capitol, also in 2011. His Art Seeing Music at the Art Gallery at Rockefeller State Park and the Blue Hill Art and Cultural Center in Pearl River, NY in 2010. drew great reviews. He has also exhibited his Music, Dance and Michael Jackson collection at the Parish Gallery in Washington DC. Michael has just completed his first book of his paintings about jazz and food entitled, My Favorite Things. The book is a collection of quotations from art critics, jazz personalities, leaders in the culinary industry and more importantly friends and people who enjoy his work. The quotes are a sensitive integration of words interspersed over his paintings making for a perfect match of harmony of quotes and the power and magic of art. In 2012 Michael is transforming into a new style he calls “painterly collages” that is heavily influenced by the work of artist and friend Romare Bearden.

— VICTOR FORBES Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 45

Michel Boutboul

To The Light, oil on canvas, 68” x 165”

“A Transformed But Relentless Surreal Sense…”

«Voici l’epoque ou le poete sent se dresser en lui cette meridienne force d’ascension »

—Rene Char

M

ichel Boutboul, born in Fr a n c e, i s a n a t u r a l draughtsman. From childhood, to his amazement he could draw. After experiencing the power of Surrealist art he became, and has since been, a powerful painter of images. He has held exhibitions since the late 70s in France, Belgium, and more recently, in the 90s, in New York and Miami. He has also exhibited privately. In the last decade his Oeuvre has received a new inflection.

His art has remained surrealist but is emphatically contemporary, attuned to what is happening to the Human today when there’s a transformation in the offing, to which MB aims to bear witness.

And it is to this decade (since 2004) that the following is addressed.

The new wave of paintings obtains its first major statement in his 2004 masterpiece To the Light, which establishes the coordinates wherein his new vision opens. The pictorial space is perspectival and leads to a vanishing point as in traditional Renaissance painting, but here the horizon is radiating light. The Human in its diversity in the spiritual Body is attracted to the Light in the horizon. Hence the traditional structure of the pictorial space — its 3D perspective — is itself a critical gesture. The space houses the Human in its erotic corporeality. The body exists not as matter or Flesh but as the vessel of the Striving of the Human beyond its present 46 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

Chained By Love, oil on canvas, 60” x 72”

state. Hence the rejection, emphatic, of all abstraction. The bodies are whole (unlike in most abstract art), often naked, often female.

Their sexuality is split into Two. And the Two need, draw, attract, complement, incite and excite each other. The Two are not the same.

The Female, through her supremely rounded beauty, is the spiritual guide to all conjunctions. Beginning explicitly with To the Light but obtaining magical morphings in a succession of visions, the bodies are

Purple Rose, oil on canvas, 40” x 54”

Tango, oil on canvas 48”x 60”

themselves, and overcome the default inertia (“evil”) which the “Apple” and the “Serpent” for instance symbolize. Hence Visions showing the Human oriented or lost, in its Flow or Arrest.

The paintings are contemporary witnessings to a transformed but relentless Surreal sense that Michel has been pursuing since his early youth, and now bear the fruition of his maturity.

—Ruben Berezdivin, FIU Philosophy Dept.

www.michelart.com

Blue Symphony, oil on canvas, 89” x 117”

found to already levitate or seek to ascend, to oppose the grief of gravity that weighs on our bodies, incarnate spirits drawn to the light at the End of the Horizon. Hence the multiplicity of female figures, either conjoined with their Male or alluringly awaiting it. Perhaps The Purple Rose shows the alluring virginal female as she exposes herself to the sight of the yearning Male. The Female as the Guide of the Future Human draws the Male onward, toward herself and beyond into the Light.

For Michel, the Females are Muses. In their often naked bodies erotically they are Spiritual Guides. They lead the Male into the Future Horizon through which he seeks his essence. The contoured figures all aim at trans-figuration. They must link to their proper soul-mates to be

The Three Graces, oil on canvas, 48” x 60” Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 47

Michael Hafftka: My Bronx Roots

Portrait of John Zorn, 2011, 48”x 36”, oil on canvas

Michael Hafftka: The artist as Microtonal guitar slinger with his fretless axe.

“I

grew up in the Kingsbridge section Housatonic Museum of Art, Arizona State of the Bronx when things were very University Art Museum, National Gallery of different. There still were forests Art, and Yeshiva University Museum.

I am a near me in the Microtonal Riverdale section musician and which a young composer and kid could explore in the coming and wander in. I month I will would often walk perform in to the railroad the Amer ic an tracks with my Festival of friends and sit Microtonal by the Harlem Music. I was River or just the soloist in the walk for hours World premiere on the tracks. of Johnny The Bronx left a Reinhards deep impression “Concer to for Riverdale rail line, by the Hudson River on me both for Fretless Guitar” its nature which is often reflected in my landscapes or the at Spectrum in Manhattan NY on November abstract sections of my paintings, but also it 17 2012. I play with world renowned Jazz was a city and a big part of NYC so it gave musician Jemeel Moondoc in the forthcoming me a figurative vocabulary. I saw my neigh- cd “Yellow Back Radio Break Down” coming bors Moses Soyer, the artist, and Sugar Ray out on the Six Gallery Press label in 2012 Robinson who’s mother lived on my block. (www.sixgallerypress.com) Here is one of our recent concerts: They both influenced me. h t t p : / / w w w. y o u t u b e . c o m / My paintings are represented in the permanent collections of a number of museums, watch?v=NocK5NptFmw Also a forthcoming cCD with microincluding: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, tonal composer Johnny Reinhard, you can see a Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, recent performance here: http://www.youtube.

Carnegie Museum of Art, New York Public com/watch?v=oBJkISU0KxI http://www.hafftka.com/ Library, Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, CHRIS KRALIK PHOTO

The Persistence of Memory, 2009, (Man with Elephant), 48”x 60”, oil on canvas

Street Fair, 2012, (Several figures and a dog), 85”x72”, acrylic on canvas

Portrait of Miri Ben-Ari, 2011, 40”x 30”, oil on canvas

FOR MORE ON OUR COMING EDITION OF BRONX CULTURE & “WHAT’S COOKIN’ IN THE BRONX”, VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.FINEARTMAGAZINE.COM/BRONX FINE ART 48 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

Jisel 1

MARY-ROUD

Born in 1975 in Yerevan, Armenia, Mary Roud lives and works in New Jersey, near her father Rudik Petrosyan’s studio. A graduate of Yerevan’s Art-Theatrical Institute, she has participated in national and international group exhibitions in Armenia, Russia, Lebanon, Germany and the USA. Some of her works are in private collections of famous collectors. Specializing in oil, acrylic, pencil, and watercolor, she is also a sought after illustrater of children’s books.

“Every painter has his own inner life, his artistic ‘language’, his permanent active attitude towards art and life, his creative sphere, his style. My life is connected to the art, it is my world. My world is colorful and beautiful, full with fantasy and imagination.”

Dance II

Melody

Dance Il for further information contact maryroud@hotmail.com Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 49

CANNON HERSEY

looking at imagination about the current state of freedom. I took different pieces from the wall to make the font that spells out Kokasi.”

Cannon’s message of universality is made incredibly evident with the late rapper 2Pac and the main attraction of the hip-hop camp Ruff Ryders DMX written boldly on the wall. Hersey goes on to tell of a friend and colleague who had previously worked in public relations with the Ruff Ryders, and how struck she was when she first saw the image. “They had brand success but to know that it reached

By JAY M. SINGLETON the streets of South Africa was incredible. I really try to look at those types of dynamics, says Hersey.”

Another guiding force behind much of his work is AnthroPOPhagia , the process of absorption and blending of other cultures, which examine the African, European and Asian cultures that make up the melting pot that is contemporary Brazil. “I’m looking at different cultural emphasis behind the work. Anthroprophogia is a cannibalism of culture which is Brazil and the modernist concept of the poets and artists of Brazil in the 20s as they were trying to identify their own independence. It’s a coming out.” This process is one that Hersey will continue to explore in his co-exhibition with Brazilian artist Andre Andre Cypriano at Lincoln Center’s Freda and Roy Furman Gallery December 6th for the New York Film Society’s Celebrate Brazil Festival. The event is produced in collaboration with Hersey’s non-for-profit organization CrossPathCulture and will feature a live performance by Beatriz Azevedo, only ten years after an exhibit with Samson Mnisi, Cannon Hersey, “Grafitti Monk,” 1999-2010. Dura trans photo print on an LED light Mirrors of Vision. panel within a shanghai tang jacket with an antique Chinese jacket section sown around the Always on a quest to discover unique possibilities in photograph on a 19th century hand Tibetan printed blanket. 44”x 30”. the ways in which photography can be viewed, Hersey uch of my work comes from being in places that I’m incorporates not that accepted, where I’m kind of like an outsider,” light boxes says cultural innovator Cannon Hersey. Grandson in a series to Pulitzer-prize winning author John Hersey and son to abstract of his works expressionist, also John Hersey, one could say that Cannon has artistic to highlight prowess and cultural sensitivity ingrained in his DNA. subject matter Cannon Hersey’s adventurous attitude isn’t only portrayed in his and emphasize artful tackling of sensitive issues from race to religion. Ignoring his a deeper father’s wisdom of “Don’t do this, you will be broke your whole life,” meaning.

Hersey instead followed in the footsteps of his visionary matriarch “In terms who serves as one of the key influences of his work. “Growing up of light boxes in galleries in SoHo—my father was one of the earliest there—and in general, I being born around people like Gerard Melanga and Peter Bradley use them often watching my father working a lot with African American artists as to express an early supporter of that market place fueled my interest in dealing some human with social justice through art.” experience.

With topics that examine deep-rooted and relevant issues such Like this…”, as Apartheid in South Africa, Hersey avoids using images that are as he points to transparently searching for emotion to express his views and connect a photo of a with his purveyor. “I try to address some complicated social issues Tibetan Monk but through a way that people can kind of feel that ongoing story overlapped and dynamic. I don’t think that enough people think about or grasp on C h i n e s e Samson Mnisi + Cannon Hersey, “Mother + Child,” the picture within some of these confused dynamics. I’m trying to paper, “… is 1996-2008. Silk screen print on paper backed linen on a leave it to the viewer to find something, to not go too deep into the ultra-thin LED panel surroudned by Indian cotton print r e m i n i s c e n t political or social aspect, to let people feel their own way through it.” and Japanese Silk within a natural fiber Brazilian sisal o f a n o l d tapestry painted in Acrylic. 56 1/2” x 45 1/2”. 1/1.

Hersey highlights how cultures are intertwined by mixing television.” elements from different backgrounds, forcing people to look deeper U s i n g into the ways in which we connect. He chooses subject matter that subtle historical references, Hersey conveys his messages which lean transcends through any culture such as a wall in South Africa stained hard on political and social issues. The image of the Monk is housed with graffiti, an art form that resonates with people from any city. in three sides by strips of a silk sleeve. “The idea was to connect it This becomes the main platform for a series of works called Kokasi to a Tibetan Tanka, a prayer artifact, but I left it open because it’s a which derives from the Zulu slang term that stands for “in the hood”. story that’s not finished,” says Hersey.

“In the Kokasi series I take different pieces from the wall to build, He goes on to describe how the image is “repping togetherness” which deals with the new expression of freedom in South Africa, through items that resonate with people all over the world. “He looks

Looking in From The Outside

“M

50 • Fine Art Magazine • November 2012

like he could almost be a hipster with his blinged-out watch and that funky hat. But he’s in India.” Hersey then directs my attention to a group of symbols scripted on a wall that serves as the backdrop to the subject of the photo, “This is almost graffiti style writing. I like to focus on the dualities in culture.”

“Oftentime the light allows us a multi-dimensionality. Not just putting light behind something but also allowing layers of culture within the piece.” Another selection from the works made in collaboration with South African political artist Samson Mnisi contains “A woman and her child in a hut in Zambia coming through the image of a waiter in Brazil within the hut. I am trying to address the cultural dichotomy—the disconnect between this greater culture of diversity and the servitude within.”

Of his journey with fellow artist Samson Mnisi, who Hersey has shown with in South Africa and Brazil, he goes on to say, “ It was a process. It was about doing work that connected. How do we help photography to have a longer voice in and more longevity and how to get the connection between ink and textile. How do we integrate the works more together? I always liked the idea of primitive man’s television screen. I looked for the light elements that would be very thin and would integrate well into these organic materials. We look for common texture materials that have a cultural significance and find ways to bring them together. Samson will paint. I trust him and he trusts me. We trust each to do our part and we try to be very open to allowing the other person to do what he feels like.”

Constantly testing his creative limits, Hersey has embarked upon a new form of expression in one of his latest and most complex series Electric Organic. The image is shot with a 35mm camera then silk screen printed in reverse negative to create abstract forms, focusing on visual movement with an urban sensibility. Vivid colors transmit the energy of the city and skyscrapers in Houston, the Brooklyn

Cannon Hersey, “Kokasi #10,” 2009. Silk screen on handmade Nepalese Paper. 1/. 22”X40”. 1/1.

Bridge and the street traffic in Sao Paolo are used as muses.

“I’m pushing abstraction and trying to understand the movement of ideas and culture. I call it Electric Organic because, although it’s all urban light and energy, and although it’s city power to a large degree, it has a feeling of something quite organic. I took what was light and turned it dark and what was dark and turned it light, again giving it a deeper meaning beyond the surface.”

Cannon Hersey continues to create visual poetry and believes that artists have an obligation to uphold the standards of culture and be a guiding light for our hopes and dreams. “As an artist, it is our duty to express in a way, to help popularize and visualize and allow people to see a better tomorrow, to see beyond their present state until tomorrow and I think artists traditionally were definers of culture. We must continue that.”

Samson Mnisi + Cannon Hersey, “Driving Ahead,” 1999/2000 Black and white photo print made by Cannon Hersey painted on by Mnisi with Acrylic paint mounted on South African hassian in a maple frame. 22 1/2” x 19 3/4”. 1/1 Fine Art Magazine • November 2012 • 51

PHOTO BY JEFF CULLY

NEW PARRISH ART MUSEUM OPENS IN SOUTHAMPTON

Skylit Galleries Showcase Art from Mid-1800s to Present Esteban Vicente: Portrait of the The Parrish Art Museum opened the doors to its new Artist is the first in a series of gallery building in Water Mill on installations that will pinpoint a November 10, 2012, with single artist and his studio practice. installations of works from its This lyrical abstractionist arrived in Amer ic a outstanding in 1936, permanent schooled in collection on the old world view for the academic first time in tradition of its 115-year his native history.

Spain and The infresh from a augural installsojourn in the ation of the heady milieu collection in of 1920s the Parrish’s P a r i s . Ye t new building, his openness established to ne w inin a series of skylit rooms, Esteban Vicente (American, born Spain f l u e n c e s 1903-2001), Untitled, 1956 Colored and to new will focus on t h e l e a d i n g paper, printed paper, and charcoal on friendships, board, 23 x 20 characteristics Gift of the Harriet and Esteban Vicente i n c l u d i n g of the Mus- Foundation and the Cooper Union for t h o s e w i t h the Advancement of Science and Art J a c k s o n eum’s permaPollock, nent collection. Each gallery will provide Willem de Kooning, and Mark a narrative framework within Rothko, assured his critical role which visitors can see and in the evolution of Abstractexperience master works of Expressionist discourse in 1940s art, organized to convey and and 50s New York. Paintings celebrate the story of America’s and works on paper, along with most enduring and influential ancillary materials to further artists’ colony: Eastern Long illuminate Vicente’s life and career, will be on view.

Island.

52 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

Mr. & Alex Rosenberg, noted art dealer, Marilyn Goldberg of Museum Masters International Artist Matthew Satx

Artist Carol Hunt, Dr. Jay Hunt of Southampton

David Kushnir, and Edward Callaghan of Alchimia Marketing & Public Relations.

Photos by JAMIE ELLIN FORBES

ABOUT THE PARRISH The Parrish Art Museum, founded in 1897, celebrates the artistic legacy of Long Island’s East End, one of America’s most vital creative centers. Since the mid-1950s the Museum has grown from a small village art gallery into an important museum with a collection of more than 2,600 works from the nineteenth century to the present. It includes such contemporary painters and sculptors as John Chamberlain, Chuck Close, Eric Fischl, April Gornik, Elizabeth Peyton, as well as such masters as Dan Flavin, Roy Lichtenstein, Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, and Willem de Kooning. The Parrish houses important collections of works by the American Impressionist William Merritt Chase and the post-war American realist Fairfield Porter. A vital cultural resource serving a diverse audience, the Parrish organizes and presents changing exhibitions and offers a dynamic schedule of creative and engaging public programs. For further information, visit www.parrishart.org

For Art and Animal Lovers The Hamptons Classic Meets the Breeds

Lauren Franco Grand Champion of Short Stirrup Equitation, Carol Lee Secari & Laura Beth Secari, Laurel Crown Farms.

The path to Art Hampton wound from a parking field through a horse farm.

Here is Victor Forbes with a box of Fine Art Magazines stopping for a quick hello to a palomino on his way to the show. Following is a collection of images at last season’s Art, Dog and Pony shows— the Hamptons Classic, Art Hamptons, Art Southampton and Meet the Breeds in New York City

At Meet The Breeds, Javits Center Oct. 2012

PHOTOS by JAMIE ELLIN FORBES

Getting ready to fly at the Hamptons Classic

Liz Derringer, Art Hamptons PR Director, takes a break with a friend at the Fair

It’s always “Happy Hour” at Art Southampton

Ready for the cameras, ASPCA at the Hamptons Classic

Derrick Braun, owner/trainer Split Rock Farms

Bubba O’ReillyLouisiana Red Meets A Breed

Great Dane Club at MEET THE BREEDS Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 53

Robert De Niro Sr., Still Life with GuitarTorso and Two Vases 1971 oil on canvas, DC Moore Gallery

HalseyMckay-Cutler, Total Rapture

Allegra La Viola - McAdams

Steady Sales And Upbeat Mood At The Second Annual Artmrkt Hamptons The second annual artMRKT Hamptons, founded by Max Fishko and Jeffrey Wainhause, closed on a high note with exhibitors reporting steady sales and strong attendance throughout the weekend.

The well-heeled Hamptons crowd strolled through the tent on the Bridgehampton Historical Society grounds -- some with canine pals in tow -- scooping up works ranging from sculpture to works on paper, to paintings and photography. Further proof that East Enders considered this a “must attend” event -- over 1500 collectors and art enthusiasts attended the preview night party and guest numbers topped 7000 in total for the weekend.

Throughout the weekend, notables including Musician/Actor Jon Bon Jovi, Actress Edie Falco, Marie Claire Fashion Editor and “Project Runway” Judge Nina Garcia, society figures Kathy and Richard Hilton and Bonnie Engelbardt Lautenberg, TV Reality Star and Interior Decorator Dina Manzo, Jewelry Designer Jennifer Miller, Broadway Producer Stewart Lane (“War Horse” and “Priscilla Queen of the Desert”) as well as Producer and Actress Bonnie Comley strolled the tent in search of their next art purchase.

According to Jay Lehman of Morgan Lehman Gallery, “The treatment gallerists receive is exceptional and is something that one typically expects only from the big fairs.

Jeff and Max are ambitious and their efforts produce results. More people came through this year and they were serious collectors.

The scale of the show made it easy for 54 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

visitors to feel relaxed and focused.” Kevin Havelton of Aureus Contemporary said, “We sold out of most of our largest works and estimate that 80 percent of sales were to new clients.”

Local as well as international galleries reported successful outcomes with painting, photography and works on paper accounting for the bulk of sales throughout the weekend.

Several large-scale items were sold at JHB Gallery, including two hand-cut paper works

by Jaq Belcher and a John Noestheden silver crystal on paper piece. Sag Harbor gallerist Karen Boltax sold works by several artists including a Regina Scully canvas and a work on paper in addition to three works

by Peter Opheim, Sylvia Hommert and Jackie Black. Italian gallery Arte Nova sold a large-scale photo by renowned photographer Massimo Vitali. Morgan Lehman reported sales of several works by Nancy Lorenz and photographer David Allee and, in addition, has several clients doing studio visits with painter Ryan Wallace as a result of their participation in the fair. New York gallerist Eli Klein reported strong sales and Nancy Margolis made several new clients and garnered a large-scale outdoor commission for artist Eva Hild as a result of her participation in artMRKT Hamptons.

Launched by Fishko and Wainhause in 2011 to create an intimate and thoughtfullycurated fair in the Hamptons, the 2012 edition featured 41 galleries -- up from 35 in its inaugural year --representing over 400 artists.

Dealers and visitors complimented organizers for establishing a manageably sized show

Kristina Gale, Karyn Mannix Contemporary

which was described as both “inviting” and “enjoyable.” As well, Terrie Sultan, director of the Parrish Museum commented, “the Fair looked wonderful -- there were very good galleries exhibiting a very high caliber selection of artworks.” She added, “Max and Jeff are doing all the right things and their enthusiasm for the Parrish and the East End community should be applauded.”

Sultan’s sentiments were echoed by the exhibitors who uniformly cited the support and enthusiasmof the artMRKT team. According to Peter of Peter Mendenhall Gallery, “The attentiveness of Max, Jeff and the rest of the team is unparalleled. They make it worthwhile to do art fairs.”

“This weekend’s event once again proved that there is a need and a great opportunity for a contemporary fair like artMRKT – one that is convenient, well curated and comfortable,” says Max Fishko of artMRKT. “We are very much looking forward to next year’s outing.”

ART HAMPTONS 5th Edition Sets Pace For Summer Art Fairs

Albert Maysles, Show Director Rick Friedman, (unidentified), Cindy Lou Wakefield. Rick, who formerly owned Show Biz Expo, worked with Maysles (considered one of America’s most beloved documentarians) who shot and produced Gimme Shelter, and Gray Gardens and many others

The majestic Sculpture Fields at Nova’s Ark, site of Art Hamptons in Bridgehampton

Located in the crisp toney hamlet of Bridgehampton, NY, ArtHamptons, and it’s spectacular 50,000 sq ft. modular museumlike structure, found a memorable new home in 2012 with an amazing 95 bucolic acres, featuring an eye-popping Sculpture Park (with massive 30 ft sculptures), a polo field Honored as Arts Patron of the Year, Cheech Marin pictured at ArtHamptons with Fine Art Publisher with matches in progress (it’s the home field of the popular Southampton Hunt and Polo Jamie Ellin Forbes is primarily known as an actor, director and performer. Marin has developed Club) and horse pastures as far as the eye can the finest private collection of Chicano art in the see, and then there was an Art Fair. country. He states, “Chicano art is American art.

“This year we celebrated and paid My goal is to bring Chicano to the forefront of the homage to the Hamptons longstanding art world.” His traveling exhibition set attendance records during its groundbreaking 15 city tour tradition as an area renowned for the during 2007-2011. He has authored three books creation and patronage of art,” said Rick on the topic. At ArtHamptons, Mr. Marin curated Friedman, Founder and Executive Director the Thomas Paul Gallery booth to introduce the next generation of gifted Chicano artists. of ArtHamptons. The 2012 theme was the centenary of legendary Springs painter, Jackson Pollock and upon entering the lobby, visitors stepped onto a replica of the now famous drip paint stained floor of his art studio, which is a national landmark. Important photos and replica paintings (from the 2000 award winning movie “Pollock”) graced the lobby.

During this three day fine art fair, plus a memorable Opening Night, 77 local, national and international galleries from 10 countries participated with over 3,000 significant works of art, representing the finest output of some 400 notable artists.

Among the long list of special events included The Lifetime Achievement Award presented to artist Ed Moses and the Arts Patron of the Year award to legendary Hollywood comic/actor/art pioneer and collector Cheech Marin. Venerable photographer Michael Childers was Honorary Guest Photographer.

An installation of note was the now famous college photos of President Barrack Obama in an exhibition entitled, Barrack Obama: The Freshman + 1 presented by Mark Borghi Fine Art. Marilyn Dintenfass’s huge front wall mural was presented by Babcock Galleries. The dramatic Boris Lurie exhibition was presented by his eponymous Art Foundation and Westwood Gallery.

“ArtHamptons, as always, is philanthropic,” continues Friedman. “The opening night gate benefited LongHouse Reserve and on Friday, the gate was dedicated to Guild Hall.

Friday night’s soirée, Pollock at 100: A Centennial Celebration benefited the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center and on Saturday, we contributed to the Empire State Pride Agenda and their 20th Hamptons Tea Dance, as well as the important East End Hospice.”

Offering a broad spectrum of media ranging from 1950 to present, there were wonderful treasures for every collector. “There’s no better time to invest in art,” concludes Mr. Friedman, a true Hamptons art fair innovator and pioneer.

Media mogul Russell Simmons (ArtHamptons 2011 Arts Patron of the Year), and brother Danny Simmons. Their Rush Foundation for the Arts provides more than 2,000 underprivileged children each year with access to the arts. A reception with Mr. Simmons was hosted by the Hamptons Social Network during Art Hamptons 2012

Warhol Superstar Ultra Violet

Howard Brassner, owner of Art Link International, with Candace Ceravolo and Jim Ceravolo flashing copies of Victor Forbes’ (r) new book and CD, The Sweetest Way Home, illustrated by Michele Bramlett Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 55

New York City’s new showplace JAVITS NORTH world class exhibition hall where the above shows will be held in 2013 56 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

Woodrow Nash, Sculpture

Richard The Lionhearted Tilts A Windmill

RICHARD (The Lionhearted) ROTHBARD grew up and went to school in Lawrence, Long Island New York where the competition was fierce and the results were pretty much all that mattered. So it is no great surprise that this good-looking, eloquent and extremely enthusiastic fellow has found himself swimming with the sharks of the art world to produce what he hopes will become an important, relevant and successful addition to the ever-expanding roster of international art fairs.

To ensure that this will happen, in 2013 for his fourth year, he is moving his trio of growing events into the just completed “Javits Center North” which looks more like a pavilion at a posh Hamptons or Miami art fair than the pedestrian venues of the Pier or other halls in the Javits Center.

Rothbard has built his “empire” from the ground up, traveling the country for decades, first as an exhibitor, then as a producer/promoter of well-known and highly successful craft shows. He started out with woodworking in 1967, moved on to his “Boxology” in 1970 (“an outgrowth of discovering furniture that was made by George Nakashima who was very famous for his natural forms”) and in 1980 produced his first show. That was in Rhinebeck NY, opposite the American Crafts Councils’ famous event. “I opened up a competing show in a parking lot across from them.

It was enormously successful and launched my career,” he said over lunch at Rosie O’Grady’s Tavern on Seventh Avenue and 52nd Street in the heart of New York City, directly across the street from his American Craftsman Gallery. That new show lasted 13 years and he expanded to produce another six or seven shows annually. “In 2013 we are beginning with a new show in April—Art Connecticut—modeled after the NYC Contemporary Art Fair & American Craft Show. In addition there are shows planned for the Berkshires, Great Barrington and Tanglewood to be followed by the FOURTH Annual NYC Contemporary Art show concluding the year with the American Crafts Show in Sarasota, FL, entering its 21st year.”

While there have always been a handful of artists at his craft events, Rothbard decided to combine the two elements and the just completed crown jewel of convention centers, Javits North, will be their new home.

Rothbard, working with his wife Johanna (they met in 1976 when she applied for a job at his first gallery and married the next year). “Everything we did,” says Richard, “we did as a team from the beginning. We met when I was going out of business and she saw an ad in the window and applied for a sales job.” This was after his theater years which began at Hofstra University where he earned his degree in finance, but ended up joining the college theatre where he was in musicals and other plays with Fran Coppola and Madeline Kahn. “The major part of my life was in The Fantasticks off-Broadway just before Jerry Ohrbach left.”

At 27, he gave all that up because he fell in love wi…a dining table. “It was one that my aunt acquired from Nakashima, and I ended up becoming a woodworker.” He soon surmised that he needed something to sell so he developed a technique for making puzzle boxes. “The outcome of that extended into doing really artsy boxes in a way that told stories, like the entire Alice in Wonderland book. I took the pages and converted those images into wood — literally depicting the entire story in sort of a wooden cartoony fashion with all the characters hidden in the boxes in secret compartments. I sold a few in the $7,000 range and was on my way.”

Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 57

Leather Maestro Khali Keyi Ogunlade of Brooklyn NY

In 1967 Richard opened his first gallery in New York City, Impressions in Wood on Lexington Avenue. fifteen years later, he opened the first American Craftsman Gallery in the Village before moving uptown to his present location,in what was then the Sheraton Manhattan hotel building (now the Manhattan at Times Square). Predominantly fine crafts, when he started producing the NY show he began adding sculptures and paintings to the mix, with glass, jewelry, pottery. “It is the art of craft of a high level and the high skill of making objects.

Those people who work in that field make things that are useful --- mirrors, clocks on the wall and other interesting craft things. If art sold like crafts sold, more artists would be rich.”

The Rothbards opened a second gallery on W. 55th Street, near the NY City Center Theater featuring many of the same artisans. “The thing about New York City,” he relates, “is if you could afford it and you knew how to do it and you had the right product, you could open a store on every other block and it would be different people there all the time.

With us, one store feeds the other.”

The Rothbards have built a solid reputation by taking care of his 58 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

Joshua Brittingham 2

Kelley Bowers, Art iZHeart

exhibitors and bringing in the buyers.

“Our model is so unique because we are a place, an organization, where any good artist can look to for opportunities; where they can actually participate.

You can drop a bundle in a minute an another show you come out depressed or disillusioned — you’re surrounded by the intensity of art not necessarily the beauty of art or the love of art. Only the business aspect. Our show has given artists a real place to put a modest amount money down and

Gilda Oliver: “Each year I grow as an artist, and the Contemporary Arts Fair NYC is a smart and affordable way to show and sell my works on the world stage. This show is going to be huge!

Joan Benefiel

Charly Palmer, Rebirth

Marthe Roberts-Shea, Jewelry

Bob Clyatt, Noborigama Woman’s Head

Joyce Ellen Weinstein, silk screen and linoleum block print

Lara Moore, Furniture

find out how people feel about their work, in front of a few thousand people. Were else are these artists going to go? This is like a club in which we are universally joined together with the same mission: to get our work out there. This promoter and his wife and our team have taken it upon ourseves to give the artists an opportunity to grow a show. Our exhibitors are happy about the show. I just feel we need to be who we are and be able to have enough good pictures and enough good comments to have people say we’re doing a good thing — we’re sharing an experience. You get that from the Loris Crawford show (Art Off The Main) which we incorporated into our Fair this year and will again in 2013. “This is what we have to stimulate and continue.

In the end, it is about the attendance and I think we can get that.”

His exhibitors respect his efforts as this note from Heather Whiteside attests. “I just wanted to thank you for the opportunity to exhibit in your show. I think the quality of art and the diversity was one of the best I have seen... truly impressive! I met so many wonderful new artist friends. I applaud you for putting together such a quality

Kurt-Lynda Carlson Orange Face Vase, Glass

Armando Pedroso, 2D Mixed Media

exhibition. At times, I viewed the show from the entrance and I was in awe at what you had created. I thought to myself, that you really know what your are doing.... kudos!”

Adds Mimi Hay. “I have worked with Richard and Joanna on their shows and galleries for almost 30 years. Exhibitors are always assured of exemplary work, top notch planning and targeted marketing. Richard is The gutsiest promoter out there and knows how to find the best opportunities.”

“The Contemporary Art Fair New York City was a wonderful event, Richard and Joanna Rothbard really know what it takes to organize a great show. This is a must do event for me,” concludes artist Jeffrey Bisaillon.

—VICTOR FORBES

Avner Sher, My Beauty in the Garden”, Mixed Media on Cork and Wood

Wendy Ellertson, Mixed Media

Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 59

DONOVAN IN NYC • CSN AT THE BEACON

By VICTOR FORBES Donovan

Crosby, Stills and Nash

W

hat a week it was for music in New York City when Crosby, Stills and Nash headlined the spectacularly revamped Beacon Theater for seven shows, and everyone’s favorite troubadour, Donovan, performed a rare concert in the Big Apple.With thanks to that legendary PR man Michael Jensen, I was able to attend both. CSN opened with a blistering version of Carry On with Mr. Stills showing that he is better than ever on guitar and the three part harmonies soared with the song’s message: “Love is coming to us all.” Crosby’s voice was more powerful than in his heyday on Wooden Ships and Almost Cut My Hair and as delicate as ever on Guinevere. Nash held it all together with perfect harmonies, suitable guitar and keyboard playing and his usual excellent lead vocals. Well into their sixties and in the last week of a year-long tour, Crosby, Stills and Nash closed with Suite: Judy Blue Eyes that displayed an energy and vibrancy that was nothing short of incredible with perfect harmonies and Stills’ great acoustic guitar. A special highlight was Stills’ electric guitar on the Buffalo Springfield classic Bluebird and the cover of Dylan’s Girl From The North Country..

Later in the week Donovan did a two set show at the New York Society for Ethical Culture Concert Hall with Jill Sobule opening (definitely worth a visit to http://jillsobule.com/). Donovan began with a biographical song about his beginnings and then went right into Catch the Wind.The first hour was solo acoustic and then he brought out a four piece band for an hour of his hits from Sunshine Superman to Mellow Yellow to Atlantis; one better than the next. What a treat and again, what an inspiration. Both he and Crosby, Stills and Nash have, like a fine wine, aged extremely well. It was overwhelming and thrilling to see these 60s icons in great voice, great shape and as relevant as ever.

R ROSE GUNTERo The Woman Behind The Mask

PHOTO COUTRTEY SPYROS POULOS

A raven-haired beauty who began captivating not especially an opportune place for one who makes audiences in bistros, cafes and theaters on Long her living singing. It was so bad for a while that she Island some decades ago, Rose Gunter has sustained could barely open her mouth and she spent years a career that reflects a lifetime of dedication to her seeking a doctor who would perform an extremely beloved art forms: music and theater. These days delicate operation that would allow her even partial she is combining them in a play, Behind the Mask, relief from that situation. All the while, Rose played, that chronicles one woman’s battle to survive — not performed, composed, taught and lived life with a only the creative life of a performer driven to sing, power and passion that served to, shall we say, kick but of the killer disease, cancer. the Big C’s arse.

Ms. Gunter has written or co-written all Her road to Broadway is long and winding, but of the songs in this original musical drama with direct, in a sense. Her stage presence and singing chops guitarist/composer Mick Gaffney, as well as cowere honed over many years of working night after authoring the book with playwright Frederick night in joints, with musical jaunts to Europe and a Stroppel. The music is stylish, smart and to the spiritual journey to India, where she was a disciple of point. Sometimes stripped down to bare bones, Gurudev.

Rose Gunter Rose singing and accompanying herself on acoustic Widely known for her epic composition, We Are guitar carries a grit and power that holds its own with most of the music The Dream, with majestic guitar work by the aforementioned Mr. Gaffney, on the market today. Behind the Mask is both a modern and timeless Rose has also sung with many of the greats of the day, sharing the spotlight piece, full of heart and pathos. With her top-notch musical compadres with her long-time band mates, Elysa Sunshine and others including Jim including Gaffney with Fred Gatti on piano, the trio weaves compelling Dawson, Dominic Duval, and Grammy winner Dave Valentin. musical arrangements that complement Ms. Gunter’s moody songs. Both To keep body and soul together, Rose has a steady clientele of vocal uplifting and angry, the melodies can be dream-like (as the singer gets and theatrical students, held a major advertising position with the high many of her ideas from the nocturnal visions) and at times forceful. A sense end audio publication Absolute Sound and worked on special publishing of humor pervades most, however, and the dialog, vernacular and accents projects with SunStorm Arts Publishing Co. She also contributed her of the characters convey a true representation of time and place — the version of Amazing Grace on the CD accompanying Dr. Bill Akpinar’s midsection of Nassau County, a wealthy enclave in Garden City where latest book 7 Priceless Prescriptions For Health and Anti-Aging as well much of the action takes place. While the locale colors the characters, the as participating in its development. message is universal: love will have its way.

“Creativity,” she maintains, “is the best antidote for anything that The road to Ms. Gunter’s victory has been marked by her own ails you—including cancer. I feel like I have a purpose now. Every day is battle with cancer. To especially try her faith, it attacked her oral cavity… a blessing.”

—VICTOR FORBES 60 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

A Celebration Of Life The Underscoring Melody Of Rory Kennedy’s Documentary “ Ethel” “Nobody gets a free ride so have your wits about you, dig in and do what you can, because it might not last.”

— Ethel Kennedy to Rory Kennedy

By JAMIE ELLIN FORBES I met Rory Kennedy at the HBO offices in NYC. Her film, Ethel, had premiered the night before after it ’s debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2012, and she was riding the wave of that well-received opening success. Ms. Kennedy offered insights into the film about her mother Ethel as a capable leader, wife and mother who Rory Kennedy stood behind her father R o b e r t F. K e n n e d y through everything. The film and our ensuing conversation made it apparent that Ethel, although not in the spotlight, deservedly holds a vital place in the historical fabric of the last half of the 20th century.

Examples of Ethel’s role are recalled in family stories such as: her attendance at the McCarthy hearings and her rock-like stability in keeping her family in faith through more tragedies and difficultiles than most mortals could bear. The family’s on-going social conscience is evident in all arenas of political causes. Ethel Kennedy supported her husband as a civil rights activist, in his fight against the Vietnam War, through the bond of friendship with controversial labor organizer Caesar Chavez, in becoming NY State Senator after the assassination of his brother and finally during his own run for president in 1968.

Ror y Kennedy recorded the film interviews of her mother in Hyannis Port, MA at the family compound. She caught her siblings where she could when interviewing them for Ethel. The family’s candor, coupled with the montage of history, memories, album photos and actual real-time events, weaves together the lives of Ethel and Robert Kennedy, their interaction and impact over a passage of time, memorably important within the American 20th century. This is a film as seen thought the eyes of love and accented with great effort to be 100% factual, enlightening in its retelling for any who lived the times or who are molded by the Kennedy era, which is just about all of us.

Ms. Kennedy highlights Ethel’s fiery rhythm and undaunted sprit which gave her strength as she witnessed and moved forward under all adversity. As the youngest of Robert Kennedy’s eleven children, Rory Kennedy was born after the death of her father who was assassinated while seeking the Democratic

Robert F. Kennedy, Ethel Kennedy

party nomination for president in 1968 the evening of the California primary just before he was to deliver his victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

Ethel is a touching and beautiful montage describing with candor her parents background and the family’s place in American history.

The touching and loving recollections by all interviewed often noted the obvious longtime love of her parents for each other, which is keep alive in spirit through her mother’s dedication to her late husband, kindled again through her devotion and love of her children.

The film underscores the quiet importance of Ethel’s support of her husband and it’s impact on the political shaping of an American dynasty. Their lasting values and legacy, still active with children and grandchildren, live on via service to community, country, faith and is stated repeatedly through out the film by all relationships revealed.

Drawing on the personal memories of her older siblings Kathleen, Joseph, and Robert, (who had more than their share of difficulties growin up), Ms. Kennedy uses their insights to allow us a unique glimpse of the family and history. She noted, “Chris, Max, Douglas and I were too young to remember it (events) right, so the younger siblings came at it from a very different place, that’s more like my perspective. All of us in “the younger skew…

had a similar experience growing up. While my older siblings had a lot of direct memories of many of the moments and of those times, so I was able to ask them about what their experiences was like directly… I gained many insights from them.”

When Ms. Kennedy brought up the Cuban missile epoch, she sounded a profound ring in the air. Her sister Kerry comments in the film, “My father really had the weight of the world on him, yet mummy was funny and fun and full of laughter.”

Ethel recalls the panorama of the history her family was largely involved with and the backbone she mother lent as the support element glueing the lives of her family together through good times and adversity. Ms. Kennedy is a world class storyteller through documentary, using the first-hand accounts of her family, breathing new life and clarity to events delineated by countless historians thus accenting the actuality of the era through Ethel Kennedy and her children.

Rory Kennedy is cofounder and president of Moxie Firecracker Films. Her achievements include: a Primetime EMMY for Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, producer of the HBO film nominated for an Academy Award for documentary short, Killing in the Name, and Thank You Mr. President: Helen Thomas at the White House. She produced, directed and narrated Ethel for HBO working with Senior Producer Nancy Abraham & Executive Producer Shelia Nevins.

Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 61

ARIEL JOSEPH TOWNE

“The Feng Shui Guy” Releases His First Book """""""""""""" """"" """ " " " """ """

I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe. ~ Dalai Lama

Beginning with the early dawn, I will radiate my cheer to everyone I meet today. I will be the mental sunshine for all who cross my path. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda

"""""""""""" " """"" " " """ """ " """

Ariel Joseph Towne

""""""""""""" " """"" " " """ """ " """

""""""""""""" """"" """ " " " """ """

By VICTOR FORBES In 1977, when Fine Art Magazine was SunStorm, Long Island’s Newspaper of the Arts, we opened an art gallery/headquarters in a shopping plaza in Hicksville where some memorable exhibitions were held. In need of signage for our front, we sought out our friends Crystal and Joe Towne.

Joseph was a kind-hearted soul who was steady as a rock. The beautiful Crystal was the light of the world. A butterfly afloat in these spheres, wielding at the time a paint brush to express her abundant optimism and all-encompassing love, directed not just at Mr. Towne, but to all with whom she came into contact. Even today, the thought of this beautiful creature with the sparkling eyes and blissful demeanor brings comfort, peace, and a smile knowing that somewhere in Paradise she is enjoying this page about her son’s important new book.

Crystal and Joseph came with ladders, a makeshift scaffold and a long rectangular canvas on which they painted the words “SunStorm Galleries” and the image above, which we managed to salvage and hold on to for all these years. It was recently restored to its original vibrancy by Ita Lew Bullard.

Ariel Joseph Towne grew up into a handsome young man, making a name for himself as an actor and now as an author with Serene Makeover: Inner Edition out in time for holiday gifting in electronic and print format. Ariel made a beautiful dedication in the book to his mother, which we reprint here: Crystal Star Towne (mom, spiritual advisor and jedi teacher): I feel you 62 • Fine Art Magazine • December 2012

around me as I meditate on and write these pages. Thank you for the many adventures we had in our short time together. Thank you for always teaching me by example. I am still unfolding the deep wisdom contained within our many conversations. I love you always and forever and a day.

In his extensive tome on the ancient life-style art of feng shui, the author describes it in a single word: “balance.” This balance of energ y within a space can be achieved, he maintains, not only by “moving your stuff around,” (the most well-known form of this concept) but by getting your inner self in order to allow the good energy you’re welcoming into your home to affect you. “The definition of feng shui,” he concludes, “can easily be applied to another environment: You.” Primarily concerned with feng shui for your “inner house,” or the application of traditional feng shui principles to your intellect, emotions, energetic body and physical body, Towne clearly delineates methodolgy and practical principles to “schweng the fui” of your mental, emotional, spiritual and physical sides. “Intentions,” he maintains, “are the seeds that grow into the gardens of our experience… So the next time you are asking to receive, make a little space for grace to add a little extra into your coffers.”

Visit http://www.thefengshuiguy.com

Dedication To Miles Meilinger, (1946-2012) Whose inner light shone so brightly.

I’ve known Miles since I was one and one half-years of age. He was an incredible storyteller, musician, artisan, businessman, father, husband and friend. It’s because of his love for his wife Judy (and vice versa) that I came to believe that having a lifelong relationship was possible for me.

When Miles hugged me, the worries of the world suddenly disappeared.

He was part of my extended family and I am grateful for his humor, his wisdom and his presence. Miles was someone who found the good in any circumstance and never seemed to let life’s challenges dampen his spirit.

He lived the expression: “Your outer reality doesn’t have to dictate your inner experience.” Miles has been showing up recently in several of my meditations… and I know that distance will never affect our closeness. Miles, thank you for being you.

—ARIEL JOSEPH TOWNE

M CFM EW FRO

13 plus one by Edgar Allan Poe

RY GALLE

N

When I received my copy of 13 Plus 1 by Edgar Allan Poe I was very excited to get cozy with a steamy cup of tea and immerse myself in the dark and romantic poetry of one of my favorite authors. With the piano version of Franz Liszt’s “Totentanz” playing softly in the background — a very Poe-esque piece of classical music — I opened the cover to find a unique and delicately handsome pair of creatures greeting me. It was as if they were waiting in a tranquil state of rest to let me into the collaborated world of Poe and Anne Bachelier. Under the impression that this would be like any other literary “greatest hits” book, I was very much mistaken. I found myself in this fantastical world of dark images by and intricate filigree. Even the font is reminiscent of the Romantic era. What a treat it was to not only read the works of Poe, but also to get to know the extremely talented French artist Anne Bachelier.

Edgar Allan Poe is, of course, the quintessential purveyor of the macabre. His poetry and short stories represent love and sorrow, death and morbidness. His eerie narratives paint vivid pictures in our imaginations as Anne paints for us her own luminous perceptions r ie to illustrate each story. Her frighteningly whimsical characters give el y Anne Bach the feel of an obscure masquerade so that the art and literature Illustrations b complement one another beautifully in a way that is almost meant to be. Her technique with the brush is soft with a feeling of weightlessness, of floating effortlessly through a magical world. Every piece in her rich body of work seems to have been plucked from a storybook detailing a specific scene of events frozen and preserved in place and time, transforming characters into darkly angelic creatures, skeletal gods, and gate-keepers.

Anyone who knows the works of Poe is familiar with the sad romanticism in his stories. Bachelier captures the darkness of love and loss perfectly. Poe was the seminal American Romantic an offspring of a movement born of the great English poets (Shelley, Byron, Coleridge, Keats), an artistic, literary and intellectual crusade that revolted against aristocratic norms and the scientific explanation of nature.

Poe writes of a black cat that “seduced him into murder” and a talking raven who painfully reminds him of his lost love “Lenore, nevermore”, and of envious tortured angels and a hideous beating heart. His literary masterpieces and the tenebrous images Bachelier paints are a perfect marriage of art and literature that go hand-in-hand, making a mark on those who indulge it.

It is suffice to say that the book as a whole is an accomplished production with a mournful and somber feel. Hauntingly romantic, 13 Plus 1 by Edgar Allan Poe is a wonderful way to spend a chilly evening sitting by the glow of a warm fire submerged in the world of Edgar Allan Poe and Anne Bachelier.

13 + 1 By Edgar Allan Poe is the fifth in a series of collaborations by publisher/designer Neil Zukerman of New York City’s fabled CFM Gallery. Next on the horizon is The Wizard of OZ. — By HEATHER DALE

13

plus one

Edgar Allan

Poe

Susan Jaffe Tane, who contributed the foreword to 13 + 1, signs copies

Opening night display at CFM Gallery

Victor Forbes of Fine Art Magazine/Fine Art Books, printer of 13 + 1, with Anne Bachelier

Neil Zukerman and Anne Bachelier personalizing books for collectors at the recpetion

Ed and Jeanne McCormack of Gallery and Studio magazine with Anne Bachelier

Sculptor Ailene Fields, Anne Bachelier, Marc Fields of The Compleat Sculptor with daughter Morgan Fields Fine Art Magazine • December 2012 • 63

CONTEMPORARY RUSSIAN PHOTOGRAPHY MARCH 10 - APRIL 15, 2013Â

Sergei Borisov Vladimir Clavijo-Telepnev Semyon Faibisovich Rimma Gerlovina & Valeriy Gerlovin Katya Golitsina Gulnara Kasmalieva & Muratbek Djumaliev Konstantin Khudiakov Sasha Manovtseva Stas Namin Anatoly Pronin Olga Tobreluts

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Exhibition Opportunities Available for Artists & Galleries

The Javits Center 2012 Michael Indorato & Eugene Perry

SONO Field House | Norwalk, CT | April 27 & 28 2013 AMERICAN ART MARKETING and An American Craftsman Galleries are excited to announce that they are bringing the Contemporary Art Fair to Fairfield County Connecticut after three successful years at the Javits Center in NYC. This first annual show is a 2-day curated invitational open to all fine artists wanting to connect with the art buying public in this very affluent county. This will be the first major indoor art event in the state.

SONO FIELD HOUSE is in the heart of Fairfield County one of the highest income counties in the United States.

WE HAVE ART WALLS! Just bring your art.

EARLY APPLICATION PRICING. Specials are being offered to 50 artists who apply by January 20th, 2013. Packages start at: 4'x 8' $640, 8'x 8' $900, 8'x 16' $1,260.

QUESTIONS? Richard Rothbard richard@americanartmarketing.com 845.661.1221

Join us for our 4th year at:

JAVITS CENTER NYC

OCT 25•26•27 2013 AMERICAN CRAFT SHOW

Apply: AmericanArtMarketing.com

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AFRICAN, CARIBBEAN AND LATIN AMERICAN ART FAIR

AmericanArtMarketing.com AMERICAN

Bob Clyatt CRAFT SHOW

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MATTHEW TROYAN 1913- 2007

ANDY WARHOL

Circa Something Fine Art Š Circa Something Gallery GALLERY OWNER / DIRECTOR Dr. Bob Baker, drbob4fun@aol.com 117A South Country Road, Bellport, NY 11713 (631) 803-6706 www.circasomething.com