Fine Art Magazine Summer 2014

SUMMER 2014 • $4.95

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Art Performer #2, 48” x 36” Fine Art Magazine • 1

SONYA FE

Not So Different

2 • Fine Art Magazine • Spring 2014

48” x 60”, oil canvas ©2013

I Am Woman

oil canvas, 30” x 48”, © 2013 Mother of Pearls

oil canvas, 36” x 48”, © 2013

Triqui Treat, 48” x 60”, oil canvas ©2013

You Feel Small Now, 30” x 40”, oil canvas ©2013

The Dog Keeps Barking At My Skirt 36” x 48”, oil canvas © 2013

SONYA FE www.artistsonyafe.com facebook.com/sonyafe vasquetzal@aol.com

God’s Other Child, 30’ x 40”, oil canvas ©2013

Fine Art Magazine • Spring 2014 • 3

,

Letter from

the Pubisher JAMIE ELLIN FORBES

I am having a great art year to date. My art calendar began in November as the guest of RuthAnn Thorn, at the San Diego Art Fair, recently acquired by Redwood Media who RonEnglish, Jamie Forbes. also own Spectrum and Artexpo. What I loved about this art fair was the essence of this region embracing a fusion of old and new influences seen in the art. I met Wally Gilbert there, the highlight of my show (article on page 62).

Later in the month I was in Miami — art capital of the winter world — early in December every year. The crowds make art sexy. The amount of good art and showcase venues to be seen during Art Basel Miami Week is mind-blowing. Any art that trends, is established or has any history at auction will be displayed in Miami. The money makes art an aphrodisiac. I waited with several hundreds at Basel for the morning early opening collector walk through standing next to a very lovely woman from Switzerland. She was dismayed to wait in the line she stood on. We chatted for a moment and I agreed if I were buying I would be very unhappy. But this is Art Basel Miami, the place to see and be seen.

I visited all, taking pictures there and at Art Miami, Context, Spectrum, Miami Art Design, Pulse, Scope, Red Dot. My favorite moments...meeting my old friends Ron English, Larry Gartel, Alexander Zaharov, and others I had not seen in recent years as well as new friends, among them GARSOT with whom I shot an exciting 20 minute video (page 14). The graffiti art that once ruled the streets made its way into the confines of the upscale venues.

March art madness kicked off the season in NY, ADAA at the uptown Armory, the Armory show at the 92nd St. Pier, Fountain, Scope and others ran in tandem. Camera in hand again, I walked aisle after aisle of great art. The Spring season continued with Freize, Downtown Modern, the Outsider Art Fair, Artexpo and others.

I love art. For me it’s not a job, I hope my enthusiasm is contagious and the joy of creativity is seen in our pages as we approach the summer season with a trio of art fairs in the Hamptons.

4 • Fine Art Magazine

Sculptor Steve Zaluski at Spectrum Miami

Is it real or a Carol Feuerman work at Downtown?

Arman, Seurat’s Bike, David Klein Gallery, Downtown Art Fair

Frank Owen’s Herald, 112” x 150”, at Nancy Hoffman Gallery booth, Downtown Art Fair

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(631) 339-0152 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF VICTOR BENNETT FORBES victor@fineartmagazine.com 518-593-6470

Alise Bulchak & Tatiana Golubeva of 25kadr Gallery of Moscow at Spectrum Miami

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Eddie Peake installation at Frieze with Psychosis

Sister Rosemary



Sewing Hope

“I am the overall supervisor at the St. Monica’s Girls Tailoring Center in Gulu, Uganda. I have been here for 10 years. I do a bit of everything! I am administrator, teacher, coordinator, fundraiser, gardener, writer, tailor, builder and recycler.

For the last 30 years, I along with the other Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus based in Juba, South Sudan, have answered the call to serve the least among us from the heart of a bloody and violent civil war that decimated northern Uganda and South Sudan.

We openly defied Joseph Kony and the rebel soldiers and commanders of the Lord’s Resistance Army in their 20-year reign of terror. Since 2002, we have helped more than 2,000 girls who had been previously abducted by the LRA or abandoned by their families.”

– SISTER ROSEMARY NYIRUMBE. Director, Saint Monica Girls’ Tailoring Centre, Gulu, Uganda

D

erek Watson of Derek Watson Films founded Lampstand Films in April of 2010 out of a desire to bring creative and documentary-styled storytelling to organiBY JAMIE ELLIN FORBES zations that desired a new approach to their messaging. Derek truly believes that well-told stories impact viewers and change lives. That belief lies at the heart of everything Lampstand does. This message was conveyed when Fine Art Magazine had the pleasure of attending two screenings of his well-done and illuminating films, This is Normal and Sewing Hope. There was no shortage of inspiration at these viewings as the compassionate heart was sought and touched upon by the film-maker.

Richard and Terri Greenly, co-founders of Water4 Foundation, a non-profit organization that trains indigenous people in the developing world how to drill water wells. Lampstand has worked with Water4 since 2010. During that time, Lampstand has produced various pieces to help Water4 reach their fundraising goals, ranging from a :30 commercial to a 22 minute short-documentary describing their innovative cost effective water pumps, adaptive to the use of the community they serve. The Greenlys are soft-spoken and determined folk. Terri recounted her grandmother’s trip alone to the Oklahoma land grab as a single woman. She got her piece of the earth, a dog and husband by venturing where others were not daring to go for the most part. This element of courage and core resolve is visible in the Greenlys as they pursue the process of getting water drills going against the tide. “Corporations,” said Richard, “had already installed and abandoned expensive water drills because they could not be locally maintained. Parts and repair labor are difficult to find. Water4 is able to provide, wells so people in multiple regions of the world can gain access to drinkable clean water, which was previously impossible. Brought about by Warte4, an affordable, easily installed and maintained water pump is a game changer, allowing for self-sustaining prosperity to replace despair. “This Is Normal” focuses on a businessman who works hard to find success, a mother in Zambia walking hours each day to collect contaminated water for her children, and a young African man struggling to provide for his family. For each, this is normal but their lives change and their stories collide when a water well is dug in rural Africa.

It was a great privilege to meet sister Rosemary Nyirumbe, a CNN Hero of the Year, at the screening of the documentary, Sewing Hope, narrated by Forest Whitaker, directed by Derek Watson, Executive Producers, Reggie and Rachelle Whitten. A greater privilege to sit next to her at lunch. The Sister spoke freely of her experiences and passion for her girls, their plight as raped young woman in a patriarchal system and of her staunch demand for their best efforts amid the difficulties of re-acculturating them into society as seamstresses and Derek Watson and Sister Rosemary

6 • Fine Art Magazine

Working on a manual water drill installation site in Samifa Zambia Over 190 wells with 40,000 people have been served

by Samfya Water and sanitation.

Sister Rosemary in Village, Courtsey of Derek Watson

bakers. She displayed her handbag made from Coke tab tops, spoke of constructing housing from sand-filled bottles, and sweet baked goods — all accomplishments of her girls, delivered as beautiful to their local customers. Her stories of personal resurrection and the reclaiming of these young lives is a testament to her courage. Because of Sister Rosemary's vision and her willingness to act, the women have the opportunity to re-assimilate and participate in local businesses; to begin life anew with a trade, enabling them to sustain independence, stability and dignity for themselves and their children.

Sister Rosemary radiates inspiration, hope is what she is. “In Gulu, Uganda, Sister Rosemary has made it her mission to provide within an orphanage a home, a shelter for women and girls whose lives have been shattered by violence, rape and sexual exploitation.

At the Saint Monica Girls’ Tailoring Center she runs, those women can become themselves again, thanks to the security and comfort they feel — a tremendous accom-

plishment in a country still fragile from years of civil war. But what truly fascinates the people who have the privilege to meet with Sister Rosemary — as I did when I narrated a film about her, Sewing Hope — is her magnetic and contagious energy,” commented Derek Watson. “For girls who were forcibly enlisted as child soldiers, Sister Rosemary has the power to rekindle a bright light in eyes long gone blank. For women with unwanted children born out of conflict, she allows them to become loving mothers at last. The traumas she heals are unfathomable, but the reach of her love is boundless.”

She gives hope to young women scarred by war. For years Joseph Kony and his LRA have terrorized Northern Uganda. Children were stolen from their families and brainwashed to be soldiers. Girls were degraded to become sex slaves for Kony’s officers. Sister Rosemary has continued to fight against this, keeping hope alive in a country living in fear. She leads a vocational school, St. Monica’s Girls Tailoring Center, in Gulu, Uganda, where she uses practical skills to restore dignity, independence, and optimism to formerly abducted women and children born from brutal attacks of Kony’s realm.

Sister Rosemary continues to bring attention to the ongoing violence caused by rebel groups in Uganda. Earlier this

year United States President Bill Clinton and his daughter, Chelsea Clinton, praised Sister’s mission and determination during a visit to Uganda.

Sister Rosemary was recently awarded the Sarasota Film Festival’s Impact Award, sponsored by United Nations Women. She was also honored at the 2013 Napa Valley Film Festival’s New Power Lunch: Celebrating Women Making a Difference.

Documentaries tell stories that can change the lives of the viewers when inspired. All of the leaders seen and heroes featured changed their worlds for the better. To continue to be inspired visit: http://www.derekwatsonfilms.com/ http://www.lampstand.tv/ http://www.water4.org/ http://time.com/70892/ http://sewinghope.com/ My thanks to Frank PR, Kathleen Kennedy, Kathleen Schumann, and Derek Watson Films, Lampstand Films.

Fine Art Magazine • 7

Prehistoric Masterpieces FROM The Cave of Lascaux At the Montréal Science Centre

Hall of Bulls, North Wall. One of the most recognizable images from Lascaux, the Hall of Bulls contains 36 images of bulls, horses and stag. One bull measures 17 feet long—the largest animal depicted in cave art. © LRMH

T

HE Montréal Science Centre is presenting The Cave of Lascaux – Prehistoric Masterpieces, an exhibition that transports visitors back in time to the discovery of the Lascaux rock paintings and engravings, created by our Cro-Magnon ancestors. It features life-size replicas of works that have not been presented or reproduced since the closure of the original cave in 1963. Organized by the general Council of the Dordogne in France, the exhibition will be shown exclusively at the Montréal Science Centre until September 14 In September 1940, when four teenage boys stumbled upon the Lascaux cave in the south of France, they were met with an extraordinary spectacle. The cave walls were teeming with animal frescoes, painted and engraved with great sophistication by our earliest ancestors nearly 20,000 years ago. Little did the boys know that their discovery would rewrite our knowledge of prehistory.

These exquisite Lascaux cave paintings, in a remarkable state of preservation, would soon be recognized as the world’s finest examples of prehistoric art. The cave attracted more than a million visitors between 1948 and 1963, when the French Minister of Culture, author André Malraux, had it closed to the public in order to preserve these masterpieces. Then Lascaux II opened, the first artificial cave containing replicas of some of the works in the original Lascaux cave.

To present this rich repository of prehistoric art, the exhibition includes five fullscale replicas from two sections of the cave, “The Nave” and “The Well”, which have never before been reproduced or shown to the public. The contemplative lighting display of the works is respectful of the achievement of these Cro-Magnon artists.

In the intimate cave setting, visitors will 8 • Fine Art Magazine

When the caves were discovered in 1940, the best way to record accurate drawings of the paintings was to simply use tracing paper. Surely a daunting task, the paper needed to be held up to the walls (yet not touch!) as someone traced the lines that man had made over 17,000 years earlier. © Alain Roussot

also encounter a “hyper-real” Cro-Magnon family created by world-renowned sculptor Elisabeth Daynès. The family – an old man, an adolescent, a woman and a child – wear clothing and ornaments made from materials available 200 centuries ago. These Cro-Magnons were very different from the typical popular depiction of “cavemen”.

They were hunter-gatherers who lived in a structured society, and their culture was considerably more refined than most of us imagine.

The Cave of Lascaux – Prehistoric Masterpieces also offers a virtual tour of the entire cave, created with laser mapping and 3D modeling technology. Multimedia presentations reveal the complexities of the works on the cave walls and clarify the skill it took to create them. For example, visitors

can decipher the great Black Cow panel and its engravings with the help of an animation that reveals the fresco’s underlying complexity, or discover how the Lascaux artists took advantage of the cave’s natural relief to create perspective and suggest movement.

Despite 70 years of research and analysis, the precise meaning and function of the Lascaux cave paintings are still an enigma.

But these complex artworks are not haphazard. They must have been created for a specific purpose that remains a mystery.

This exhibition/recreation invites us to contemplate these early masterpieces in an atmosphere conducive to reflection on the origins of humanity.

The Montréal Science Centre wishes to thank its presenting partner, TELUS. The exhibition was created by the Gener-

An artist works to recreate the cave walls.The “copyist” uses natural pigments similar to those used by the original artist to ensure accuracy and precision of the replication. © Philippe Psaila

Elizabeth Daynes, a French sculptor, uses facial reconstruction techniques to bring those who lived near Lascaux to life. © E. Daynès

al Council of the Dordogne with the support of the Regional Council of Aquitaine, the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, and the European Union. The world tour is organized by SPL Lascaux International Exhibition and sponsored by Delpeyrat and Maïsadour and presented at the Science Centre in collaboration with Hydro-Québec.

With more than 750,000 visitors annually, the Montréal Science Centre complex is dedicated to science and technology.

It is characterized by its accessible, interactive approach and its showcasing of local innovation and know-how.

For tickets or more information, visit www.montrealsciencecentre.com

Daynes’ works leave a haunting impression as you look into the eyes of our early ancestors. © S. Entressangle/E. Daynès

Hall of Bulls, South Wall, shows the immense size of the Lascaux cave paintings.The painted animals are accompanied by unknown symbols, which are found throughout the cave complex. © CNP – DRAC – MCC Fine Art Magazine • 9

LOUVRE ABU DHABI

Édouard Manet (Paris, 1832–1883) The Gypsy, France, Paris, 1861–1862, after 1867 Oil on canvas, H. 90.5 cm; W. 55.3 cm, © Louvre Abu Dhabi / Thierry Ollivier

10 • Fine Art Magazine

Bahram Gur in the Green Pavilion Iran, Shiraz, c. 1560–1570, Ink, colours, and gold on paper, H. 32.5 cm; W. 19.5 cm © Louvre Abu Dhabi / Agence photo F

Giovanni Bellini (Venice, c. 1430–1516), Madonna and Child, Italy, Venice, c. 1480– 85, Oil on panel, H. 70.5 cm; W. 50.5 cm © Louvre Abu Dhabi / Thierry Ollivier

Birth of A Museum

Equestrian Portrait of Maharao Sheodan Singh of Alwar India, Rajasthan, Alwar, c. 1863, Opaque watercolour with gold highlights on Paper, H. 21.5 cm; L. 21.5 cm © Louvre Abu Dhabi / Agence photo F Christ Showing His Wounds Austria, Bavaria or Germany, c. 1515–1520 Polychrome limewood; H. 183 cm; W. 57 cm; D. 30 cm LAD.2009.012

© Louvre Abu Dhabi / Thierry Ollivier

Façade extérieure du Louvre Abu Dhabi - projet des ateliers Jean Nouvel – © TDIC Fine Art Magazine • 11

Louvre Abu Dhabi

Masterpieces from a Wide Range of Civilizations

Cy Twombly (Lexington, Virginia, 1928–Rome, 2011) Untitled I–IX , Italy, 2008 Acrylic on canvas Panel I: H. 274 cm; W. 146 cm © Louvre Abu Dhabi / Agence Photo F © Cy Twombly Foundation CY TWOMBLY FOUNDATION / Eleonora Di Erasmo Largo Fontanella Borghese, 19 - 00186 Rome, Italy T/F +39.06.6889.1372 / info@cytwombly.org

Roger Fenton (Heywood, 1819–London, 1869) Pasha and Bedouin 1858 Albumen print from a collodion glass plate negative H. 26.6 cm; W. 25 cm; mount: H. 32.7 cm; W. 41.9 cm LAD.2011.155 © Louvre Abu Dhabi / Agence photo F The first photographers were fascinated by the Middle East and the mysterious foreign land it represented. The realist approach of the photography was combined with fantasy. Fenton’s Eastern photographs are totally factitious. Trained as a painter, he produced Orientalist scenes in his London studio, as here Pasha and Bedouin, inspired by painting, especially that of Ingres, and by the reading of the Arabian Nights.

Louvre Paris Summer Exhibition: The Challenge Of Creating A Museum Louvre Abu Dhabi will open to the public in December 2015 having already acquired more than 600 works from various countries representing a range of civilizations 150 of which are featured in “Louvre Abu Dhabi: Birth of a Museum” providing a preview of the museum in both its architectural and cultural aspects.

Through an intergovernmental agreement signed on March 6, 2007, France and the United Arab Emirates decided to create a universal museum bearing the name Louvre Abu Dhabi, to open in 2014. This unprecedented venture lays the foundations for a new type of cultural collaboration between two sovereign nations, and fulfills mutual needs and aspirations. The United Arab Emirates is home to an international museum that will place Abu Dhabi among the great cultural nations, and more particularly, the great museums of the world.

More generally, the agreement will estab12 • Fine Art Magazine

lish the United Arab Emirates as a central arena for dialogue between civilizations and cultures, particularly Occidental, Middle Eastern and Asian. The agreement will also forge a preferential cultural relationship with France, to benefit from its experience and its centuries-old heritage.

For France, the agreement underscores the excellence of its museum expertise and know-how through the design of a unique institution. It provides a cross-section of French public collections, showcasing them in a new light, for a new public. Given the high financial stakes involved, the agreement will in return allow for better development of projects by French museum partners of the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

The right to use the Louvre name for thirty years, governed by a specific agreement between the Musée du Louvre and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, is a key issue.

It is closely involved in the design and implementation of the project with the Agence France-Muséums, a joint venture

Eagle-shaped fibula from Domagnano Italy, late fifth century CE, Gold, gamets, shell , H. 12.1 cm; L. 6.4 cm, LAD.2009.008 © Louvre Abu Dhabi / Thierry Ollivier This eagle-shaped fibula is an essential piece of the fabulous treasure of Domagnano, discovered in 1893 in the Republic of San Marino. The fibula, which is a kind of brooch, was an element of the finery. They were meant to be worn, according to the canons of the East Germanic feminine fashion, on the shoulders, as a pair. The eagle has symmetrical wings on both sides around a trapezoid body.

Its belly is composed of a round medallion with a cruciform motif. It was made according to the cloisonné technique, a process that was imported by the East Germanics from the Pontus region and characterised by the inclusion, in cold, of semiprecious stone plates or colored glass into the cells separated by metallic partitions. The quality of the work and its essential shape place it as a masterpiece in the history of art. Its dating, at the turning point between the Antiquity and the Western Middle Ages places it also as an historical symbol.

The birth of a unique museum, bearing the Louvre name as a symbol of museum excellence and expertise is a major event for the Louvre.

Quartier culturel de Saadiyat plan 1 – © TDIC

of the Louvre and the major French museums, specifically created for the Louvre Abu Dhabi project. The Louvre Abu Dhabi will not be a copy of the Louvre in Abu Dhabi, but a new museum, which, by its very name, is called upon to convey and transmit the values of French museums. The ties between the Louvre Abu Dhabi and French museums, the foremost being the Louvre, are to be built and created.

The first universal museum in the Arab world, the Louvre Abu Dhabi is an innovative and ambitious project.

Transferring to an Arab country a cultural form born in Enlightenment Europe, its deep sense of identity is rooted in the notions of discovery, exchange and thus education. Its very name affirms the unprecedented alliance between the world’s biggest museum, a permanent place of beauty and knowledge, and modern Arabia. It is not a matter of reproducing the Louvre, or following its scientific itinerary to the letter, but rather extending in its name a generous invitation to a sensitive and enlightened view. The notions of sharing and universal knowledge that prevailed at the opening of the Muséum National in 1793 are thus incorporated into this project. The museum is first and foremost the reflection of a world in which, as Boissy d’Anglas writes, “the whole world is eager to leave its treasures, its rarities, its productions and all the accounts of its history.”

This exhibition enjoys the support of the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority and the Agence France-Museums with many loans provided via intergovernmental agreement and the contributions from a number of French public collections.

Pablo Ruiz Picasso (Málaga, 1881–Mougins, 1973) Portrait of a Lady, 1928 Gouache, ink, and collage on paper H. 119 cm; W. 60 cm LAD.2012.115 © Louvre Abu Dhabi / Agence photo F © Succession Picasso 2013 PICASSO ADMINISTRATION / Christine Pinault 8 rue Volney - 75002 Paris, France T.: +33 1 47 03 69 70 - F: 33 1 47 03 69 60 / cpinault@picasso.fr

www.louvreabudhabi.ae

Standing Bodhisattva (Maitreya?)

Perhaps Takht-i-Bāhī or Sahrī-Bahlol, Gandhāra region, present-day Pakistan, second–third century CE Schist, H. 136 cm, LAD.2009.009 © Louvre Abu Dhabi / Thierry Ollivier

Osman Hamdi Bey (Istanbul, 1842–Galatasaray Islet, 1910) A Young Emir Studying Istanbul, 1878 Oil on canvas,H. 45.5 cm; W. 90 cmm © Louvre Abu Dhabi / Agence photo F Fine Art Magazine • 13

Awakening Sun, Acrylic on canvas, 36”x 36”

GARSOT SPEAKS

“STAY OPTIMISTIC” INTERVIEW BY JAMIE ELLIN FORBES 14 • Fine Art Magazine

THE GARSOT INTERVIEW INTRODUCTION BY VICTOR FORBES

A

cclaimed globally as a master of creativity, Sotirios Gardiakos, who paints under the name “GARSOT,” never strays far from his Greek heritage and love for the history and mythology of his native land.

His artistic career began there when, at the tender age of three, he was so taken by his father’s drawing of a goat at a cafe table in his native village of Valta near Filliatra (a most scenic locale between sea and mountains that produces luscious fruit for export to all of Europe), that he knew then and there the direction his life would take. Shortly thereafter, in a kindergarten classroom, the teacher could not believe that what Sotirios handed in was not traced from a book and insisted the lad stand before the class and recreate the work live for all to see on the blackboard. Needless to say, his second rendering was every bit as good as the first and he was on his way.

Art has taken him around the world and while he is currently headquartered in Chicago’s Greek Town (320 S. Halsted Ave.), he has recently become a well-recognized personality and exhibitor on the Art Fair circuit from Manhattan to Miami with many future stops planned. His current tour began in 2013 at New York City’s just-opened beautiful north wing of the Javits Center where his engaging energy and smile lit up a drab convention hall with the creative force of a solar flare. Later in the season, in South Florida at the Spectrum Space Symphony, Acrylics on canvas, 48” x 48” Miami show, his work shone as brightly as the tropical sun, resulting in major sales. His latest paintings are displayed at “My work is designed to create an environment Booth #103 at the New York Artexpo April 4, 2014 and more stops on the for the viewer to expand their mind.” tour will soon be announced.

Fine Art Magazine publisher Jamie Ellin Forbes met Garsot in Miami where she conducted, an in-depth video interview in which the artist discusses his paintings with inimitable charm and earnest concerns for major topics of the day.

Style and form, content and message are delivered in a series of paintings developed over a lifetime of love and respect for art and the philosophical and mystical heritage of his homeland.

Garsot is an artist who paints from the heart. His work is timeless and could fit in any era of art history. Regardless of subject matter, each of his paintings is masterfully rendered with wit, depth and a nod not only to his own heritage, but to that of his untold ancestors from Dali and Picasso to the cave painters of ancient times, whose work he will re-visit on his next visit to Greece. He brings it all into the now with a consummate professionalism and genuineness rare in today’s culture of instant gratification and hit and run commerce. “As observers peel away layer after layer of his dramatically engineered paintings, conversations between artist and viewer – whether in person or through the art itself – are wonderfully engaged,” commented John Apostolou, Garsot’s agent and publisher. “The ensuing dialog has created an ever-expanding collector base that anxiously awaits Garsot’s next artistic statement. Multiple Garsots hanging in a home are the rule, rather than the exception.”

While poets have written limitless stanzas about Prometheus, Adonis, Aphrodite, et al, Garsot stands as the eternal artist whose imagery could easily decorate an ancient vase, one that has withstood the test of time, immortalized by Keats in these timeless stanzas from Ode On A Grecian Urn. When old age shall this generation waste, Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty, — that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

Following is Fine Art Magazine publisher Jamie Ellin Forbes’ interview with Garsot The video is available here.

Harmony in the Ocean, 48” x 36” Fine Art Magazine • 15

Aphrodite’s Dream, Acrylic on canvas, 36” x 48”

“I do not have any boundaries that say to me ‘I can’t do this!’ That’s why I try to do something new every time.

This is very important…my statement is that Beauty and Truth will be forever victorious through the Arts for the glory of humanity. Nothing can beat the arts! The rest is the darker side…money, politics, conflict, control.”

GARSOT: My real name is Gardiakos Sotirios. I created a new name for the people to remember because anything easy works better.

JEF: You started painting at a very early age…

GARSOT: I was about three when I started to have feelings about art. My father and his friend were having an Ouzo in my home village,Valta. He was drawing something on the top of a table and when he was finished he picked me up and said, “Look what I did!” When I saw the finished work — it was a goat — that was a very special moment for me. I thought this a was a great kind of way to do whatever I had to do in my life and then I started drawing all the time just to become like my father.

J: What did you study at the university?

G: Fine Arts in Greece and then I went to south Africa to study sculpture.

J: Your paintings reflect not only the 16 • Fine Art Magazine

Melodica, Acrylic on canvas, 48”x 36”

colors of Greece but of South Africa and beyond.

G: I get something from anywhere and everywhere I have been.

JEF: You weave in the culture. Many of your paintings have classical Greek mythology and you also bring in animal Pantheism as a force of nature.

G: My work is also about the celebration of Women. I like to depict the image of woman from classic to modern to surreal and any other form of expression to express my feelings that the woman should be in the center of the stage and all the lights and all the eyes of the world should be watching her and appreciating her appearance. That, I am convinced, is very important for humanity J: What I notice most about your paintings is that there is a dichotomy between fluid lines and figurative representation and then you abstract to tell your story.

It’s the composition of molding or joining the abstraction with the figurative pieces to lend plane and spatial concept,

inviting people into an idea that makes the work so special. You are conveying an inner vision.

G: My goal is to catch the interest of the viewer by expressing my inner feelings so that the people, when they see how it is finally going to look catch the entirety of my artistic statement. Then I know I am doing it right.

J: So it is a state of the art statement as in, for example, Celestial Celebration where she is rising out of the celestial primordial mix.

G: She is a dancer, but she doesn’t need to be a dancer. The feeling is there. She is not just a dancer, she is smart enough to get forward in the future, expressed with a mask and gloves. Independent always she doesn’t give herself to just anyone. She is also making an environmental statement in that she doesn’t want to touch the water because she feels the water should be a clean.

J: So it is an environmental statement also. In Aphrodite’s Dream, the goddess of beauty and love is portrayed with roses, a waterfall, perfume…

G: You know what? I think I know a little bit about women and so I believe every woman is an Aphrodite and I believe she wants to show off this idea. That is why when I talk about Woman, and paint them, I don’t complete her face so that every woman can say ‘Ah, This is me.’

J: In The Dance of Earth and Sky… G: … you can see the galaxy of the stars. Symbolically of course. It is a big story — the mythology of creation in my style.

J: Gorgons, is a Miami kind of painting with mermaids playing music over waves, Miami. Space Symphony is another beautiful piece.

G: I imagine actors coming to perform with an orchestra. The planets are placed like notes, the musicians take the harmony of the notes, playing amidst all the lighting effects specially created for this event: Space Symphony.

J: Here is Genesis.

G: Yes, Genesis, a sign of life. Life starts from the most smallest particle of matter, Then we have expansion. I express it with different colors and depths.

J: How about Labyrinth?

G: I call this one The Circuits of Life. In life, whatever we do is a labyrinth. We go here, there and everywhere to find solutions. I depict the ideas with colors and shapes.

J: In your fantasy works, you are presenting us with very definite themes, as in The Last Day of the Demon.

G: Yes, here is something that is very common to every one of us. My message is that everybody has something that is bothering them. It could be personal or political and you want to go away from this difficulty and find a solution. So this is the last day of something that is negative.

J: You slay your own demons.

G: Yes, yes, yes. Everybody has the chance one day to have a great opportunity to be out of this problem.

Aphrodite Today, Acrylic on canvas, 48” x 48”

Mermaids, Raised acrylics on canvas, 32” x 32”

Celestial Celebration #2, Acrylic on canvas, 48” x 36”

Fine Art Magazine • 17

Pegasus, 48” x 48”

J: You have a moment in life where any day could be your greatest when you slay your last demon and make a great life change.

G: Bravo.

J: How about Eternal Youth. Here you sign with your given name.

G: Yes, my real name. This was done in 1994, the last year I used Sotirios Gardiokos.

J: In Aphrodite Today you portray a very liberated version of the goddess.

G: Yes, you can see she is colorful, she is moving and has many interests in life, especially the environment. She likes to have pristine seas and pristine waters, and this is very important. The woman of today does this.

J: You continue your environmental message with Galloping on Water.

G: Yes. I can’t stress this enough: this is one of the most important paintings for the environment and I want people to understand,to really pay attention. If we have pollution on the water, sea, lakes or rivers all this (marine) life is going to go away. We have to pay for that. If we have pollution in the air we are breathing, the same thing will happen, and then if we have pollution in space with chemicals or bombs this is also no good so we are galloping on the water. What do we have to do? Find the best solutions and make the environment the best we can and then we will enjoy the ride before it is too late.

J: Excellent. Very nice. How about the still life, Flowers?

G: I have done many different Flowers, I love flowers and so do the people J: The sun is also an important theme for you.

G: You want to expand your curiosity, your 18 • Fine Art Magazine

Prometheus, 48” x 48”

Galloping On Water, Acrylic on canvas, 48” x 60”

Backstage Model, 36” x 48” Acrylic on canvas

Flowers, Acrylic on canvas, 36” x 36”

Eternal Youth, Acrylic on canvas, 42” x 42”

way of thinking, and of course I like to put some kind of action in to make it more interesting, at least visually, and people are quite excited about this.

J: So It’s a expanding your vision, a mental explosion.

How about Secret Tryst?

G: In 1988 I showed with Picasso, Miro, Erté and Dali on Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles. Everybody is Fine Art Magazine • 19

The Genesis, Acrylic and resins on canvas, 48” x 48”

influenced by somebody else and this is my tribute to the styles of Picasso and Dali.

J: Hypnotic Moon is another important piece.

G: This is about the moon when it is full, when everybody is really excited. In the village, the people are at the peak of expression.

They see the moon, they are warming up.

J: You have the circle in the square for the moon, what does that represent to you?

G: I like to modernize ancient ideas. The moon is always round, round, round. Let’s make it at least square with soft corners. This is how I feel. People see the moon, they have ideas of getting together, female and male, 20 • Fine Art Magazine

come to the point that everything is coming together in some kind of energy.

J: How many years have you been painting?

G: All my life. When I was seven years old at school, the teacher said ‘Now we have an hour to draw something, anything you want.’

I wanted to make something to impress everybody. I didn’t know what to do until I saw a book with a graceful horse and said to myself, ‘This is the image that I have to make.’ I made it and the time came when the teacher had all the artwork from everybody. When she saw my work she said, ‘Sotirios don’t do that again.’ ‘What did I do wrong?’ I responded in a very timid voice because at that

time they could beat you, not like today. I was scared. She said, ‘You know what you did.’

She thought I traced it. I said, ‘No I didn’t do anything like that.’ She said, ‘Just go and stay there in your place because I don’t want you to lie to me.’ ‘No I didn’t lie,” I replied. ‘If you want to prove to me that you really did it, you will have to come to the blackboard and draw it again.’ I said, ‘Yes I will come.’ I took a long look at the book and started drawing on the blackboard. When I finished, all the students applauded. That was really something special. Then and there I knew it was good to be an artist.

Hypnotic Moon, Acrylic on canvas, 48” x 48”

What are you planning to create next?

My goal is to create “Back to the Caves”, which will become the greatest art project ever produced in modern Greece.

It will take place in the miles of caves hidden away in the mountains of my village, a vision that my father instilled into me from childhood stories. I envision hundreds of artists working there, depicting Greek mythology, the Olympic spirit and fantasy works that will be constantly worked on through expansion, conservation and historic preservation. My vision is for monolithic sized paintings using cave walls as the canvas. This is my dream and will become my biggest work.

http://www.garsotartsgallery.com/ For Further Information Contact LIFE INSPIRED BY GARSOT JOHN APOSTOLOU, japostolou1@gmail.com, 312-735-7585 Fine Art Magazine • 21

MARILYN GOLDBERG

The Queen of Art & Her Court

BY VICTOR BENNET FORBES

Marilyn I, Marilyn II World Tour Exhibition

In the Playing Fields of Modern Culture, Few Have Done as Much to Make Great Art Accessible to So Many as …

Marilyn Goldberg, President of Museum Masters

Sid Maurer’s Bob Marley portrait

22 • Fine Art Magazine

International. A reservoir of artistic ideas and ideals, her unbridled enthusiasm to elevate life into the Art of Living has brought the imagery and energy of the icons of art history into the homes of countless art lovers. The myriad of beautiful and functional products she created from the imagery of great masters and contemporary talents also reside in museums worldwide.

A model of grace seasoned with grit, Ms. Goldberg has curated and organized exhibitions and developed product for Picasso, Erté, Dali, Haring, van Gogh, Tamara de Lempicka, Warhol, John Lennon, Muramasa Kudo, Giancarlo Impiglia, Peter Max, Ed Heck, Marco, Lois Brand, Randall Henrie and many others. She single-handedly revolutionized the concept of museum gift shops which were now able to show profitability by selling her custom-made items, creating great revenue streams for cash strapped organizations. She blazed the trail in the merchandising of art while helping artists and their heirs secure the rights to their work and protect their most valuable asset, their trademarks.

With her bright smile and attitude filled with beach sunshine and ocean waves (she grew up in Amagansett on Long Island’s sundrenched East End and now lives in Southampton), Marilyn has not slowed down a bit over the years. She relishes challenges and works tirelessly and enthusiastically on each of her projects. She starts her day with a rigorous exercise program, consisting of Spin classes, gym workout, and a round of tennis all finished by 9:30 a.m. Then international business calls and deals, followed by attention to the Hamptons’ houses she architecturally designed, landscaped and filled with art and accessories she has created.

Marilyn Goldberg began her ascent to lofty terrain as the world’s foremost art marketer and pioneer of art branding at a townhouse in

© Sidney Randolph Maurer Licensed by MMI www.marilynmonroe.com

“My visions have no limits.”

New York City’s posh east side between 5th Avenue and Madison. Her painting were different. van Gogh only signed Vincent and I added self-designed Museum Masters International headquarters launched the rest. I won a Picasso trademark case in court when I drew the with an exhibition/celebration of the life of Bob Marley, http:// trademark I created in front of the judge. I know what it is like to have www.nytimes.com/1991/05/13/arts/celebratingyour trademark stolen. At least I had fifteen years to bob-marley-voice-of-the-dispossessed.html. Over make money from mine, but artists like Sidney Maurer 1,000 visitors waited on line to see a collection of (Rolling Stones Tongue logo) and Robert Indiana photography, artwork and memorabilia, and groove (LOVE) earned nothing from their iconic images.” to the reggae riddims of the late Jamaican Rastafarian Editions made by Ms. Goldberg were very superstar with Marley family members in attendance. successful and each limited edition product of her The event was further celebrated with Jamaican food artists has soared in value along with ever-appreciating and attire, described in the New York Times as an limited edition dinnerware, silk scarves and many international New York sensation. Her second major other very collectible products. Paper shopping bags art show was for Peter Max at her Southampton NY she designed for museum gift shops that originally Garett Stephens Gallery, named for her son. cost $1.25 trade at $500 today. The Lennon prints This was on the heels of her major breakthrough that opened at $150 escalated to $5,000-10,000 and as when the Guggenheim Museum, which initially high as $20,000 for extremely sought after ones. The was quite reluctant to change the drab shop into Picasso prints are also in demand. All the graphics are an attractive boutique, placed their initial order. “I sold with their own certificates of authenticity. She has sold them their first products after I left a basket done this over and over with virtually every celebrity Picasso’s Montecuba cigars of samples,” recalls Marilyn from her spectacular artist and photographer she has represented. waterfront headquarters in the Hamptons. “I introduced artist-related Among Marilyn’s greatest accomplishments was adapting original products that ran the gamut from Picasso scarves — first advertised in Picasso paintings to estate co-branded prints on BFK Reeves paper VOGUE — to Tiffany quality dinnerware, vases, candlestick holders, signed by Marina Picasso, granddaughter of Pablo Picasso; making fragrances, crystal and tapestries.” Other museums that carry MMI exquisite silk fabric scarves from Picasso images recognized on the product include the Mitsukoshi in Tokyo, the Hakone Open Air cover of Italian Vogue and treasured today by galleries that frame Museum in Hakone, Japan, the Louvre, the Vittoriano in Rome and these as limited edition silks; and designing elegant Tiffany quality the Picasso Museums in Paris and tableware featuring more Picasso Barcelona among others. imagery. She also devised the Ms. Goldberg’s product mark for Erté sculptures, and the designs presented at the Negresco backs of these two dimensional Hotel to the Picasso heirs in figures and for the debut at the 1981 were approved to be sold French Embassy in New York via internationally. They hardly their director Monsieur George imagined at the time that the Henri of Victoire, (the first Erté Marina Picasso Collection sculpture) thereby launching one and Picasso Collection would of the most successful sculpture become overnight sensations programs of the 20th century. that would launch the birth of a There have been many most important and vibrant new other collections and celebrity industry — branding — that campaigns for which she could be used for the development developed products, touring of many products: jewelr y, exhibitions and major watches, bed and bath, furniture sponsorships, among them and upholster y, porcelains, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, glassware, fashion items, mobile Vincent van Gogh, Renoir, phone covers, fragrances and Klimpt, Monet and Toulouse cosmetics…even masterpiece Lautrec. Pepsi licensed her baby wear and elegant baby Marilyn Monroe images on bedding. limited edition cans of Pepsi.

Another early success was Her Warhol tapestries featured At home with Picasso art & Erté telephone. Over the years Marilyn Goldberg brought about when Yoko Ono the artist himself at openings has introduced a myriad of products in collaboration with exhibitions of van Gogh, Renoir, Monet, Klimpt, Erté, Dali, Warhol, Haring and de Lempicka. presented Marilyn with a box of and Yoko Ono made many John Lennon’s pen and pencil appearances at John Lennon Art doodles on tissues and napkins. To turn them into something people Collection exhibits. could hang on their walls, Marilyn, with the help of her exhibition Ms. Goldberg brought Keith Haring to Germany, created Dali manager William Weber, used hand-made papers and limestone trademarks, hosted the Time Warner Dali Exhibition last year in New lithography resulting in stunning limited edition Chinecolle prints York, followed by The Tamara de Lempicka exhibitions in Milano, loved and collected by Beatles fans to this day. They were signed and Rome and Paris and designed the patterns for her limited edition endorsed by Yoko Ono with a chop mark and embossed seal similar to merchandise. that which Marilyn devised for Picasso and more recently for Tamara After designing the licensing, product and marketing programs de Lempicka. Marilyn is also responsible for the development and for Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, she sold her company to filing of the first trademarks in history to protect the merchandise ProSeibenSat1, http://en.prosiebensat1.com/en/home a Munich-based that she pioneered world-wide “so that artists and their estates could public company in Germany where she formed Art Merchandising and secure the rights to their work.”

Media AG. She served as a Vorstand, (senior hierarchically subordinate “I drew the marks in my own hand because the signatures on each member of the management). The appreciation of the art that has 23 • Fine Art Magazine

New artists in the Museum Masters stable include Lois Brand (left); Marco (center) and Randall Henrie, whose Yin Yang Crown is pictured above.

resulted from her inspired, ground-breaking products has brought beauty and joy to many.

Her clients, estates and living artists have benefited greatly via the value of trademarks she has developed for everyone from Picasso to van Gogh to Lennon to the Catherine the Great Exhibition at the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, to de Lempicka in Rome, Milan, Paris, Japan, Mexico and Korea. She also designed brand trademarked Certificates of Authenticity that are issued with the signed and numbered editions used by the Estates for their Museum banners and books to this day.

Initially, to get everything moving, Marilyn ventured to Japan to perfect and manufacture the initial set of products. There she found a way to manifest her vision of class and elegance in a country where the importance of packaging and supreme detail was understood. Exquisite, trademarked signature boxes were lined with pure silk for her porcelains. The packaging featured colorful wrapping tissue and ribbons for ultimate gifts with repeats of the artist’s trademark signature. Marilyn was invited by Mitsukoshi Museum and Hakone Museum to inaugurate the Picasso exhibits where she was greeted in the highest of hospitality with formal Japanese Tea Ceremonies. She lived in Tokyo, the porcelain island of Arita, and Nagoya and worked at the factories to supervise the production of her various ideas. Her partners were Masao Kurimoto, and Michicko Horibe who helped fund the first book in Japanese of the Marina Picasso Collection. She manufactured the first Picasso porcelain on the island of Arita, and the first Picasso scarves at the Sisan Factory in Como, Italy. Within two years and despite major resistance, her ideas and concepts sold in the most prestigious world museums and stores. These great victories were cause for the estates to notice and they watched with appreciation as the products were sold and distributed around the globe. New copyrights were filed to protect these new designs. With blonde and hair green eyes, she was the sole 24 • Fine Art Magazine

Marilyn Goldberg was inducted into the Artexpo Hall of Fame by her peers in the art industry.

Her distinctive display booths and unrivaled energy and enthusiasm were hallmarks of the Artexpo for many years.

female Caucasian “in business” when it was unheard of for such a young woman to be traveling the country. Japanese heads of companies took her to all of their internal meetings and invested in her vision.

Then there was a three week all expense paid visit by the Chinese Government for Ms. Goldberg to lecture on International Business Trade, Copyright Registrations and Trademark Applications in order to protect the artwork owned by the artist and preventing from being stolen as it was from Picasso and Sid Maurer but then retrieved by order of the courts.

These days, with her Hampton investor groups, she designs estates which are known as the “Villas Del Arte,” The Houses of Art. The combination of her own artistry in tandem with that of Renoir, Erté, Dali, Warhol and many other famous artists

comes to fruition in the amazing five star Hamptons Homes — Villa Marilyn I, Villa Marilyn II, Villa Marilyn III — designed by Ms. Goldberg from the inside out. Natural landscaping and the changes of color each season project comfort as do each piece of luxurious bedding and furniture, also designed

by Ms. Goldberg. The houses contain drapery fabric from Monet, fine Picasso dinnerware, Erté, Warhol and Picasso sun umbrellas, Degas and da Vinci sun caps, luxurious towels with Keith Haring and Dali designs and rare limited edition tapestres on the walls. There are MMI published prints and porcelain accessories in every corner of each home telling the story of her life contracts, designs and production experiences. Even the wine cellars consist of limited edition vintages labeled with van Gogh, Renoir, Cezanne images as well as a Marilyn Merlot.

Soft drinks in the refrigerators are Marilyn Monroe Pepsi limited edition cans.

It’s a beautiful life made possible by one woman’s drive, upright business ethic and limitless vision, with of course, the cooperation of many: family, friends, artists and their heirs and an ever-expanding corps of believers.

Sidney Randolph Maurer, Andy Warhol’s friend and one-time partner, is next on the agenda with a 2015 world tour exhibition.

At Artexpo Hall of Fame ceremony with Fine Art Magazine’s Jamie Ellin Forbes & Victor-Forbes.

Villa Marilyn II

Villa Marilyn I

MUSEUM MASTERS INTERNATIONAL’S

NEW HEADQUARTERS IN THE HAMPTONS

Villa Marilyn III

Master Bedroom Suite, Villa Marilyn I

A stunning estate in New York’s world famous enclave of the rich and famous — The Hamptons — was funded by the Art Merchandising investor group and Japanese partners. “Villa Marilyn I, II and II” opened in 2012 through 2014 under the auspices of architect/designer Marilyn Goldberg who created a total environment from gardens planted with Monet Waterlily Ponds with Waterlilies from Giverney — to plates and mugs that coordinate with Monet’s works. Each room of each complex is designed to foster “The Art of Living.” They are the pilots for the artistic lifestyles enhanced by Museum Masters’ creations and the base for the new Hampton condominiums and hotels in Ms. Goldberg’s future plans for Marilyn Goldberg Interiors (MGI). Ms. Goldberg is in the process of raising investment and private funds for the yet-to-be-developed hotel spa and luxury condos.

“The beach breezes and the fruitful land draw visitors from around the world. The culture, sports and activity of the Hamptons has stimulated my own creativity as I look forward to sharing the heavenly land with international visitors. Each project has doubled in value, my visions have no limits. Each day I plant a new seed and watch its roots unfold into healthy offspring filled with sunlight as in the fields of Monet haystacks.”

From her beach towels by Picasso, Keith Haring and Dali to her Monet Giverny fresh water koi ponds with water lilies, to serving coffee and tea in her Monet waterlily cups and glasses with cheese and hors d’oeuvres on her Monet plates by the pond, this visionary creator ties each of her businesses together with passion, love, determination and skill.

Living room, Villa Marilyn 1

Sid Maurer Marilyn Monroe painting 25 • Fine Art Magazine

Theater with Sid Maurer art, Villa Marilyn I

Gourmet Kitchen, Villa Marilyn 1

Vittoriano Museum “The new pride of Rome,” where Ms. Goldberg organized and opened her exhibitions starting with Victoria de Lempicka with the president of Italy, the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of Tamara de Lempicka in collaboration with Italian curator Gioia Mori and long time gallery handler Alain Blondel. Once again the gift store thrived and de Lempicka products were bought by the thousands who visited. The buses, airports and street corners all celebrated with banners showing the de Lempicka paintings.

Tamara de Lempicka

© Tamara Art Heritage licensed by www.MuseumMasters.com

I

t is no coincidence that since Museum Masters International began promoting Tamara de Lempicka 25 years ago this artist has escalated in price from $200,000 dollars a painting to over $9 million at auction. Considered “an upper-class dilettante … arrogant and depraved,’’ (as Laura Claridge writes in Tamara de Lempicka: A Life of Deco and Decadence) Ms. Goldberg took de Lempicka from semi-obscurity into the mainstream with major museum exhibitions paving the way for what will certainly be a provocative Hollywood motion picture. The first exhibits for de Lempicka were financed

by Braintrust in Japan. William Webber, President of Modern Master Tapestries and long-time MMI exhibition manager, in searching for the best museums in the world for a de Lempicka show, discovered the newly renovated Vittoriano in Rome, Italy. Unfortunately, he slipped on the steps there and was instantly killed.

This was one of the great sorrows in Marilyn’s life. The Vittoriano then became the location which she felt spiritually that William Webber had selected for the new exhibitions.

Museum Masters International is now developing the signed numbered estate co-brand prints for the Estate of Tamara de Lempicka At Sotheby’s in 2011, Tamara de with Tamara Art Heritage with FeLempicka’s painting ‘‘Le Rêve/ lix Rosentiels Widow. They have Rafaëla sur fond vert,’’ done in hyper-realist style in 1927, sold for renewed another fabulous repro$8.48 million duction print agreement with Eurographics a long term client of the estate and with Fabrizio Del Rosa of selected artworks in Milano who also has worked with Marilyn Goldberg for over 10 years. His new company selected artworks will be replacing art now’s agreement for the future for Italy.

26 • Fine Art Magazine

20th Anniversary Tamara de Lempicka, Vittoria de Lempicka, Marilyn Goldberg

Film on the amazing life of Tamara de Lempicka under negotiation with Atlantic Pictures of New York.

2015 exhibition under final negotiations with Korea.

®

El Sid “The Kid” Rides Again

Marilyn Goldberg’s newest Exhibition and Museum Merchandising project will be in collaboration with Sid Maurer, and his company Celebrity Icons. A 50-year archive has arrived in Southampton to be curated for this retrospective.

S

omewhere between Their Satanic Majesties Request album in what Sid could only describe as a Turkish wedding gown, the and the recording of Sympathy For The Devil, Brian Jones, Sunshine Superman took Sid up on his offer to take a short walk went to the dark side. back to his studio, locatUnceremoniously canned ed around the corner. “We from the band he started, hung out, smoked a couple Jones, arguably the heart and of joints, talked about all soul of the Rolling Stones, kinds of nice stuff and he was found (still-breathing invited me to his sold-out some say) at the bottom of Carnegie Hall show and his swimming pool at Enthat’s how our friendship glish countryside home, started.” Donovan, belatedCotchford Farm. In one of ly elected in 2013 to the those yet-to-be-solved legRock and Roll Hall of endary rock and roll deaths, Fame, readily states, “Sidthe mystery remains. Yet the ney did all my album jackfacts of his life are indisputets and design in the ’60s able. “He formed the band.

He’s the best there is. His artworks are to be treasured He chose the members. He and we are friends to this named the band. He chose day.” the music we played. He got In those halcyon times, us gigs…he was very influen“Don would phone me from tial, very important, and then England,” recalled the artist slowly lost it,” said Stones in recent interview from bassist Bill Wyman. None his Atlanta studio “and say, other than Bo Diddley called ‘What are you doing this him “a fantastic cat who hanweekend?’ and I would hop dled the group beautifully.” on a plane and we’d have Enter Sid Maurer, a maa visit. He had a beautiful jor league New York City art cottage in Hartforsdhire director/artist who helmed with a very colorful large an agency that produced albird painted on the roof. bum covers at the rate of one In those days, we’d sima day for a few years in the ply hang out, which one psychedelic era. It was during could do back then.” Visithis period that Maurer’s tors might include George work gained major recogniHarrison or one of the othtion with best-selling records and sales of his paintings in Sid Maurer with portrait of Brian Jones and Linda from a photo he took of them in 1967. er Beatles as Donovan had galleries from Manhattan to Below, left, is Sid’s graphic rendition on a baby picture (inset above is Sid’s from 1927) just returned from a trip to showing details of what would become the famous tongue logo. Below center is the London to where he regu- painting by Sid bought by Jones in 1968 which eventually morphed into the logo ultimately India to visit the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi with the band larly commuted to visit his executed by a British design student John Pasche after a meeting with Mick Jagger. to study with the founder of best friend, the legendary Transcendental Meditation, troubadour/teen idol/rock star etc. It was there that Donwho still goes by the sinovan taught John and Paul gle name of Donovan. They his unique guitar style of met on his maiden voyage which Lennon’s Julia is the to America when “Don” was most famous example. freaking out over the excesDuring one of many sive enthusiasm of secretarparties Sid attended in ies-turned-groupies and the business persona of label (l) Sid’s original concept; Brian Jones bought Sid’s painting (c) for $1500. (r) John Pasche’s London, he met Andrew president Clive Davis at the version sold at auction for $92,500 to Victoria Albert Museum. Another artist, Ruby Loog Oldham, managalso claims he did work on the logo and was paid $10,000 for its use. According er of the Rolling Stones, Columbia/Epic offices. At Mazur to Novagraaf/Musidor.com “The Rolling Stones are one of the longest running acts in the the time, Sid was under con- history of rock music, having remained wildly popular and prodigiously productive over who went on to dedicate a tract with Epic to produce their 50-year career. They are also well known for the lips and tongue logo, one of the chapter to Sid in his book all their album art and was world’s most instantly recognizable symbols of rock and roll. (Ed. note: with a value 2Stoned. Sid recalls one called in by Davis to meet of $100 million USD). The global music rights of the Rolling Stones are being handled gala with Princess Margaby Musidor BV in Amsterdam, The Netherlands in Partnership with Novagraaf and hold his newest star. Barefoot and Intellectual Property rights of the trademark The Rolling Stones, including the iconic logo. ret and Sean Connery in 27 • Fine Art Magazine

attendance where Oldham and Sid bonded over a warning to not touch the punch. “‘It’s loaded with LSD,’ he told me. That’s how it was back then. You had to be careful. Our ’60s conversations were mostly, ‘Take a hit. Far out. Have another hit. Too much. What’s your sign?’”

Through Oldham, Sid met the doomed Brian Jones who commissioned him to paint a portrait of himself with his girlfriend Linda Lawrence, mother of his son Julian. Sid recalls, “Brian loved collecting. He had tidbits here and there, and many photographs.

He loved my baby picture from 1927! Unfortunately, the photo was old and not in great shape so I found an alternate (not of me) and embellished it with a little graphic concept with a tongue and lips penciled in, basically to reflect the Stones as they were: the bad boys of the era sticking their tongues out at authority, as opposed to the Beatles, who were considered more safe. He liked that image a lot and asked me to make a color drawing, which, unknown to me at the time, morphed somehow into the famous Rolling Stones tongue logo, which originated from my baby picture, of all things.

I first offered the drawing to their record label, Decca, who were willing to give me a few hundred dollars for it but Brian liked it enough to pay me 500 British Sterling pounds, which was about $1500 back then. I thought nothing of it until years later. In 2013 I was commissioned to make shirts and other items in France featuring my original tongue painting. Shortly after they were placed on display in a Paris department store, they were seized by Musidor and taken off the shelves for Sid on the boat with Donovan, ‘trademark infringement.’

Greece, 1968 Without Brian around to tell the real story, the manufacturer had no choice but to comply.”

The next thing Sid created for Brian was a portrait of the Stone and Linda. The photo Sid is holding (preceding page) became the basis for the initial small painting. “This shows how beautiful a guy he was,” said the artist. “I painted that picture somewhere along the line and tucked it away. After Brian died, Linda married my best friend, Donovan, and they became a family.”

In 2013, by Linda’s request to honor the 50th anniversary of the Rolling Stones, Sid was commissioned to re-create the portrait on canvas from his initial painting done all those years ago. The final painting is exactly the same but on canvas. The new version now resides in Ireland with Linda.

“I traveled all over with Donovan, and even accompanied he and Linda on their honeymoon. After one of his concerts at the Hollywood Bowl, Tommy Smothers threw a party for him. Hendrix, Janis, Morrison, Mama Cass, and a new kid on the block who didn’t even have a record out — Elton John — were all there. Many of the people I met became casualties, but Don did not. He was always very careful where he hung out and didn’t do drugs. After he made some money, he asked me to invest it for him so I put it in a bank in the Bahamas that I found out was ready to go under a year later. Somehow, I managed to salvage the dough and we bought a boat and took it to Greece with a crew of 12 and three hippies — me, Don and a friend. We landed at the Island of Hydras, to visit Leonard Cohen, who had a house up on a hill, accessible only by donkey.”

28 • Fine Art Magazine

A

long way from The Bronx, where Sid was born and raised when “the streets were black from horseshit, not asphalt. I was going to attend Taft (high school) but somewhere along the line a typographer friend of my family saw some of my work and suggested that I would be more suited to attend The School of Industrial Art on Jones Street in the Village. There were two teachers there, one for art, the other for academics and it was great, kind of like being an apprentice in the Renaissance. In the morning, we’d find our teacher on the stoop recovering from the night before and the first who arrived was designated to get him coffee. One of my classmates was Anthony Benedetto, better known as Tony Bennett, singer and artist. Anthony Benedetto is the name the signs his paintings with.

I wrote the class theme song and conducted our band. After graduation, I worked for Columbia Records in the art department. Their office was then in Bridgeport, Connecticut and I made the commute every day via the elevated Jerome Ave. line, bus crosstown to Grand Central and then a train ride. I was drafted, injured and sent taken home. After the war and I was OK, I started knocking on doors of record companies and was hired by Decca.”

Sidney Maurer album design for Donovan’s Barabajagal

During the late ’50s and early ’60s, Sid frequented the fabled Cedar Tavern where he met artists such as Rauschenberg, Johns, and Larry Rivers in their salad days and witnessed the zaniness of that particular scene. “Every night they would knock each other to the floor, fueled by alcohol. This was just before grass became mainstream in the mid ’60s and in those days I would run into Dylan, Joni Mitchell and many others in small clubs in Greenwich Village. That’s where I became especially close to music. My whole life as an artist has been fueled by my love of music.”

Sid’s career in the art and music field flourished in New York City where among his friends were Alan Klein (the businessman who helped form Apple Records for the Beatles and managed the Rolling Stones) and Bob Guccione. “He came to my exhibit at the Beilin Gallery on Madison Avenue, liked my stuff and asked me to show him a few things. I also met him in London. He was a slick guy, loved the girls and very handsome. I painted his portrait and helped him style the girls for photo shoots. He had his own penthouse, the girls were there and that was his life. We hung out,” Sid continued, “and I began to write chapters — not a book — about El Sid The Kid.”

Americana With his myriad of friends, acquaintances and close encounters with the brightest stars of the era, Sid plans to revisit those pages and venture into the world of literature to coincide with his upcoming world tour under the auspices of Museum Masters International to open later this year in Southampton, New York and travel to Korea, the Vittoriano Museum in Rome and then the Centre Pompidou in Paris where Maurer imagery and merchandise created by MMI will fill their gift stores and bring his intimate portraits of the grandeur of ‘The Stars’ to the public.

“Sid realized that the empire of music and art that he had helped to build by befriending the greatest musicians and band leaders of the globe left him little time to pursue his true passion: painting,” notes Marilyn Goldberg, who represents Maurer internationally through MMI. “Sid moved to Georgia where he has lived ever since.

In a quieter and calmer locale, his painting thrived. Here he created his Americana series and Vanishing Georgia and developed a vast catalog of works revolving around the Civil War. He continues to portray an ever-expanding group of cultural icons including The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin, Mama Cass, George Harrison, Marilyn Monroe, and the Rat Pack in Vegas, to name a few. His backstage adventures with Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber and One Direction also made it onto canvas.”

In the last decade, his work has hung in a Jerry Garcia wide variety of venues, including the U.C.L.A. campus, the Carnegie Museum and Retroback Exhibition in Granada, Spain 2011 hosted by Sean Ferrer the son of Audrey Hepburn who Sid Maurer also painted. Sid also worked with many artists and photographers among them Salvador Dali and Carl Vechten back in 1939. Sid’s works were purchased by Enrique Sabatier, from Spain, who was executive assistant to Dali for many years. Enrique gave this work to Museum Masters at the Salvador Dali exhibition in New York City in 2012.

29 • Fine Art Magazine

Sid Maurer and Bob Guccione, founder of PENTHOUSE, were friends in London and New York. Bob, an accomplished fine atrtist (and photographer) in his own right, came to Sid for instruction and all these years later, Sid has been commissioned to be an integral part of the PENTHOUSE brand re-launch and world tour.

The famous Sticky Fingers album (1971) front cover with a workable zipper by Andy Warhol with the inset debuting the tongue clearly reminisecent of Sid Maurer’s sketch done three years earlier for Brian Jones. When Maurer’s tongue was featured on merchandise sold in a Parisian department store, Musidor, which claimed ownership of the logo, issued a cease and desist and Sid’s clothing line was pulled from the shelves.

C’est la vie. C’est la guerre.

“SID NEVER RECEIVED RECOGNITION FOR HIS TONGUE PAINTING. Once again the major creators of the world lose the identity of all they have done by conglomerates who turn their creativity into millions without giving recognition to the true author.”

—MARILYN GOLDBERG

Futbol With his myriad of friends, acquaintances and close encounters with the brightest stars of the era, Sid plans to revisit those pages and venture into the world of literature.

The Celebrity Icons of Sid Maurer, a major hard-cover book is in production as well as a documentary on his Rock and Roll days with photos, letters and stories. A complementary book featuring his entire body of work from the Americana to Endangered Species series will be published as well.

Other examples to be included in Sid’s bible of stories will be another episode with Andrew Loog Oldham when Sid visited him in Bogotá, Colombia in 1997. From there, he went on to Argentina to meet the parents of a little boy who was a great soccer player but was too small to be accepted onto any important league team. In those days the lad went by his given name, Lionel Andres. Today he is known as “Messi,” rated by some as the best futballer of alltime. Sid suggested that the parents try a growth hormone that was Brigitte Bardot, Fall 2012 Fine Art Magazine Cover by Sid Maurer very popular in London and in the United States. It worked but the boy’s family did not have the money to continue his growth therand hired him as photo stylist for the PENTHOUSE Pets. Gucciapy. Sid then contacted a friend in Spain and secured the proper one’s magnificent townhouse, the setting for Caligula, was designed treatment for the boy.

by Marilyn Goldberg, which started the initial relationship with Also included in the book will be Sid’s rethe new PENTHOUSE team. The new owners membrances of Marilyn Monroe. They were of the PENTHOUSE brand have designated best of friends and neighbors and often dined the Maurer portrait of Guccione to be a centertogether. He did many photos, portraits and piece of the new PENTHOUSE Gallery of Art paintings of her. Based on the special relationand assigned him to create the first portfolio of ship of his love for Marilyn Monroe and MarPENTHOUSE Pet portraits. Marilyn Goldberg ilyn Goldberg (his consultant on all business has been engaged to do the new logo for the activities), he created the Marilyn series.

Penthouse Art Exhibition and Art Sales, of the Pepsi Cola awarded him Artist of the Year co-brand PENTHOUSE-Maurer editions, all and memorialized him by creating the Maurof which is being finalized as this article goes to er Marilyn Pepsi Cola cans and bottles which press. Meanwhile, says Sid, “I’m sitting in Atwent to all the exhibitions on Marilyn Monroe lanta and just selected the Pets for the portfolio” around the world resulting in very amicable reIn addition, Sid Maurer’s Civil War series lations between the estate and the artist. The and his paintings on Americana have reached deal is closed for the cans and bottles that have new audiences with the success of Twelve Years become major collectibles that traveled with A Slave and will be on exhibit at the CelebriThe Marilyn Monroe Exhibitions created by ty Icons Gallery in Southampton. New York Marilyn Goldberg of Museum Masters. along with his work featured on the cover of On the horizon are the co-branded Marmany magazines and books. Museum Masters ilyn Monroe Estate Sid Maurer signed limited has officially started the world tour exhibitions editions prints followed by the PENTHOUSE focusing on Sid Maurer’s life and times to coMaurer co-brand limited editions prints of the incide with up-and-coming books and films on PENTHOUSE Pets after a year-long negotiathis singular artistic giant whose elegant portion as a commemoration to Guccione and the traits of entertainment greats have enhanced art lessons Sid gave him in London. “He came the lives of so many who follow the workd of to me for insight and I told him ‘It’s not how you Art and Celebrities. draw but what you do with your head.’” Later in Pepsi Marilyn Monroe can, limited edition by Sidney Maurer — VICTOR FORBES New York, he went to Sid Maurer as his mentor

BRIGITTE BARDOT A VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS

30 • Fine Art Magazine

Janet Fish, Monkey Business, 2005

a colorful, festive harbinger of spring The first garden was Eden —a setting of flowers and plants for the creation of our world and mankind. Ever since, we have cultivated gardens simply for their beauty or for the sustenance they provide as food.

Flowers have served as inspiration for painters and poets from time immemorial.

From the mundane to the exquisite, flowers enhance every facet of our lives. Their physical expression may be found in gardens and outdoor parties of every kind, from the humblest to the most elegant 18th-century fête champêtre.

Nassau County Museum of Art ’s Garden Party (through July 6, 2014) explores the imagery of fête champêtre — outdoor entertainments and garden parties — through paintings, sculpture, costume, fabrics and decorative arts and designs.

In Garden Party, the curators (Franklin Hill Perrell, the museum’s former senior curator, and JoAnne Olian, curator emeritus at the Museum of the City of New York) have assembled a bouquet of paintings illustrating the appeal of flowers in every season. The project also takes advantage of the museum’s incomparable 145-acre property, richly embellished with beautiful gardens and sculpture. This exhibition of gardens and flowers in an array of styles is organized thematically by season, beginning

with a stunning portrayal of spring through a monumental mural by Robert Kushner.

Works by artists from many different traditions are on view, including Nell Blaine, Charles Burchfield, Marc Chagall, George Deem, Janet Fish, Jane Freilicher, Martin Johnson Heade, David Hockney, Robert Mapplethorpe, Georgia O’Keeffe, Maurice Prendergast, Larry Rivers, James Rosenquist and Louis Comfort Tiffany.

The works in the exhibition portray floral images as objects of enjoyment and pure visual pleasure, the recreation of a natural paradise envisioned since antiquity and perpetually recreated in gardens, the nuances of horticulture, floral arrangements and flower motifs in fashion and decorative art. The prevalence of floral imagery in costume design is demonstrated with dresses designed by de la Renta, Mainbocher, and Traina-Norell, as well as in the motifs of exquisite Judith Leiber evening bags.

Highlights of the show include spectacular installations, beginning with Kushner’s 47-foot multi-panel piece done on gold leaf. First prominent in the 1970s, Kushner is a key artist in the pattern and decoration movement.

Georgia O’ Keeffe’s Coxcomb, 1931, offers an example of how a traditional theme is interpreted in a modernist mode.

Plants and animals recall the first garden, beginning with Richard Gachot’s Adam and Eve, Hunt Slonem’s imposing sculptures of wildlife, birds and tropical plants; and Janet Fish’s Monkey Business, where a leaping monkey disrupts a splendidly arrayed outdoor table laden with flowers and fruit.

Among the many enchanting works on view in Garden Party are Rosenquist’s Sister Shreik, one of his classic representations of females and flowers; Prendergast’s The Promenade, n.d., a post-Impressionist painting of a garden party with costumed women in a setting of nature; Chagall’s Le Repos, c. 1980 with its essential bouquet; and Ben Schonzeit’s spectacular photorealist still life, Fred and Ginger Rose, 1997.

The Garden Party idea pervades the selections: flowers are themselves festive in character, and uplifting to the spirit, ever attesting to the life force and nature’s generous and spontaneous beauty. Floral patterns, often used in fashion and décor, affirm our innate desire to capture such loveliness. We intuitively recognize that flowers are a universal symbol of life and well being.

Nassau County Museum of Art is located at 1 Museum Drive in Roslyn Harbor, NY. Call (516) 484-9338. www.nassaumuseum.org.

Fine Art Magazine • 31

PEOPLE magazine named Romero Britto “The King of Pop Art.” He rose to that throne not long after meeting Michel Roux, known for giving artists breaks where breaks weren’t otherwise available. Roux chanced upon Britto’s small gallery in Coconut Grove “and right away,” he stated, “the chemistry was very good. I loved what he was doing. He was struggling and I said, ‘Let’s do something.’ I told him, ‘I don’t know where it will take you but I am going to put your name with Warhol, Haring, LeRoy Neiman and Arman in the Absolut advertising campaign.”

Romero became a star via Absolut and he knew how to take advantage of his new life. “He made some great things for us,” continued Micihel who told the young artist, “Don’t be afraid to do something good for others. Give your work to good charities to raise money. This will be a stamp on you.” Romero followed the advice and has contributed his skills and energy as an artistic activist who accepts every opportunity to help. “He is praised,” adds Michel, “not only for his work, but for his feelings for the rest of the world.”

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As if this needs a caption…

Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Michel Roux

MICHEL ROUX Patron Saint of Artists

“The Absolut thing completely changed my life, Before that, I had spent five years living in dire poverty on Avenue D in Manhattan.

I couldn’t even get galleries to look at slides of my work.”

— Ron English Born in Soyeux Charente in southwestern France, Michel Roux emigrated to the U.S. in 1964 after earning a degree in hotel management. By 1981 he had worked his way up to the top job at Carillon Importers, who were just getting started with Absolut Vodka. Roux worked tirelessly, spending his nights in bars, clubs and restaurants promoting the then unknown brand and his days in their New Jersey headquarters. A friendship with notorious teetotaler Andy Warhol resulted in a famous painting of the Absolut bottle, advertised initially only in art magazines, that made Absolut the hippest drink in town.

Michel Roux set the pace and the bar for the new collectible age in art, making the Absolut bottle images the sexy currency of the day.

He instinctively knew how to pick artists. It was uncanny to watch his eye lend flair to an unprecedented approach in selling a product based on art. Not only he was the architect behind one of advertising’s greatest marketing campaigns, but he also had a great heart for what he was doing. “What is important,” he said in an interview that appeared in Fine Art in 1992, “is not only the artwork, but the artists.” His penchant for social activism and positive change helped many AIDS victims. His Absolut Americana, Absolut Statehood and Absolut Statehood series were designed to “communicate good, to heal and to express reality with a positive message.”

Today Michel runs his own import company and Absolute Americana Gallery in St. Augustine, FL. It is safe to say that in the annals of art and advertising history, there will never be another like Michel Roux.

— JAMIE ELLIN FORBES

New wave artist Kenny Scharf was among the first wave of Absolut artists.

He rose to prominence alongside his friends and contemporaries Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring in the East Village art scene of the 1980s as one of the first artists to inject elements of street culture into the main stream of contemporary art.

Fine Art Magazine • 33

Andy Warhol, Venus, 1985, ©The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM REVEALS NEWLY DISCOVERED AMIGA EXPERIMENTS “Andy Warhol saw no limits to his art practice. These computer generated images underscore his spirit of experimentation and his willingness to embrace new media – qualities which, in many ways, defined his practice from the early 1960s onwards,” commented The Andy Warhol Museum Director Eric Shiner, in announcing newly-discovered experiments created on an Amiga computer in 1985. Warhol’s saved files, trapped on Amiga floppy disks held by The Warhol’s archives collection, were extracted by members of the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Computer Club and its Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry in a complex recovery process. The Hillman Photography Initiative at Carnegie Museum of Art (CMOA) initiated and then documented this process for its The Invisible Photograph series.

Warhol’s Amiga experiments were the result of a commission by Commodore International to demonstrate the computer’s graphic arts capabilities. They vary from doodles and camera shots of a desktop, to experimenting with Warhol’s classic images of a banana, Marilyn Monroe, Campbell’s soup, and portraits. One artwork resulted from the series, a portrait of Debbie Harry. This artwork is in The Warhol’s collection, but the other images on 34 • Fine Art Magazine

Commodore Amiga computer equipment used by Andy Warhol, 1985-86

the disks had been inaccessible due to their obsolete format. Also within the museum’s collection is a letter with numerous handwritten amendments by Warhol’s business manager Fred Hughes, which seems to have served as the contract between Warhol and Commodore International.

The impetus for the extraction project came when artist Cory Arcangel learned of Warhol’s Amiga work from a YouTube clip showing Warhol promoting the release of the Amiga 1000 in 1985. During Arcan-

Andy Warhol, Andy2, ©The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

Andy Warhol, Campbell’s, 1985, ©The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

gel’s November 2011 visit to Pittsburgh for his exhibition Masters at Carnegie Museum of Art, he followed up on this topic with curator Tina Kukielski, who was also a co-curator of the 2013 Carnegie International. She subsequently joined the Hillman Photography Initiative at CMOA and reached out, along withArcangel, to CMU’s Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, run by Golan Levin, who connected them to the CMU Computer Club,

a student organization known for their comprehensive collection of obsolete computer hardware, as well as for their prize-winning retro-computing software development.

In 2011, Matt Wrbican, chief archivist at The Warhol, was approached by Arcangel and Kukielski to discuss the possibility of searching for files on the disks which he first saw in Warhol’s former New York City studio in 1991. A one-time Amiga user, he shared their enthusiasm for the hunt for images.

The project was developed in collaboration with staff at The Warhol including Wrbican, Amber Morgan (collection manager), Nicholas Chambers (Milton Fine curator of art), Greg Burchard (senior manager of photography rights and reproductions), and Eric Shiner (director). The team gathered first in March 2013 to read the disks. A video crew from CMOA closely followed the progress, which has now formed a full episode of its five-part documentary, The Invisible Photograph, which investigates the world of photography by way of hidden, inaccessible, or difficult to access images.

Wrbican states, “The Amiga hardware and Warhol’s experiments with it are one small portion of his extraordinary archives, nearly all of which was gifted to the museum from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. In the images, we see a mature artist who had spent about 50 years developing a specific hand-to-eye coordination now suddenly grappling with the bizarre new sensation of a mouse in his palm held several inches from the screen. It also marked a huge transformation in our culture: the dawn of the era of affordable home computing. We can only wonder how he would explore and exploit the technologies that are so ubiquitous today.”

Amber Morgan adds, “One of our responsibilities is to preserve the museum’s collection…ensuring that the images will be preserved even if the original disks fail.”

Fine Art Magazine • 35

THE VOYEUR SERIES ARTIST AS SEER

AMY ERNST: Amy Ernst, photo by Steven Klein, 1994, Italian VOGUE

Voyeur - Voir

By VICTOR BENNETT FORBES

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rotesque, perverse and often illogical, yet stunning, meaningful and perfect all at the same time, the beauty of Surrealism is that its adherents take a look at things majestic and mundane, and give new meaning to them so as to give new meaning to life. The importance of Amy Ernst, as she steps into the limelight, is that she carries on the family tradition with total originality. Cut from the same cloth as her illustrious grandfather Max 36 • Fine Art Magazine

Ernst, the lineage is evident, evolving on in the work of one who lived it, breathed it and enjoyed the benefits and trials of growing up surreal. Her work is clearly of that world, a genuine generational connection, an important continuum.

We caught up with Amy recently in New York City as she was getting ready to send works to France for a solo exhibition at Maison Patrick Waldberg, Seillans, where her grandfather lived and created quite happily in his latter years with Dorothea At left: Jimmy and Max Ernst, Seillans, France Tanning.

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HEN AMY ERNST WAS invited by the Maison Patrick Waldberg and Les Amis de Max Ernst et Dorothea Tanning Foundation directors to exhibit a substantial body of work in a one-person show this summer, her immediate reaction was ecstatic. After all, Seillans was home to her legendary grandfather and Dorothea Tanning, a place Amy holds dear to her heart. The heritage continues with Amy Ernst’s show, Voyeur, taking place there June 26-July 23rd to be held in two locales in the heart of Seillans — Maison Patrick Waldberg and The Convent, directly across the street. “The Waldberg House has my grandfather’s work and Dorothea Tannings as well as Waldberg’s books and writings. It’s a sweet place… quite colorful.”

This new collection — Voyeur — reveals that the artist’s observations are those of one who is not really an outsider but not really an insider either. “It’s as if I’m a seer,” she says. “I have seen it before, been there before. The French define it as being able to look into one’s mind and one’s heart — and see.”

In balancing that, Voyeur is designed to actually awaken memories in not only the people who live Seillans, but also to have similar impact on those who live in small villages everywhere. Replete with scenes of windy paths that seem to go nowhere, strange looking trees and all-seeing eyes, the images invoke a feeling of Seillans in particular but also the placement it has in history. “Maybe the Visigoths went there,” said Amy, recalling how she would just sit outside in the cold and look at the strange kind of cut-off trees that reminded her of witches fingers. “They’re austere,” she continues, “­and you can imagine all those hundreds of years earlier…the sounds, or maybe even the smells of this bustling little place in the Bar area of the south of France above Nice and below Grasse.

“This all came about last year when I turned 60. One of my cousins in Germany asked me if I wanted to go to the south of France, to Seillans. I was 17 the first time I was there and I said, ‘Why not. Let’s go’.

We went and stayed in a wonderful little hotel that goes back to the 18th century. It used to be a local duke’s residence.” Nestled in the mountains, Seillans is “officially” one of the most beautiful villages in France. It was first realized in the 10th century, like so many other little villages dotting the Cote d’Azur. Max Ernst first came there in 1964 to visit the summer home of Patrick Waldberg, an art historian from Paris who published many of the Surrealists. Maison Patrick Waldberg is a cultural center in Seillans housing the Office of Tourism.

Amy’s attachment to the area is deep.

“When I came back last year, it was like I

Essential History - Animal

Amy Ernst doesn’t need a machete to bushwhack a trail to art history. She walks in the footsteps of her illustrious ancestors, making her own way. never left, it was the same to me. I felt so comfortable there. Even when I would lose my way, I always figured out where to come out in those wild little alleys,” she recalled.

So she began further explorations, taking pictures and reacquainting herself with the village. The chestnut trees towering over her hotel’s courtyard were fascinating in their gnarled but somehow inviting stance.

An ancient wall of the castle of Seillans was another starting point, personalized by incorporating her own eye in the work. Amy’s desire was to keep the antiquarian feeling, of where she was — “This very, very ancient place where I feel like I am an old soul.”

Further traversing the winding streets, Amy realized Seillans was also her home, the home of her youth and her first beloved, Michel. Amy picks up the story: “I was so innocent back then and my

grandfather liked the idea that I was going out with the son of the local vintner so that he would get a good deal on the wine.

That’s what I was told anyway, whether it is true or not, is not the point. It was just so sweet. After I came back to the US, Michel’s best friend Patrice would translate my letters to him because Michel didn’t speak English and he liked to write to me.

I never forgot him and when I went there last April, I thought maybe I’d run into him again. It turned out he died 20 years ago in a construction accident. It was sad, but the feeling was the same.”

With show-time approaching, Amy set to work with her long-time associate, master printmaker Lisa Mackie. “Lisa’s philosophy,” says Amy, is “Start printing and let’s see what we come up with.”

“Every time I get on that etching press Fine Art Magazine • 37

The Infusion of the Essence - Bauta’s Vision I

it’s a new beginning because I never know what the result will be,” adds Amy whose multi-faceted, multi-media process incorporate various methods to get her ideas on paper. Amy and Lisa often invent processes as they go. It’s just amazing.”

“Lisa exposed all the plates in New York and we started working on them in New York as initial sketches for the final edition.

I took the down to my home in Florida and worked together to produce 50 unique solar plate etchings as well as mono-prints and a number of collages. There are four series with each one invoking what the images, of course, are saying. 1) Voyeur (Voir means to see) 2) Within the Ancient Walls (Timelessness, as if time stood still) 3) Infusion of the Essence (about the perfume and the essence of the perfume) 4) Essential History (incorporating nature and the elements of nature).

Included in the exhibition are straight solar plate etchings with two, three or four plates; others in chine-collé; there are collages and mono-print transfers so the images could be enlarged, making use of the entire sheet of paper. Some are pure abstractions from Amy’s photographic images.

Big as it is, the exhibition is not a retrospective. “I feel my life is starting all over again even though I have been working all along all these years.”

Amy began her print-making at Robert Blackburn’s Workshop in the early 1980s, where she met Lisa Mackie. Then a semester at Pratt overseas and the subject matter was Venice, where I went back to doing my collage using photographic elements. She soon moved on to Photoshop, a program in which she was somewhat of a pioneer on “one of the first Apples, a Quadra, and a big and clunky scanner” so that she was able to incorporate photography in her work. “That was my first introduction to the digital world.”

Amy picked up her interest in print-making, going out to Sag Harbor, Long Island to study with Dan Weldon who developed a process called Solar Plate etching.” This is a hybrid process, incorporating a light sensitive plate (polymer), a zinc plate transfer of 38 • Fine Art Magazine

The Infusion of the Essence, Bauta’s Essence

“It’s not my heritage that permits me to do my work. It is some other force and I have absolutely no control over it, it is just who I am.” positive images, which are burned in by a very bright bulb with the plates drawn down on a vacuum table as in silkscreening or offset, ideal for collage, but also is like photography in that if you over-expose or under-expose, you are sunk. Amy would take the plates in whatever condition and use a stylus to draw into them. “Once I learned the rules, I told Dan, I would break them.”

And so the party started.

Amy is the fourth generation of artists in the Ernst family.

The first they know of is Amy’s great-grandfather, Philip Ernst.

He was a teacher of the deaf and blind in the small industrial German town Bruhl, and was known also as a portrait painter the father of Max Ernst, the Grandfather of Surrealism. On a few occasions, Amy was invited into Max’s study. His shelves were filled with old manuscripts, maps, objects d’art, chess pieces and books on Eastern philosophy, poetry, mysticism, and Astrology. Amy realized many years later that his spiritual energies and imageries had become a major influence on her work.

At home growing up she met many incredible people — Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer, playwright Edward Albee, actors Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson, artists William de Kooning, Ihbram Lassaw, Hedda Sterne, Lee Krasner, Grace Hardigan, Larry Rivers, political people like Alger Hiss, and theorist Betty Friedan.

Her father Jimmy Ernst was part of the second generation of abstract painters in New York, working various artistic jobs. He met Amy’s mother Dallas while both worked for Warner Brothers in l946 and were married for 38 years, until Jimmy’s untimely death in l984.

Essential History - New Life

“I’m a true believer in living in the present,” says Amy Ernst, a formidable package of power, technology and fortitude. “I’m a medidator, do a lot of chanting, studied Sanskrit for the last 15 years, go to a lot Kirtans everyhwere I go. I chant with Krishna Das and people who are true spiritual beings. You sit and you sing and it is all about pure love and pure energy. Thist is what has gotten me through all the years figuring out who I really am. I worked hard all my life and have absolutely no regrets.”

“I started thinking outside the box and stepping back in time to Seillans. It’s not my heritage that permits me to do my work. It is some other force and I have absolutely no control over it, it is just who I am. Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy, tinking about commitment, output, sales, how much we do every day.I don’t worry about that because I am always working, even if I am not in the studio, my studio is in my heart, my soul and my mind.”

“Besides their visual seductiveness, what is remarkable about the works in Voyeur is how seemingly effortlessly they have sprung from the artist’s hands,” writes Steven Robeson Miller in an essay on Amy. “What also sets her works apart…is their elegance.”

That and a very natural understanding of what has come before.

Her work is imbued with and resonates an authority that can only come from inheritance, and she is aware of this. She is indeed art royalty and respects her position, wearing it with grace and humility. This summer, being in that locale, an area that always attracted artists and writers, walking the same steps as her illustrious ancestor, Amy Ernst is keeping the flame alive with planned collaborations and projects with the artists of Seillans and the surrounding area. Meanwhile, the Granddaughter of Surrealism basks in the glow of destiny’s return trip. amyernstartstudio.com

Fine Art Magazine • 39

2013 ROBERT DE NIRO SR. PRIZE AWARDED TO CATHERINE MURPHY Outstanding Mid-Career Artist Honored By Annual $25,000 Stipend Administered by Tribeca Film Institute and Robert De Niro Sr. Estate

Catherine Murphy

By VICTOR FORBES

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Murphy was named 2014 recipient of the Robert De Niro Sr. Prize administered by the Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) for her considerable contributions to the field of painting. Bestowed upon a mid-career American artist devoted to the pursuit of excellence and innovation, Murphy is the third recipient of the merit-based laurel which pays tribute to the work of accomplished painter Robert De Niro Sr. In celebration of his father’s legacy, this accolade was created and funded with $25,000 to the annual winner by Robert De Niro to support the next generation of artistic achievements.

“I am honored to present Catherine Murphy with this award for her outstanding work as a painter and teacher, and to continue to recognize my father as an artist through the Robert De Niro Sr. Prize,” said the beloved actor/filmmaker.

De Niro Sr. was a key member of the important New York School of post-war American artists whose work blended abstract and expressionist styles of painting with traditional representational subject matter, bridging the divide between European Modernism and Abstract Expressionism. He studied at the renowned Black Mountain College with Josef Albers, and later with Hans Hofmann in Provincetown and New York. He went on to exhibit at Peggy Guggenheim’s innovative museum/ gallery, “Art of this Century” in 1945 and 1946, as well as at galleries throughout the U.S. during his career. In 2010, a retrospective exhibition of his work was presented atherine

40 • Fine Art Magazine

Snowflake, 2012, oil on canvas, 52 x 52 inches, (132 x 132 cm), Louis-Dreyfus Family Collection, image provided courtesy Peter Freeman, Inc. New York

at the Musée Matisse in Nice, France. De Niro Sr.’s work is found in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Hirshhorn Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum and Parrish Art Museum, among others. His life and work will be chronicled in Remembering The Artist: Robert De Niro, Sr., a documentary set to air on HBO in June, 2014.

A selection committee of distinguished individuals in the art world was appointed to nominate candidates and select the prize recipient. It included Susan Davidson, Senior Curator, Collections and Exhibitions at the Solomon Guggenheim Museum, New York; Editor-in-Chief at Art in America magazine, Lindsay Pollock; artist, Wall Street Journal art critic, author of the novel The Art Critic, Peter Plagens; and art historian and scholar Robert Storr, Yale University’s Dean of the School of Art. In praising her work, the panelists jointly stated, “Catherine is devoted to painting. She takes a long, hard look and

sees things that others would have missed.

Her work is seemingly absolutely consistent and yet it is surprising in each individual iteration. It is very much about the process of painting.”

Currently living in Poughkeepsie, New York, Murphy studied at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine and received a BFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in 1967, where she was also awarded an honorary doctorate degree in 2006. Murphy has also been distinguished with National Endowment for the Arts Grants (1979 and 1989), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1982) and as a member of Institute of Arts and Letters (2002) and the American Academy (where she had many dinners with the great Will Barnett – “I admired him when I was young,” she said in a recent interview “and glad to have spent some time with him”). She was a Senior Critic at Yale University Graduate School of Art for 22 years and is currently the Tepper Family Endowed Chair in Visual Arts at the Mason Gross School of the Arts

at Rutgers. Her work has been the focus of museum exhibitions, from her first in 1976 to a recent exhibition at the Byrdcliffe Kleinert/James Center for the Arts in Woodstock, New York. Works by Murphy are in important private and public collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Thomas Olbricht Collection, Berlin.

Notification of the award came when, recalls the artist, “I was having a terrible day. A day of irritation — things were dropping — and then the phone rang.” It was DeNiro’s office with good news.

“I have no idea how I won this award,” she continued, “but I have been showing in New York since my 20s and I do have a reputation. Some people know who I am.

I’ve been on lots of panels and it is an art unto itself to come to an agreement. I know how difficult it is and how wonderful it was they decided on me. I got lucky. ” “As a matter of fact, when I was going to college in the ’60s I knew DeNiro’s work very well and always admired it. He’s a really good painter — colorful and authentic. He was on the scene and I went to his shows when I was a student at Pratt.

Murphy grew up in Lexington, MA, and always wanted to be in the arts. “New York was the place to go. At Pratt, at that time, you couldn’t major in Fine Arts so I majored in Art Education and did a lot of painting. I never looked back and am glad I stayed the course. In college, I very much admired Richard Diebenkorn, especially his figurative early paintings. Fairfield Porter was another influence and of course everybody loved de Kooning. The Netherlandish painters and Van der Weyden are among a long line of wonderful painters out there, so there were lots of influences.”

Ms. Murphy’s first job upon graduation was secretarial at the American Cancer Society. “They were very kind to me but I was very bad at the job. My beloved future husband and I decided to get married and we moved back to Lexington with my parents for a while so I could paint full-time.

They helped me a great deal. Grad school was next and I lasted about a month before quitting and living by my wits, on nothing, with no money.”

Things began to change for the better when Murphy joined a cooperative gallery and sold enough of her work “so I could scrape by. Unlike now, you could live on almost nothing then. We didn’t expect to have any money, it was the 60s.”

The young couple resided in Jersey City for seven years while her husband worked for Joesph Cornell. She was a member of the First Street Gallery (which still exists) and attended the Alliance of Figurative Artists at the Educational Alliance

Robert De Niro, Sr.’s paintings were an early influence on Catherine Murphy. The Estate of Robert De Niro, Sr. is represented by DC Moore Gallery, New York, and is advised by Megan Fox Kelly. Pictured above is the author beside a De Niro Sr., painting, Seated Nude With Green Pants, 1970, oil on linen, 36” x 38” at the Armory show in New York City, March 2014, DC Moore Gallery booth.

in New York City. “We all went on Friday nights — a whole group of representational and figurative painters. We had lively conversations and wonderful painters came to speak and we attended for a few years. All the while I had to work very hard to justify the fact to myself that I didn’t have a job. I painted all the time then and still do now.

“My work requires attention and discipline. The paintings are slow, very complicated and take a long time. I paint from natural light and whatever the day was demanded a certain kind of attention. It’s delicious to work outside. On a cloudy day, I would have a cloudy painting going. When you’re doing a landscape, you have to be there for whatever kind of light you are going to get. I keep farmer hours, working outdoors in summer and indoors in winter.

In my studio, I work from situations that I set up and paint from them, from life. Essentially, they are stilllifes but it’s hard to actually call them that. ” Catherine and her husband reside in an old farmhouse. A renovated chicken coop in back of the house is her “wonderful studio, remodeled to my specifications, very private.” In the winter, the artist packs a lunch, brings it out back, works the whole day and returns to the house to make dinner. “I do this every day,” she relates. “It may be so boring from the outside but very exciting from the inside. I am having a wonderful time. It’s what I love to do.”

Generally working on a number of paintings at one time, Murphy goes back and forth between them. In the summer,

while working outdoors, the light changes dramatically. The morning could be sunny, the afternoon cloudy and the painting a mixture of both. In winter she is more in control of the light. In both cases, the art is usually generated from a formal idea about painting — a long process with lots of twists and turns. “There’s always psychology which eventually reveals itself to me. What’s happening in the painting also comes along later. There are many physical layers, a struggle and finally I come out with something I can live with. ‘Happy’ is too big a word. Somehow the finished work resembles the idea I started with but transforms itself into what it wanted to be in the first place.”

Working in graphite on paper or oil on canvas, she is very committed to the geometry of the rectangle, understanding it and what she can do with it. Interested in the painting as an object and the narrative that can be sustained on that object, “one painting invariably leads to another. The process of painting itself reveals solutions to particular problems.”

Murphy’s work is emotional with a scholarly approach. In her classes, she advises students, “Eventually it all lines up. All the politics and emotions — everything — all end up in the work with no other place to go, revealing the answer, albeit slowly.

One could say, ‘Oh, God! These paintings are about my father’s death, or the trouble I am going through, or the joy.’ I am not illustrating that particular emotion but I am not blocking it. I seek to be very clear-headed but also to ‘let it all hang out,’ as we used to say in the sixties.”

Fine Art Magazine • 41

“A Museum Built by Angels”

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CATHOLIC ART & LIBRARY presents

“La Primavera” Roman Gala Honors Third Annual Roman Gala~ Leaders In Defense & The Arts

Johan Schotte, NMCAL Board Member; Prince Lorenzo Maria Raimondo De Medici received “Patron of The Arts Award” (The Prince is from of the Medici Family in Florence); and Archbishop Timothy Broglio.

La Primavera

Ambassadors, politicians, military, chaplains, defense industry and business leaders and museum supporters gathered under the nd Wednesday Aprilto2the , 2014 Patronage of the Ambassador of ,Italy United States and Mrs. Claudio Bisogniero and under the Patronage of the Order of San at the Martino, honoree Prince Lorenzo Maria Raimondo de Medici from Rome and Florence at Gala ~ La Primavera held at the Embassy of Embassy DC. of Italy Italy April 2nd, in Washington Hosted by the Board of Trustees of the National Museum of Washington , DC Catholic Art and Library, Honorary Gala Chairman, Mayor Vincent C. Gray and Honorary Gala Chairwoman, Christina Cox, NMCAL Founder and NMCAL Chairman, Tim Barton and President JMJ Development of Dallas, TX organized the event as a fundraiser for a new museum called “The National Museum of Catholic Art and Library”, a 501-c3 Washington, DC organizations and public charity.

Our NMCAL fundraising event is to support our new museum location in downtown, Washington, DC. The Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to honoree Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, Archbishop of the Military Services, USA by Monsignor Walter Rossi; Former Secretary of Veterans Jim Nicholson will introduce honoree Former US Ambassador to the Holy See and Former Mayor of Boston, Ambassador Raymond Flynn and honoree William H. Swanson, Chairman of the Board of Raytheon Company will be introduced by Dr. John Hamre, CEO of CSIS. The Leadership Award presented to Frank Kendal III, Under Secretary of Acquisition, Technology and Logistics of US Department of Defense. Trammell S. Crow, Founder of Earth Day Texas will receive the Environmental Award given by museum board member Johan Schotte of the Johan Schotte foundation in CransMontana, Switzerland.

NMCAL Art Awards were given to Claudia Hecht for the “International Artist Award” and Luis Peralta for the “National Artist” Award. We will be exhibiting Michelangelo’s St Peters’ Pieta, a life-size marble reproduction sculpture from the Vatican Observatory by Arte Divine, and NMCAL collection of bronze Gianbologna’s Boboli Venus and a bronze Donatello’s Boy Angel from the Marinelli Foundry, Florence. Pope John Paul II, Pope John XXIII and Pope Francis’s portraits will be unveiled at our event for the pre-celebration of their Holiness’ sainthoods in Vatican City.

National Museum of Catholic Art and Library trustees and curators are planning the “The Popes, The Prince and Michelangelo traveling exhibit “ with a reproduction of Michelangelo’s St Peter’s Pieta, Giambologna’s Bathing Venus, Venus Florenza, Donatello’s 42 • Fine Art Magazine

Fr. Aidan Logan, US Air Force, Rev Mgr. John Foster Vicar General, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, Ambassador Ray Flynn, Father/Chaplain Timothy Butler, Lt. Colonel US Air Force, Former Secretary of Veterans Jim Nicholson and Father Captain Mike Parisi of the Chaplains Corps, US Navy.

Patrick Cox, Lifetime Archievement Honoree Archbishop Timothy Broglio, Christina Cox, NMCAL Founder, Honoree Ambassador Ray Flynn, Former Secretary of Veterans Jim Nicholson

PHOTOS BY PETER STEPANEK OF SKY HIGH ART MEDIA

Boy Angel and portraits of Pope Francis, Pope John Paul II, Pope John XIII, Pope Benedict XVI plus Medici family artworks, family crests, maps, books and letters from the Medici family. They plan a traveling exhibition to Dallas, New Orleans, Palm Beach, Chicago, Boston, and Las Vegas and fundraise receptions for the future museum home in Washington, DC. For more information contact NMCAL www.nmcal.org catholicart@aol.com; 202-450-5707 office; 917-750-0014 ( cell)

♥

PHOTOS BY JAMIE ELLIN FORBES

“It’s a platform for new voices, new artists — whether it’s film, whether it’s theater,” said Artistic Director Anton Evangelista (l) of the proposed Arthur Avenue Performing Arts Center.

“We want to be a mini-Lincoln Center,” adds Frank Franz (r), Chairman of the Belmont Business Improvement District.

The center of the neighborhood is The Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel located three blocks south of Fordham University at the corner of Belmont Avenue and East 187th Street. Rex Hall is diagonally across the street on the corner of Arthur Avenue, the crossroads of the Bronx’s Little Italy.

Anton Evangelista, Frank Franz and Victor Forbes discussing the future and past of Rex Hall.

The Ferragosto Feast in the Fall on Arthur Avenue is not to be missed. Here Riggi and Meg rock the oldies in front of Pasquale’s Rigoletto. They also perform every Saturday night in the restaurant.

Rex Hall – A Bronx mini-Lincoln Center The Belmont community has meant so much to so many over the last century and a half, serving as a home for wave after wave of immigrants in search of a new life, a new beginning. The Arthur Avenue Performing Arts Center is formed of that same tradition, to give a new voice to new ideas in the arts and culture of the community and beyond. Currently underway is a grass roots on-line fundraising campaign to transform this antique 4,000 square foot facility into a modern mini Lincoln Center.

Formerly a banquet hall which held weddings and special occasions at which participants brought their own home-cooked food (as the place had no kitchen facilities), the revelry and loving energy of the merrymakers of old still permeates the environment. On a recent visit, Belmont BID Chairman Frank Franz and Artistic Director Anton Evangelista outlined their plans to Fine Art while a cast and crew of young comedians from nearby Fordham University were getting ready to film a few sketches there. “I’m very excited to be a part of helping to launch The Arthur Avenue Performing Arts Center in the neighborhood I grew up in. We hope many will join our efforts and extend financial support,” said Evangelista, award-winning director/producer at Comprehensive Films, a production company that offers a personalized service in developing quality filmed stories that inspire, transform and enrich lives in an entertaining way. To participate in this cultural revitalization go to http://www.bsoac.org

Belmont Society of Arts and Culture Rises in The Bronx The Bronx is the only borough of New York City attached to the mainland of the USA and is comprised of a series of many unique neighborhoods. Perhaps the most unique of all is the Belmont section known internationally not only as the home of Dion and The Belmonts, but for the sheer number of establishments offering fine Italian-American foods, dining, housewares and other goods. Generations of Italian families give the area a special small-town character unique for an urban setting, while at the same time celebrating centuries old traditions.

The Belmont Society of Arts & Culture is dedicated to this tradition in their creation the Arthur Avenue Performing Arts Center, transforming a neglected catering hall into a multi-functioning space as a cinema screening facility, an exhibit hall, dance, recital, and theater space — a multi-media education center to provide up and coming and established artists a platform to express new works in theater, film, art and education in the creative arts.

The Belmont Business Improvement District (BID), headquartered at Rex Hall under the leadership of Chairman Frank Franz, has succeeded in turning Belmont into one of New York’s premiere tourist destinations. It represents over 300 businesses and neighborhood landmarks including Fordham University, Our Lady Mount Carmel Church, Enrico Fermi Cultural Center and Arthur Avenue’s Little Italy.

Fine Art Magazine • 43

Rooftops

Susan Levin’s Art Dream Comes To Life As with fine wine or a delicious meal, I want my work to evoke emotion; to take you on a sentimental, intoxicating journey, as I was on creating each piece. – Susan Levin

S

BY LISA FREEDMAN

usan Levin’s Abstract Expressionist paintings dance before your eyes in vibrant color and playful movement, complementing each other and everything around them. Inspired by her natural love for life, Levin’s paintings resonate with humor, authenticity and fun, not to mention the love and passion each image portrays for the subject, image or experience she so freely and readily expresses through her work. Equally inspiring are the stories she tells behind each title, giving that much more insight into the influences behind each image. Levin dabbled in art throughout her childhood, taking classes in painting, wood working and pottery. But it wasn’t until 2005 that an epiphany hit her through the form of a dream.

“In March of 2005, I had a very powerful dream. It was so powerful, that when I woke up, I was filled with excitement. It directed me to go to the art store and buy everything that I needed to start painting, and that’s what I did!”

Levin has been painting up a storm ever since. She works hard to create pieces that evoke emotion and conversation. In 2011, Levin added digital photography to her creative repertoire. When she is not painting, she is taking photographs of the landscape, architecture and people around her. Her digital photographs are equally expressive, vibrant and as real as her paintings.

“While my paintings and photographs are an expression of my moods, they are also an abstract interpretation of real life experiences. I interpret my dreams and often paint what I dream and I embellish my photos with the use of the computer.”

44 • Fine Art Magazine

Expressions in Green and Yellow.

Levin’s work has been widely exhibited in solo and group shows throughout galleries in Connecticut, Washington DC and Maryland, where she lives and works. Her art has been featured in several editions of the American Art Collector, Washington Project for the Arts, The Nice Niche, as well as in online competitions and shows.

Earlier this year, Levin’s work was featured in a solo exhibition at Sotheby’s International Realty in Sag Harbor, New York, entitled Season of Love: An Exhibition of Original Abstract Expressionist Paintings and Digital Photographs Celebrating Love.

The show was titled accordingly because much of Susan’s art reflects her own philosophy in life and as it is expressed through her work. As she states, “Some people can only love other people. For me, I can love a lot of different things. I can love a person, an action, a painting, a gorgeous day or just be in love.

My life is filled with more love than I could have ever imagined.

My body and soul goes into each piece and each of my paintings is done with love and passion, and at times, a glass of wine in hand.

There is synergy in life...as in all things. I suggest taking the time to reflect and celebrate the holidays and each and every day with love and passion so that life doesn’t become stale and insignificant, but rather powerful and with a sense of calm that can bring beauty into your home.”

The show was such a success that Sotheby’s International Realty in Southampton, NY took two of Levin’s Digital Art Works to put on display in their offices. Levin’s Rooftops and Madison, were taken during a trip Levin made to NYC in the week that Hurricane Sandy hit the area. Her shining examples of NYC architecture reflect her own love affair with the city that has captured real rstate agencies, corporations, architects, designers and galleries across the board.

Levin continues to seek opportunities to travel, take photos, create art and write about her experiences through her website, art shows, Facebook pages and blog posts. And we continue to be the illustrious benefactors of her creations.

“Creating new work is a form of playing and designing what is often clearly before my eyes and sometimes what is simply perceived through the lens. It is that combination of being acutely aware and having the ability to clarify what is right before me that makes me passionate about art and love what I do.”

For more information about art by Susan Levin, please contact The Art Marketer, info@theartmarketer.com or call 914.907.9842.

Or visit her website at: http://www.artbysusanlevin.com/

Tall Glass of Water

“My life is filled with more love than I could have ever imagined.”

Heat Wave Fine Art Magazine • 45

Huguette Thiboutot

synchronicity allows for one to imagine the reverberating hum of the last soft stroke of the piano’s key, mixing harmoniously into painted color.

Huguette Thiboutot lives and works in Montreal, and has exhibited extensively in Canada and at Agora Gallery in New York.

“My artistic approach is to mix the sounds and tones of music with color. I like to think that all these vibrations agree to create more harmony on earth.”

The Mona Lisa Dreams, Mixed media on canvas, 36” x 24”, Montréal 2012 Employing a lively and free gesture, the artist’s first step on a canvas is almost always spontaneously created with a clear primary color. When preparing a new tableau, she invariably goes to tubes of primary colors and green, adding a little white and black. The size of the canvas varies according to her mood. “When my moods require further wilder and wider gesture,” she hether stylized, abstract, or fully says, “I entrust them to a larger area.” surreal, the work of Huguette Huguette will work on several Thiboutot is alive with movement small formats with mixed media which and light. Thiboutot is a trained she then often recomposes into a larger musician, and describes color as work. The combination of color and “the other side of sound.” Her palette movement exude an audible energy. is accordingly an intense and vital “I like this mode of creativity part of her work, with bright colors because I can express my exuberance contrasted sharply against one anothand share with others my happiness er, light playing off dark, and shades and emotions. When I happen to be cleverly blended with dry-brush and angry, color and gesture become very transparent layers. The colors, satuviolent. Anger is black, the gesture rated as they are, exist on the same amplifies intense yellow, accelerating otherworldly plane as the imagery into bright red. Mauve usually itself. The compositions forgo tradiaccompanies my sad emotions. But tional backgrounds and recognizable the color is not without gesture and details in favor of the rich, entirely vice versa. The first movement starts new textures created by Thiboutot’s producing the all others and the vision brilliant hues. What emerges are sounfolds, with vigor and vibrancy.” phisticated lines, mysterious imagery, Return to the Nest 2, Mixed media on canvas, 40” X 40”, 2012 Using mostly acrylic, her broad and a constant sense of movement. brushstrokes turn the majesty of a Thiboutot draws on organic forms – plant life, the beautiful cursunset into a symphonic movement of grandeur, vastness and rents of air and water – as well as painting purely imagined images, splendor. In her drawings and portraits, Huguette first uses which effortlessly blend into abstraction. This sense of ethereal charcoal. Early on, she “had lots of fun with the colors of watercolors

Huguette Thiboutot: Harmony in Painted Color

W

46 • Fine Art Magazine

Valdan

at the beginning. After three years of intense experiences with all that is called color — watercolor, gouache, ink, pencils, felt, oil, colored pencils, crayons — I generally like acrylic now.

“My paintings’ topics are likely to float, to fly,” continues the artist. “They stretch casually, sensually. I am concerned about the balance of shapes that arise, by the consistency of the composition. I try to spread the beauty and elegance. I work very intensely to get the picture. I get…I am Santa Fe. As I work, I forget the passing of time, I do not feel hunger. This is a trip! Often I stop, I sit and meditate on what I have created. This time can be quite long…that judgment can last several days. I talk to my tableau as it apparently still continues on, leading me as it moves into space. It’s part of the creative process.

Tableau. What magic! I see the tableau playing the piano. Sounds and tones together. Harmony moved. This is the grand finale. I get up at night to watch it.”

Before Huguette puts her signature on a work, she may add more light here, a more pronounced line there. “And suddenly,” she exclaims, “the painting is finished, it lives. I sign. Long live life!”

Recent exhibitions include: Agora Gallery, New York, Unbound Perspectives; Expo-Condo-Thiboutot, Sanctuaire du MontRoyal; Foyer room Claire and Marc Bourgie, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montreal; Gallery Espace Contemporain, Montreal Park StViateur d’Outremont, Montreal; Pavilion Saint-Viateur d’Outremont Parc, Montreal; Expo; Solo Exhibition Golf Club des BoisFrancs in Princeville; Galerie Valmi spring exhibition; Valmi Gallery; 2000 Exhibition Contest at the Museum of Fine Arts of Mont-Saint-Hilaire; Solo 100 paintings at the Community Centre Ste-Eulalie Montreal http://www.huguettethiboutot.com/

Detail of signature “HT”

Firebird, Acrylic on canvas, 40” x 40”, 2008 Fine Art Magazine • 47

PHOTO JAMIE ELLIN FORBES © SUNSTORM ARTS PUB CO.

Gloria Cohen: Sculptress of the Whimsical

Tower One

Gloria in her studio: The Artist muses future creations.

Gloria Cohen (nee Rosenberger) was born in Philadelphia, PA. Gloria admits her fascination with color began in early childhood, undoubtedly influenced by her mother’s propensity for interior decorating. Gloria ventured to New York City when she was twentyone years old. Applying her natural abilities to freelance design of wallpaper and upholstery fabric, she also created background art work for the windows on Fifth Avenue department stores such as Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdales, D e l m a n ’s S h o e s , B .

Altman, Macys, Gimbels.

Gloria’s continued artistic development thrived in the vibrancy of NYC and she credits that city for the creative and positive influences that fed her growing interest in the arts.

Storm on Jupiter Seven years later Gloria met and married, Joel Cohen, a New York lawyer, who is very supportive of her creative impulses. Joel brought another important influence to their lives in the person of Dr. B. First as a medical doctor, then a friend and gradually a cherished mentor to the couple. One could say that the good doctor and the Cohens adopted each other. They decided to acquire property on the ocean in Hollywood, Florida. Gloria says, “My passion is to know myself ” and in this Dr. B., a medical doctor, was a long-term critical and influential figure in the development of her personal and spiritual self. Gloria attests to his guidance in her self-knowledge and the ability to trust her instincts. As a consequence of introspective and 48 • Fine Art Magazine

Key winding pocket watch stands

mindful living, Gloria feels connected to the “source of all creation” and sees herself as a co-creator who wants nothing more than, “… to create with my (her) creator.”

PHOTO JAMIE ELLIN FORBES © SUNSTORM ARTS PUB CO.

By PHYLLIS SANDALS

PHOTO JAMIE ELLIN FORBES © SUNSTORM ARTS PUB CO.

Menagerie of color

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gloria_creations/10252052706/in/photostream/

The flight of color

And so it was that in Florida, overlooking the ever-changing hues of the Atlantic Ocean, she began to follow her instincts and view the environment as rich fodder for possibilities yet to be. She recycled interesting objects found in antique and home sales and even flea markets and trash, to make stands for Dr. B’s extensive collection of pocket watches. She became fascinated with the glass and crystal used in jewelry and discarded chandeliers. She was taken with the reflective qualities of glass and how the light played with it. The glass responded by leading her in a new and rich direction.

Gloria began her venture in the medium of colored glass in Florida more than a dozen years ago. She patiently began experimenting with a variety of glass products; the flat, textured, opaque, translucent and transparent in a variety of different shapes, sizes and colors. Gloria respects the fragility of the glass, which

can shatter and flake easily. She attests to the importance of being mindful of her mood and response to the medium in which she is working. Using dichroic glass and infra red light to secure the many combinations of glass-to-glass, glass to metal and glass to lucite, the timing of the infra red adherent or “gluing” stage is critical to the sensitive stages of production. When queried about the purpose and process of her creative work she responds, “It (the work) takes me outside of myself. When I work on these, I am totally engrossed. I feel like I am in my own space, emotionally, mentally and physically.

I’m just a channel and I am open to whatever the spirit brings me.”

Gloria creates eclectic, multi-dimensional, multifaceted and unique, one of a kind sculptures. They are not given to categorization in terms of genre. They are rather whimsical in nature. To appreciate them fully, they must be viewed in optimal light for the color and combinations of color, the movement and flow of the colors, and the reflection of the illusion of space. “These are my children. No matter where they end up, my wish is that they give joy and grace the face of the beholder with smiles.”

Fine Art Magazine • 49

THE TWO LOVES OF ROBERT SWEDROE

By ROBERTA KLEIN Miami based Robert Swedroe gets his kicks from creating timeless towering buildings and brilliantly colored collages.

Robert Swedroe’s indomitable spirit tracks back to childhood when at nine years of age he contracted polio. Although it took him a year to re-learn how to walk, he subsequently played baseball passionately throughout his remaining school years in The Bronx. To be a major league baseball player was his dream, yet when he wasn’t playing ball he was sketching and drawing.

This natural talent resulted in a scholarship and degree in architecture to Carnegie Institute of Technolog y in Pittsburgh (now Carnegie Mellon University). It parlayed into a second scholarship, this time at Yale University, where the young, recently married scholar earned his Master of Architecture degree.

To his delight, it was under the tutelage of his idol, Paul Rudolph, co-founder of the Sarasota School of Architecture and a masterful space planner.

Upon graduating, Robert and his wife Rita, moved to her home town of Miami Beach. He swam daily in the Atlantic Ocean or Intra-coastal Waterway and collected tropical f ish, as well as seashells and rocks. All found items were transformed into charming little assemblages. Around that time, Robert was hired as a senior design architect by Morris Lapidus, acclaimed architect of Miami Beach’s iconic Fontainebleau Hotel.

Concurrently Robert’s small rock and shell constructions broadened to complex collages.

The prolif ic artist soon assembled a notable collection of work ref lecting his keen eye for combining color and unexpected three dimensional objects, such as hinges that opened and closed doors. In the mid-1960’s, his work sold well at the popular Coconut Grove Gallery, stimulating him to produce even more art.

He began crafting his themed collages on weekends and evenings after his eighthour work days. Themes inspired by found objects gleaned from junk shops, garage sales, and friends’ throwaway jewelry were defined. Objects ran the gamut from semiprecious stones to small tropical fish.

Robert crafted over 500 significant collages from 1964 to 1974. Many were purchased at sellout, “one man,” Miami Gallery Shows. The most signif icant and final show transpired at the Weiner Gallery on Madison Avenue in New York 50 • Fine Art Magazine

Robert Swedroe, photo by Jamie Ellin Forbes

City. Then, in 1974, Robert launched his his collage art. namesake architecture firm and vowed to During his first go-round as an artist give the fledgling business full attention.

Robert had converted his home’s attached Reluctantly he packed away his art materials. garage into a studio. Now, in 2006, it was Over the next three decades, he déjà vu with a detached, 1200 square foot, channeled his creativity into his architecture three-car garage in his newly renovated with a specialty in multi-residential design. home/compound. Glass doors and air His extraordinary space planning in viewconditioning were installed and the garage oriented buildings gained him awards morphed into a light-washed studio. When and recognition he unpacked his in his field. Still, stored boxes, inRobert recalls, cluding hundreds “Not a day passed of formerly colt h a t I d i d n ’t lected parapherthink of making nalia, he went collages.” But his “ back to the art supplies stayed future.” During stored while his original his architecture modus operandi, career soared. he collected hunHundreds dreds of magaof s i g n i f ic a nt zines, periodicals residential and random structures were objec ts wh ic h built in Florida, he painstakingly New York, Las sorted, cut, Vegas, and the cata loged a nd g r e a t e r D C Moon Goddess, Mixed media on board, 12” x 12”, 2013 f iled for color area.

They and theme. Now graced offshore he did the same locations such as the Caribbean, Canada, with the materials stored over three decades.

South America and Japan. Many reflected “It was the most challenging and extraordinary private entry elevator systems, exciting aspect to return to making collages,” which he introduced in 1988 at Bal Harbour Robert recalls. “I’ve always said with my art, Tower. And then — the Great Recession. unlike my architecture, there’s no client, no Within months it forced him to drastically schedule, no program, no budget or zoning downsize his 32-year-old architecture restrictions. I’m free to do what I want.” business, but it also re-opened the door to Exhilaration immediately showed in

Celestial Fireworks, 24 x 24, Mixed Media on Board, ca 2011

Space Quest, 12 x 12, Mixed Media on Canvas, 2013

Homage to Stella, Mixed media on board, 24” x 24”, 2006

brilliantly colored and patterned work, as exemplified in the dazzling Boys in a Band, ca 2007, a 42” x 32” mixed media on board.

Like the bedlam of a rock concert, “It is an orchestration of figures and symbols and ) electrifying abstractions integrated into a midnight blue background,” Robert notes.

Not only did it win a prestigious American Institute of Architect’s Art by Architects award but it was purchased by renowned international art collector Itchko Ezratti.

The world had changed drastically during Robert’s 33-year hiatus from art.

Although his favorite type of collage had always been his “narrative” story-telling creations, sage guidance from Art Advisor and Curator Kimberly Marrero in 2007 vastly expanded his repertoire. When Marrero agreed to be his consultant, she pulled him out of his comfort zone by challenging him “to grow and be experimental in order to taste new opportunities.” What evolved were

Cyber House, Mixed media, 16” x 6” x 9”, 2013 Peach Blossoms, Mixed media on board, 24” x 32”, 2011

Robert’s breakthrough geometric collages of a new Cyber Series.

Shortly after embarking upon his second incarnation, his work was shown at Scope during Art Basel. A floor installation was installed at the Sagamore art hotel and collages were also exhibited in London plus numerous New York Armory Shows.

Most importantly, Steven Hartman’s Contessa Gallery in Cleveland, Ohio began representing him, hosting a solo show in the gallery and affording annual exposure through Art Miami. Robert was overwhelmed with the phenomenal exposure of his work.

The new experimentation he had applied further evolved over the years with the creation of various forms of geometric

and circular venues. Consistent with his application of found objects, Robert has created various other new series. Among them are his Container series, spawned from wine shipping packaging and reminiscent of Louise Nevelson’s work. Another is his Reflection series, engineered from shiny material samples for designers.

“Currently,” Robert said, “I’ve expanded the three-dimensional aspect of my work in the form of four-sided collage structures called Cyber Houses by incorporating the Cyber theme with a base, middle and a top, intended as table-top sculptures. “Obviously or subliminally, they look like buildings.” At 79, the peripatetic and enviably energetic Robert Swedroe not only continues to produce dynamic, colorful collages but still works full-time in his now thriving architecture business.

Fine Art Magazine • 51

DOC and Cindy Glanzrock, Delicious Mess…

… and Meltdown at 1001 Sixth Avenue

BACP Matches Art & Real Estate

Cindy Glanzrock and artist Sen2

Cindy Farkas Glanzrock, president of Glanzrock Realty Services, who recently founded and introduced the Building Art Curatorial Program (BACP), an initiative that connects unknown artists with commercial spaces as a platform for their work. The artwork is leased and also made available for purchase.

Cindy, who calls herself a “matchmaker” for artwork and real estate, recently commenced the program with 915 Broadway, 1001 Sixth Avenue, and 29 West 38th Street, all owned by ABS Partners Real Estate. These lobby spaces are showcasing artwork from graffiti artists who have all leased pieces from GRS to be displayed. It will be exhibited for a limited period, similar to a gallery or museum rotation.

What’s unusual is that both GRS and the artist are compensated up front, rather than the artist or GRS paying the building for display space. Although commercial spaces have been displaying art for many years, Cindy spots a new trend in that buildings have turned to street and graffiti art and getting an edge against the competition in attracting new and different types of tenants.

PHOTOS BY JAY SULLIVAN Exterior of 915 Broadway

Artwork by Sen2, featured in 915 Broadway, is the first to be exhibited through BACP 52 • Fine Art Magazine

Howard Shapiro, Sen2, Alex Kaskel, Cindy Glanzrock, Jay Caseley, Earle Altman

RAISE A GLASS TO

Art Fairs

From Brussels to Beirut, Manhattan to Monte Carlo, Southampton to Silicon Valley -Art Fairs Abound Fine Art Magazine • 53 PHOTO © Kristof Vrancken, courtesy ART BRUSSELS

“We will show New York something they never dreamed of.”

Walt Kuhn, artist and Armory Show organizer, October 28, 1912

DOWNTOWN FAIR LAUNCHES IN NEW YORK CITY

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RE-ENERGIZES SITE OF HISTORIC 1913 ARMORY SHOW The inaugural Downtown Fair, a new modern and contemporary art fair produced by the ownership team of Art Miami, opened its doors in New York City during Frieze Week, one of the busiest and most exciting weeks of the city's 2014 art and cultural season, and alongside the highly-anticipated post-war and contemporary art auctions at the major auction houses.

The Downtown Fair provides a fresh alternative to acquire important never-before-exhibited works from both the primary and secondary markets in an intimate light. The fair caters to collectors looking to experience the best of what the global contemporary art market has to offer. The focus of the fair is on emergent talent, as well as mid-career cutting-edge artists, anchored by a fresh selection of secondary market works by top name artists from the Modern & PostWar eras with nearly 600 artists from over 35 countries represented.

From over 200 dealer submissions, the top 50 galleries were carefully selected by the Advisory Committee, consisting of Yossi Milo of Yossi Milo Gallery, Nancy Hoffman owner of Nancy Hoffman Gallery, and William Shearburn of his eponymous gallery. The committee worked closely with Fair Director/Partner Nick Korniloff and participating galleries to ensure a carefully-curated, richin-content.

“We are thrilled to bring a world class fair to New York City during this important week for the acquisition of art,” said Downtown Fair Director Nick Korniloff.

Prestigious galleries will exhibit in an intimate and el54 • Fine Art Magazine

Entrance of the Exhibition, 1913, New York City

Pamela Cohen, VIP Relations, Marketing, Sponsors + Partners and Show Director Nick Korniloff of the Downtown Fair flank gallerist James Goodwin

egant modern airy setting, designed against the dramatic backdrop of the historic beauxarts landmark at Lexington Avenue and 25th Street, in the heart of the Flatiron District and at the crossroad of the energetic downtown art scene of the Lower East Side, Soho and Chelsea.

The rich history of the Hall goes back to 1913 when the The International Exhibition of Modern Art took place there.

Its enormous drill hall provided over 30,000 square feet of display space for the estimated 1,400 works on view. The hall was

divided into eig h t een octagonal galleries with burlap covered panels. The space was decorated with greenery, pine trees, flags and bunting, and yellow streamers that formed a tentlike cap to the exhibition space. About half the works in the exhibition were American and half were European, and though only a handful of artists are remembered for their participation in the Armory Show, 300 participated, from artists who are considered iconic masters today, to those who are no longer familiar.

Duchamp, Nu descendant un escalier n° 2, (Nude Descending A Staircase, No. 2) Oil on canvas, 1912, 57.9” × 35.1”, from the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This work, taken home by the artist during the 1913 Armory show due to the uproar it caused certainly gave credence to the Fair organizer Walt Kuhn’s statement quoted above.

The Armory Show of 1913, which displayed both European and American modernist art, resulted in both an historic controversy and a long-range triumph. Smart and sensational publicity, combined with strategic word-of-mouth, resulted in attendance figures of over 200,000 and over $44,000 in sales, far exceeding anyone’s expectations for the venture Produced by the Art Miami team, a partnership consisting of art and media industry veterans Nick Korniloff, Mike Tansey and Brian Tyler that also produces Art Miami, CONTEXT, Aqua, Art Wynwood, Art Southampton, Miami Masters and Art Silicon Valley / San Francisco Fairs, the Fair’s refined ambiance is welcoming and appealing to all levels of visitors.

Johnessco Rodriguez Art Monaco Founder & President/Opus Eventi C.E.O; Anastasiya Severgina, Executive Project Manager & Partnerships; Marc Ivasilevitch Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Nice; artist Darya Usova and family

ART MONACO – “WHERE ART MEETS GLAMOR” H

ad it been held in a different era, Johnesco Rodriguez’s guest list for his fifth annual Art Party in Monte Carlo — known as Arte Monaco — would most certainly have included Brigitte Bardot, Princess Grace, Sean Connery, Roger Vadim, Erté, Isadora Duncan and Picasso himself, among many other legends. As it was, in late April of Johnessco Rodriguez, Princess Maria this year, a new generation of artists, Gabrielle de Savoie gallerists, enthusiasts and media types converged upon the Grimaldi Forum, enchanted over the history, energy, luxury and exclusive artwork that filled the Hall, named for the family that has ruled the Principality of Monaco since 1297.

By successfully exhibiting modern and contemporary art in a very posh setting in the French Riviera, Art Monaco has become a platform for emerging artists and a bridge between galleries and collectors. This fastgrowing event, now in its fifth year, is known for presenting contemporary and modern art in an elegant, glamorous and even roayl showcase. Hosted under the presence of SAR la Princesse Marie Gabrielle de Savoie, T.R.H. Prince and Princess Charles of Bourbon of the Two Sicilies, Madame la Baronne Danielle Courcelle von Prohaska, Baron et Baronne renald de Meester de Betzenbroeck, Hollywood stars and other social celebrities, more than 70 international galleries travelled to the playground of the rich and famous offering a special opportunity for those wishing to buy or sell art collections or those who simply sought to be taken aback by one-of-a-kind, often inspirational creations in a variety of styles.

Galleries from Germany, Armenia, Austria, Columbia, China, Poland, United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Monaco, Russia, Czech Republic, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Spain, Netherlands, Lebanon, Estonia, Italy, Ukraine, Brazil, the United States, Israel and Switzerland, amongst others, flock annually to Art Monaco mingling business with

Mona Youssef’s Gallery and artists represented

Riviera pleasures.

Under the youthful and dashing Rodriguez’s direction, the Jubilee edition outdid its predecessors with a glamorous, upbeat and dynamic selection of outstanding works of art. Included among the exhibitors was acclaimed photographer Kristian Schmidt with his impressive whale sharks images; the extravagant Mauricio Velez‚ from Columbia, who presented a shocking yet interesting collection of Demons and Angels; Jerzy Kedziora’s unique balancing sculptures (Poland); Pavel Mitkov’s beautiful religious icon paintings (Russia), which have found home in private collections of personalities such as Vladimir Putin and Pope Jean Paul II; Hatarina Hallback Monnier’s colorful and exotic paintings (United Kingdom); Hakobyan Hrachia’s lively stylings (Armenia); Anzel Muriel’s rich oil paintings (Russia, Belgium); Flory Menezes’ mystifying sculptures (Brazil); Carlo Aloe’s complex and intriguing collection, and much more. Black-tie previews and private openings supported local humanitarian projects, as did a Gala Dinner at which Art Monaco presented Awards of Excellence that recognized “galleries that go the extra-mille to promote the industry by presenting quality exhibits at their best worldwide.”

Fine Art Magazine • 55

ART BRUSSELS The 32nd edition of Art Brussels — with a continuing spirit of creative and artistic renewal — featured several new initiatives.

After building up its reputation over the years and following on the success of Art Brussels 2013, the fair now confidently occupies a position among the top five international art fairs, while maintaining its unique features and welcoming convivial atmosphere.

As their proliferation seems to testify, art fairs continue to provide important economic, networking, and exhibition opportunities for artists; while for collectors and the public they remain unique platforms where one has the opportunity to see many artists and artworks under one roof.

It is no longer a secret that Brussels is, in the last years, experiencing a creative renaissance in all fields of culture, and especially the visual arts. The city continues to attract international attention and more newcomers in terms of artists, galleries and curators. This, in addition to the committed cultural institutions that already exist, is solidifying Brussels’ reputation as one of Europe’s most interesting and promising contemporary art cities, which is quietly stealing the limelight from other established cultural metropolises. Brussels offers easy access (under 2 hours by train) from other neighboring major European cities, the promise of multiple cultural discoveries, an increasing number of new artistic initiatives in the city, and an excellent culinary culture.

The strong collector’s base in Belgium (Belgian as well as international) further reinforces the position of Art Brussels as one of the major, not-to-be-missed cultural events in Western Europe and one of the flagship artistic events in Europe’s capital.

Nemanja Cvijanovic, Natur Morte, 2007,Video © Nemanja Cvijanovic. OGMS Artist Run Space, Sofia 56 • Fine Art Magazine

Art Brussels directors: Anne Vierstraete, Business Director and Katerina Gregos, Artistic Director.

A New Addition to the Team

A new addition to the Art Brussels team is Anne Vierstraete, who assumed the role of Business Director in August last year. Anne comes to Art Brussels with an impressive track record and wide range of professional experience in her eighteen years as Head of Marketing & Communication at Bank Degroof and eight years as the director of the Erasmus Fund for medical research.

Internationally recognized curator Katerina Gregos (who recently curated both the Göteborg International Biennial in Sweden and the annual exhibition of the Steirischer Herbst Festival in Graz, Austria, and who was recently appointed curator of the Belgian Pavilion for the next Venice Biennale) continues in her role as Artistic Director, which includes developing the artistic profile and strategy of the fair as well as the production of artistic content, participating in the gallery selection processes, and programming all the artistic projects and discursive events.

Sascha Braunig, Rolling Shutter 2, 2013, 76.2 x 48.3 cm, Oil on canvas, © courtesy of the artist and Foxy Production, New York

http://www.artbrussels.com/

ArtHamptons Honors Wilson & Freilicher On July 10-13, 2014, the seventh edition of ArtHamptons will return to the spectacular 95-acreSculpture Field of Nova’s Ark in Bridgehampton, fueled by a record-breaking attendance of 14,000+ enthusiastic art lovers this past summer. Saturday, July 14, 2013 set a single day record attendance mark for ArtHamptons with over 5,000 eager fair-goers from throughout the NYC area buying artwork.

The rich tradition and expansive selection of art, A-list parties and celebrity-filled special events make Arthamptons a primary summer source for acquiring new art in the Hamptons – the first stop of the busy summer season.

Richard DeMato of RJD Gallery summed it up, “Rick Friedman and his staff have again created the most successful art show in the Hamptons. We are happily overwhelmed with the record attendance and sold more art than we normally do in three months. A very exciting and we met many new clients that bought work or we know will buy when they come to the gallery.”

ArtHamptons 2014 will feature the Hamptons Bohemia theme, as the Fair pays tribute to the well-respected East End region as a Mecca for the creation and patronage of art featuring several high-profile fundraising events, Arts Patron of the Year Award and Lifetime Achievement Award honorees, the Hamptons Tea Dance and much more in a relaxed, yet invigorating and luxurious setting.

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RTHAM PT ONS IS CELEBRATING ROBERT WILSON’S many contributions to the community including the creation of the Watermill Center, which nurtures and develops the careers of young, promising artists. Named 2014 Arts Patron of the Year, this award is given to a resident who is active and impactful in the local arts community and donates time, energy and financial resources to building and bettering the arts scene of the Hamptons over the course of many years.

The New York Times described Robert Wilson as “a towering figure Robert Wilson in the world of experimental theater

Turnaround, 1965, oil on canvas, 68 x 60 inches by 2014 Lifetime Achievement honoree, Jane Freilicher, whose special exhibition, Jane Freilicher: Near the Sea, A Sixty Year Retrospective, curated by the Tibor d’Nagy Gallery, is on view at ArtHamptons

and an explorer in the uses of time and space on stage.” Born in Waco, Texas, Wilson is among the world’s foremost theater and visual artists. His works for the stage unconventionally integrate a wide variety of artistic media, including dance, movement, lighting, sculpture, music and text. His images are aesthetically striking and emotionally charged, and his productions have earned the acclaim of audiences and critics worldwide.

Silicon Valley Contemporary Inaugural Fair – “A Robust and Telling Experiment” Silicon Valley Contemporary is the first art fair in the heart of grooming a new collector base for cutting edge contemporary art works.

Ultimately, the fair indicated strong interest in the region California's technology industry mecca, connecting select international for viewing and collecting fine art, spread across mediums and exhibitors with this highly desirable market through innovative demographics. The Fair’s robust panel discussion program proved programming and events. Silicon Valley Contemporary will bring immensely popular, with standing together innovators and influencers room only audiences learning about f rom t h e w o r l d s o f a r t a n d the fine art market and collecting technology, including curators, from national art experts. Silicon collectors, museum directors, Valley Contemporary’s first year international artists and art dealers, proved a telling experiment, revealing CEOs, and angel investors. The fair effective modes for educating and offered the public an opportunity to engaging this audience, which the see the how the newest technological fair plans to build on in its 2015 innovations are impacting art return. “Fair goers demonstrated practices around the world. interest in all genres, and this positive The premier event drew over response to our first-year effort 6,500 attendees to the San Jose from thousands of art enthusiasts is McEnery Convention Center, with encouraging and establishes a strong over 2,000 lining up for the VIP foundation on which to build next Opening Night Preview to benefit year,” said Rick Friedman, President, the San Jose Museum of Art. Silicon Hamptons Expo Group and founder Valley Contemporary delivered of Silicon Valley Contemporary. on its aim of building bridges between the art and tech worlds and HEG President Rick Freidman at the Silicon Valley Art Fair; Joel Moses photogrpah www.siliconvalleycontemporary.com Fine Art Magazine • 57

For 21 Years, World’s Foremost Exhibit of Self-Taught Artists

Eugene Andolsek, Untitled, ink on paper, 21 x 15 c. 1970s, American Primitive Gallery

James Edward Deeds, JR ( Electric Pencil), Wooden Rocking Chair (one side of two sided drawing) about 1936-66, Graphite and crayon on ledger paper, 9.25 x 8.3. Hirschl Adler

Janet Sobel, Untitled, c 1942, Gouache on cardboard 13.25 x 9.75 inches, Gary Snyder Art

Morris Ben Newman, Spirit of Haiti, 27” x 33”, circa 2008, mixed media on panel Ames Gallery 58 • Fine Art Magazine

With a total of 48 exhibitors from around the world, this year’s Outsider Art Fair opened May 8 at Chelsea’s Center 548, the former home of the Dia Art Foundation with God’s Love We Deliver, the NYC metropolitan area’s leading provider of lifesustaining meals and nutrition counseling for people living with severe illness, the evening’s beneficiary. For more information,www. outsiderartfair.com

Thomas Carlton, King Tut Sarcophagus, signed & dated October 26, 1926, mixed media, 63” x 18” w x 12” d, Hill Gallery

“For anyone paying attention to what’s going on in the art world, the Outsider Art Fair is a must-see event.”

— Andrew Edlin CEO of Wide Open Arts producer of the Outsider Art Fair

At 2014 Beirut Art Fair: from left to right, Rania Halawi, Event Manager, unknown, Rania Tabbara, VIP Relations Manager; unknown; Mr Gaby Layoun, Lebanese Minister of Culture; Jason Ng, Managing Director of Singapore Art Fair; Laure d’Hauteville, Founder and Fair Director; Pascal Odille, Artistic Director

BEIRUT ART FAIR is getting ready to hold its 5th edition at the Beirut International Exhibition and Leisure Center (BIEL) from 18 to 21 September, 2014. After the success of its previous four editions, BEIRUT ART FAIR sets Beirut as a cultural and intellectual contemporary art hub-meeting point between the East and West. The first fair in the world dedicated to artists from the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, this modern and contemporary art fair, created under the leadership of Laure d’Hauteville and Pascal Odille in 2010, has today become the international reference for artistic creations in the ME.NA.SA region.

ME (Middle East): Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, Sultanate of Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Iran NA (North Africa): Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya SA (South & South East Asia): Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia

This year, the organizers of Beirut Art Fair expect to welcome around 50 modern and contemporary galleries, representing the MENASA region with its diversity, expressed through painting, drawing, sculpture, video, design, or art performances. The cultural program foresees special gatherings between collectors, artists, professionals of the art world, and exhibiting galleries.

“The enthusiasm created since the launching of the Beirut Art Fair reveals the artistic and economic development within

the ME.NA.SA region. It is a fair where emerging artists experience new discoveries and where modern art pioneers in the region have the chance to make rediscoveries. We are proud to provide a platform for these art creations at the heart of the Fertile Crescent,” emphasizes Laure d’Hauteville.

Beirut Art Fair enables to discover new artists, inspired by their heritage and history turmoil, creating their art work away from the globalization buzz and fashion and star system trends. www.beirut-art-fair.com Fine Art Magazine • 59

In the White Room Liquid Art System APES & Victor Forbes

SCOPE, NY

Celebrating its 14th consecutive year, SCOPE returned to its landmark venue, Skylight at Moynihan Station located within the iconic New York City Post Office main hall, transforming the Postal Dock with its 30-foot vaulted glass ceiling into a dynamic exhibition of 60 international galleries alongside 20 Breeder Program galleries. Hailing from 22 countries, SCOPE exhibitors represent the best and brightest contemporary work from emerging and mid-career artists.

Sebastian Wahl, handmade multi-layered resin encapsulated collages - spectacular.

Long Sharp

De Buck Gallery

Artem Mirolevich of the Russian Art Pavilion, artist Sergey Dozhd Margo Grant, Director of the Museum of Russian Art 60 • Fine Art Magazine

ArtnowNY

Graffiti legend Erni Vales

Artexpo: Creating a Dynamic, New Tradition in The Art Area

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his may be difficult to believe, but when Artexpo was founded in 1978 by a trio of New York entrepreneurs, it was one of a mere handful of international art fairs. When the Redwood Media Group, (Eric Smith, President; Rick Barnett, Managing Director) took over the show a few years ago, Artexpo was floundering, on the verge of a mid-life crisis. The dinosaur was nearing extinction.

Their primary client base of art publishers and gallery chains had died off in the technology shift from silkscreen editions to on-demand digital prints and the major chains and publishers of “program art” had all but disappeared.

The dynamic duo of Smith and Barnett and their small but dedicated team, however, worked tirelessly to breathe new life into the what was once the world’s largest and most interesting art fair, generating millions in sales, attracting buyers from all over the world by exhibiting the work of not only top notch artists but wonderful celebrities like Anthony Quinn, Tony Bennett, John Lennon, Donna Summer, Jane Seymour — even the great Bev-

Artexpo’s Eric Smith has reason to smile after a triumphant show. erly Hillbilly Buddy Ebsen, who came all the way from Hawaii to greet his fans and sign autographs.

Today, with the multitude of art fairs and so many stratas in the art world competing not only for exhibitors and attendees but for stature and buzz in a brave new

world of social media and instant everything, Smith and Barnett retooled and re-invented Artexpo.

Not since it’s salad days when buyers would practically break the glass doors of the old New York Coliseum on opening day to get to various booths before the art

they sought was sold ou,t has Artexpo been so vibrant. Smith and Barnett have adapted their show to the changing times and what once was relegated to the upper regions of the Javits Center as Artexpo grew dramatically in the late 1980s — solo artists — is now the lifeblood of the show.

Individual artists, some who have their own galleries, have brought new energy into Artexpo.

Coming from as far as New Zealand and as near as Brooklyn, and well-juried, these individuals are enthusiastic about the opportunity to showcase their works at affordable booths in a nice setting filled to the brim with fellow artists and a steady stream of potential clients.

Artexpo, of course, is not strictly about the Solo section and there are a solid group of galleries who come back year after year.

The greatest factor in the show’s rebirth is the lack of pretense which makes it fun for the attendees as well as the exhibitors.

Artexpo is moving into a vibrant era, having lived through a midlife crisis and under the guidance of Smith and Barnett, it looks like its best days are yet to come.

Text by Victor Forbes / Photos by Jamie Ellin Forbes

Portrait artist Joanne (Joey) Morris with artist Michael Chait. “I’m the Australian girl who is here for the first time and just ran in the New York halfmarathon. It was a great way to see Manhattan!

Followed by a weekend exhibiting at the Artexpo – it was fantastic. A whole weekend full of art, after parties and artists - what could be better?!!!

The Heck Family, Eric, Jacob and Ed at the World of Ed Heck booth prepping for their European tour

“I believe that that purpose of my art is to bring peace and serenity into a world where chaos has become the norm,” states Louise Cutler, a sculptor who is redefining the art of gilding. “It’s a huge amazing show.

Absolutely a breath of fresh air. I enjoy every booth.”

Young Charles Gitnick’s 3D Gun Art makes an extraordinary statement “My feelings about guns are that they are scary and dangerous. When I make one of my pieces, I create a background and then I camouglage the gun to make it almost invisible. the gun is still there but it’s hard to see it or you dont see it for what it really is. Hopefully, my art will get people talking about guns, gun safety and gunviolence. I wish guns were only inan art gallery,” said eleven year-old artist Charles Gitnick at Artexpo. A compelling and sadly, a timely exhibition.

Musician/artist W. James Taylor and Victor Forbes Fine Art Magazine • 61

Gilda Oliver at 25kadr booth, Spectrum, Miami Larry Gagosian (left) at Art Basel with Richard Meier, the renowned architect.

Gerald Peters, Peter Marcelle, of the Gerald Peters Gallery, New York and Santa Fe at the Armory show

Kenny Scharf, Art Basel Miami

Motto of the GUTAI group’s founder Jiro Yoshihara. on display at the Armory show direct from the Guggenheim Museum’s Gutai: Splendid Playground, a retrospective of the radically inventive and influential Japanese art collective whose innovative and playful approaches to installation and performance yielded one of the most important international avant-garde movements to emerge after World War II

PHOTOS BY JAMIE ELLIN FORBES Kate Clark, She Gets What She Wants, Zebra hide, foam, clay, pins, thread, rubber eyes, wood, paint, approx. 30 x 36 x 22 inches, Miami Project Art Fair

Lawrence Gartel, “The Father of Digital Art” working the crowd at NAEA in San Diego

Guilherme Torres created the Swarovski Crystal Palace for Design Miami this year 62 • Fine Art Magazine

Isack Kousnsky, I.K.Art International at Fountain

Anastasiya Severgina, Executive Project Manager & Partnerships and Johnessco Rodriguez Art Monaco Founder & President/Opus Eventi C.E.O. touring the New York Armory show on Pier 94 as they prepare for Art Monaco’s fifth edition.

Russia’s Modern Masters

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– A collection of 35 works on paper by some of Russia’s most notable modern artists from the private collection of Marina and Nikolay Shchukin opened at The National Arts Club, in New York City, in May. From Primitivism to Propaganda: Russia’s Modern Masters, curated by Matthew Drutt, showcases works by celebrated and less-known Russian artists including Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov, Rosalia Rabinovich, the Stenberg brothers, Nikolai Suetin, and Pavel Tchelitchew. Most of these works have never before been shown in the West. The exhibition is part of the 12th Annual Russian Heritage Month®, a celebration of events and exhibits highlighting Russian culture.

Spanning a time frame covering the first three decades of the 20th century, the exhibition includes drawings, gouaches, watercolors, collages, sketches, costume designs, and propaganda posters from the collection of the Shchukins, founders of Gallery SHCHUKIN, which opened its New York branch earlier in May. In fitting testimony to the couple’s instincts as collectors, From Primitivism to Propaganda presents works by groundbreaking artists next to their often overlooked counterparts. The highlights of the exhibition include a selection of works by Mikhail Larionov, including his abstract collages alongside those by Aleksei Kruchenikh; a group of Suprematist compositions by Nikolai Suetin; and several drawings by Vladimir Bechteev and Vasily Bobrov, artists from Wassily Kandinsky’s circle, which will be a discovery for many. Powerful propaganda posters by Kiev-born Rosalia Rabinovich, who is best known outside Russia for her poster designs for the Soviet Pavilion at the 1937 Paris International Exhibition, are also included in an “exhibition that offers a selective and refreshing look at Russia’s most intensely fertile period of creativity before, during, and after the October Revolution,” as Drutt writes in the exhibition catalogue.

Marina and Nikolay Shchukin (a former psychotherapist specializing in psychoanalysis now working on the universal concept of psychology and sociology of art) established Gallery SHCHUKIN in 1987 in Moscow to foster the careers of contemporary Russian artists and were among the first to introduce them to Western audiences. In October 2013, Gallery SHCHUKIN expanded to Europe, opening an exhibition space on Avenue Matignon in Paris, France, with a solo exhibition of installations by David Datuna, Power And Beauty. Their newest location is a two-level, 3,500-square-foot space in the heart of New York’s Chelsea District. Through exhibitions, publications, collaborations, and its non-profit component, “National Foundation for Art Collection,” Gallery SHCHUKIN continues to support and promote established gallery artists while discovering, introducing and nurturing emerging international talent reflecting the owners’ interests as art collectors — from indigenous handicrafts and works from the ancient period to contemporary art.

The gallery has exhibited many artists of note, including David Datuna, Sasha Semenov, Andrey Shchelokov, Aladdin Garunov, Vladimir Migachev, Natalia Zaloznaya, Igor Tishin, and many others. Frequently, there are collaborations with prestigious art institutions, including the State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow), and The State Museum of The East (Moscow), among others, and participates in art fairs worldwide.

Rosalia Rabinovich, To Soviet Aviators, ©1930.

Cardboard, mixed media

ABOUT THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN FOUNDATION Nathalie Goncharova, Costume design for Marina Kovalyov and her daughter Rina Kirshner founded the Russian American theater performance of “Petushok – zolotoy Foundation (RAF) in 1997. Its mission is to encourage interest in and understanding of grebeshok,” 1914-1919. Gouache on paper Russian heritage among all communities in the US, as well as to promote reciprocal interest in and understanding of American heritage among global Russian-speaking communities. Among some of the nationally and internationally acclaimed RAF’s initiatives are: Annual Russian Heritage Month ®, Annual Battles on Ice ® Hockey Matches, Annual Bolshoi Ballet Academy Youth Programs, Moscow Arts Festival on Broadway and many more.

The Honorable Michael A. McFaul, US Ambassador to Moscow, recently stated, “The Russian American Foundation’s continued contributions to cultural, educational, and sports programs in the United States and Russia help foster greater understanding between the people of the United States and the Russian Federation.” http://russianamericanfoundation.org/ Mikhail Larionov, Goncharova Nera, 1910-1920s. Paper, mixed media, collage Fine Art Magazine • 63

WALLY GILBERT

ThE ALCHEMY OF CREATIVITY

By JAMIE ELLIN FORBES

“Vanishing Pattern is like a fractal,” states the artist, “It is a hand-drawn image made on the computer, not a mathematical set or image made using a mathematical formula.” The work suggests a look through a wormhole, the endless opportunity to enter a different space. The mandala-like image can be seen as hypnotic, drawing the viewer toward a known or unknown destination. The compositional offset of the rosette placed in the center upper third of the work focuses toward the golden mean or rectangle as the artistic vanishing point. The shading and depth of the trines highlighted in colors creates the rabbit-hole to walk into, ending where it may. The red, black and blue combination is simultaneously inviting and somber. The feel of illumination is indicated with color rather than white as a source of light to create an illusion. Color, form and shading replace traditional compositional methods. The optical illusion is in keeping with the tradition of Op Art. More is said with less.

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n Nobel Laureate Dr. Walter (Wally) Gilbert’s images, creativity and science combine in a unique blend so that the emergent results become distinctive artistic statements. While his science background is palpable when exploring his art (he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1980 for “contributions concerning the determination of base sequences in nucleic acids…”) the artist in him is clearly evident in a studio space that is enlivened and happy — a place where images conduct an energy that feed the viewer. The alchemy of creativity synthesizes a rush of color in which monochromatic black and white, geometric hard lines, organic soft curves and spherical shapes combine to accentuate and emphasize form as enigmatic fragments of a unified composition.

All of these elements work to comprise the palette established to create Gilbert’s stylized visions that adorn the walls of his studio and homes of his many collectors. Going beyond traditional media, Gilbert employs the computer as his primary artistic tool to render images extrapolated from photographs or concepts envisioned.

64 • Fine Art Magazine

Wally Gilbert in his studio

A breakdown between scientific method and artistic process occurs in Dr. Gilbert’s work — a unique inventive development as an amalgamation arises and takes form. Simple and complex statements merge to illuminate a space, filling a void and offering a glimpse into that which may have been observed but was previously unexplored. He uses to good advantage the half-way horizon between the awake and dream state, full of reverberating potential containing the summation of ideas waiting to be reorganized from known symbol to new angle. The results offer a different view point visually, experimental yet disciplined. A combination of structure and free-from constraint, they deliver an out-of-the-box experience that encourages the viewer to find their own meaning in the imagery.

Wally is ageless. He engenders a contagious interest for his vision when listening to him speak of his art. It is the play between the compositional elements he uses which makes the work not only fun, but challenging. Nothing seems belabored or muddied. Wally’s work is fresh with clean potential and ideas washed anew. As serious as they may be, the look is light and uplifting, bridging the gap between the optical artists of the 1960s, while encompassing the current trend to explore fractals, color and line available only via the computer. Gilbert addresses the now of technology in his explorations, generating both designed and experimental concepts. This methodology looks like a playground for Dr. Gilbert where imagination and numeric knowledge and vision are activated, infused into images crossing over the planes of discovery both expansive and optimistic.

In his process, photographed images are replaced to be morphed and then isolated, enabling the artist to visit alternative abstract breakdowns. They are then formed into sequenced patterns, allowing for a play in color to transpire, interpolating the color curve so that

Wally Gilbert’s Brickbottom Studio in Somerville MA. Photo by Jamie Ellin Forbes

when the intent of his artistic statement is reached, thematic sequences are finalized into images that are then published on paper and canvas. The mental sweeps of his investigations are demonstrated in various stages that may also be printed and displayed.

Gilbert uses color as a source of light that appears to penetrate all of the art. It is not focused as a source or necessarily employed in the use of white, other than in the original photographs prior to manipulation. Rather, it is used to enhance the pattern, as if in a light box. The effect is that of a kaleidoscope of abstractions shining in the background.

While Gilbert’s works reference the Op Art of the ’60s, they also address the now, the moment in which they are viewed. Exploration to generated desired or experimental concepts becomes the canvas for him. Imagination, numeric knowledge and vision are activated and infused into images crossing over the planes of discovery.

The art is expansive and optimistic.

With two-dimensional limits broken down, these geometric creations deliver for the viewer the ability to glimpse between dimensions. Through the use of color or black and white, the works vibrate, pulsating as in Op Art’s distinctive, repetitive forms yet are uniquely his own. The compositions are a final deposition of pattern, stated as artistic intent, in which line, color and shapes are introduced to form a coherent and stunning result from an infinite source of possibilities.

Dr. Gilbert ’s understanding and in-depth obser vations of the artistic opportunities offered within the exploration of computerized brush-strokes are evidence of his respect for the continuum of classical artistic development. His structured concepts are grounded in a well-studied and personal understanding of composition, regardless of

In Brick, the stacked bricks are beautiful in their decaying state. Rust spots become enlarged and abstracted. The textural composition of the natural forms is ever-changing through time, neglect and decomposition. The photographer’s natural eye selects the image to be focused upon.

The artist qualifies his statement in macroor microcosms via images selected from his photographs.

Gray Orange Towers. Five simple lines are placed and cylinders are formed. The viewer is left to imagine the beginning or end of a sequence as the shading of color introduces the possibilities of the repeat of the pattern. Gilbert’s statement is simple, almost Zen-like, as odd and even curved forms are used to create rhythm and structure.

This image continues in the infinite and has been finitely visioned here by the artist.

the tools or media used to create the ultimate finished product.

Pure line appears in finite form, as slices of time that offer a look into the infinite. His art captures images as imaginative prospects holding unlimited potential. An endless lyrical and aesthetic dialogue may be derived when viewing Gilbert’s works, more of which can be found online at www.wallygilbert. artspan.com/.

In Four Faces, the form is organic and extrapolated from a photo of a face. The profile has been isolated. There is great vibrancy introduced to line when manipulated

by Gilbert. The folds in black and white almost trick the eye into seeing color and a spiral swirling. Gilbert invites the viewer into an active dialogue to interpret what is being seen. The sculptural experience is not the plane of a face. It is the abstracted vision of smooth curves blending into a vision.

Fine Art Magazine • 65

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Flora, Fauna & Form: The Spring Thaw

lora, Fauna & Form: The Spring Thaw, celebrated the arrival of Spring, the long-awaited savior with artists exploring the organic and beautiful moving the fantasy of reemergence of life into the forefront. Months of snowfall entombed New York in a vast expanse of white tundra with endless grey skies and thickets of tumbling flurries. This inability to see the earth, its flora and fauna, or feel the warmth of sunlight on our skin has left us yearning for a metamorphosis of seasons. Through painting, photography, mixed media and film the selected artists seek to recapture the human connection with our natural elements.

Organized by independent curators Beth McNeill and Kristin Miller at the Refinery Hotel in April, live music, film screenings and drinks from Russian Standard warmed attendees over a five day exhibition featuring talks by artists Jose Carlos Casado and Sean Capone who also showed their short films and works by artists Chick Bills, Sean Capone, Jose Carlos Casado, Sally Egbert, Cara Enteles, Tapp Francke, Jerome Lucani, Glenn Marshall, Steve Miller and Jeff Muhs.

WWW.MCNEILLARTGROUP.COM

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Sean Capone, Hello America, Two channel video projection/single channel HD with audio, 2012, running length: 5:00 min

“America has retained power...but it is now power as a special effect. It is a three-dimensional dream and you can enter it as you would a dream.”

— Jean Baudrillard

Borrowing its title from the J.G. Ballard book of the same name, Hello America was conceived as a moving image mural, intended for immersive-scale projection, which weaves together footage of a vivid fireworks display with fleeting views of desert landscape, scored to a haunted and ‘epic’ audio collage. The composition evokes panoramic depictions of the American West and the cinematic grandeur of the ‘sky’ as a metaphysical symbol in the American narrative. The abstract patterning of the imagery and soundtrack depicts a hallucinatory terrain: America as both a physical and dream-like space, a kind of tangible special effect; an aggressive celebratory spectacle that is both a communal ritual of sky-worship and a fantastic outward projection of our inner lives and private aspirations.

Aliens with Extraordinary Abilities

José Carlos Casado’s Aliens with almost too late. This looped blast becomes the action we can count on.

Extraordinary Abilities series positions us within the borders It soothes us and assists us in our compulsion to decipher just what of a deliberately conflicted landscape. Casado presents a world Casado wants us to see. in which digital video and 3D animations merge in a series that explores If Casado is the elephant and the ostrich, then this second segment reveals alienation on a larger scale. If the elephant segment was intimate, the discomfort of one’s own nature; a world that is infatuated with the the ostrich allows us to experience a more external tension, one that duality of disaffection; a world that challenges notions of assumed reality. positions the self against city, Casado’s title, which most certainly refers others, the world. to laws regarding non-immigrant visas for In another segment, insects non-citizens seeking work in their desired are sped up and frenetic. This fields within the United States, guides these time there are two creatures negations and prepares us for an experience moving. The two insects might of re-imagining an existence beyond some or might not touch, but still, privileged realm of any given. Casado’s vision we can’t help but feel ourselves operates within a set of prearranged rules, quicken, aroused. but they are in opposition to a previously They are, again, manipagreed upon reality. An elephant could ulated live beings, moving as belong in front of a river in one of Casado’s no real life creature is able — frames, but — having been re-imagined by over and over, exactly the same, Casado’s particular sensibilities, having been never diverging. Perhaps this slowed and relegated to repetitive languid is what Casado needs under movements — it undoubtedly doesn’t the circumstances. Perhaps this belong. We cannot help but surmise this as segment is a gesture to what he representative of Casado’s own conflicted Still from José Carlos Casado’s Aliens With Extraordinary Abilities envisions as possible within the tensions: between an assumptive certainty confines of an external set of realities he must operate within. In this way, and personal truth, between an advantaged notion of belonging and a the contrast in the previous pieces — the individual creatures so obviously reality of alienation. controlled, robotized, slowed down in an effort to stratify the self from Casado explores these themes on both an intimate and vast, more the environment, the real from the unreal—is inverted, yet somehow complex scale. In a scene possessing at least four layers of action, we closer to being reconciled. The space between the real and unreal feels are given much more to consider. An ostrich, enacting its own slowed, less expansive! repetitive performance, forces its legs, scoops back dirt that explodes, One feels Casado struggling, but with an acute self-assuredness, across the frame, a fast release, like a bullet. strapped with a well- defined language, to lumber through what all Casado’s ostrich is a tease. Its mouth is open; the slow speed of its great artists attempt: a lucid representation of what is personal and what legs is nearly painful. And so we find ourselves once again inextricable is human, what is privilege and what is reality, and what happens when from the piece, we begin to feel ourselves needing the syncopated blast each element conflates.

– ONA MIRKINSON of dust and earth clods when they come, across the frame, off beat, ultimedia artist

66 • Fine Art Magazine • Spring 2014

Judy Chicago, Through the Flower, 1973. Sprayed acrylic on canvas, 5’ x 5’, Collection of Elizabeth Sackler © Judy Chicago, Photo © Donald Woodman

Chicago in LA: Judy Chicago’s Early Work

Judy Chicago Trinity, 1965, Sprayed acrylic and canvas on plywood, 5’-4” x 10’-7” x 5’, Collection of Glenn Schaeffer, © Judy Chicago, Photo © Donald Woodman

Before making her widely known and iconic feminist work of the 1970s, 1980s, and beyond, Judy Chicago explored painting, sculpture, and environmental performance, often using innovative industrial techniques and materials, including auto body painting and pyrotechnics.

Chicago in L.A., at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, places the early work within the arc of Chicago’s broader production and continues the reappraisal of the artist’s importance as a pioneer in the California art scene www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/

Judy Chicago, Rainbow Pickett, 1965 (recreated 2004), Latex paint on canvas-covered plywood, 10’-6” x 10’-6” x 9’-2”, Collection of David and Diane Waldman, © Judy Chicago, Photo © Donald Woodman Fine Art Magazine • 67

Sue Reynolds photo of Hildegard Smith After Honoring Ceremony, Montana

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Poet & Photographer Share Cross Cultural Experiences in New Collaboration

ue Reynolds’ Still Here: Not Living Still Here: Not Living in Tipis feain Tipis collaborative photo-poet- tures over 40 of Reynolds’ significant imry book with Salish Indian Victor ages paired with Salish Indian poet VicCharlo continues to receive praise, most re- tor Charlo’s powerful poems who explores cently by the Montana Arts Council. Sue themes of survival and resurrection in the is the rare photographer of Native American people today whose powerful cross-cultural work is bringing non-Native and Native people together to create change.

She’s just returned from the FotoFest conference in Houston, where her Native American work received a great response from international reviewers from museums, galleries and publishers, paving the way for more cross-collaborative projects in the future.

“The result (of Still Here) is an immersive experience in ancient traditions and what it Sue Reynolds, Blurring Drum Beats Circle, Montana means to be Native American today from Native and non-Native Elder’s Week perspectives,” commended the Council.

Sue’s heart-felt efforts to bridge the gap

by Victor Charlo between Native and non-Native peoples has We are Indian. been widely recognized. Since its Nov. 1st, We make our stand.

2013 launch as the first-ever photo-poetry book collaboration between a white urban But this year we asked elders, photographer and reservation Indian poet, moon, stars, old times Still Here: Not Living in Tipis has received to remind us how we once high praise from U.S. Congressman George Miller, California State Senator Mark Dewere. Drum talks to clay cliffs Saulnier, Assemblywoman Joan Buchanthat watched our blood ride an and Assemblyman Bill Quirk, The San before time. How was it?

Jose Mercury News, Montana Public Radio, Native News Online, Indian Country Today Songs ring memories and many other culture-shift commentators like dark water. applauding Sue’s trailblazing mission.

68 • Fine Art Magazine

Sue Reynolds, Red Fancy Dancer, Flathead Reservation, Montana

face of long odds, revealing reservation life, honoring tribal ways that endure and acknowledging that walking in two worlds has its hardships.

A portion of proceeds from book sales benefits the American Indian College Fund. Still Here: Not Living in Tipis is available for purchase at Blurb.com http:// blur.by/1anysYH for $68. Facebook has more cross-cultural book news. See www.susanreynoldsphotography.com for Sue’s other events and background.

A fine arts and documentary photographer, Reynolds is passionate about creating bridges of understanding between Native and non-Native peoples.

Her images have appeared in exhibits in San Francisco, Montana and Japan and in publications including Cowboys & Indians, Montana Magazine, The San Jose Mercury News and Indian Country Today.

They are in collections nationwide. She holds a B.A. in Art History from University of California, Davis, and an M.B.A. from San Francisco State University and resides in Walnut Creek, California.

Victor Charlo is a member of the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes. He is a direct descendant of the chiefs who signed the Hellgate Treaty. Charlo earned degrees from the University of Montana and Gonzaga University.

The proud father of four children, he resides in Old Agency, near Dixon, Montana on the Flathead Reservation.

Cynthia Fleischmann • Bodypaintography

An Exploration of Sentiment, Composition and Body Language Since 2009, Cynthia Fleischmann has been using the naked body as her canvas to capture the connections we have with our world and each other. The interactive process of location scouting, painting and photographing her subjects is organic and natural. As soon as a thin coat of paint is applied, the insecurities and preconceived sexual and cultural notions of nudity dissipate. Cynthia has termed her resulting photographs of this dialogue between her painted subjects merged into a particular environment “Bodypaintography”.

Her signature red palms represent the blood-flow that keeps the heart and mind alive, and also brings to mind the hearts that have been stopped due to violence. They are our primal connection to life, death and nature.

Cynthia has performed live bodypaintings at the exhibition of Rirkrit Tiravanija at ArtBasel, Switzerland in 2011 and has collaborated with South African activist artist Zanele Muholi. Last year, Cynthia was awarded with the Summer MFA Fellowship which helped her organize and photograph the artistic happening she

Cynthia and Belinda Fleischmann at Cynthia’s recent solo MFA exhibition. Wynwood, Miami

calls “Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust” during Burning Man 2013, to which 77 volunteers united naked, covered in dust to connect with the desert environment and each other.

Bodypaintography has been exhibited at the University of Miami’s Lowe Art Museum, at the Coral Gables Museum and at various art fairs, including: Art Miami, Art Palm Beach, MIA SeaFair and at CaneFair.

Cynthia has also been exhibited in Lugano, Switzerland, Dubai, UAE, and in Bad Homburg, Germany. Her commissioned works include bodypaintographies, a sail for Peta, and a mural at the Sign of Life Resort in Bentota, Sri Lanka.

Cynthia’s work has been featured in “Best of College & High School Photography 2013” published by Photographer’s Forum.

She was also awarded a Juror Award of Merit – People/Portraits at the Grand Prix de la Découverte.

The University of Miami, FL, USA awarded Cynthia a full scholarship to pursue her Masters in Fine Arts. She has been teaching photography, and graduated in May 2014 with a Masters of Fine Arts Degree. She received an honorary mention for being accepted through the first round for a Fulbright Fellowship to teach social awareness through art and photography in the township of Gugulethu, Cape Town, South Africa.

Cynthia grew up between Zurich, Switzerland and Dover, MA, and currently lives in Miami, FL. To view ‘bodypaintography’ visit www. cynthiafleischmann.com Fine Art Magazine • 69

THE MASTERS INTERPRETED

BRADLEY HART INJECTIONS & IMPRESSIONS

Bradley Hart, 2014, van Gogh Self Portrait with Grey Felt Hat Interpreted, impression on board, 70⅛” x 54”

Bradley Hart, 2014, Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill Interpreted, injection to bubble wrap, original by Pieter Claesz, 1628, 55⅛” x 85”

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echnique becomes technology and art spawns art through the unique process created by classically trained painter Bradley Hart whose extraordinary portraits have captivated the eye of discerning art aficionados. Project 3W57 presented by Cavalier Gallery will host a solo exhibition of Hart’s new works, The Masters Interpreted: Injections & Impressions. The opening reception in early May supported the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

In Hart ’s hands one of the most innocuous everyday packing materials commonly used for protecting art — bubble wrap — is used as a medium for a work of art. Through an elaborate system of high tech scanning and low tech manual work, Hart injects each individual bubble, turning them into pixel-like entities to create his imagery. His impressions are manifested from the paint he literally peels off the initial image and then mounted upon a wood panel that becomes yet another piece of art through the impressions from the injected paint.

In this new series to be unveiled at Project 3W57 presented by Cavalier Gallery, Hart utilizes a group of images by the masters: van Gogh, Pieter Claesz, Leonardo Da Vinci and Vermeer as the basis for new works reinterpreted via injection into each 70 • Fine Art Magazine

bubble – or “pixel” – to create not one but two new pieces — the injection painting and the impression.

“On a general level bubble wrap, what I consider to be the quintessential dumb material, references the plastic nature and pixilated landscape of the current world,” notes the artist. “The injections are a metaphor for the ways we punctuate our lives with Google searches, selfies and Facebook posts. The mass manufactured, rigid uniform hexagonal grid of the material represents various codes mimicked in my process. The antithetical idea of protection vs. fragility of the substance itself is also endemic to the work. The injections take on different meanings in each series, whether it be the Financial Bubble series, the Heroin series, the memory series or the Living With MS series. On a personal level, the process of injecting ironically references the need to inject myself with disease-modifying medication for my own MS over the past decade.”

Bradley Hart has exhibited his work in numerous galleries and art fairs in the United States and his native Canada and has created many site-specific installations in New York City. His work is featured in private collections throughout the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany and Italy.

Now in its 27th year, Cavalier Galleries

Brilliant young Canadian artist Bradley Hart has transformed the most innocuous of items — bubble wrap — into important works of art via an ingenious process of injections that at once creates two works: the injected bubble wrap and the impression that is peeled from the back.

continues to offer an unparalleled variety of contemporary fine art at premier exhibition spaces in Greenwich, CT; Nantucket, and New York City. The Gallery’s focus is on painting, sculpture, and photography from local and international artists, including emerging young talents as well as those who have established their place in the art historical canon.

About National Multiple Sclerosis Society We mobilize people and resources to drive research for a cure and to address the challenges of everyone affected by MS. • We are a driving force of MS research and treatment to stop disease progression, restore function, and end MS forever.

• We develop, deliver and leverage resources to enhance care for people with MS and quality of life for those affected by the disease.

• We are leaders in the worldwide MS movement, mobilizing millions of people to do something about MS now.

• We are activists.

• We develop and align human, business and financial resources to achieve breakthrough results.

Milinkov’s Marilyn

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JUBOMIR MILINKOV, born in a Serbian village in 1938, has produced hundreds of paintings but none quite like his rendition of Marilyn Monroe. Growing up in an area rich with farming and livestock, his heritage is apparent in much of his art. His paintings have a folksy colorfulness about them with many layers, curves, and countryside settings and very carefully planned brushstrokes to portray the feel of patchwork fabric. However, Milinkov painted a more Romantic, surreal yet realistic piece when he created this image of the iconic Marilyn Monroe which first came to my attention at the New York International Artexpo. Marilyn features bright colors and painterly elements that combine originality and charm with very special details — her earrings and a carefully placed ladybug on her shoulder. She also holds a white flower petal with her teeth which are surrounded by those famous rich, red lips. He’s painted her very sexy eyes half-closed in a sultry mysterious way. She is by far the most commented on piece of art I proudly have displayed in my living room. —HEATHER DALE

Night Queen, (original and giclee) from the Marilyn: Beauty Light series

The artist with a collection of his prints at his Paris art studio. For further information contact j.helen@att.net or phone 512-288-5531 Fine Art Magazine • 71

CINDY ENGLER The Artist As Rock Star

& YOGINI “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” — Marcel Proust

“I Legendary concert promoter Rich Engler (voted second only to Bill Graham) signing his book, Behind The Stage Door, accompanied by Cindy Engler amidst a collection of his priceless memorabilia.

72 • Fine Art Magazine

t’s been quite a ride,” said artist Cindy Engler, referring to her 45 years together with Rich Engler, a musician-turned-concert promoter who has done some 50 shows with Bruce Springsteen and has brought just about everyone who is anybody in music to a stage his hometown of Pittsburgh where he became the very first inductee into the Steel City’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Fishing For Compliments, 36”x 48” oil on canvas

Armed and Dangerous, 36”x 60”, oil on canvas

Rock Star Girlfriend, 36” x 48”, oil on canvas

Cindy’s art, which came to national attention at the New York Artexpo, captures the most creative elements of rock and roll, merging color, sound and beautiful subjects.

Coupled with her enthusiastic approach to living, her background in fashion and the boundless energy resulting from decades of practicing yoga, Cindy’s paintings, many

Om Time, 48”x 50”, oil on canvas

of which have been turned into stunning graphics, hold their own amidst Rich’s collection of guitars, photographs, gold records, memorabilia and the stories that come with each. so it’s no surprise that when you come upon Cindy Engler’s work at a gallery or art exposition that the paintings exude a life force sparkling with youthful but ageless

vibrancy rarely found in the singular dimension of paint on canvas indicating that the artist is having as much fun painting them as we are viewing them. Visit www. cindyengler.com for more on the art and be sure to check richengler.com for great images and insight into the music.

— VICTOR FORBES Fine Art Magazine • 73

The Offering of the Book to Anne de Graville. Berosus (fl. 300 B.C.), Chaldean History. In French, illuminated manuscript on parchment, France, Paris, 1505-6. One full-page miniature by Jean Pichore; genealogical tables in color

Catherine d’Amboise (1481-1550), Reason Explains the Nature of Fortune to Catherine. La complainte de la dame pasmée contre fortune. In French, illuminated manuscript on parchment, Central France, Bourges or Poitou ?, c. 1525-1530. 8 large miniatures by the artist of Paris, Mazarine MS 978 (P. Merevache?)

Flowering of Medieval French Literature

writing in French as “speaking as I learned from my mother,” or “speaking in my mother tongue.”

Mostly illuminated, the 16 manuscripts on exhibition encompass a wide variety of subjects ranging from literature and science, philosophy and theology, to history and government. Rather than grouping works by genres or periods, the exhibition is organized in sections as follows: Literature and Science: the Rise and Affirmation of the Vernacular; II. Philosophy, Theology, and Mirror of Princes: Translations and Adaptations of the Classics; III. History and Genealogy: the Nation and the Individual; IV. Women Writers and Women Bibliophiles: Memory and Self-Assertion; V. From Manuscript to Print: the Circulation of Texts and the Triumph of the French Vernacular. Flowering of Medieval French Literature travels from Les Enluminures NY gallery to its Paris gallery at 1 rue JeanJacques Rousseau, where it will be on view from May 13-20. “L’essor de la langue française au Moyen Âge: Au parler que m’aprist ma mere,” an international colloquium with talks encompassing themes explored within the exhibition along with new research, will take place Saturday, May 17, 2014, at the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art (INHA) in Paris. For more information, please visit: www. lesenluminures.com. To pre-register for the colloquium (required), please contact: info@lesenluminures.com.

Les Enluminures was founded in Paris in 1991 by Dr. Sandra Hindman in association with the Chicago-based business, and opened its New York gallery in May 2012. Specializing in manuscripts and miniatures from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the gallery also handles rings and jewelry from the same periods. It organizes four or five exhibitions a year, some traveling and in collaboration with other dealers, which are often accompanied by catalogues.

Presenting a “new” history of medieval French literature based largely upon the impact of historical and social phenomena, scientific advancements, and linguistic and cultural singularities, Les Enluminures’ comprehensive project (exhibition, catalogue, and colloquium) centers on a group of manuscripts written in the French language between c. 1300 and c. 1550.

While the earliest written records date from the ninth century, French was not widely used until the 13th- century. Many factors influenced the shift from Latin to the “mother tongue.” The change from an agrarian- to a commercial–based economy throughout towns and cities imposed a need for the middle class to understand each other both in written and spoken forms. The centralization of French government and the rise of a nation state under King Philip Augustus (who reigned 1180-1223) dictated a need for a language through which the court and the nobles could wield power far and wide. Not surprisingly, women played a pivotal role in the rise and evolution of medieval French, as they began to forge a place for themselves within a literary canon. Male writers also increasingly chose to feature women, which constituted a devoted audience for their works of literature and theology. As a result of these efforts, French was well established as the language of literature, historical record, and personal expression by the 15th- century.

The exhibition title is taken from a quote from Jean de Meun, one of authors presented in the exhibition who, with Guillaume de Lorris, wrote the celebrated Roman de la Rose. In c. 1325, Jean described 74 • Fine Art Magazine

Young David, acrylic on canvas, 24”x 36”

Dr. Paul Hertz – The Artist As Healer, The Healer As Artist “Dentistry is often referred to as a science and an art; there is no finer combination in our profession than Dr. Paul Hertz. His experience with color, morphology, and texture allows him to fabricate functioning pieces of art in each and every one of his patients’ mouths. His artistic creativity and unique approach to improving smiles have improved the lives of thousands of New York residents in the past 25 years.”

– Bob Brandon www.keatingdentalarts.com

By VICTOR FORBES A dreary drizzle was falling in the northwest Bronx as I made my way down Riverdale Avenue to the office of Dr. Paul Hertz, DDS. None other than the legendary gallerist Nina Seigenfeld Velazquez insisted that I meet the man. He was deserving, she said, of some coverage in Fine Art magazine. Nina, who was legendary in certain circles for her creation of the New Math Gallery in the wild and woolly days

Dr. Paul Hertz at home

of the Alphabet City art area of Manhattan and who was now curating exhibitions around town, told me, “Paul paints his world in vibrant color. He is a self-taught artist who loves to experiment with different themes and color palettes His enthusiasm and genuine enjoyment of the painting process is evident in his work.”

Well, that was good enough for me and as I approached his office, the drizzle became a torrential downpour and just like that, the road was looking more like a river and there was darkness on the edge of town. A patient was leaving as I entered and so did the staff.

Dr. Hertz and I discussed his upcoming exhibit at the Riverdale YMHA organized and curated by the aforementioned Ms. Velazquez as we toured his office, decorated with a collection of his work. The imagery was exactly as Nina described and well-suited for the space. Seascapes, portraits (the Abraham Lincoln is particularly memorable), cityscapes and renditions of Hasidic culture fit perfectly into their surroundings, adding a comforting and cheerful element to an office where people often come in with trepidation.

Dr. Hertz had a pleasant yet-business like demeanor with the build of an athlete Fine Art Magazine • 75

Cityscape, oil on canvas, 18” x 24”

Exuma, oil oncanvas, 36” x 24”

who loves para-sailing and other adrenalin-inducing sports. After more small talk about the art world, he asked if I would be interested in a dental exam, in that he now had a three hour block of time open due to the storm canceling the afternoon’s patients. He must have sensed something and I soon found myself in a dental chair. Directly in my line of vision was a tranquil rendition of a woman and her daughter on a beautiful Caribbean beach. The scene was kind and friendly, transporting one to a peaceful place.

A standing room only crowd of patients and friends attended Dr. Hertz’s one-man show later that week. It was a long way from Frieze or The Armory, but a rather perfect setting for a neighborhood dentist with a love for art who found early on he had a sensitive touch that translated to dental tools as well as paint brushes.

His penchant for the creative life was initially influenced by his grandfather, “a garment worker who saw himself as an artist. He took classes in art and languages,” related Dr. Hertz, “and would show up at family functions in costume as he was always taking acting lessons. He saw himself as an elitist, a fancy kind of socialite yet he never had any money or formal education. When my sister and I were at our grandparents apartment as young children, they didn’t have a TV so when we were asked to sit quietly, we watched him at his easel and were always told, ‘Just be careful of the paints.’”

In his youth, the patriarch was grabbed during his sleep and forced to join the Polish Cavalry, which never allowed Jews to become cavalry soldiers, but he became one. After his second tour when he thought he would be allowed to return home, he was told otherwise and went AWOL. He made it to Paris where he met my grandmother who was born in 1900 and witnessed atrocities as a child in Ukraine. She was there (after living in the US for ten 76 • Fine Art Magazine

years) to testify at the war crimes trial of a general who led Cossacks in practicing their battle maneuvers on unarmed Jews in her hometown. She escaped as a child when her family packed her up in a cart, hidden under straw. Somehow she made her way to the coast and a boat to America where her newfound freedom allowed her to become part of the Suffragette movement. In Paris, after meeting my grandfather, who was ten years her junior, she told the authorities who recaptured him that he was her future husband and so he was freed.

In college, Paul started sculpting but never painted until after dental school when he was gifted with his grandfather’s brushes, paints and even his easel, which he uses to this day. “It’s a wonderful thing because I think of him whenever I am painting.”

In relating his creative side to his professional practice, Dr. Hertz states, “I made up the phrase, ‘Not all dentists are artists, but the good ones are.’ Dentistry is an art. You have a set of tools and are presented with a problem. The problem has mechanical, biologic, artistic and psychological components all at the same time.

Patients are often physically uncomfortable as well as mentally anguished. The art of dentistry is being able to solve the problem functionally and esthetically while balancing the mental condition and needs of the person. My father was a dentist. Several of his associates said to me pre-dental school, ‘Why do you want to do this? It’s so boring.’ But that is not the case. Every single filling is unique and challenging.” To do the work well, Dr. Hertz states, “is truly art in that the subtleties in dealing with the individual on a physical and psychological level are there. Seeing colors, blending, seeing line angles, seeing shapes — you are sculpting all the time. A single filling could use four or five colors to blend with the natural tooth structure. I do think that the skill set of doing dentistry made painting that much more sensible. The dexterity from working with minutiae and the work that we dentists do made the movements of

painting much less effortful. Painting for me is a past-time. I don’t do it for any other reason other than that I enjoy it. Working hard at dentistry allowed me to paint without formal training. In reverse, playing with the paints and moving paints around taught me and helped me with blending colors for my dentistry. My best work,” he says, “is never seen in dentistry. You want people to say, ‘Oh you have a beautiful smile,’ not ‘nice teeth,’ or ‘the dentist did a great job with that front tooth.’ The ultimate is that people do not realize they are looking at work I did.”

To keep in balance, Dr. Hertz starts his day with Reiki, a process by which healing occurs through the use of Universal Energies that are always present around all of us. This form of healing is credited to ancient Japan although there are similar teachings from most successful cultures throughout history. “It is not religious but many have equated the Universal Energies with or coming from God. An example of this in our culture would be someone giving off a good vibe. Reiki is directing those energies for good rather than responding to them. It is energy healing from absorbing the universal energy. I don’t use it directly on patients, except very rarely. I use it indirectly with patients who are very stressed and anxious.”

“You can sense a patient’s anxiety, nervousness and sometimes panic. Reiki supplements my positive, confident energy to put those patients in a more relaxed state.

I practice on myself every day, directing my energy so that I can be the best that I can for my patients. I don’t often speak of this with them because it may be in contradiction with what they expect from an Ivy League=trained doctor. Many would not understand the concept, but I know they appreciate the result.”

Reiki clears one’s brain, sort of like meditation, and Dr. Hertz cites his practice as enabling him to come up with wonderful ideas every day. His creativity has led to one patent that is active from which he gets a small royalty every month. He has also devised an entire implant system which is currently at the patent office awaiting appoval. “It is,” he states, “a method of making implants less expensive and more available to a greater number of people.” Perhaps one of these inventions will allow him to trade his drills and x-ray machines for more time to spend in front of his grandfather’s easel, which is still set up in his apartment.

To lead the life of an artist is one of his goals. As is becoming a full-fledged participant in that complex machine with many moving parts known as the art world. “The success of each level from studio practice, making, buying, selling and collecting,” states Christine Kirouac, Director, Verge Art Fair, “can each be measured by varied and independent means.

Churchill Downs, oil on canvas, 18” x 16”

Gallery representation and sales are concerns that can sometimes stress as opposed to support the often forgotten foundation of what art is supposed to be about: the artist’s work and necessity to create.”

“It’s a strange world I don’t totally understand,” adds the artist/dentist. “People say painting is so relaxing and it is. But my goal is to complete, not to paint.

I see it as another challenge. I am just trying to duplicate what I see in my own vision. It changes as I go along. Often, I will go into my box of paints and while looking for one, find another. My supplies are not very organized, and I often will use what presents itself to me.

Maybe this is universal energy.

Everything else is so organized in my world, I don’t need to organize that.”

Amanda, oil on canvas, 36” x 24”

www.hertzdental.com Fine Art Magazine • 77

Tony Maddi

In the workshop

Luthier Tony Maddi — The Art of Restoration

For this vintage Jackson, Tony prepared surface for paint, custom mixed a copper color metallic finish applied in an automotive formulation

By VICTOR FORBES

1960s era Hofner violin bass guitar, immortalized by Paul McCartney, plays like a charm after being restored by Tony Maddi.

ONY MADDI officially opened Guitar Repair and Refinfrom those days. We played Ventures and whatever late 60s ishing, Inc. in August, 2012. It was a “hobby business” for stuff was around. Around 1970, I went to DeVrie tech for eleca good 20 years. His specialty, developed over the years, tronics and became a technician and worked in the electronics is restoring and sometimes rebuilding treasures musical instrufield for 40 years. In the middle of that I never gave up the idea ments. Salvaging them from sometimes completely wrecked of playing the guitar. Being a technical guy, I always wanted states and making them look — and play — like new. An engito tinker around with guitars and modify and make changes in neer by profession, Maddi loves a challenge and if he doesn’t them. That’s how I really started in the guitar business. When I have a specific tool for a project, he can make it and take care was able to build a guitar from scratch of the problem. From set-ups to fret jobs and make the curvature on the back of to rewinding pick-ups to building a custhe neck accurately, that was the turntom-guitar from scratch, Tony’s love of ing point. It was the hardest part and I music and the often painstaking process was able to pull that off using a very, of luthier work is evident in every instruvery small spoke shave. By carving a sement he touches. For a musician, there ries of slats, I was able to get the basic are few greater joys than reclaiming shape and with sandpaper able to make cherished instrument that was unplayit perfectly round. I made that guitar for able before Tony Maddi brought it back myself — the first of three — and they to life. are hanging up in Love The Arts Music What initiated your interest in muStore in Scranton, a short ride from my sic? In 1964, when the Beatles appeared Tony with the Mosrite that started it all, 1966 workshop. They’re not for sale, but in on the Ed Sullivan show, I told my parresidence to promote the custom shop work I do for Phil and ents, ‘No more accordion lessons.’ I was eleven, of Italian heriKim Mancini, the owners. It’s a great store that sells all kinds of tage and learning Lady of Spain and all the classics. Right then, guitars and equipment.

I started playing in bands.

What were some of the highlights of your band days?

What was your first guitar? My first was a Ventures’ MosMeeting Julio Fernandez some 20 years ago when he was rite, I wish I still had that thing. My cousin Mary (who was a in a local band called Top Flight was one. Everybody else was few years older than me) took me on a bus and a PATH train to a professional in some other trade so we all had day jobs. Julio the famous Manny’s Music in New York. My parents gave her was the only guy who was into it 100%. Watching Julio’s band the money and we brought the guitar back on the train. I knew weekend after weekend was an inspiration. Julio started breakI wanted that guitar even after trying out the Fenders and Les ing out like a real star and was soon asked to join Spyro Gyra.

Pauls. That was 1966 and my inspiration was The Ventures, How did the workshop come about? I started collecting especially “Walk Don’t Run.” tools. I was a homeowner had sanders, saws and only needed What was your first band? I had a bunch of High School specialty tools that luthiers use. As I was experimenting doing a bands, The Poets was one and I am still in touch with my friends

T

78 • Fine Art Magazine

Remember music from Big Pink? Well, this is guitar repair from Big Brown, the barn housing the fully equipped wood working shop.

Metal plating is also offered for vintage guitar parts that can no longer be purchased.

Guitar painting

Univox High Flyer. After a complete renovation, metal plating restored, new pickguard fabricated in the shop, new frets, added binding to neck, new bridge, pearl dot inlays. From hand-painted black with a paintbrush to a three tone sunburst in a lacquer finish

particular operation, I would buy the tool, and have been collecting them for very long time. I’m set up for everything from set-ups to custom guitar building to restoration and renovation.

What is the rarest guitar you ever worked on? Carmen Consentino who was with Bill Haley’s Comets, brought in a ‘66 Gibson Birdland with the top all smashed into about 50 different pieces. I was able to carve the replacement top by hand. He then sent it to Gibson to get it finished. That guitar is worth about $10,000, even with the replaced top.

To what do you attribute the collectible guitar craze today? We started off as young musicians. As we got older we remember the days we had those guitars and foolishly traded them away. Now we want to remember our youth by having something from that era.

Do you think the guitars made back then are so much better than today’s versions? Even the cheap guitars are made very well today with the advent of new machinery. The vintage guitars

Even vintage toy pianos can be restored at the Big Brown Barn. To get your treasures back up to speed, contact Tony Maddi on Facebook

Tony Maddi’s prototype of the “Cigar Box Guitar.” will be produced and distribute through local stores starting with Love The Arts!

Music company located in Old Forge PA.

all had their own personalities. Even among the same models, all were a bit different. You’d pick the good one off the rack. Those guitars had soul as opposed to today’s mass produced versions.

They had character.

You can reach Tony Maddi on Facebook.

Classic Gretsch 6120 in the process of restoration will certainly make one rockabilly-lovin’ Editorin-Chief very happy! Thanks, Tony.

Costa Rican hand-made guitar, went over a cliff in a car. Complete restoration – fabricate new bridge, new paint, new frets Fine Art Magazine • 79

The historic Ketcham Inn

Bert Seides in the Book Barn

Bertram Seides’ Ketcham Inn Foundation Enriches Community, Preserves & Protects Historic Moriches Bay Cultural Hub

By BROOKE HANGER “I’ve always been attracted to historic buildings and when I learned the Ketcham Inn, established in 1710, was the oldest building remaining in the Moriches, I aggressively took on the opportunity to preserve it for our community and future generations to enjoy,” said Bert Seides who founded The Ketcham Inn Foundation, Inc. in 1989, “to restore the former stage coach stop between Manhattan and Sag Harbor… and open it as a Living History Museum and Cultural Center for our community and future generations to enjoy.”

The Inn, where Thomas Jefferson and James Madison lodged on a trip to visit General William Floyd of Mastic, has been lovingly preserved and brought back to life — an identity carved from the past revealing the Moriches area as it once was. The Ketcham Inn Foundation, Inc. has developed a comprehensive statement of purpose, used to guide efforts to secure public funding for the restoration of the Inn in addition to a roster of properties including the Havens-Ketcham Cultural Visitors Center, the Terrell River County Park Preserve, John Scudder and Mary Prelletreau Havens Homestead, the Tuttle Barn/ Museum Shop, the Smith Farm and the Mary E. Bell House. Designed to serve the needs of the Moriches Bay Area with a variety of 80 • Fine Art Magazine

Mary Field, Jonathan Raynor, Bert Seides, Betsy Raynor, Adam Thompson, Jonathan Thompson

Educational Programs for children, young adults and seniors, the Foundation offers programs open to all social and civic organizations interested in historic preservation and restoration.

While only a short ride to the Hamptons, the Moriches area had fallen out favor as the after the Hurricane of 1938.

The last of the hotels disappeared and the New York City theatrical community stopped coming to summer in the area.

While lacking in the glamour of the East End, those who have seen the Trill River with multiple white Egrets standing along the shore alongside swans, duck and other water fowl — the resident life on the pond side — it is easy to understand the great beauty of the area “Bert’s enthusiasm is contagious when he speaks of his love of art, local culture and

history,” commented Fine Art Magazine publisher Jamie Ellin Forbes, a long-time resident of the area. “The trade of the day and basic ephemera regarding the area are all known to Bert who freely shares historical information and artifacts with all.

The planned art and theater facilities are eagerly awaited by the young performers from the area who will have the opportunity to display their talents in a very hospitable setting to benefit the community. The Foundation is accomplishing what appears to have been impossible.”

“The Moriches are nearly as old as the Hamptons with the original barn dating to 1693. I had noticed the fund-raising progress from 1995 when I would walk my dogs Fluffy and Pearl very late during the summer nights and observe the large fiscal thermometer located on

Main Street in Center Moriches move a little closer to it’s goal.

Progress seemed slow from time to time over a few years but as time moved forward, I noticed one building after another come on line as the economics of the situation improved.”

Among the plans of the foundation are: • Provide Fellowships to Promising Scholars, Artists and Artisans to teach their craft(s) to local school children and adults.

• Serve the Moriches Bay Area as a fully equipped Educational Campus with Conference, Studio, Seminar, Classroom and Shop Facilities.

• Work with local nature conservancy’s civic organizations, land trusts and historical societies for the Preservation and Restoration of the Moriches’ Landscape-Streetscape and the Extension of the Proposed Greenway Corridor to the Moriches Bay Area.

• Serve as a Performing Arts Center for Re-Enactment Troupes, Dance and Musical Ensembles and Vocalists.

• Serve as a Center for the Exhibition of Crafts, Fine Arts & Artifacts of interest to the community.

“I am looking forward to everybody participating in our programs and especially more student involvement in our community projects,” commented Mr. Seides.

Watch for fun events all summer long at the Ketcham Inn. All can be found on the website, http://www.ketchaminn.org

SUPERMOON

By JAMIE ELLIN FORBES

T

HIS SUPERMOON MOVIE will explore the feminine creative muse as a heroic figure. My focus will be on a dialogue with strong women, through whose work we may capture a glimpse, touch upon the ancient embodiment of the essence of the scared divine as the archetype of our feminine everyday heroines.

A Diaphanous Moon has been shot. She embodies mystique, displays through the clouds the veil her anima. Profile suggested: the Moon is illuminating a vision of the mythic landscape we all hold within.

The Moon, when she inspires, may be the conduit or gateway to crossing over our stories, art works, echoing our lives in general; breathing new life into the old limits via the feminine divine.

On July 22nd as I lay in bed, the moon was rising from my bedroom window. The muses called. I shot 180 images of the Supermoon. Many of these images contained a second or third phantom moon within the shot. My images were shot with a Canon t41 using three different lenses, 18-135, 40mm, 50-250. All three lenses captured a double image of the moon to a greater or lesser degree. My portal was through the tress from my veranda, facing south as the moon traversed the night sky. Not all images contain the multiple moons. I moved the tripod several times, shot from differing positions and using different lenses many times the same phantom of a second moon occurs.

This night “my” Supermoon did not peek through the clouds; she blazed her light with an intensity I had not felt or seen before.

I was stirred and moved to record the impression I was experiencing, new and old as time at once, rich and full. My mind began to race, as I shot. I wanted to see if the infusion of what I felt was in my images which captured for me the alchemy of the moment.

As I worked, I reflected upon the explanations for the Lilith, the black moon, and other stories I had heard over many years, evolving my personal concept of the feminine divine. This Supermoon lived up to all as she seemed to come alive in the vision seen in the night sky. I want to share my observation and experience of that night.

I am an artist, not a scientist. Are my lenses flawed? Did I get accurate images?

Not being focused on technical explanations, this dialogue is about the endless creative possibilities the feminine mystique holds for the heroic, every day actions of women in today’s world. We touch the sky and hold up the Vaulted Ceiling of Creation daily with ordinary or extraordinary acts of 82 • Fine Art Magazine

Supermoon and Phantom, photos by Jamie Ellin Forbes from her forthcoming Supermoon film

determination, creativity and courage. Much like the Egyptian Goddess of the Sky, Nut (Neuth), we hold our universal skies aloft, birthing the possibilities every morning may contain to resurrect our dreams. The Supermoon seemed to suggest the promise held and delivered when sought.

A skeletal bare bones video of just the images has been edited, a fantastic musical score has been written by Mike Ernst and the process has begun to produce a documentary short movie. Interviews have been shot with more to be organized. I have no preconceived idea as to what my interviewees should say; rather I am in quest of finding what inspires each individual, fu-

els and enables each in their creative walks through life by capturing their voices and visions for positive change. This is somewhat of a pregnant moment, waiting on the birth of an idea I hope will be universal and inspiring. Reach out, look up and feel the contained delicate moment of your own awakening open to deliver the lotus of your dreams. Look for your Supermoon.

As a footnote, her is the description of the Supermoon from Wikipedia: “A Supermoon is the coincidence of a full moon or a new moon with the closest approach the Moon makes to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth.”

Esther Anderson at podium at screening of her film, Bob Marley, The Making of a Legend at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York

Family Man Barrett, Esther Anderson on the Wailers tour bus

PHOTO BY VICTOR FORBES

“I gave it all up and went home to help.”

ESTHER ANDERSON

“The Mother of Reggae Music”

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BY VICTOR FORBES

PHOTO BY VICTOR FORBES

Esther Anderson was well on her way to becoming a Hollywood movie star after her co-starring role with Sidney Poitier in A Warm December when she received a call from Chris Blackwell, asking her to come back to her homeland, Jamaica, and take Bob Marley under her wing to groom him and the rest of the group, which at that time included Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer as well as the Barrett Brothers rhythm section, for a forthcoming inRas Abraham, who began his career with The ternational tour based on the imminent release Slickers in 1973, with Esther at the Bob Marley of their first Island recording, Catch A Fire. statue in Sarajevo. “No one sings Bob better At a screening in New York City of her than Ras Abraham,” said Esther who is more documentary, Bob Marley: The Making of A qualified than most to make that statement.

Legend, featuring black and white footage shot in 1972Email 73 of her interactions with Doyen@AudioHipster.com the then fledgling group, Esther described her days or Call 770-377-1748 to in Haiti, Jamaica and then Order or Book a Recording Session England with the burgeoning superstars. It was quite AudioHipster Recording Studio & Pro-Audio Sales a trip and encompassed all Personal, down to earth, friendly sales & service...without the extra Cyber Emporium! elements of the life from the racial prejudice engenAudioHipster Fun Weekend Recording AudioHipster dered even by the record AH-04 Special $800 Includes 20-hours of recording time, camping, munchies, Stereo Ribbon label to Rastafarian culture drinks, use of pool and facilities.

Microphone and philosophy to Bob and Record your CD over the weekend and have fun doing it...as Peter working out chords $339 AudioHIpster says, “If it’s not fun don't do it!” to their songs. Find Esther A Needed Free HD631 Improvisation for Any on Facebook if you would Headphones Recording like to learn more and defiDesigned for Singersnitely add the DVD of the Songwriters, Professional Studios documentary and the acand Musicians companying sound-track True Passive Classic to your collection. Esther Size Matched Elements shot the iconic image of Blumlein Stereo Marley on The WailMention this Ad Coincidence Image and Receive a ers Burnin’ album, which Free Pair of Up Close, Far Away Studio Monitor launched him to internaOwner Engineer: Doyen Keaton or Over an Orchestra Headphones with Engineer: Chase Cassara the AH-04 Rubs tional recognition. She is AH-04 Purchase SAE Institute Graduate Weenies with the Best indeed a rare treasure. For Please Say Live more, visit http://vimeo. www.AudioHipster.com Healthy No to GMO com/47566641.

Aston”Family Man” Barrett, founding member of the Wailers. The bassman is the groundation of the music on every one of the Wailers recordings

Esther with Aston Barrett, Jr., multiinstrumentalist and son of Family Man, keeping the spirit of The Wailers burnin’ in Ridgefield, CT. Fine Art Magazine • 83

PHOTO BY VICTOR FORBES

PHOTO BY DEBORAH LYNN

Esther as movie starlet with Sidney Sidney.tif Poitier in “A Warm December”

“KARMU LOVES YOU”

Karmu

To coincide with the release of the documentary film, “Karmu: A Place in the Sun”, SunStorm Arts Publishing has uncovered bassist/band leader/composer Bob Forbes’ recording and original composition “Karmu Loves You” from 1993 featuring Emmaretta Marks on vocals and Richard Quzehah (George Richard Leary III) on drums (pictured above). Written about the legendary Karmu, a healer who physically worked on over 20,000 patients from his home in Cambridge MA, this song pays tribute to the urban shaman/auto mechanic known as Karmu. Lauded in the Woodstock Times as “The best kept secret in free jazz,” Forbes, who has recorded and performed most recently with Red Moroccan and Hylton Beckford, led the session with Emmaretta (who sang with the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and Levon Helm), O’Leary and others. Karmu Loves You will be released on the SunStorm Sampler of forgotten songs in the summer of 2014.

MICHAEL ALBERT ON TOUR

ZALUSKI SCULPTURE INSTALLATION

Michael Albert continues his Modern Pop Art Experience Tour of schools, libraries & museums this summer at over 50 venues in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky & Washington DC. He especially enjoys visiting communities where people don’t have the access to major world museums and loves the Library as a venue to share his art & interact with people because “Libraries are free to use in every community in the USA.” He was inspired earlier this year by the terrible chemical spill in Kanawha County. “To me it’s especially meaningful to bring the arts to an area that was affected by such a disaster…hopefully art can help at least bring awareness so measures can be taken to avoid the avoidable.”

Steve Zaluski’s “THREE DANCERS” installed at The Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center in Rancho Mirage, CA “They love it,” said the artist who completed a “long but fun and scenic drive to the left coast...lots of mountains and beauty...enjoy seeing the vastness of America and the wide open spaces out west...gorgeous colors in the spring...fish dinner overlooking the Pacific ocean in Carlsbad at sunset.”

84 • Fine Art Magazine

WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY Fashion Design Students Fuse Art & Music I n a n t i c i p a t i on o f Wo o d b u r y University's 50th Anniversary Fashion Show at Club Nokia at L.A. Live, Woodbury has partnered with Velodyne Acoustics (www. velodyne.com) for a first-of-its-kind design competition using Velodyne vFree® on-ear wireless Bluetooth headphone skins as the medium.

Velodyne’s line of 35+ silicon-based Designer Skins offers a wide array of unique looks, which enable consumers to instantly and easily change the appearance of the headphones to match the mood.

Models will saunter down the runway clad in swimsuits, neoprene cover-ups and headphones with custom skins — all designed by second-year students as part of the “2014 Sophomore Swim – Digiprint Challenge.” Each year the Woodbury sophomore class in fashion design develops swimwear according to a unified design direction. The “Jewelry” theme of this year’s digital prints features swimwear emblazoned with everything from the majesty of ancient Thai ceremonial goldsmithing to ornate Egyptian lapis lazuli designs to the palatial Russian opulence of Peter Carl Faberge.

“We were impressed by each and every submission,” said Kathryn Hagen, Chair of Fashion Design at Woodbury. “The students had so much fun doing this design competition, and all are thrilled to be able to share their work on the runway at L.A. Live. Skins are a terrific medium, and we’re excited to see the finished headphones. We look forward to future collaborations.”

“All of the Woodbury students did an absolutely stellar job,” said Marta Hall, Velodyne president and herself a skins designer. “They immediately took to the medium and demonstrated vividly why we’re so enthusiastic about this fusion of art and music. This is exactly what we hoped would happen once we made it possible to personalize a mainstay audio product like headphones.

Founded in 1983 and based in California’s Silicon Valley, Velodyne, Inc. is a diversified technology company known worldwide for its high-performance audio equipment, real-time LiDAR sensors and as the leading manufacturer of high-performance, lowdistortion, powered subwoofers with an expanding line of technically innovative in-ear and over-ear audio products, which include interchangeable, custom-designed skins that enable audiophiles to personalize the look of their headphones.

Woodbury University Sophomore and Fashion Design student Brittany Diego was one of five winners in the “2014 Sophomore Swim - Digiprint Challenge” with this Egyptian-influenced swimsuit design.

At Woodbury University’s 50th Anniversary Fashion Show at Club Nokia on May 8, her swimsuit, neoprene cover up and matching headphones with custom skins will be a highlight of the event. Each year, the Woodbury sophomore class in fashion design develops swimwear according to a unified design direction.

Brittany Diego’s headphone skin matches her Egyptian-inspired swimsuit in the Velodyne Skins contest. A native of Belize, Ms. Diego stated, “Our culture is very festive so I have always been attracted to all things bright, colorful, and bold.” Founded in 1884,Woodbury University is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in Southern California.

Woodbury offers bachelor’s degrees from the School of Architecture, School of Business, School of Media, Culture & Design, and Institute of Transdisciplinary Studies, along with an MBA program.

“Reflections on Excellence” is a twice-monthly blog written by Woodbury University President Luis Maria R. Calingo, Ph.D.Visit www.woodbury.edu for more information.

Fine Art Magazine • 85

“There

is more than one path to the top of the mountain.”

– Musashi

Home-grown

THE Art of MIKE Kaz

ez

S

tanding in his garage in the heart of the North Country, Mike Kaz looks over his art supplies. House paint, lacquers, auto paints, anything that would result in color on his surface of choice: plywood boards. As they undergo transformation into works of art, a perfectly awesome relationship results between the artist and the evolving tools of the trade. Don’t be surprised, then, to find the remnants of a paintbrush protruding from the surface of a painting. When you have nothing more to give, give more.

“I like to re-use stuff, instead of going to an art store and buying all new paints. It also kind of centers me into having to use what I have. It’s a personal challenge. I really want some red here but I don’t have any red paint. Same thing with brushes. I talk to local painters. When they get rid of the brushes most don’t have bristles.” These ingredients of creativity would otherwise by laying around in a basement, waiting to be brought to Bulky Days, and, says Kaz, “God knows where they end up. Same thing with the wood panels. When I go to lumberyard, I ask if they have pieces they have broken or scraps and wrong sizes. I collect stuff like that.”

A five hour drive from where his contemporary millennials are seeing their latest creations battle with Julian Schnabel at around the million dollar auction mark, Kaz walks a different kind of line. His heart is surrendered to the locale, Keene Valley, New York. His muse is the beat of the music, the swoosh of a pair of skis over fresh snow, a night in Lake Placid in front of a bandstand, where his buddies Spiritual Rez can be regularly found. The resultant impressions become Mike Kaz’s soul shining works of art. His sensitivity is apparent and what certainly is fitting is that his first major one-man exhibition took place in what was once a church. Displayed and curated in a museum-like setting, replete with stained glass windows, Kaz’s friends flocked to Keene Arts for a glorious evening of Adirondack Fine Art. 86 • Fine Art Magazine

Mike Kaz exhibition at Keene Arts, Keene New York, a former Methodist Church

KAZ, mixed media on board

Equally inspired by the works of Pollock, de Kooning and Milton Resnick and the K-12 talent at the KCS annual art exhibition, Kaz is also intrigued by technology.

He is well up to speed on the latest gear in his post at Keene Valley’s fabled MOUNTAINEER—emporium of the outdoors.

But the closest he comes to techno in his art is the use of electricity to light his garage.

This down-to-earth, homegrown ethos places him in the ranks of “outsider artists” as described by Sidney Janis in his 1942 classic about American primitive painters of the 20th CenturyThey Taught Themselves published by Sanford Smith’s Hudson Press. Kaz would fit right in with that group of the first great discoveries of American self-taught painting. Through the eyes of an adventurer like Janis, we are able to see Kaz’s work unobscured by the great terminology debates and decades of art criticisim. Viewing Kaz’s works you are transported to a time when you could actually make such discoveries for yourself.

Who is painting like this today, you may wonder, and why?

“If you were to ask me if I had an influence, certainly the Abstract Expressionists took hold of me in high school and college. They had so many similarities in their work, yet they were different. The philos-

2013-06-27_21-56-50_694.tif

ophies were similar, but their individual approaches, techniques and end images are quite different.”

For Kaz, the idea of creating art offers him a channel to connect with people.

“That’s success to me.” At his exhibitions, he freely discusses the evolution of his work. Judge Not, for example, works on a few levels. Not only is the phrase Biblical and art critical, but it is also the title of a Wailers song, which was certainly playing loudly while he was making the painting.

He also likes the phrase, ‘Art is easy if you let it be.’ “That’s what kids do really well,” he continues. “They don’t let the burden of adult brains get in the way. We tend to, as adults, get muddled up with pre-conceived ideas of what art is. As a kid you paint things as you see them. I like that, the simplicity of it. If you are open and paying at-

tention, there’s inspiration all over. It’s just having the guts to recognize it.”

The flow, movement and rhythm in Kaz’s work comes from translating the feelings of music, life, action. He paints big because the bigger pieces capture a lot more of that. “There are words and concepts that help me find my way – my path – as it crosses with many others. Through seeing what is in front of me and understanding what can be, I continue to grow and life unfolds. The old cliche, the journey, not the destination applies to me. When I”m finished with a painting, that painting doesn’t owe me anything. I am divested of that painting. The atual act and process is what I get out of it. I appreciate someone enjoying the work, but for me it’s the act and the process.”

—VICTOR FORBES Fine Art Magazin • 87

Sheep Herder, 11.5” x 9.5”

H

Reflections, 12” x 15” 88 • Fine Art Magazine

Hannelotte Wilmes Beauty From Ashes

By Margarete Schulte

annelotte Wilmes was born May 6th 1933 in Eslohe, Germany, in a hospital close to her hometown of Wenholthausen in Sauerland, Germany. She was the first child of Margarete Bischof and Ludwig Schulte. Then came another sister, Ava Marie, three years later in 1936 who subsequently died of pneumonia at the age of two. Her brother Rolf was born in 1938, brother Gunter in 1940, followed by Dietmar born in 1944.

Hannelotte was an avid painter from early on and developed a unique naif feel. She painted what she saw around her from houses to farms to roosters. She loved painting as it was something that would get her mind off WWII, which was happening in her backyard.

In 1949 she met Tito Wilmes at the bank where she worked.

They fell in love and soon married. They had one child, a son named Mario. Since Tito was the head of the bank and made a good salary, Hannelotte became a stay at home mother.

Tito died in 1979, leaving Hannelotte and Mario all of his money. Because of this Hannelotte never worked anymore after his death. She was grief stricken however because Tito was her soulmate. In order to get through some of the anguish, Hannelotte went back to painting.

Years passed and in 2006, at the age of 34, Mario was brutally murdered by a man who wanted his ATM card. Although Mario gave it to him, the man killed him anyway, he also hacked up

Dandelions and Tree, 15” x 15”

Cats with Yarn, 13” x 13”

“Windmill” - 15” x 19”

Fall Foliage, 12.5” x 12.5”

Mario’s body and put it in a garbage can. The man is now serving a life sentence in Germany.

The loss of her only son and husband, left Hannelotte devastated.

She decided to live her life for Mario and began traveling all over the world (her favorite destination was Florida). When she would return to Germany, she painted on silk scarves, most of the time adding her son’s name to them. Rolf believes she created these fanciful scenes to get through tough times in her own life.

On May 3rd, 2013 Hannelotte died. While Rolf was going through her belongings, he came across the paintings and scarves Hannelotte created. He thought they were very special, and packed up his suitcase with as many as he could take and brought them back to the United States where they reside at A Point of View Gallery, in Lake Placid (which Rolf owns), for the public to view until all 42 paintings go on sale at the LPCA exhibit August 29th.

Cat with Wildflowers, 15” x 13” Fine Art Magazine • 89

Keene Valley’s Harold Weston “Nature Composed”

By ALEXANDRA POLEMIS In 1910 Harold Weston wrote in his diary that “if one could but seize the reality of the beauty of nature and preserve it longer – that is the object of painting.” 1 At only sixteen years of age, and not yet set on pursuing a career as an artist, Weston had already articulated the singular line of vision that would penetrate each phase of his career as an American modernist painter. His “condition of continual experimentation”2 has sometimes made Weston, who was fiercely independent and eccentric in his art and in his intellect, an elusive figure to patrons, critics, modern-day collectors, and art historians. His drastically evolving style only rarely dovetailed neatly with the art movements that predominated during his long career and he delved intimately into a range of subject matter, exploring still lifes and figure studies, new architectural projects, and political events. Yet, with each new wave of creativity and each new phase of his career, Weston reliably returned to his original source of inspiration: the natural world.

Born in Merion, Pennsylvania, in 1894, Harold Weston spent much of his childhood exploring the vast territory that surrounded his family’s summer home in St. Huberts, New York. The wilderness of the Adirondack Mountains sparked his artistic, as well as his emotional and intellectual, creativity. Already motivated at a young age to document with paint and brush this realm, Weston decided to pursue art as a college undergraduate, first studying the fine arts at Harvard with Denman Ross, and later attending Hamilton Easter Field’s Summer School of Graphic Arts in Ogunquit, Maine, in 1914.

It was during his summer in Maine that Weston had his “first contact with modern art”3 through works by artists such as William Zorach and Marsden Hartley. These kindred spirits similarly drew upon the natural world as a source for their artistic originality.

Weston easily established his aesthetic allegiance with this strain of modernism, eschewing the urban, modernized world and favoring instead the natural.

Soon describing himself as a “composer of nature,” Weston explained that “if I have anything vital to say I must work it out with this great and ever changing source of inspiration about me.”4 Indeed, this source sustained Weston’s creativity from the beginning 90 • Fine Art Magazine

Adirondack View, 1933, watercolor on paper, 8 ¼ x 10 ¾ inches

to the end of his career. His early work, which resulted from his four years during World War I as a YMCA volunteer stationed in Mesopotamia and Persia (now Iraq and Iran, respectively), often ignored the foreign people, dress, animals, or architecture5 that he encountered. Weston instead focused his efforts on documenting the light and color of the Near-Eastern landscape, so different from what he knew from home. He exclaimed of these remote vistas: “Color, oh what color…such as I have never seen.”6 Upon returning to the United States in 1919, Weston quickly abandoned New York City and retreated to the Adirondacks in 1920, building his studio in Keene Valley where he was eager to “stay and paint the glory of God in nature.”7 For three years Weston remained in St. Huberts, surrendering himself, with paper and brush in hand, to his natural surroundings. He absorbed the outdoors in the summer and created them anew within his studio throughout the long winters.

Late in his career, after a hiatus from the easel and now grappling with increasing physical immobility, Weston found artistic renewal in the minutia of his natural surroundings.

Explaining how a person “can sense from a single fern frond, a leaf, a stone…, the quintessence of the kind of freedom a wilderness tract can convey,”8 Weston connected to the world he could no longer access physically through the

act of creating his abstracted, focused studies of stones, ice, and lichen – pieces of nature that he could bring into his studio.

Even as Weston experimented with and changed his style through the middle decades of the twentieth century, his sources remained the same: the hills of Mesopotamia, the Adirondack Mountains, or the minutia of rock, lichen, leaf, and flower that populated these natural domains.

Weston articulated and re-articulated each in his ever-changing vocabulary of color, line, and form, striving for each to convey “beauty on the surface and something of the spiritual joy and emotion of earth underneath.”9 Weston’s reverence for his surroundings remained sovereign.

(Endnotes) 1. Harold Weston Diary, 1910, as quoted in Valerie Ann Leeds, Harold Weston: A Retrospective (New York: Gerald Peters Gallery, 2007), p. 7.

2. Rebecca Foster,“Spirit of Intensity:The Life of Harold Weston,” in Rebecca Foster and Caroline M. Welsh, Wild Exuberence: Harold Weston’s Adirondack Art (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, in association with The Adirondack Museum, 2005), p. 9.

3. Harold Weston,“A Painter Speaks,” Magazine of Art 32 (January 1939), 18.

4. Harold Weston to Hamilton Easter Field, transcribed in his diary, November 25, 1920, as quoted in Rebecca Foster, p. 16.

5. Weston did create figure studies while in Baghdad; however, his landscapes predominate in this period.

6. Harold Weston Diary, September 7, 1916, as quoted in Foster, p. 14.

7. Foster, p. 16.

8. Harold Weston, Freedom in the Wilds: A Saga of the Adirondacks (St. Huberts, NY: Adirondack Trail Improvement Society, 1971), pp. 216-17 9. Weston, as quoted in Henry Tyrrell,“Weston’s Persia and Adirondacks, A Roundabout Modernist,” New York World (November 12, 1922).

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John Apostolou (Garsot’s agent & publisher), Artblend Gallery owners Michael and Elaine Joseph with Garsot at his recent opening in Fort Lauderdale

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Garsot admirers Tony and Alina Gonzalez added the triptych Sunset A, B, C (left) to their collection

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Blue Clouds Over Ancient Walls (detail), 2014, solar plate etching with chine colle, 9 7/8â&#x20AC;? x 7 7/8â&#x20AC;? (25 x 20 cm.)