Fine Art Magazine Spring 2017 by Fine Art Magazine

K A G A N

G A R S O T

TERPSICHORE

“MUSES FOREVER”

Hot Pink Marilyn (2014), 1.5 H x 1 W’ & larger sizes-”Stars’ Angels’ Series”-Gilda Oliver Digital Art Prints/Paintings/Sculpture

GILDA OLIVER digital paintings and prints

Lurie Gallery

2736 S La Cienega Blvd, Culver City, CA 90034 www.luriegallery.com

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BELLA HEARTS

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW

Isabella Thorn, founder of Bella Hearts, has been painting since she was 18 months old under the tutelage of her grandmother artist Gloria Lee. What started as a window display for Valentine’s Day has turned into a career. Isabella has created and sold over 500 Bella Hearts that have landed in the homes of collectors all over the world. Bella has a true heart for those who are in need and suffering. Her desire in painting hearts is to bring hope and love to all. This year Bella will be the featured child artist of the American Heart Association and will be making appearances in San Diego and Las Vegas. She is also donating portions of her Bella Heart sales to the Syrian refugees efforts, to give back to the children who have lost their family and their home.

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From our Shores to Yours

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Ljubomir

MILINKOV

“Dalissimus,” 1997 acrylic and oil 39⅜” x 31⅞”

For further information about the works of Milinkov, e-mail milinkovl@free.fr 14 • Fine Art Magazine • Fall 2015

Turn-of-the-Century Syria in a Post-ISIS World

Portrait: Femme arabe Syrienne, Photograph by Bonfils ca. 1899 - 1900

S SYRIA’S ONGOING CIVIL WAR, staggering death toll, and displacement of thousands of refugees threatens to destroy Syrian culture, the Palace of the Governors will display seven albums of photographs of historic sites in Syria taken between 1899 and 1909. Entitled Syria: Cultural Patrimony Under Threat, the exhibition will include multi-functional information kiosks with insights into Syrian people and culture. The exhibition opens Friday, June 23 and runs through December 2017. Partnering with Curators Without Borders, a non-profit that specializes in innovative museum collaborations for humanitarian response, the exhibition highlights the vast collection of albumen prints, showing not only the historic sites now destroyed in Syria, but representations of its people in adjacent collections within the Photo Archives. Since 2015, Syria’s most important archaeological sites, including the Temples of Baalshamin and Bel and the Roman ruins of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980,

were dynamited by members of the Islamic State (ISIS), a radical offshoot of Al Qaeda. The fallout of Syria’s ongoing civil war has taken tens of thousands of lives and caused the monumental diaspora of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees across the world. “Today, significant aspects of Syrian culture, both ancient and contemporary, stand at the brink of destruction,” said Andrew Wulf, executive director of the New Mexico History Museum. “This exhibition features photographs taken by Princeton archaeology professor Howard Crosby Butler during three separate expeditions to Syria at the dawn of the 20th century. They show the immediacy of the threat to cultural patrimony and the toll this loss exacts on humanity.” For many years, these albums of Butler’s photos were part of the Edgar Lee Hewitt Collection at the Museum of New Mexico. Residing in the Laboratory of Anthropology, they were transferred to the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives in 1976. SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 9

The Syria project creates a space for innovation and experimentation on how places of memory can inspire dialogue and action on contemporary issues. This exhibition’s display of vintage photographs of lost cultural sites in Syria as well as photographic representations of rank-andfile Syrians also from over 100 years ago will be contrasted in the same exhibit space with the learning kiosk developed by Curators Without Borders (CWB) that will signal the abrupt devaluing of human life and material culture in Syria today. The learning kiosk prototype and related lesson plans and curricula will be replicable in Syrian refugee communities abroad. The kiosks themselves are designed to be multi-functional, serving as both an informal learning hub, a gathering place for formal instruction or conversation, a resource for audio lessons, a source of solar-powered light in the evening, with potential for a solar cell charging station where applicable. The kiosk structure can also serve as a large- Interior Room from Mideast archaeology explorations conducted by Howard Crosby Butler, ca. 1900. format film screen for presenting educational video instruction in About the New Mexico History Museum: the early evening via a retractable vinyl panel. They can be deployed in a range of contexts from urban to rural to emergency and disaster Located at 113 Lincoln Avenue, in Santa Fe, zones as well as refugee settlements. Learning Kiosks would be New Mexico, the New Mexico History Museum is part built near schools and at strategic points throughout a settlement. of a campus that includes the Palace of the Governors, Each kiosk could offer a different lesson plan, or site-specific the oldest continuously occupied public building in content. Multiple kiosks throughout a camp allow the content to the United States; the Fray Angélico Chávez History rotate from sector to sector, so learners will often have access to the Library; the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives; lessons from previous weeks. (Source: Curators Without Borders: the Press at the Palace of the Governors and “The Learning Kiosk”). the Native American Artisans Program. As New Mexico has been the home to many diverse groups A division of the Department of Cultural Affairs. through its millennia who sought refuge from social, political, Museum exhibitions and programs supported by the ethnic and religious strife, it continues to welcome most recently Museum of New Mexico Foundation. Syrian refugee families who are escaping the terrors of life in Syria today. The principal message of the exhibition is one of shared concern, empathy, unity, and support for those suffering amid diaspora. “The New Mexico History Museum and the Palace of the Governors launch this exhibition as our community’s gift to the Syrian people, not just international refugee communities via the replicable kiosk prototype in this exhibition, but also as a welcome to the Syrian refugee community of Albuquerque,” said Wulf. “This is an awareness campaign offering open and free access to these historical images and education describing the sociopolitical realities, including the global refugee crisis, of Syria today. It is Syria’s story. It is everyone’s story. It affects us all, as supporters of our fellow human beings and stewards of the culture, tangible and intangible, of these and all people.” Ruins 2 - Image from album of Mideast archaeology explorations conducted by Howard Crosby Butler, ca. 1900 Page 10 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

Helen Kagan, Garsot

GARSOT • KAGAN

Forever Inspired By The Muses By Victor Bennett Forbes “An artist creates out of nothing but himself,” wrote America’s great story teller Mario Puzo in his 1978 follow-up to The Godfather novel Fools Die. The Spirit of Creativity reaches to the highest mountain top, to the lowest valley and every place in-between and we note this with a sense of awe as we visit these works of joy and power by two artists who, in tandem, dispel Puzo’s not entirely inaccurate theory. They create together (building from nothing to everything) joyfully knowing that every moment is a gift and the results of their process is a party, a celebration of life. This is what the work by these two artists — Garsot & Kagan/Kagan and Garsot — does. It gives viewers inspiration to continue on journeys in music, art, poetry, science so that these paintings of Muses become muses in themselves. In the midst of all the action, energy and excitement, there is also a calm amidst the storm. Energy, seemingly running rampant, becomes

an orderly coherent statement of beauty and power in the tempest. What makes you really happy? they seem to be asking and in these paintings, we may find answers. Could it be a swirling whorl of nebulae, a beautiful woman or a swatch of nature’s beauty in the form of simple fall foliage, as in leaves falling off a tree. Martin and Lewis. Lennon and McCartney. Mantle and Maris. Rodgers and Hammerstein. Dolce and Cabana. Komar and Melamid. These are but a few of the famous duos who have impacted the culture of recent generations. Now we have Sotirios Gardiakos (Garsot) and Helen Kagan developing ArtSynergism. They have spent the better part of the past year working together on a series of paintings that bring to life the beautiful daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne — nine goddesses who preside over of the arts and sciences — in a vibrant collection of paintings. Muses and Music consists of 10 large

square works (48” x 48” each), one for each Muse with the 10th depicting the Mother of all Muses (Mnemosyne). A spectacular, double-sided screen called Muses Forever completes the series. This 8' x 10' masterpiece is certainly a show-stopper and the epitome of the work of two highly creative individuals pooling their unique talents and vision to create a dazzling collection of vibrant and inspiring pieces that certainly pay respect to the creative process and the wonderful sources of inspiration known to all as Muses. Inspired by an indefatigable spiritual longing to paint a powerful tribute to the guides who inspire the mysterious process in writers, artists, musicians, et al, Garsot & Kagan have forsaken the ego of individualism and poured their talents and visions in to a singular cauldron of creativity for which they have devised a new “ism” to add to the lexicon of art world vocabulary: ArtSynergism. SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 11

Urania

“It is important to me that art be respected as it has much to teach us. We see ourselves as ambassadors of art for the next generation and all the generations to come. We are following in the footsteps of artists from pre-historic days right through the greats of art history and as we learned from the past, generations to follow will understand through our art what happened today.” — GARSOT This combination of the two is greater than the individual parts in this particular series as each artist, in yielding to a process of cooperation and inspiration, in sum adds up to far exceed the individuality in this particular body of work. That is not to say that the singular work of Garsot and Kagan does not hold to the highest standards of artistic expression, but that in this joint effort, one plus one equals three. Coming from a family of scientists, Ms. Kagan, PhD., has always been fascinated with the left and right brain relationship, which led her to study many things — from mathematics and science to psychology, healing, fine art integrating healing frequencies of color, positively charged intention, embedded spiritual messages, and energetically balanced composition. A holistic therapist, artist and musician, Helen has been developing her unique style “Healing Arts” reflecting her own spiritual take on life, desire to bridge Page 12 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

Mnemosyne

Realities, heal the Past and enhance healing. Garsot first came to our attention at the New York City version of Spectrum, at the Jacob Javits Center’s new addition, a beautiful space more reminiscent of the Art Miami tent than a drab convention hall. Garsot’s work shines like a disco ball, sending light out in every direction. His avuncular attitude is kind and friendly and full of enthusiasm, perhaps his most endearing trait. Concentric circular renditions of sun-drenched cosmic groupings grabbed my attention with their patterns evolving into a dynamic spray of the infinite. A youtube interview with Fine Art magazine publisher Jamie Ellin Forbes reveals much more. Garsot and Kagan are honoring no less than ten goddesses and this collection proves they are up to the task. Their unique and individual backgrounds make close examination of the art all the more interesting. Seeking out and finding references and codes make understanding the process of creativity more and better, if such a thing is at all possible. Kagan’s “Healing Arts” and Garsot’s “fine art of music” (he plays synthesizer and composes) is well-recognized and much

in-demand. “I am forever inspired by the muses,” he notes, and his kind-hearted prowess perfectly shares the stage with Kagan’s longing for healing. “My Healing Arts is a statement of my all beliefs,” she says. The two truly reveal poet/philosopher Eli Siegel’s statement that “Beauty is the making one of opposites” and out of the chaos of content, an orderliness of composition, manners and peace ensues. Boldly calling out for attention, they softly bring you in to their core message. ArtSynergism magic is bright, light, complex, spiritual, enigmatic yet simple … energetically balanced and embedded with healing messages and ancient themes. It all adds up to truly dynamic works of art full of light, love, beauty and healing. In the Muses Forever panels — the pearl in the necklace — the two combine their forces, motifs, symbols and ideals to immerse us into an embracing warmth, sparkling brilliance, powerful soulful experience and the healing vibrations they so ardently aspire to portray. Says Garsot, “I think the more people will enjoy or even use our approach in the future, the more truly beautiful artworks will be co-created. More artists will bring positive and healing art, and more people

will better their relationships in general. My motto is ‘Stay optimistic.’” The works of this team proves that art inspires us to greater heights and depths inour own processes. The powerful, colorful and action-oriented paintings spur a mind-bodyspirit connection to all with the heart to give it a go. So what does the immediate future hold for these two? The Signs of the Zodiac are next on the agenda and are sure to be sought after by collectors even as The Muses captures the spotlight at the entrance of New York City’s Artexpo in the Spring of 2017, booth #103.

“We hope our viewers will find themselves gently guided into a relaxing and embracing warmth. Our intent is that the healing vibrations of Muses and Music be a powerful soulful experience that resonates clearly to all. Collaborating with Garsot is very special — it feels as if we were meant to create art together. Our synergistic process is smooth, beautiful and healing.” — HELEN KAGAN

Melpomene

Muses Forever, from 8' x 10' two-sided, three-panel screen. SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 13

MoMA Presents More Than 100 Works By 50 Woman Artists Exploring International Abstraction In The Post-war Era The Museum of Modern Art presents a major exhibition surveying the abstract practices of women artists between the end of World War II and the onset of the Feminist movement in the late 1960s. On view from April 15 through August 13, 2017, Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction features approximately 100 works in a diverse range of mediums by more than 50 international artists. By bringing these works together, the exhibition spotlights the stunning achievements of women artists during a pivotal period in art history. Drawn entirely from the Museum’s collection, Making Space includes works that were acquired soon after they were made in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as many recent acquisitions that reflect the Museum’s ongoing efforts to improve its representation of women artists. In the decades after World War II, societal shifts made it possible for larger numbers of women than ever before to pursue careers as artists. Abstraction dominated artistic practice internationally between 1945 and the late 1960s, as many artists sought a formal language that might transcend national and regional narratives— Page 14 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

Alma Woodsey Thomas (American, 1891–1978). Untitled. c. 1968. Synthetic polymer paint and pressure-sensitive tape on cut-and-stapled paper, 19 ¼ x 51 ½ (48.6 x 130.8 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Donald B. Marron, 2015.

and for women artists, additionally, those relating to gender. But despite new opportunities, women often found their work dismissed in the male-dominated art world and, without the benefit of Feminist advances that would take root in the 1970s, they had few support networks. The exhibition sur veys the contributions that women made to the remarkable range of abstract styles that took hold internationally during the postwar decades. Following a trajectory that is at once loosely chronological and

synchronistic, it is organized into five sections: Gestural Abstraction, Geometric Abstraction, Reductive Abstraction, Fiber and Line, and Eccentric Abstraction. Building on the legacies of modernism in the early 20th century, artists found new urgency for their abstract impulses, whether in the form of existential gestures, the rationalizing order of geometry, or the disruptive potential of new materials and processes. In the postwar climate, women artists’ successes were hard won in the hyper-

Carol Rama (Italian, 1918–2015). Schizzano via. 1967. Ink, gouache, shellac, and plastic doll eyes on paper, 24 x 19 ½ (61 x 49.5 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Dean Valentine and Amy Adelson, 2012

masculine world of Abstract Expressionism. The Abstract Expressionists’ fervent mark-making came to signify the artists’ existential struggles and, particularly in the case of large-scale paintings, heroic actions. Constructivist tendencies became increasingly transnational in the postwar period, as the geometric legacy of European Cubism and Constructivism travelled across geographic lines. This approach, based on reason and precision, flourished concurrently and in sharp contrast to the subjective, gestural style of Abstract Expressionism. In Latin America, and particularly in the urban centers of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Venezuela, a geometric aesthetic was closely linked to postwar projects of national modernization and a utopian vision of rationalism, internationalism, and social progress. Women artists were strikingly prominent and able to make formative contributions within the many progressive artistic circles in Latin America. Textile designers created boldly colorful graphic patterns that enlivened the subdued architecture of postwar modern

interiors. In contrast, the transparent, free-hanging room dividers of Anni Albers (American, born Germany. 1899–1994) are the result of her intensive engagement with materials and process. Studio ceramics by Getrud Natzler (American, born Austria. 1908–1971) and Lucie Rie (British, born Austria. 1902–1995) reflect the privileging of function, form, and texture over decoration. A number of artists, working in the late 1950s and early 1960s, reacted against the emotionally charged gestures of Abstract Expressionism. Their minimalist works feature flat, uninflected surfaces and highly simplified, mathematically regular forms, often based on a grid. Along with dozens of men whose work was heralded under the umbrella of Minimalism, there were a few key women, including Jo Baer (American, born 1929), Agnes Martin (American, born Canada. 1912–2004), and Anne Truitt (American 1921–2004), who pursued their uncompromising visions at a certain distance from the mainstream of the movement.

Mira Schendel (Brazilian, born Switzerland. 1919–1988). C, 1964-66. Untitled from the series Droguinhas (Little Nothings). Japanese paper, dimensions variable, approximately 35½ x 27½ (90 x 70 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Scott Burt Fund, 2005. © 2017 Estate of Mira Schendel

Fiber and Line Reclaiming the historical coding of textiles as “women’s work,” the artists featured in this section created radical woven forms that upend traditional boundaries between art and craft. Like their minimalist contemporaries, artists working with fiber exploited the gridded structure of warp and weft—a logic that is also reflected in a large group of drawings and prints featuring gridded, woven, or lace-like lines by artists including Asawa, Gego, Pape, and Barbara Chase-Riboud (American, born 1939). Eccentric Abstraction In the 1960s, women artists were among the key pioneers of a new direction for abstraction that emphasized unusual materials and processes. Their objects call attention to the materials and processes they used. Employing found, sometimes abject objects and raw or viscous matter, these artists injected subversive and obliquely feminist content into the rhetoric of aesthetic purity that had been one of the defining threads of postwar modernism and abstraction. SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 15

Robert Rauschenberg. Autobiography. 1968. Offset lithograph on three sheets of paper. 198 3/4 x 48 3/4 inches. From an edition of 2000, published by Broadside Art, Inc., New York ©Robert Rauschenberg Foundation

Robert Rauschenberg: Among Friends

OBERT RAUSCHENBERG: AMONG FRIENDS, a retrospective spanning the six-decade career of this defining figure of contemporary art, will be on view at The Museum of Modern Art from May 21 until September 17, 2017. Organized in collaboration with Tate Modern in London, this exhibition brings together over 250 works, integrating Rauschenberg’s astonishing range of production across mediums including painting, sculpture, drawing, prints, photography, sound works, and performance footage. Robert Rauschenberg is organized by Leah Dickerman, The Marlene Hess Curator of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art, and Achim Borchardt-Hume, Director of Exhibitions at Tate Modern, with Emily Liebert and Jenny Harris, Curatorial Assistants, Department of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition’s design at MoMA is created in collaboration with acclaimed artist and filmmaker Charles Atlas. In addition to its presentation in New York this spring, Robert Rauschenberg was shown at Tate Modern and will be on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) (November 4, 2017–March 25, 2018). In 1959, Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925–2008) wrote, “Painting relates to both art and life. Neither can be made. (I try to act in that gap between the two.)” His work in this gap shaped artistic practice for the years to come. The early 1950s, when Rauschenberg launched his career, was the heyday of heroic gestural

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painting of Abstract Expressionism. Rauschenberg challenged this painterly tradition with an egalitarian approach to materials, bringing the stuff of the everyday world into his art. Working alone and in collaboration with artists, dancers, musicians, and writers, Rauschenberg invented new interdisciplinary forms of artistic practice that set the course for art of the present day. He created works that merged traditional art materials with ordinary objects, found imagery, and the

Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925-2008), Retroactive I, 1964. Oil and silkscreen ink on canvas, 84 x 60 in. Gift of Susan Morse Hilles,1964.30. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford Connecticut. Photo credit: Allen Phillips\ Wadsworth Atheneum.

cutting-edge technology of an emergent digital age; developed new modes of performance and performative work; and organized collaborative projects that crossed the boundaries between mediums and nations. “The ethos that permeates Rauschenberg’s work—an openness, commitment to dialogue and collaboration, and global curiosity—makes him, now more than ever, a touchstone for our troubled times,” says exhibition curator Leah Dickerman. Among the many highlights of the exhibition, Robert Rauschenberg will present the artist ’s widely celebrated Combines (1954–64) and silkscreen paintings (1962–64) in fresh ways, including two rarely lent works: Charlene (1954, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam), one of the largest from the artist’s series of Red Paintings, which incorporates mirrors, part of a man’s undershirt, an umbrella, comic strips, and a light that flashes on and off; and Monogram (1955–59, Moderna Museet, Stockholm), Rauschenberg’s famous Combine assembled from a taxidermied angora goat and tire, positioned on a painted and collaged wooden platform. At the same time, the exhibition will illuminate lesser-known periods within his career, including his work of the early 1950s and the late 1960s, which is increasingly compelling and prescient to contemporary eyes. A m o n g R a u s c h e n b e r g ’s e a r l y landmarks are his Erased de Kooning Drawing (1953) and Automobile Tire Print (1953), both in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern

the exchange of ideas. These figures, among the most influential in American postwar culture, include John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Sari Dienes, Jasper Johns, Billy Klüver, Yvonne Rainer, Paul Taylor, Jean Tinguely, David Tudor, Cy Twombly, Susan Weil and many others. The exhibition galleries will group work across mediums from particular moments and places in which Rauschenberg and his collaborators and interlocutors came together, making art and often presenting it in association, starting with Black Mountain College near Asheville, North Carolina, then moving to Rauschenberg’s Fulton Street and Pearl Street studios in New York City, and finally to Captiva Island, Florida, where the artist concluded his prolific career. MoMA curator Leah Dickerman has invited pioneering video artist and filmmaker Charles Atlas to collaborate on the exhibition’s presentation in New York. An artist with 14 works in the Museum’s collection, Atlas worked with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from the early 1970s to 1983 as stage manager, lighting designer, and in-house filmmaker, and maintained a close working relationship with Cunningham until his death in 2009. Atlas recounts that Rauschenberg, who collaborated with Cunningham on more than 20 performances from 1954 to 1964,

was the reason for the young artist’s first association with the company: “I went to see Rauschenberg’s work—that was my introduction to Merce…. [Rauschenberg] has been my main inspiration all my artistic life.” Atlas’s work with the Museum’s curatorial and exhibition-design teams will foreground Rauschenberg’s deep engagement with dance and performance, underscoring the ways these disciplines fundamentally shaped his approach to art making. Robert Rauschenberg is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue that examines the artist’s entire career across a full range of mediums. Edited by Leah Dickerman and Achim Borchardt-Hume, the the book features 16 commissioned essays by eminent scholars and emerging new writers, including Yve-Alain Bois, Andrianna Campºbell, Hal Foster, Mark Godfrey, Hiroko Ikegami, Branden W. Joseph, Ed Kr.ma, Michelle Kuo, Pamela M. Lee, Emily Liebert, Richard Meyer, Helen Molesworth, Kate Nesin, Sarah Roberts, and Catherine Wood. Each essay focuses on a specific moment in Rauschenberg’s career, exploring his creative production across disciplines. Integrating new scholarship, documentary imagery, and archival materials, this is the first comprehensive catalogue of Rauschenberg’s career in 20 years.

Robert Rauschenberg and Susan Weil. Untitled (Double Rauschenberg). c. 1950. Exposed blueprint paper, 6 ft. 10 1/2 in. × 36 1/4 in. (209.6 × 92.1 cm). Cy Twombly Foundation. © 2016 Robert Rauschenberg Foundation

Art. The latter work was made when the artist instructed composer John Cage to drive his Model A Ford through a pool of paint and then across 20 sheets of paper. Later galleries will present two of his most ambitious technological experiments, both made in collaboration with engineers: Oracle (with Billy Klüver, Harold Hodges, Per Biorn, Toby Fitch, Robert K. Moore, 1962–65, Centre Pompidou, Paris), a five-part sculpture that combines salvaged metal junkyard treasures with the most advanced wireless transistor circuitry, and Mud Muse (with Frank LaHaye, Lewis Ellmore, George Carr, Jim Wilkinson, Carl Adams and Petrie Mason Robie, 1968–71, Moderna Museet, Stockholm), a vat of 8,000 pounds of drillers’ mud, which burbles like a primeval tar pit in syncopation with sound-activated air compressors. To focus attention on the importance of creative dialogue and collaboration to Rauschenberg’s work, MoMA’s presentation is structured as an “open monograph”: as other artists, dancers, musicians, and writers came into Rauschenberg’s creative life, their work will enter the exhibition, mapping

Robert Rauschenberg. Cy + Relics, Rome. 1952, printed 1980s. Gelatin silver print, 15 × 15 in. (38.1 × 38.1 cm). Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, New York. © 2016 Robert Rauschenberg Foundation SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 17

With friends like these ... In 1959, Robert Rauschenberg wrote, “Painting relates to both art and life. Neither can be made. (I try to act in that gap between the two.)” His work in this gap shaped artistic practice for decades to come. The early 1950s, when Rauschenberg (1925–2008) launched his career, was the heyday of the heroic gestural painting of Abstract Expressionism. Rauschenberg challenged this tradition with an egalitarian approach to materials, bringing the stuff of the everyday world into his art. Working alone and in collaboration with artists, dancers, musicians, and writers, he invented new, interdisciplinary modes of artistic practice that set the course for art of the present day. The ethos that permeates Rauschenberg’s work—openness, commitment to dialogue and collaboration, and global curiosity—makes him, now more than ever, a touchstone for our troubled times. Robert Rauschenberg: Among Friends, the first 21st-century retrospective of the artist, presents work from six decades of his widely celebrated career in fresh ways, bringing together over 250 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, and sound and video recordings. Acclaimed artist and filmmaker Charles Atlas is collaborating on the exhibition’s design to foreground

Robert Rauschenberg. Signs. 1970. Screen-print, comp.: 35 3⁄16 × 26 3⁄4 in. (89.4 × 67.9 cm), sheet: 43 × 34 in. (109.2 × 86.4 cm). Publisher: Castelli Graphics, New York. Edition: 250. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Leo and Jean-Christophe Castelli in memory of Toiny Castelli. © 2016 Robert Rauschenberg Foundation

Robert Rauschenberg. Poster for ROCI Cuba (Museo Nacional site), 1988. All offset lithograph, ranging from 34 1/2 in. (87.6 cm) to 38 3/8 in. (97.5 cm) high and from 23 3/4 (60.3 cm) to 24 1/4 in. (61.6 cm) wide), ROCI Cuba: silk-screen and offset lithograph on foil paper. Printer: Universal Limited Art Editions, West Islip, New York. Edition: unnumbered. Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, New York. © 2016 Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Page 18 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

Rauschenberg’s work with dance and performance. MoMA’s presentation is structured as an “open monograph”—as other artists came into Rauschenberg’s creative life, they come into the exhibition, mapping the exchange of ideas. These figures include John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Sari Dienes, Jasper Johns, Billy Klüver, Yvonne Rainer, Paul Taylor, David Tudor, Cy Twombly, Susan Weil, and many others. The exhibition is organized by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Tate Modern, London. Organized by Leah Dickerman, The Marlene Hess Curator of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art, and Achim Borchardt-Hume, Director of Exhibitions at Tate Modern, with Emily Liebert and Jenny Harris, Curatorial Assistants, Department of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition design was created in collaboration with the artist Charles Atlas. Bank of America is the Global Sponsor of Robert Rauschenberg. The exhibition is supported at Tate Modern and The Museum of Modern Art by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Major support for the New York presentation is provided by Glenn and Eva Dubin, the Lenore S. and Bernard A. Greenberg Fund, Monique M. Schoen Warshaw, Mrs. Ronnie F. Heyman, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III in honor of Jerry I. Speyer, and by Tiffany & Co. Generous funding is provided by west elm. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. Additional support is provided by the Annual Exhibition Fund. MoMA Audio+ is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Color & Cadence Alluring Landscapes by Samir Sammoun

Soleil et Lavande, 60” x 48”

The Beach, 24” x 24”

Coucher du Soleil sur la Méditerranée, 30” x 40”

Compiled by VICTOR FORBES, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

amir Sammoun is a world-renowned Post-Impressionist painter. From the lush, lavender fields of Provence to rich, autumnal landscapes and quaint city streets bustling with humanity, Sammoun’s brilliance is unparalleled in capturing the atmospheric and fleeting colors of our ever-changing world. Sammoun’s innovative approach and celebrated compositions make him one of the most acclaimed landscape painters working in North America today. Inspired from personal memories of his native land in Lebanon, Sammoun’s richly layered impasto paintings exquisitely blend the post-impressionistic style with spontaneous, gestural brushwork. Initiating each canvas much like the Dutch Masters would, he applies a rich, burnt-sienna with brush and rag, accentuating the grain of his surface and providing luminous inner light underneath his brilliant and richly colored palette. Sammoun continues to attract the attention of international scholars and museums alike, including the Montreal Museum of Fine Art, the Marc-Aurele Fortin Museum and Boston’s own Museum of Fine Arts as part of “Give the Arts a Chance.” His work was recently on display at Sallie Hirshberg’s Galerie d’Orsay in Boston and ArtExpo New York. Earlier this year, Sammoun was awarded the prestigious Order of Merit by the City of Brossard, an honor reserved for residents who demonstrate an exceptional commitment to the community. Sammoun is a long-time resident of Brossard, located on the south shore

Triptych, 3 x 48” x 36” Sunrise on the Sea, Florida

SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 19

Samir with Sallie Hirshberg and her Galerie d’Orsay staff

of Montreal, and was recognized for his remarkable contributions to the arts and cultural life of his beloved city. “Sammoun has indeed built upon history to develop a personal style that is reflective of his inner being. Nothing is held Page 20 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

back by these emotionally charged canvases that capture the essence of Nature as recreated by Man, in this instance Samir Sammoun,” writes Constance Schwartz, Director and Curator Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, New York in the introduction

Samir Sammoun, recipient of the Order of Merit of Brossard 2017, pictured with the Mayor of Brossard and Mr. Daniel Lucier, adviser. Year after year, Brossard is proud to honour outstanding citizens at the Order of Merit award ceremony. This prestigious event, organized by the City, was held in February 2017, during which medals of honor were presented to the winners for their exceptional commitment to the community in the following areas: Science, Education, Culture, Community, Sport, Humanitarian, Economy and Environment

to Sammoun’s monograph, Walking With Giants – a paean to the artist’s dedication to the traditions and impact of those who came before him, notably van Gogh.

Lavender Bekaa Valley, 12x16,

“Sammoun’s body of work is an in-depth depiction of the connections he makes between his longtime residence in Montréal and birth and childhood i n L e b a n on . Pa i n t i n g and sculpture emerge as statements of common familiarity to be shared by all. His admirers enter into a personal involvement with the work making him a man for all seasons of expression through the universal language of art,” stated Jamie Ellin Forbes, Fine Art Magazine Editor-in-Chief Victor Forbes and Samir Director of the Fine Art Sammoun at the Art Miami New York International Fair Museum of Long Island (19901995) and publisher of Fine Art environment for all. Magazine in bestowing the magazine’s Samir Sammoun’s originality and “Artist of Special Merit” award to Samir unique style have caught the attention of at Artexpo in 2016. “Honoring the spirit viewers, collectors and art lovers worldwide. of creativity with exceptional contributions When he first showed his work at ArtExpo and significant achievement, Sammoun has in New York in 1996, the reaction was taken his role as an artist to an exceptionally immediate and positive. What was said high level, not only for his paintings but for about him then still holds true today: “The his interests in the human condition and fresh colorful impressionistic renditions what he can do to foster a more peaceflu presented in his artwork have been received

SunStorm/Fine Art Magazine publisher Jamie Ellin Forbes bestowed the publications’ “Artist of Special Merit” award to Sammoun at Artexpo 2016

with unprecedented enthusiasm... Samir is a fresh and exciting talent depicting the landscapes he sees in rich colors with his own wonderfully unique impressionistic style.” Robert L. Mooney, Director of the Galleries J.R. Mooney, San Antonio, Texas. for further information and images visit www.samirsammoun.com SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 21

Central Park, Spring, 40” x 40”

Parade, 48” x 36”

“The first time that I saw Samir’s paintings, I was fascinated by his refined technique. I felt like a time traveler, transported to turn-of-the-century Paris and the Impressionists.” – Chris Klimantiris

La Prairie Autumn, 30” x 24”

Wheat Field, 48” x 48” Page 22 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

Dean Dan Wells, Dr. Carolyn Farb, Dr. Paul Chu, KPRC2 TV Anchor Dominique Sachse Florescu; Photo by Kate Fu

University of Houston Honors Dr. Carolyn Farb With Natural Sciences and Mathematics Legacy Award

Charles Ward, Dr. Carolyn Farb, Nick Florescu, KPRC2 TV Anchor Dominique Sachse Florescu, Mayor Sylvester Turner, Bob Nowak Photo by Kate Fu

“One of the highlights of my life was being honored by the University of Houston,” said Dr. Carolyn Farb, recipient of the school’s Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM) Legacy Award on April 8. “The students with the placards were Farb Scholars. It gave me tears and goose bumps,” added Dr. Farb, the “First Lady of Philanthropy” in Texas, dedicated collector and patron of the arts. On hand for the presentation honoring Farb’s generosity and this lasting achievement were 360 guests celebrating the College’s 40 years of bold research, bold teaching and bold students at the sold-out IMPACT Gala. Prior to fall 1976, NSM was part of UH’s College of Arts and Sciences. Emcee for the evening was Dominique Sachse, anchor at Houston’s NBC affiliate, KPRC-TV, Channel 2. In 1999, Farb chaired the Quest for Excellence Award Gala benefitting NSM. Her efforts raised $3 million and made a lasting impact on the College. The event remains the largest fundraising event in the University’s history. Page 22 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

Dr. Carolyn Farb with Farb Scholars Efi Tsouko and Estefannie De la Garza; Photo by Chris Watts

Eighteen years later, the funds raised at the Quest for Excellence event have provided over 400 scholarships to NSM undergraduate and graduate students. “Carolyn’s work continues to impact our College and many students’ lives, assuring us that the next generation will be prepared to test boundaries and make a difference,” said NSM Dean Dan E. Wells. The event ended with a touching tribute as several hundred NSM students flooded the ballroom carrying signs saying “Thank you, Dr. Farb!” and “NSM Impact.” “Supporting the dreams of all students and nurturing an environment for scientific discovery has been a driving passion for me as I have worked with the University to bring this dream to fruition,” Farb said.

Offering, collage, Mixed Technique on Arches Paper, 30’’ x 24’’, 2016

THE AMOROUS AND ARTISTIC ADVENTURES OF

MINNIE written & illustrated by

HUGUETTE THIBOUTOT

Champagne, collage on poster, 23 1/2’’ x 31”, 2016 Page 24 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

Huguette came to international attention with a well-received exhibition in New York City followed by an inspiring week at Art Miami where she lived her dream of experienceing the dazzling array of international artists, collectors, celebrities and hustlers. During this time, she cemented her vision of Minnie, a woman of years seeking adventure and love. Minnie found it in what some would consider “all the wrong places” but in following her heart came upon what she was looking for.When I first heard snippets of this tale, I promptly urged Huguette to complete her novel and 55,000 words later, the tale is told. My initial impression was that Jane Fonda, yes Barbarella herself, would be perfect for the role. During Minnie’s incubation period, Ms. Fonda found herself starring in a related story, turning heads in Hollywood thanks to a gigantic billboard and TV series trailer where she’s holding on tight to vibrator with “Grace and Frankie” co-star Lily Tomlin. Huguette’s story is far more interesting and real, an artist’s quest for fulfilling love in an adventure usually restricted to punk-rockers.

Vaps, collage on poster, 31 1/2’’ x 23”, 2016

Following is a brief excerpt from Huguette’s forthcoming book, Minnie au Far West, Quel hiver!, accompanied by her illustrations from same. Used by permission and all rights reserved to Huguette Thiboutot.

ut our heroine’s madness is far from resolved. The shock wave created by the “New York special effects” continues to rock her world. Throughout this ordeal, Minnie’s spirit, her artist’s soul, shines forth in all its glory. Reading Anaïs Nin, Minnie takes heart. The book-jacket of Deirdre Bair’s biography of Anaïs Nin reads: “The writer’s life bears testimony to several major currents of the second half of the twentieth century: the quest for self, recourse to psychoanalysis, and women’s determination to reclaim their sexuality.” In psychoanalysis, Minnie will later acknowledge the relevance of these three themes to her own life. She has reclaimed her self — that’s done. Now, she’s determined to reclaim her own sexuality. The bliss she experienced in Henry’s arms, the thrill of Zoran’s presence, are her’s to keep forever. No one can take them from her. She herself chose Henry and Zoran to be her heroes. Both men know this. After all, there’s a reason Henry keeps asking her, “What is a woman like you doing with a man like me?” © HUGUETTE THIBOUTOT 2017

Tattoo, collage on poster, 21’’ x 30’', 2016 SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 25

n June 11, 2017, the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education (QJMCHE) in Portland’s new 15,000 square foot facility will officially open the doors with a stunning inaugural exhibition by internationally celebrated Russian Jewish artist Grisha Bruskin. ALEFBET: The Alphabet of Memory features large-scale tapestries alongside the artist’s preparatory drawings and related gouache paintings, all united by themes that reference Kabbalistic and Talmudic teaching, Hebrew Bible narratives, and the folkloric traditions of Russia. “Grisha Bruskin is an artist whose work transcends the commonplace and takes the viewer into a highly ritualized alternate world of deep history, Jewish identity, and spirituality,” said Bruce Guenther, curator of OJMCHE’s inaugural year of exhibitions. “The decision to open with work of this importance clearly articulates Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education’s new role in the artistic and cultural exploration of Jewishness on a national and international level.” The tapestries featured were created in the artist’s Moscow studio with a team of master weavers on traditional vertical looms. The pieces are rich in symbolism and allegory creating a lexicon for reading the works and understanding their references to Judaic and Kabbalistic traditions as well as Bruskin’s own world of images and meaning. The exhibition of this landmark body of work, previously shown in Amsterdam, Paris, Venice, and Moscow, marks the first North American appearance. Grisha Bruskin divides his time between New York and Moscow studios, and is the senior artist representing Russia at the Venice Biennale opening in May 2017. With the museum’s grand opening OJMCHE will also be unveiling three core exhibitions: Discrimination and Resistance, An Oregon Primer, Janice Dilg, curator; The Holocaust, an Oregon Perspective; and Oregon Jewish Stories. This is a transformational m oment in OJMCHE’s history. The move to a highly-visible permanent home positions the Museum to join other museums nationally and internationally on a platform of exploration, history, identity, and achievement, from the stories of community to the world stage. “Making the dream of a permanent home for the museum a reality was achieved by the visionary support of donors and friends who galvanized around this opportunity,” said Director Judy Margles. “We are grateful for the artistic leadership of Bruce Guenther and all of the expertise he brings from his many years organizing exhibitions internationally. With the stunning work of Grisha Bruskin in our main gallery and our new core exhibitions in the second floor galleries, the museum is poised to celebrate in the broadest terms Jewish contributions to world culture and ideas, issues of Jewish identity, and the forces of prejudice.” The move to Portland’s North Park Blocks doubles the museum’s footprint to the current 15,000 square feet and places OJMCHE in the heart of a district rich in cultural and arts-based institutions. The expanded facilities for OJMCHE include galleries for nationally and internationally touring exhibitions and space for core exhibitions. The space also includes a 100-seat auditorium, gift shop, and Lefty’s Café serving pastries and sandwiches. In addition, the expanded footprint allows the Museum to better serve its educational mission, which includes Holocaust education and leading tours of the Oregon Holocaust Memorial in Portland’s historic Washington Park. Page 26 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

ALEFBET: The Alphabet of Memory, Grisha Bruskin All images courtesy of Grisha Bruskin ©

About Grisha Bruskin Grisha Bruskin (Russian, b.1945) is a painter and sculptor best known for work that conveys issues of Jewish and Russian heritage. Born in Moscow, he studied at the Moscow Art School and the Moscow Textile Institute. During the Soviet era, which censored religious themes in art, Bruskin’s work raised controversy for depicting Jewish imagery. His painting In the Red Space (1982), for example, shows a golem (a figure from Jewish folklore) wearing a Soviet uniform. His series of ALEFBET (1984) and (1987) paintings juxtapose figures in Jewish religious dress against a background of hand-written Hasidic text. Bruskin is hard to pin down in terms of genre. Working within the context of mythologies and religions, particularly tied to his own Jewish heritage, and their associated iconographies, Bruskin takes an original approach. While rejecting the Socialist Realism style that was sanctioned in the USSR, where he spent his early career, he skillfully engages traditions of kitsch, social realism, and romanticism, and assumed an influential role within the Soviet Non-Conformist Art movement. In 1989, following major success at the 1988 Sotheby’s Moscow sale, he immigrated to the U.S. and settled in New York, where he still resides. Russia has selected to honor Grisha Bruskin, along with Sasha Pirogova, and the Recycle Group’s Georgy Kuznetsov, and Andrei Blokhin in its national pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale.

a very nks had termined off and

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Chapter One

Children of War Children

ITA MAURICETTE LEWENKRON BULLARD is an artist living in upstate New York in an historic converted lodge. Her family survived the Holocaust hiding in the countryside of Claremenot Ferrand in central France, saved by Andre Irene Grippon and his family. Four years old at the time of the Izieu massacre, Ita Bullard could have easily been one of the children depicted in her painting. The Children of Izieu, simply expresses that we should not forget the inhumanity of what happened then and what still happens in too many places today. “I believe,” she states, “someday these atrocities will be recognized for what they are as they unfold and can be altered.” In all, 43 children and seven adults were rounded-up in trucks and taken to the Fort Montluc prison in Lyon. The following day, they were transported by train to Drancy to preclude attempts by regional authorities to secure their release. Miron Zlatin and two children were sent to Tallin, Estonia, where they were taken to a fortress and shot to death. The others were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau where all but Leah Feldblum were sent directly to the gas chambers. Following is an excerpt from an interview with Fine Art Magazine Editor-in-Chief Victor Forbes.

I REMEMBER…

War

“The Children of Izieu at Auschwitz-Birkeneu, Taken Under the Command of Klaus Barbie, April 1944”

Oil on canvas 36” x 42”

years of7 evading capture, his luck ran out and he was “stopped and frisked.” They looked for his papers and he had none, so they took him away. Fortunately, since they couldn’t prove he was a Jew without any such documentation, they held him in jail instead of sending him to one of the camps. I was very close to him as a little child, but for the next two years, while he was away, we lost total contact and I had a hard time accepting him after his return when the war ended. I was fearful of having a strange man in our lives. Hiding on the farm, we rarely were out in daylight and I can still hear the hushed voices of people talking about horrible things happening. I was scared all the time. I remember them killing animals on the farm for food. I still can’t eat pork because of the sounds of the killing of the pigs mournful screams as they were slaughtered. I remember them collecting the honey on the farm. I remember after V-E Day, going on a train back to Paris. We were still fearful even though we knew the war was over. I remember soldiers at the train stations. I remember people alternately cheering for their liberators and screaming at the captured Nazis on the platforms at the end of the war.

was born in 1940 and my first memories are of war. To this day, I’m still afraid of thunder because of the bombings our family endured. Thunder and fireworks trigger that childhood fear all over again. You never quite get used to it, certainly a post-traumatic shock syndrome. Classic PTSD. We had to flee Paris, leaving everything behind — our home, car, possessions. Everything. My parents left with me and the clothes on their back. We were a few steps ahead of the Nazis, who had just entered Paris. As they were walking in, we were running out. Nazis were breaking into businesses, lining everyone up in plazas, sending people away. My parents foresaw what was to happen and left for Vichy, about 300 miles from our home. Up to that point, my mother and father, who were wed in an arranged married in 1935, had a very comfortable start to their lives. He was a successful tailor and mother was a homemaker. My own memories don’t start until about the age of three, about the time they took my father to prison. We had to hide because we knew the Germans were coming around looking for Jews so we were hiding as non-Jews. My father, in order to get food, would sew clothes for the farmers. After two 11

SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 27

Lois DiCosola and Willem de Kooning at Guild Hall Museum, Easthampton, NY, 1963. Painting: ‘Swing Things’, oil on canvas, 1961. Photograph from DiCosola’s file in the Archives of American Art

A young artist at the midpoint of the 20th Century, the ’50s in New York, was the time when Abstract Expressionism was a beginning movement – a new experiment in painting. I remember having felt the pulse of the time, when in 1951 I made a series of paintings called Emergence, that reflected the sensibility of the era for me. I feel that a lifetime of being a painter has given me an ever-deepening receptivity to my own inner resources, and through it all there is my ongoing love for painting and drawing that is about discovering pieces of the magic in the world we live in but know so little about.

– Lois DiCosola

“The art of Lois DiCosola becomes a unique window through which can be seen the magical visual poetry present in our environment. Each of her perceptions is a personal thumbprint, bringing biology and biography to our awareness- it is nature, properly seen, written with abstract configurations. A mind rich in sensitivity, highly original and intelligent, she is always sophisticated in her aesthetic decisions, use of color, dynamic brushwork, superb draftsmanship, and inventive handling of textural surfaces. Her ongoing series of self portraits, and portraits of others, while being expert in their physiognomic accuracy, are also remarkable for their projection of the unique temperaments of the personalities depicted. All this, together with a rare capacity for subtle and economic design, moves the artist to continue reinventing elegant pictorial forms.” – Saul Levine, from “The Art of Lois DiCosola” -SunStorm Arts Magazine, 1981

Page 28 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

Monoprint from the Emergence series, 1951

LOIS DiCOSOLA Abstract Expressionist Painter Visiting the Brooklyn Museum’s extraordinar y collections became an important part of the early art education of Lois Bock, then a young art student attending the fine art studio program at Prospect Heights, just across the street from the museum. Classes included life drawing, painting, graphic arts and book production in an environment where, together with traditional art school techniques, freedom of imagination was encouraged. In 1951 she also attended art classes at the Museum of Modern Art on a scholarship. This exceptional early learning experience also prepared her to work in the field of art publishing in which she won the Seventeen magazine 1952 “It’s All Yours” international award for her illustration, which the art editor, Art Kane selected for publication in the June 1953 issue of Seventeen magazine. The same artwork went on to win the Art Directors Club award for Editorial Art in the Annual of Editorial Art and Design in 1954. She also received the Carnegie Fine Art Institute award in printmaking, and the Augustus Saint Gaudens Medal for fine draftsmanship. Graduating with a Fine Art diploma in January of 1953, Lois began a

professional artistic career at that interesting moment in the history of American art. She also holds a Bachelor of Professional Studies degree. Painting, while at the same time drawing from the model, one can see an understanding of the figure (often as arresting as the drawings of the Renaissance masters) as shown through the use of a variety of materials. Early on, the artist produced a fine body of work, including the tempera, wax and ink abstraction, Emergence, created in 1951. This was actually at the pivotal moment when Harold Rosenberg coined the term “Action Painting.” In the fall of 1959, she attended Richard Pousette-Dart’s painting workshop at the New School where she began to paint on larger canvases. Plum, Pink Rain, Tan, Swingthings, Windows, Vineyard, Matador, Tokaido, and the paintings for the Dutch Masters series are some of her early abstract paintings. Swingthings, Matador and Tokaido were shown at Guild Hall Museum in East Hampton in 1963, and selected for an award by Harold Rosenberg, Adolph Gottlieb and Larry Rivers. Three

of the Paintings for the Dutch Masters were shown the following year at Guild Hall in the award exhibition and from that show James Brooks invited her to be his chosen artist for “Artists Select” at Finch College Museum. Curators from the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum, and Guggenheim Museum, among others, have selected Lois DiCosola’s work for various exhibitions. In the mid 1960s DiCosola traveled cross country and into Mexico where she began a series of geometric designs which resulted in the Aquarius combine paintings. She worked on these as a guest artist at the University of California at Berkeley. Three of these paintings, Aquarius, Yellowjack and Apollo were installed in the pioneer feminist art exhibition, X12, in Manhattan, in January of 1970. From her Chelsea Hotel studio and Studio X on 14th Street, also in 1970, DiCosola began the artist’s book Notes from the Hotel Chelsea, combining Xerography with mixed media together with her poetry, a combination of media not yet seen. The book demonstrates DiCosola’s gift for placement and for finding meaning through the juxtaposition of images. The Museum Drawings made while traveling in Europe and to American museums are mindful of the artist’s early light-hearted sketches. The Artist and Herself, In Line, Beautiful Free Women, Mountain Woman, Asian Women, Hands, Cielo e Mar and Self Portraits are some of her other books that are filled with wonderful drawings, collages and poetry. Several of her etchings and stone and plate lithographs were made at Pratt Graphics Center on Broadway, downtown in the early 1970s, and the Moonlight aquatint etchings with master printer, Donn Steward between 1977 and 1979. A print from this series was shown in curator, Judith Wolfe’s Prints from the Permanent Collection exhibition at Guild Hall Museum in 1980. Photography has always been an important part of her work. In 1971 she made a very perceptive series of photographic film portraits. Her recent series of beautifully colored photographs is called, Life, Actually. Another picture, taken in the Museum of Modern Art garden, is written over with poetry, expressing feelings about 9/11 was exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art’s Life of the City exhibition in 2002. “A few hours after the towers fell at the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001, I began the Towers and Variations paintings, brush drawings and photographs that represent the emotions I felt at this very dark time,” she recalls. Art historian and

curator Simon Taylor reacted very favorably to these works. The artist says,that the Dialogues, the Pasqua series of heads and the Ancestors Portraits came out of a kind of tribal memory. About her portraits, Helen Harrison, the New York Times art critic, has said that they are, “reminiscent of the mysterious studies of Redon.” The Poem Paintings, a series of calligraphic works are ongoing. These are paintings on paper, using bits from her own and other poets work. The collection called Vessels, the artist notes, “is a series of imagined pottery from prehistory to now, and from every culture, honoring this ancient art form.” Mysteries-Woman is a series of watercolor and ink figure paintings on rice paper painted during the 1980s. The Origins drawings are abstract works also made in the mid 1980s, as were the Cherry Tree ink paintings and the Vessels series. Most of her paintings and drawings have been made in her studio – the Waters and River drawings, March, May, October, Wildflowers, Birthday Roses, Florida Palm, Nature Studies, the Botanica drawings, Though some of the watercolor landscapes and oil pastels, like the very early Brooklyn Botanical Gardens watercolors of 1951, the Louse Point, Easthampton watercolors of 1966, and the Inisfada watercolors, as well as the Planting Fields oil pastels and Old Westbury watercolors were done outdoors. Cold Spring Harbor, Rosso, Winter Plum, Blues, Jade, Ashes, Beaches, Bay, Violetta, Sound, Breeze, Goldrush, August, Fall Blue, Threads, December, the Cantolena drawings and paintings, the Arctica paintings,

Midnight Blues, Geologia, Evergreen, Natura, the Love and War drawings and the All Things Considered sketchbook drawings are works created in her studios in New York and on Long Island.. Lois DiCosola’s biography is listed in Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975, the Who’s Who publications, the Smithsonian Institution Archives of American Art, the Sophia Smith collection at Smith College, the Schlesinger library at Harvard, the Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts Clara archives in Washington DC, the Guild Hall Museum permanent print collection in Easthampton, New York, the Italo Calvino Memorial Library archives in Torino, Italy, Saint Johns University Artists Books collection, among others. An artist of the early Abstract Expressionist period, her works are included in many public and private collections internationally. Online Portfolios: h t t p : / / w w w. f l i c k r. c o m / groups/1048608@N22/pool/{Abstract Expressionism-The New York School} h t t p : / / w w w. a b s o l u t e a r t s . c o m / portfolios/l/loisd/ h t t p : / / w w w. f l i c k r. c o m / photos/11326913@N07/ Facebook- Lois Bock DiCosola- see photo albums. loisdicosola@yahoo.com

Cherry Tree, brush drawing SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 29

Born to be a Wild Artist

FINE ART INTERVIEW

By JAMIE ELLIN FORBES

Twenty plus years ago, my partner Judith and I lived in Montauk, New York, where she owned a down and dirty rock and roll bar called the Memory Motel. The Memory hosted many professional recording and touring musicians looking for a little beach down time. The most common comment from the mix of local and tourist patrons was “these guys are much too good to be playing this joint.” Fast-forward 15 years. I first met Michael Monarch when he played at a fund-raiser for a fellow musician with a serious medical problem. That encounter triggered that old delightful recognition of a world-class artist in an unexpected venue. As I got to know him I found out Michael was the original lead guitarist for Steppenwolf, a contributor on Janis Joplin’s “Kosmic Blues” album, and for the last 20 years toured with the star studded band, The World Classic Rockers. More recently I discovered Michael’s digital artwork. I alerted my sister Jamie, the publisher of Fine Art Magazine, to my find. She was impressed enough to want to do a feature article on him. I will conclude these liner notes with my first reaction to Michael’s art, be it audio or visual. From a musical perspective, every guitar riff, every power chord is played with a go-for-broke, pedal-to-the-metal urgency. I had the same response to his digital work. Conformism and caution are not part of his repertoire, but I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from the featured graphics. Climb aboard for this kaleidoscopic Magic Carpet Ride. — RICHARD SCHALLER

Michael Monarch, self-portrait, “Then and Now”, 2017

When did you become interested in art? Everyone in my family dabbled in art. My brother, dad and uncle all painted. At a young age I did some painting and sculpting. Early on I was fascinated with the special effects and the art that went into the Disney movies and theme parks. Growing up in California I think I was taken to Disneyland the first year it was opened in 1955. I went regularly for many years. I even had dreams of working for Disney in the art or sculpting department but when my music career started to take off … well that became my focus. As I got older my taste in art became more defined. I was really drawn toward printmaking, especially etchings with shade and color (aquatint, mezzo tint, mixed media, etc). Generally I have been more interested in abstract than realism. Other than music are there other art forms you express yourself in? I did some competition swing dancing years ago and even won a few titles in California. West Coast Swing is the state dance. Another interest of mine is motorcycles and I have done some custom designing of a few bikes. Which artists if any influenced you? Well I can give you a partial list of well known artists that I’m interested in: Miro, Pollock, Kandinsky, Picasso, Rene Carcan, Renee Lubarow and Klee. 30 • Fine Art Magazine • Spring 2017

Experiment

Red & Green Lumi

How long have you been creating your serious abstracts? For about the last ten years I have been creating the particular type of abstract prints seen here. What elements of sound or musical expression do you call upon as an emotional or intellectual influence if any? I love modern art – Expressionism, Cubism, abstract. The raw emotion in these forms plus the interaction with the viewer is very appealing to me. In music I love jazz and fusion (a mix of jazz, blues, rock, etc.) which definitely ties in with my artistic tastes. Music and art are so alike … expressing with sound or with a visual medium … it’s really the same thing to me. Angular lines, smooth curves, splashes and crashes of sound or color; creating moods and feelings; saying something. To me, music is art, art is music. Your palette used through your digital medium is clear and clean. Is this by design? I would say yes. I think part of being an artist is to know what you like … what you’re after. Much of what I do is experimental but there is a guiding force that leads me to final composition and effect. I don’t really know why I’m so drawn to the etched look in printmaking. I love the detail but also there is a gritty, metallic earthiness that happens in the etching process that intrigues me and pulls me in. I also love the inkiness of the colors of that type Fine Art Magazine • Spring 2017 • 31

Eruption of Color

of art. There is a part of me that loves detail … but also a part that relates to big explosive free form expression … especially in colors. Another aspect is the unexpected things that happen in the mechanical process of printmaking.The acid eating at the metal and the artifacts that this leaves on the paper. All of this attracts and influences me and I think is visible in my work with the use of a digital medium. What story are the works telling? I consider my work abstract and free form not really trying to depict a thing but rather a feeling – really raw and emotional – with the process being an important part of the end product. The titles really come afterward as a possible description of the outcome and to help me recall and talk about a particular piece. The works appear to roll out of a differing spatial experience. “Experiment” looks like a Praying Mantis to me. Is there an underlying vision you’re expressing in this one? Do you see the complete expression in your mind as a statement (like a vision) for a work prior to creating the piece? Or do you form a compositional statement extrapolated from experiences you translate into color and form? The way I would describe my process of creating is playful experimentation; letting things happen and subconsciously releasing memories, feelings and experiences. Really, I’m just playing. 32 • Fine Art Magazine • Spring 2017

Abstract Multi

Michael Monarch n Legendary Guitarist, Visionary Artist By JAMIE ELLIN FORBES Michael Monarch’s work offers a pathway toward fluid movement, connecting a remembrance of rhythmic forms floating under light with color composed stating the artist’s creative intent. A new pallet of digitally organized tools, realize Monarch’s works technically outside the scope and capacity of the traditional medium to achieve his distinctive contemporary art style. The grid of the universe displayed in splashes and layers composed a freshly formed vision of impression within a digital art pallet which keystone Monarchs images. Works created by the new media permit a change in curve or line with contemplated exact precision offering a perceptual difference for the viewer. Senses are challenged to synthesize hearing in addition to seeing color and form when combine as composition. The artist’s abstracted impressions convey a remote story emerging from the far reaches of a universal minds-eye to deliver a non-linear visual experience as compositional works executed in the new medium of digital painting. Achieved via Monarch’s inflection of beat is his invitation to enter the free-form world of experimentation within digital medium. The expertise to paint digitally requires mastery of expression within the mechanics of the computer in combination with artistic imagination. Eluding or impressing line joining form within the works previously unknown in traditional media invite one into a spatially contingent experience observed as the work takes part in the now. As a feeling, Monarch’s perception of his creative idea can be absorbed as beads of water impacting or taking formation – spilling out. He is arranging the colored swirls and droplets against a background newly imagined as possible; always there and present simultaneously anew within each artwork. With spontaneity, Jackson Pollock splashed his paint, like watercolor hitting the canvas without order. When taken a step further, color is set free digitally. The impact or burst of energy injected is perceived very differently, for example, in “Abstract.” A path to the surreal without form suggested in “Experiment” reveals a subconscious origin of an idea awaiting communication, all the while maintaining a distinct ebb and flow woven within the color to create a semblance of a patterned idea, which the artist has directed compositionally. Monarch takes the viewer

Explosion

for a walk into the hinterlands of a universal landscape to deliver within the context of his work a mood and visuality reminiscent of Matta, Keel, Kandinsky, Miro, Picasso and the masterful 20th century Abstract Expressionists. Their influences newly imagined though the computer offers an infinite opportunity. Within the context of the Abstract Expressionists’ explosions of color filaments drifting like illuminated dancing forms moving through space with a destination in mind. Although random in the dispersion, there is an exactness to work driving to identify with Monarch’s intent. The energy force and color combined in “Eruption of Color” is not chaotic, though complex and sometimes very busy combinations of color and rhythm resonate within the plain of view cohesively. The dynamic movement captured in “Explosion,” and “Eruption of Color ” is pure Monarch. He melds line, color and objects seamlessly in digital compositions as

an overall aesthetic. One associates the art statement as uplifting in feeling. Michael Monarch brings his musical expertise to recognize and achieve his internal autonomous artistic statement with a developed awareness of style, form and function. Plus, he was a superstar in a revolutionary band (Steppenwolf), an accomplishment he achieved as in his art – with balance, great composition and a confidence enhanced by personal skill and plenty of practice. As free-formed as the works are, a disciplined execution of compositional abstract experience are evident in his visionary images. Digital art is a new medium in use by artists experimenting without limits employing the rich texture of color and compositional theory in a context waiting to be uniquely realized. Monarch maximizes his discoveries as opportunity to be found within his experimentations as curious, playful, diverse and just fun to view and explore – a world, familiar and unique – shared with his audience. Fine Art Magazine • Spring 2017 • 33

PHOTO BY JAMIE ELLIN FORBES

Our Landscape, a Changing Fauna and Flora: Artists as Back Yard Environmentalists “Witnessing the Abuse”

Photo by Jamie Ellin Forbes, from her backyard on the creek

The Ketcham Inn Foundation and the SunStorm Arts Gallery of Center Morichess, NY, are hosting an exhibition calling to action artists to participate in an environmental interactive art dialogue. Artists will be asked to develop works that focus on issues and solutions caused by pollution, using media of their choice. “The Ketcham Inn Foundation and SunStorm Art Gallery will focus our exhibition on the effects of toxic dumping on our wetlands, pine barrens, and natural artesian well water systems. Long Island Pine Barrens and wetlands provide drinking water and animal habitat we all appreciate, share and need to support,” commented Bertram Seiden, President of the historic Foundation. Adds Gallery Director/Backyard Environmentalist Jamie Ellin Forbes, “Long Island has lost many species along our beautiful and once pristine shoreline, wetlands and countryside. Chipmunks, turtles, bees, butterflies, horseshoe crabs and other wildlife were once easily seen. The Milk thistle, wild flax and other flowers provided a food chain to support animal and insect diversity enriching our natural environment. The exhibition will focus on what is slipping away and our need to take action.” Videos will record each artist’s reaction to the distress caused by toxic dumping in our environment. The videos will be streamed on the BackYardEnviornmentalists.com site. For further information, contact jamie@fineartmagazine.com (631) 339-0152 or Bert Seides (631) 878-1855. Page 34 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

Jamie Ellin Forbes, The Backyard Environmentalist

Environmental Stewardship Features New Initiatives at Earth Day Texas Events inspire conversation, participation & community support to help revive ocean health and restore native pollinator habitat

From exploring the global health crisis of mass plastic pollution to learning best practices that help restore native pollinator habitat, this year’s Earth Day Texas featured two brand new innovative environmental initiatives that will ignite discussion, education and community action. “The health of oceans and native pollinator habitat has an overwhelming impact on our everyday lives – affecting farmland and coral reefs, international trade and economic development, just to scratch the surface,” said Jeff Dye “The Earth Day Guy,” who manages environmental stewardship programs at Earth Day Texas. “We feel confident this year’s activities and our two key environmental initiatives can play a meaningful role to increase the level of environmental literacy and inspire action to improve the health of these fragile, vital ecosystems.” Birds, bats, bees, butter flies, beetles, and other small mammals that pollinate plants are responsible for bringing people one out of ever y three bites of food. Today, numerous populations of pollinators are experiencing record habitat lows and need help from the community. Through t h e Po l l i n a t o r Accelerator program, participants can ignite conversations with experts from around the world and learn more about what businesses, consumers, families and communities can do to help. This first new initiative is designed to generate greater citizen and civic support for pollinators and their habitats through engagement, education, networking, awareness, collaboration and participation. Following are a few ways to take specific action: The Citizens’ Pollinator Pledge – Everyday folks learn about how they can make a substantial difference in the environment by promoting pollinator health and native habitat at home and by generating greater awareness to the leadership in each of their cities. The HIVE – Join some of the world’s premier organizations focused on pollinators and native plants. Interactive workshops, demonstrations, products for purchase, a chance to make your own seed ball and so much more! The Butterfly House butterfly release lets newly-emerged butterflies out into the Rosine Smith Sammons Butterfly House at The Texas Discovery Gardens where various species of butterflies from U.S., Africa, El Salvador, Colombia, Philippines and Malaysia can be seen. The National Wildlife Federation’s Mayors’ Monarch Pledge offers pportunities for city officials to participate in Smart Texas Revolution, presented by The Dallas Innovation Alliance, and showcase various communities that have taken the initiative by signing The

National Wildlife Federation’s “Mayors’ Monarch Pledge.” The second new initiative known as Project D.E.E.P., encompassing various elements throughout Fair Park, will create awareness about ocean conservation, ignite productive discussion and encourage a call to action for the everyday citizen with fun ways to get involved such as: The EARTHIKE Challenge with World Oceans Day –From a grassroots perspective, attendees can learn how they can play an active role to support the health of our waterways, oceans and communities at the same time by accepting the challenge to help grab litter & single-use plastic waste while taking “hikes” in their own backyard, without spending a dime. The challenge begins on Ear th Day (April 22nd) and runs through World Oceans Day ( June 8th). EARTHxFilm – Enjoy screenings of key films such as “Plastic Ocean” and “Chasing Coral.” The D.E.E.P. End – Enjoy interactive exhibits from partner organizations, workshops and p a n e l s . We w i l l showcase leading global experts who w i l l i n s p i re a n d educate about the delicate balance of our oceans and what you can do to play a positive role, no matter where you live. “This event is designed to stimulate greater corporate and grassroots support to protect our oceans, from America’s heartland to the coast, through education, networking, collaboration and participation,” added Dye. “You don’t have to live on the coast to make an impact. Everyone can join us to learn about the health of our oceans and make an active commitment to help eliminate single-use plastics that often find their way into our waterways, and eventually, our oceans.As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on environmental education and awareness, Earth Day Texas (EDTx) has created the world’s largest annual forum for sharing the latest initiatives, discoveries, research, innovations, policies and corporate practices that are reshaping the future. Founded in 2011 by Dallasbased environmentalist, philanthropist and businessman Trammell S. Crow, EDTx promotes environmental awareness by curating an atmosphere for conscious business, nonpartisan collaboration and community-driven sustainable solutions. Attendees can also enjoy outdoor experiences, live music, environmentally-themed films and art exhibits, beer and food pavilions, family activities and more. Last year’s EDTx exposition at Fair Park showcased more than 800 exhibitors and 250 speakers, with more than 130,000 attendees enjoying the free, three-day event. For more information, visit http://www.earthdaytx.org. SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 35

ANDREI PROTSOUK In Which The Vacancy of Hope and The Feast of Despair Find A Happy Ending By VICTOR FORBES

Over our 40 years of publishing, we have been in the fortunate position to see the trends as they are happening, before they are gathered into the consciousness of the masses, or even better — the critics and collectors. As Jamie and I sat in Eduard Nakhamkin’s cavernous space on Wooster Street that would soon be teeming with buyers looking to get in on the ground floor of what was certainly to become the next big thing, we listened to Oleg Tselkov (in French translated by Mr. Nakhamkin himself) tell us what he (Oleg) told Brezhnev “I will take my paintings to Red Square and burn Andrei with Ballerinas, 1997, his first Artexpo them in the street if I am not hero in China with his work adorngranted permission to leave for Paris!” In what was the first shot ing the Beijing Opera House. Chfired in the Russian Artists Revolution emiakin’s massive sculptures have of the 80s, the rebels won. Tselkov’s been shown on location in Paris and paintings were monstrous hits in Par- St. Petersburg, so at least for these is and were about to do the same in artists there was redemption in their New York. He was followed quickly lifetime. Before Nakhamkin opened his by Chemiakin, Neizvestny and so many others — the talk of the New first gallery, a champion of RusYork Art World even as Pop and sian underground artists was NorGraffiti were making their mark. ton Dodge. His collection and the Chemiakin’s story, documented in adventures of this professor from Mosaic Press’ two volume tome of Rhode Island getting the art out of the artist’s life, describes in vivid Russia dating back to Khrushchev detail the attachment of electrodes days are amazing. We encounto his gonads with live current. tered him on numerous occasions, Quite the experience for someone even printing some of his books in to undergo just for painting what exchange for art. During this time, he wanted. Then there is the story Andrei Protsouk came to the attenof the Chinese invasion — a wee bit tion of Mr. Dodge and a relationlater — but those artists would talk ship was established. The 1980’s and 1990’s were a about having to burn their paintings overnight so as not to be discovered pivotal era in the young artist’s life. by authorities in the morning. The Politics and culture played a secondmost gifted of that group, Yunan’s ary role to his fervent desire to paint, Ting Shao Kuang, is now a national spawned at the age of five when he Page 36 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

sat beside his father in a room so cold the oil was close to freezing before it was dry. The young lad made a decision then and there that an artist was what he was going to be. Later, he studied at one of the most prestigious art schools in the world, the Repin Imperial Academy. They maintained a zero tolerance policy on artwork produced that depicted any kind of anti-Soviet subject matter, as in behavior and ideas. Some of Andrei’s peers and colleagues were constantly reprimanded by the KGB for producing such work. Andrei was more like the Chinese — producing the artwork in secret out of pure self-expression. He kept these works under wraps, stayed out of trouble and focused on developing his blossoming skills as a painter of the figure. Moving to the United States in 1992, under the watchful eye of his great benefactor, Norton Dodge, he was able to bring his family to the US in 1994 and they have lived here ever since. Within five years, Andrei created enough work in his inimitable style to exhibit at Artexpo. Andrei’s artwork is not just a collection of paintings. They are images that represent a story of an artist and a specific period of time. With imagination, insight, a phenomenal sense of what is both sensual, artistic, humorous and always socially relevant, his latest collection has created remarkable success around the world. Painting over 80 hours a week, Andrei is one of the most prolific artists of the day with over 7,000 original pieces to his credit. His “Fine Line” technique in conjunction with the use of composition and the technical background of his anatomical knowledge of drawing create the dramatic images we have come to love today.

Walking Talking

Manhattan, 72” x 36”, Oil on Canvas

Birds of Pardise

PUBLISHED EXCLUSIVELY BY ART & DESIGN PUBLISHING • 570-476-4407 • art@ArtAndDesignPublishing.com www.ArtAndDesignPublishing.com SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 37

Amour Sar Umbrelle

Le Chapeux du Vine Jaune

Venice

Time Square, 48” x 36”, Oil on Canvas

Published and represented by Art and Design Publishing, Andrei will feature his newest originals, works on paper and exclusive limited editions to galleries, collectors and dealers. Attendees, collectors and gallery owners are invited to meet Andrei at booth #355 on Friday, April 21st to “join our celebration with a Champagne toast!” Page 38 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

At Artexpo 2015 –Marika Protsouk, Victor Forbes, Andrei and son Dennis

Free Ride, 36” x 72”, Oil on Canvas

Chapeau De La Rouge

Demour Le Mour, 14” x 18”, Canvas

Chateau Le Pardise, 16” x 20”, Canvas

Madame Butterfly, 24” x 48”, Canvas

PUBLISHED EXCLUSIVELY BY ART & DESIGN PUBLISHING • 570-476-4407 • art@ArtAndDesignPublishing.com www.ArtAndDesignPublishing.com SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 39

Tiffany’s Glass Mosaics

Architectural Panels, Decorative Objects, and Glass Fragments Reveal This Little-Known Aspect of Tiffany’s Artistry and Innovation

he first exhibition to explore Louis C. Tiffany’s glass mosaics—an extraordinary but little-known aspect of his artistic production—will be presented by The Corning Museum of Glass (CMoG) from May 20, 2017 through January 7, 2018. Tiffany’s Glass Mosaics, organized jointly by CMoG and The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass, will combine works from both collections with important loans and specially designed digital displays to reveal how Tiffany’s mosaics reflected his studio’s artistry and innovation.

translucencies, along with a selection of glass “jewels,” all used in Tiffany’s mosaics. Four different zones on the worktable delve into the innovative glass production undertaken at Tiffany’s furnaces to create bespoke glass for mosaic compositions. Through interactive digital monitors and videos, visitors can explore the variety of glass used to create two of Tiffany’s major commissions, The Dream Garden (The Curtis Center & Dream Garden, Philadelphia) and Jacques Marquette’s Expedition (Marquette Building, Chicago). This unique display will underscore the complexity and masterful execution of Tiffany’s mosaics. “Although Louis C. Tiffany is best known for his pioneering leaded glass windows and lamps, his mosaics are the culmination of his experimentation and artistry in glass,” said Lindsy Parrott, director and curator at The Neustadt and co-curator of Tiffany’s Glass Mosaics. “Indeed, the mosaics represent an exciting synthesis of his work in both leaded and blown glass. Using a rich variety of materials, including multicolored opalescent glass and shimmering iridescent glass, accented with three-dimensional glass ‘jewels,’Tiffany established a bold new aesthetic for mosaics and contributed a uniquely American character to the centuries-old art form.” The exhibition will also highlight the role of Tiffany’s turnof-the-20th-century showrooms, where he presented the finest examples of the company’s completed work for clients and the public. Walking into the exhibition, visitors will see one of the grand mosaic columns made for the company’s showrooms in New York City. They can peruse the luxurious mosaic fancy goods, lamps, and decorative panels that originally adorned the grand new private residences built by American financiers and industrialists.

Detail of frieze, Jacques Marquette’s Expedition, 1895

This is the first time that a broad range of Tiffany’s mosaics and prepatory materials have been displayed together. The exhibition will feature nearly 50 works dating from the 1890s the 1920s, from intimately-scaled mosaic fancy goods designed for use in the home to large-scaleTiffany glass from The Neustadt’s glass archive. Architectural mosaics still in situ will be presented in a specially-created “Mosaic Theater,” in which multiple high-definition monitors will showcase CMoG’s exciting new photography of these works. “We are thrilled to partner with The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass on this groundbreaking exhibition. Thanks to the expertise of both of our teams, this important aspect of Tiffany’s work is finally able to be explored in a meaningful way,” said Karol Wight, president and executive director of CMoG. “The history of glass mosaics extends back more than 3,000 years, and the permanent collection at CMoG is the perfect backdrop for contextualizing the work undertaken by Tiffany’s firm, which popularized this technique in the United States.” Visitors will have a chance to explore the process behind the creation of Tiffany’s mosaics—from the beginning when detailed watercolor studies were presented to the client, to the creation of small sample panels used to guide glass selection for specific commissions. CMoG will bring to life the atmosphere of Tiffany’s workrooms with large-scale murals of historic photos and a rich display of extant Tiffany glass drawn from The Neustadt’s collection. The exhibition will include racks of Tiffany’s sheet glass and a 16’ x 4’ worktable that features remarkable examples in an extraordinary array of color combinations, textures, patterns and Page 40 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

“Streaky” sheet glass, Tiffany Furnaces, Corona, New York.

“Tiffany’s successful combination of art and business coincided with the rapid development of consumer culture in the United States,” said Kelly Conway, curator of American glass at CMoG and co-curator of Tiffany’s Glass Mosaics. “His impressive New York City showrooms and clever, gorgeous displays of the company’s mosaics at world’s fairs, coupled with strategicmarketing, sparked consumer interest and drove demand for glass mosaic luxury objects.” Because many of Tiffany’s most important mosaics

are still installed in their original settings, CMoG’s photography team visited 12 locations in New York State, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Chicago, to capture detailed shots of these artworks. This exciting new photography will be presented in an immersive “Mosaic Theater,” a gallery in the exhibition that will use high-definition monitors to transport visitors to the various mosaic sites. They will be able to experience these mosaics up close and at eye level, in their original architectural settings, and in stunning detail, providing the opportunity for heightened appreciation of the design, glass selection, and craftsmanship. Artworks have been generously loaned by private collectors as well at the Chrysler Museum of Art, Haworth Art Gallery, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, The Rockwell Museum, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Accompanying the exhibition will be hot glass demonstrations focusing on the creation of patterns and textures used in Tiffany’s mosaic designs. “With the curators, Kelly Conway and Lindsy Parrott, we studied some of the glass in The Neustadt’s archive and determined that the surface finishes and color patterns, which we thought were created through rolled or flat glass techniques could, in fact, only be created on a blown vessel form,” said Eric Meek, senior manager of Hot Glass Programs at CMoG. “Scholars who study this material didn’t realize exactly how it was made. It was a fun process of discovery for us all and the kind of collaboration that we love to support at CMoG.”

Panel, The Prayer of the Christian Soldier, 1919. Tiffany Studios, designed by Frederick Wilson

Interior of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Troy, New York, 1891–1893. Tiffany Glass Company or Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company

Visitors will be able to watch the Hot Glass Demo Team make patterned glass like Tiffany might have requested for a mosaic commission. The team will blow cylindrical vessels, flatten them, and then cut out specific sections. A display in the Amphitheater Hot Shop will tell the story of the process used to make the murrine flowers for The Dream Garden mosaic. Murrine refers to patterns or images made in glass cane that are revealed when cut into cross-sections. In the exhibition, visitors can select portions of a mosaic at an easel—just like glass selectors at Tiffany’s studios, or they participate in the Make Your Own Glass experience to create a mosaic to take home. Visitors will be able to piece together their choice of iridescent, translucent, or opaque glass pieces to create a Tiffany-inspired butterfly mosaic, which The Studio will then fuse together. Tiffany ’s Glass Mosaics will be accompanied by a new publication presenting the most comprehensive documentation and analysis of Tiffany’s glass mosaics to date. The volume advances scholarship in the field, offering new perspectives for readers at all levels of expertise. Authors include the co-curators Conway and Parrott; Elizabeth J. De Rosa, independent curator; Natalie Z. Peters, independent art historian; Jennifer Perry Thalheimer, curator and collection manager, Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art; and Karol B. Wight, president and executive director, CMoG. The appendix was meticulously researched and compiled by Morgan T. Albahary, curatorial and collection assistant, The Neustadt. The landmark book is richly illustrated with new photography of Tiffany’s most celebrated mosaic commissions, including

The Dream Garden in the Curtis Center in Philadelphia and Jacques Marquette’s Expedition in Chicago’s Marquette Building. Double page spreads show extant mosaics in situ and allow readers to see vivid details of the works for the first time. The publication also includes important archival material and contextual photographs from major museums, libraries, and private collections in the United States and Europe. A comprehensive appendix of all of Tiffany’s known public, ecclesiastical, and residential mosaic commissions serves as both a reference for researchers and a guide for anyone interested in visiting extant Tiffany mosaics.

Panel, Fathers of the Church, about 1892. Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company, designed by Joseph Lauber SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 41

Select works from the John and Mary Lou Paxton Collection, Nevada Museum of Art

In Honor of the Paxtons Nevada Museum of Art Celebrates Family’s Legacy

evada Museum of Art personnel were deeply saddened by the sudden loss of actor Bill Paxton in February of this year. First introduced to the Nevada Museum of Art, Donald W. Reynolds Center for the Visual Arts, E. L. Wiegand Gallery in 2003, Paxton and his parents, John and Mary Lou Paxton, became steadfast friends with the cultural institution’s curators and executive staff. In 2006, John and Mary Lou promised a bequest of their art collection to the Museum. To honor the couple’s generosity, that same year the Museum mounted an exhibition and produced a catalogue entitled Selections from the John and Mary Lou Paxton Collection. John Paxton passed away in 2011, and Mary Lou in 2016. The official announcement of the realized bequest was to be made later this year at the Museum

Larry Bell, DCF 35, 1978 Vapor drawing on paper, 29” x 23” Page 42 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

during a special celebration with Bill Paxton, following a spring exhibition of his parents’ collection. The John and Mary Lou Paxton Collection: A Gift for the Nevada Museum of Art opened on February 26, one day after Bill’s untimely passing, and will remain on view through June 4, 2017 at the Nevada Museum of Art, Donald W. Reynolds Center for the Visual Arts, E. L. Wiegand Gallery located at 160 West Liberty Street in downtown Reno. The John and Mary Lou Paxton Collection showcases a life-long collecting passion, spanning a variety of international as well as regional artists. Works by American artists Nathan Oliviera, David Ligare, and Wolf Kahn contrast with the Bauhausinspired works of Herbert Bayer and the minimal abstractions of American painter Frederick Hammersley. These abstract works balance against the Paxtons’ interest in art of the American Southwest including Fritz Scholder, Jaune Quick-to-See-Smith, and Randy White. “The works…are more than paintings to me; they are my memories of growing up in my parents’ home,” said Bill Paxton in September 2016.

Growing up in Missouri in the 1940s, John Paxton became fascinated with art when famous American Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton moved in next door. The Paxtons and Bentons became fast friends; John even posed for Benton in the painting Shipping Out (1942) now in the collection of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. In the 1950s, John and Mary Lou moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where John joined the board of the Fort Worth Art Museum and the couple began to build their intensely personal collection of contemporary art. After moving to the San Diego area in 1980, the Paxtons continued to visit galleries, often meeting and becoming friends with the artists whose works they collected. The lifelong pursuit resulted in a significant collection ranging from representational paintings to abstract pieces. The relationship between the Paxtons and the Nevada Museum of Art began in 2003, and grew from a shared affinity for and interest in the West. Visiting Reno several times over the years, the Paxtons became impressed by the Museum’s

John and Mary Lou Paxton, 2006

Bill Paxton, actor

Fritz Scholder, Isolated Indian, 1970, Oil on canvas, 60 1/2” x 47 1/2”

collections, the Reno community and the Will Bruder-designed facility that pays homage to the northern Nevada landscape. Over the past decade, the Nevada Museum of Art was fortunate to develop a close friendship with the Paxton family. “While the Museum mourns the loss of this lovely couple and their son, we celebrate John and Mary Lou’s thoughtful and generous gift to the Nevada Museum of Art and our community,” said David B. Walker, Nevada Museum of Art executive director and CEO. The John and Mar y Lou Paxton Collection: A Gift for the Nevada Museum of Art will be on view through June 4, 2017 at the Nevada Museum of Art, Donald W. Reynolds Center for the Visual Arts, E. L. Wiegand Gallery, located at 160 West Liberty Street in downtown Reno’s Liberty District. This exhibition is presented in memoriam of Bill Paxton (1955 – 2017).

Select works from the John and Mary Lou Paxton Collection, Nevada Museum of Art

Larry Bell - In the 1950s and 60s, Bell helped establish a uniquely west coast strain of Minimalist art known as Finish Fetish, which fused elements of New York Minimalism and Pop art. Bell’s fearless and eager experimentation with slick, highly finished surfaces, metallic paints and the optical effects of light helped to define this emerging style.

Nathan Oliveira, Sea Bird, 1959, Oil on canvas, 38 1/2” x 35”

Luis A. Jiménez, Jr., Demolition Derby, 1971, Pencil and chalk on paper, 26” x 40”

Fritz Scholder - A Native American artist, Scholder developed a new style of representing American Indians that was devoid of the clichéd imagery of Indians as “noble savages” so common in western art. Instead, Scholder worked to represent Indian people as “real, not red”—a motivation that led critics and artists to regard Scholder as a leader of what is today called the “new realism” movement in Indian Art of the 1960s. Nathan Oliveira - The figures in Oliveira’s paintings and prints maintain a solitary, yet dominant, presence within vast fields of color. Oliveira’s figures are often described as “estranged” and “isolated,” successfully capturing the inexplicable psychological space—both saddening and empowering— that surrounds human and animal existence. Luis A. Jiménez, Jr. - Jiménez intentionally evokes the stereotypes and popular imagery of the Chicano culture to elevate everyday people and events to heroic proportions. His artwork offers a re-examination of cultural clichés and presents a revisionist look at the mythology of the American West. Jiménez combines the influences of Mexican and Mexican-American traditions, Chicano culural icons, and Western popular culture, and blends them into a distinctive style that reflects his Southwestern roots. SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 43

“Fun, fantastic and inspiring photo shoot with the amazing Yogi Nora who becomes as fluid and graceful as the water itself.” – Rick Garcia, photo

Rick Garcia: A Spirit Redefined “My journey as a creative being has guided me to embrace the spiritual lifestyle of meditation and yoga. These disciplines have awakened my visual awareness of the elements of life which inspired my ‘Colors of OM’ series,” says Rick Garcia. It’s a long way from his early successes on Miami Vice the hit TV show which commissioned him to create a mural, practically overnight, on the side of a three story building, and used his paintings for interior shots. This was followed by Absolut Electric, Rick’s contribution to Michel Roux’s world famous campaign for Absolut Vodka and numerous commissions in the music world—Grammy posters and guitars painted for Gibson. His most recent work on guitars was painting a 1954 Gibson Les Paul reissue for The Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame and a 50th Anniversary issue of the Gibson SG for CANCER RESEARCH U.K. Rick’s interest in Cuba (he was born in Miami to Cuban parents) blossomed about eight years ago when his focus became absorbed into creating a body of work using iconic images from a nostalgic era there. “I have an abundance of inspiration and admiration for Cuba, where colors, cars, textures, music and the people are behind the creative output of these works. Abstracts were light years away from ever being part of my collection where now I have a profound joy and respect in creating this form of art. Abstraction has unveiled an awareness I have never experienced in creating a painting, which is painting in the “now,” which is a mirror to my spiritual “Pure poetry and art in one fluid shot!” Page 44 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

40th Grammys Poster, 18 x 24

Cuba Rum

“Nature is a center of fascination for me. It’s all magical. Pure, real, endlessly mind blowing.”

“Water, like sky, are both always in action; never repeating a pattern.”

“End of a photo shoot, coconut tree chill out, lovin’ the tropics, gorgeous morning on Key Biscayne. Move on to make more art.”

“Waiting for Dad” photo taken in Camaguey, Cuba. Just a picture I like of a child waiting by a bicycle for her Dad outside of a store. While people traffic on foot, bicycles and cars passed by, she patiently waited and observed. The composition of six straight angles and one circle in this photo grab me. #Cuba #Camaguey #child #bicycle SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 45

40th Grammys Poster

“A very lovely surprise arrived from my artist friend Nancy Reyner in Santa Fe. She authored an art book: “Create Perfect Paintings” and it features five of my paintings. I am so grateful to be included in this book since I regard her knowledge of every aspect about creating art to be stellar. Her original paintings take time to view because each one is so stunning and absorbing.”

practice. My favorite meditation includes a blank sheet of paper to begin drawing slowly allowing an image to emerge “I have always had a special bond with water and now with my photography, the connection has changed dramatically to where I can understand more fully the power of a higher source.” www.rickgarcia.com Page 46 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

Hatter

Rick with Sheryl Crow

Jerry Garcia - collaborating with legendary photographer, Baron Wolman, Rick created this limited edition.

Rick Garcia’s classic Absolut ad.

At the height of the Artexpo era, Rick was with Arica Hilton’s Golden Pearls publishing. She is pictured above with Benihana of Tokyo restaurant chain founder Rocky Aoki and his Rolls Royce, painted by Rick. Rocky then gave Rick complete creative control to design a sushi restaurant in Miami Beach. Along with sculpgtor Bruce Hanners, they built and installed an 1800 sq. ft octopus designed by Rick to be the massive ceiling light fixture to hung over this cutting edge design. Ms. Hilton now heads HiltonAsmus Contemporary in Chicago where Rick is on the roster of represented artists. SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 47

The ‘Feel Good Art’ of Ben Bonart

LOVE HEART

From 1987 thru 2010, BEN BONART worked in the creative directing and design capacity with companies such as Pizza Hut, Canon, ExxonMobil, Black & Decker, Du Pont, ESPN, Warner Communications, General Mills, Smithsonian, AT&T, A&P, Emerson, JC Penny, Walmart, Wendy’s, Amazon and Target. Starting with movement and playing with materials, he is alert to what sparks his interest, — always a surprise — and then translating his BROOKLYN BRIDGE LIGHTHOUSE excitement into a feast for viewers. “I look for an ‘aaaah’ response,” says the artist, “Neither overdone nor timid.” Bonart’s paintings have evolved by his observations of varied expressions of beauty: natural and human-made wonders, from petals of flowers, to stars reflected in a river below, to skewed lines of elements as varied as the Brooklyn Bridge and the American flag. Page 48 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

SUNSET SAIL

“The Expression of Pure Joy”

“Creating charms its creator, which comes through in each creation. My art is a combination of chance and deliberation. I want the viewer to get lost in the imagery, to feel a freedom to peek into a world that radiates vibrations of hues that evoke the expression of pure joy. My process is dynamic, interactive and expansive, creating compelling art that delights the eye, ignites the spirit and works with surrounding elements to BEN BONART tie together and enhance its space, whether a product, a room, a garden or a city block. Color, form and light mutually relate creating something new and better. Feel good art absorbs the energy around me and transmits it to others.”

MUSEUM MASTERS INTERNATIONAL

352 Montauk Highway, Watermill, NY 11976 • mmimarilyn@aol.com Marilyn Goldberg (001) 631-353-3107 / Cell: 917-271-8710

Museum Masters presents Tamara de Lempicka and Mucha exhibitions at Hangaram Museum in Seoul, Korea

Marilyn Goldberg address the crowd at the opening reception of the “Tamara de Lempicka” exhibition, SAC Seoul Art Center Hangaram Museum.

Mr. Daily of David Korea and Sponsor Mr. Sa Jin Parks and Marilyn Goldberg Pres. Museum Masters Iinternational at December opening of Tamara de Lempicka exhibition at Hangaram Museum of Seoul Art Center.

Marisa Doporto (great grandaughter of Lempicka), Marilyn Goldberg, VIP visitor Alphonse Mucha’s Grandson, at Mucha Opening, Ann Paddy Detroit Fine Art Collector

Marisa Doporto with Marilyn Goldberg and Korean Curators and promoters with YJ Communications Seoul, Korea.

Polish diplomats, South Korean Government officials and Marilyn Goldberg at Hangaram Museum unveiling ceremony at de Lempicka exhibition.

“Art is the expression of innermost feelings, spiritual needs.” Page 50 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

DAVID MARTINE Setting the Record Straight On the Values & Contributions Of Native American Artists David Martine is an artist, writer and educator living and working on the east end of Long Island, New York and raised on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation in Southampton. While at the University of Oklahoma he studied fine arts – painting, printmaking and sculpture in the 1970’s. At the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico he studied further the fine arts especially sculpture while also being trained in museum exhibition techniques, curatorial work and collections management. He concluded his arts training at the University of Central Oklahoma studying educational psychology and teacher training in fine arts. Museum curatorial work and education has formed a large portion of his career to the present. His work, primarily painting in oil, has been centered mainly around historical narrative realism based on Native American genre scenes, commissioned portraiture as well has large scale historical murals and multi-media sculpture throughout the 1980-90’s. While utilizing more traditional media throughout his career rather than digital technology and prints, Martine has created a body of work that has contributed to a revival and strengthening of cultural knowledge of his ethnic heritage, that of the Shinnecock Indian historical renaissance in material culture and accuracy which has contributed to accurate rendering in traditional arts and indigenous technologies. Examples of these arts would be the practice of traditional basket-making, traditional domestic living quarters and water-craft construction, varying native weaving methodologies as well as graphic depictions of historical activities such as whaling, farming, fishing, and fabricating ceramic ware and cultivating various foods. All of these activities have been thoroughly documented in his artwork and mural scenes in his own work as well as in museum permanent exhibition installations. This kind of cultural work led to working at the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution as a collections technician. It also led to his work as Director and Curator of the Shinnecock Nation Cultural Center and Museum from the 1990’s to the 2000’s. This kind of institutional work allows the application of educational practices, exhibition design and art, as well as multi-media object

fabrication and three-dimensional fabrication of installations as well as two and three dimensional art pieces. It has also informed his research and application of such knowledge in his personal work and visual art pieces. Applying the museum training, Martine was again engaged in working with Native American traditional arts and objects from hundreds of tribes across the Western Hemisphere. This experience hands on with historical objects of great value and cultural purpose, further informed his work with the Native American genre of history as well as his work as an educator, sharing culture and historical traditions with thousands of school children, adults and teachers who at the museum where he worked. Work as an educator and artist in the museum field concentrating on Native American and historical research has informed Martine’s writing and essays. Through collaborations with a former Professor of American and Native American history from Long Island University, Dr. John Strong, Martine has developed an interest in non-fiction writing, historical interpretation, and art criticism as well as book illustration. Martine was engaged in several book illustration projects during the 1990’s to 2000’s before he seriously engaged in his own writing projects. This eventually led Martine to self-publish a 450 page family oral history book which is available through lulu.com. This book the culmination of years of oral history research and recorded interviews is a history entitled: “Time and Memories: Histories and Stories of a Shinnecock, Apache, and Hungarian Family”. The book contains dozens of photographs and recorded verbatim interviews of family members with stories going back to the early 19th century, including stories of his grandfather, Charles Martine, Jr. who was an Apache Indian held as a prisoner-of-war with Geronimo at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, from Sept. 1886 until 1913. Work with AMERINDA, American Indian Artists, Inc. and as Director and Curator at the Shinnecock Nation Cultural

Rauschenberg portrait

Center and Museum has enabled Martine to develop curatorial projects and interests in Native American art criticism as well as develop his writing skills, mainly in grant writing and essays. AMERINDA, American Indian Artist’s, Inc. of New York City, the only Native American, multi-arts services organization of its kind in the United States has been the largest exponent of the continued vitality of the New York Native American Contemporary Art Movement since the drastic downsizing of the American Indian Community House (AICH). In the visual arts area AMERINDA serves as a catalyst for the continued vitality of the New York Contemporary Native American Arts Movement which begin in the 1920’s and consists of visual and performing arts in all fields. Created in 1987, American Indian Artists Inc. AMERINDA works to empower Native Americans, break down barriers, and foster intercultural understanding and appreciation for Native American culture. Through a variety of arts programs and services to artists, AMERINDA supports Native artists who embody the traditional practices and values that define Indian culture. We also promote the indigenous perspective in the arts to a broad audience through the creation of new work in contemporary art forms – visual, performing, literary and media arts. David Martine was one of those artists whose participation in some of the visual arts exhibitions in an art collective called Rider with No Horse. The title of this group meant that the opportunities for Native American contemporary artists in New York City were severely limited because of stereotyping and misunderstanding by gallery owners and critics as to what is Native American Art – traditional “folk” arts or contemporary non-objective, visual SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 51

“Bob’s Fish House, Interior, Captiva Island, Fl.” Robert Rauschenberg Residency, 2015 Acrylic on canvas

art. The exhibitions curated by movement founding curator, Lloyd R. Oxendine (Lumbee), began to define on a national basis the current degrees of acceptance and recognition of Native American contemporary artists that had not seen popularity since the late 1960’s – 1970’s. Older generations of artists formed the New York Movement in Contemporary Native Arts from the 1930’s to the present.. Martine received the Andy Warhol Foundation Fellowship for Research, 2012, for the first major exhibition to describe the basis behind the existence of the New York Movement of Contemporary Native American arts as well as promote that work to a higher level of recognition to a general audience. This vital Movement was finally recognized and strengthened by the mounting of the first major exhibition to demonstrate the existence of the movement. “The Old Becomes the New: New York Contemporary Native American Art Movement and the New York School curated by Martine was held at the Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba, New York City, on April 3 – June 2, 2013. Martine wrote the exhibition catalogue for that Page 52 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

exhibition. The theme of this exhibition was to recognize the cross-fertilization between contemporary Native American visual artists and some members of the New York School of Abstract Expressionists and Pop-artists and vise-a-versa; as well as to show some members of the New York Native American veteran artists on the same wall as members of the New York School to show their mutual connections and affinities. Martine also received two Joan Mitchell Awards for the mounting of the exhibitions. David Bunn Martine successfully completed the first year of a two-year research fellowship (2012-13) from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts for research, associated travel, writing and the selection process in preparation for the publication: “No Reservation” New York Contemporary Native American Art Movement”, by David Bunn Martine, Edited by Jennifer Tromski, and Foreword by Dore Ashton. This 259 page book is the follow up publication to the groundbreaking “No Reservation” art exhibition at Kenkeleba. The book contains interviews of the Movements founding curators and

writers, G. Peter Jemison, (Heron-Clan Seneca), Sara Sense (Chitimacha) and Kathleen Ash-Milby (Navajo), as well as Muriel Miguel, Founding Director of Spiderwoman Theater, and Film-maker, Diane Fraher (Osage) as well as biographies of most of the Movements visual artists and performing artists. Because of the nature of the development of the Native American contemporary art movement in New York and forces of opposition to such a movement, cultural and political forces are described which show how the visual and performing arts inspired and reinforced each other in their respective genres, cultural and political forces informed their similarities more than the design or plastic, aesthetic influences or characteristics. Some of the artists that made up this movement were very well known and others less well known. In the performing arts Will Rogers (Cherokee) who performed at the Ziegfeld Follies in the 1920’s is one of the icons of the era as well as Maria Tallchief (Osage) American’s first Prima Ballerina. Native American theater as well as visual arts began in New York. In the visual arts there is Leon Polk Smith (Cherokee) whose

“Writing Refuge, Robert Rauschenberg Residency, Captiva Island, Fl.” 2015 Acrylic on canvas.

work presaged the creation of Minimalism and also Jaune-Quick-to-See Smith who is a painter and Curator is one of the most well recognized Native American woman visual artists working today. Spiderwoman Theater, the world’s oldest Native American feminist theater began in the mid-1970’s and represents avant-garde theater at its best. Martine organized a research process consisted of establishing an advisory board with the following members: Elizabeth W. Hutchinson, Assistant Professor of Art History-Barnard College, NY; Nancy Marie Mithlo(Chiricahua Apache), Assistant Professor of Art-University of Wisconsin, Madison WI; Distinguished art historian and critic, Dore Ashton, Professor of Art-Cooper Union, NY; G. Peter Jemison (Heron Clan-Seneca), Artist and Former Curator-American Indian Community House Gallery/Museum, NY and; Diane Fraher(Osage/Cherokee), Founder and Director of AMERINDA and participant in the New York Contemporary Native American Arts Movement. Research consisted of meetings and interviews with the advisory board and study of various publications regarding the intellectual basis for establishing a New York movement in contemporary Native Art. In addition to

G. Peter Jemison, interviews were held with most of former curators of the American Indian Community House Galler y/ Museum, NY including: Katherine AshMilby(Diné) and Sara Sense(Chitimacha/ Choctaw). A m a n u s c r i p t f o r p u b l i c a t i on describing the New York Contemporary Native Art Movement and the New York School, how it relates to the other Native American art movements in the United States, post-modernism in Native American art and also further description of the theme of cross-influences from Native Artist to Non-Native Artist and vice-versa has been written. The manuscript includes information from personal interviews of people who knew the principles directly, as well as scholars who have analyzed this very subject, interviews with early artists of the movement and an analysis of the current artists working in New York as to their imagery and how it relates to Native American iconography, style, and working methods. “No Reservation: New York Contemporary Native American Art Movement” is published in 2017 and will be distributed by Artbooks. One of the reasons for Martine’s interest in writing about art and especially Native

American contemporary art in New York City is because Native Americans and their art have not received genuine equitable and fair support for the New York Movement of Contemporary Native American Art which is the only major Native American arts movement outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is largely under-recognized. AMERINDA is publishing a book highlighting that history both from the visual and performing arts standpoint. From the visual arts standpoint we have veterans Leon Polk-Smith and Jaune Quick-to-see Smith have not been recognized with the same enthusiasm as have the icons of the abstract expressionist schools, even though many of these founders of the contemporary art movements were inspired by indigenous design esthetic. Even if Native American influences were recognized, critics from outside the culture have defined Native American arts many times in a distorted or inaccurate manner. So many times the only recourse for the Native American artist is to perhaps have their work discussed or critiqued by a Native American curator, so that there can be a semblance of equitable appreciation and theoretical understanding of the work, so that the work can take its rightful place among the various canons of western art. SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 53

Chelsea N. Nassib

TAPPAN EMERGES TO HELP THE EMERGING

“We are defined by the investment we make in our artists.” Born out of the desire to reinvent the art buying experience, Tappan was founded by 28-year-old entrepreneur/innovartor Chelsea N. Nassib whose modern approach to supporting artists and educating new buyers is poised to capture the audience of the future in a 60 billion dollar a year industry. “We’re a group of storytellers ,” she says, “creating insight and connection between our artists and their collectors.” Straddling both the online and physical realms, Tappan seeks to make art comfortable, approachable and accessible to all. After Chelsea graduated with a Masters in Fine Art degree, she found few resources in place that would help support artists as they pursued a career in the arts. “There was a huge gap in the market both for supporting young artists and giving collectors an impressive selection of original work created by those young artists.” Seeking to bridge that gap, Chelsea started her company in 2012 with a mission to discover and invest in the careers of today’s best emerging artists. Tappan has grown into a vibrant e-commerce platform with curatorial services for corporate and personal collectors, while operating a gallery/artist-in-residency studio. Continues Chelsea, “Tappan proudly represents and fosters the careers of artists including photographer Gia Coppola, painter Jonni Cheatwood, Dana Veraldi of DEERDANA, sculptor Luke Chiswell, painter Andru Sisson and many others in a continued pursuit to make the art-buying experience less intimidating, and more transparent. We’re dedicated to emerging fine art and bringing it back as the foundation of the common conversation.” As Tappan continues its journey to connect artists to buyers, it has attracted clients such as Miranda Kerr & Evan Spiegel, Page 54 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017

Usher, Tory Burch, Jonah Hill, etc. and has curated collections for companies including St Regis, The Four Seasons, Sweetgreen, Surf Air, Soho House, The Wing, Vince, J. Crew and more to reflect their brand aesthetic with original work. With a new gallery now open in downtown Los Angeles, the Tappan Atelier doubles as gallery space and an artists-in residency program, offering artists free studio time, opening their creative spaces to collectors. “Our brand,” continues Chelsea, “is founded on awareness of the art of our time and educating our community. We seek to share our vision with like-minded companies and their audiences who value creativity and authenticity. DEERDANA is a lifestyle brand and creative collective known best for their T-shirt collections featuring hand-drawn portraits of cultural taste-makers in music, film, fashion, sports, and art. Dana Veraldi is the founder and creative director Kevin Tekinel is a partner. DEERDANA works in various med-iums from painting to collageKevin Tekinel, Dana Veraldi making for brands such as Tory Burch and Trademark to drawing for La Mer and Playboy.

Jay Z sports The Impossible Cool DEERDANA Jean-Michel Basquiat UpscaleHype T-shirt

“We are dedicated to discovering and investing in the careers of today’s best emerging artsts.”

Silkscreen printer DANIEL FLETCHER joined Tappan this spring, bringing an impressive body of original silkscreen prints and an eye for perfection in the details. Fletcher's silkscreens are rooted in a desire to create an emotion or feeling through the personification of marks and form. The works’ ability to disguise this emotion beneath an accessible, representational language allows a viewer to interact with the pieces on multiple levels. He debuted with his silkscreen series “Feels.”

– Chelsea N. Nassib

Brazilian NY-based artist ALICE QUARESMA brings a particular style of work to Tappan that bridges the gap between photography and collage. While pushing the confines of photography, she continues to explore the physical aspects of photo-making, as she uses images from her personal photo archive to elaborate on ideas of displacement and identity. She uses her own life experience as an individual living in a foreign country and the difficulty of finding a personal identity as a major source of inspiration. “I am letting subjective decisions exist in my work the same way we deal with the unexpected in life,” explains Quaresma. “Lately, I have been calling my artwork ‘photo-objects’. With these, I am bringing volume, texture and the idea of time as a mutated condition to the work.”

Since she was very young, CAROLINE DENERVAUD has been exploring the ways that movement can convey intrinsic emotions. Dancing and allowing herself to accept natural bodily motion has been a prominent part of her life and has become the foundation of her expansive practice, which includes several media - performance, video, paintings and collage. Through Denervaud’s performance she creates marks - marks of movement, marks of time, marks of emotions. Referring to herself as an “explorer” or “researcher”, Denervaud approaches her work with an observatory eye, as filming herself experiencing the process has become an integral part of her creative work. Born in Lausanne, Denervaud studied contemporary dance, movement analysis and choreography at the Laban Center in London, as well as Fine Arts at Beaux-Arts de Paris, as well as the Sudio Berçot. SunStorm/Fine Art • Spring 2017 • Page 55

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