ART & LIFE 2017 SA.E.DA EDITORS
Following Chagall’s Tracks a project of Salvatore Costantino
Chagall M., The Birthday, 1915 (front cover)©
Chagall M., The Blue Fiddler, 1947 (retro cover)©
© SA.E.DA EDITORS
realized by F.A.W.A. - ITALY 2018
PROJECT dated 2017: Prof. Dr. Dr. S. Costantino 0039.388.8333.554 profcostantino.fineart@gmail.com
http://costantinoartcritic.xoom.it
CONTENTS
O’BRIEN, p. 9 MCKINLEY, p. 15 GÖǦDÜN, p. 21 BLEIJI, p. 29 MENNO VOS, p. 39 THÉLIN, p. 47 BIAGINI, p. 55 WEI YAN, p. 59 PETROSYAN, p. 65 TEMÍN, p. 73 SMAJS, p. 77
$&L 4
A&L 5
A&L 6
Presentation This is not a book about Chagall’s artworks, but a tribute to the skills of eleven contemporary painters and sculptors, to whom I wish good luck and to achieve great fame and notoriety. To say the truth, these artists are all well known to the Italian and European public. Some are also known in the Americas. So we must explain that Chagall is for us not only a symbol, an emblem, but also a model to be inspired by. Who more than Chagall has combined Art and Life? Chagall is love: love for art, for his wife, for life, for Nature in toto. The wonderful eleven artists, which you will find listed in the following pages, are those who in our judgment have interpreted their profession of painting and sculpting with a great humility and intelligence, which leads them to be today model for other artists but also for many young people, who follow in their footsteps. These men and women did not ask for money, they did not pay much attention to hard jobs and works, but they achieved great results in the most human (but less “economically useful�) field, the more spiritual that can exist. There is a beautiful poem by Baudelaire that speaks of lighthouses, saying that some men are like lighthouses for others who follow, and that, without their help, they would never find the right path to their destiny of life and work. I know that Chagall has been a beacon for many generations precisely because his sweetness; lightness and love are good for true art. So good trip my splendid knights of art, good luck will bring you!............................................................................... Prof. Dr. Dr. Salvatore Costantino
A&L 8
ARTIST - KELLIANNE O’BRIEN 53 PAULS Rd BRATTLEBORO, VT 05301 USA colouriste@gmail.com
World of colors, that animates the paintings of Kellianne O’Brien, is highly evocative. Colors, shadows and lights, that run in a continuous visual game, which is not only a mere filling colorless space but escape from the emptiness, as if the artist perceives in the skin an horror vacui, that takes your breath away and it can fall into an endless night. Days, nights chase each other like children playing hide and seek in the tormented soul of an artist, which is always looking for light, peace and serenity.
THE BIRTHDAY PAINTING 42 X 42 in [107 cm X 107 cm], Euro 4500 Acrylic on Canvas - Acrilico su tela A&L 9
A&L 10
“RHYTM IN BLUE”, 24 X 18 in [61 cm X 46 cm], Euro 2100 Acrylic on Wood Panel - Acrilico su pannello di legno
Kellianne O’Brien is not only interested in the world of abstract and evocative painting. Forays into the field of “figure” are not rare and strange, where Our Artist prefers topics from the world of Nature and animals, but she loves also childish figures sketched with quick brush strokes and wide. Interesting style test is painting GODDESS, reminiscent of both abstract mythological figures, sketched by great artists in Mittleuropean ‘900 (this painting is well-known in our field!). Kellianne O’ Brien is a polyedric world! You can not simply define - for example - canonically the two tests paintings Elephant and The Lollipop Girl. An almost menacing figure looks at the observer, who is in troubles, while the lollipop girl, with his flaming hair, seems to walk in a timeless space.
“VIRGIN MEADOW IN IRELAND” 28 X 30 in [71 cm X 76 cm], Euro 1680 Acrylic on Canvas - Acrilico su tela A&L 11
It is not given the observer to understand and determine if this love for Nature and for the colors is determined in Our Artist by a belief in a supreme being that governs all, or only in the power of Nature. Kellianne O’Brien is an interesting artist, but her artworks are more important and they show a creator that is a person with a deep spirituality.
A&L 12
MARC CHAGALL “THE WALK” 1918 A&L 13
A&L 14
ARTIST - DANIEL MCKINLEY 11-25 46ord. Apt. 1-j Long Island City New York 11101 USA
dnlmckinley@gmail.com
Strange and different symbols mate and juxtaposed in his paintings, especially when he shapes and depicts precise interior of unlikely homes. Flowers, fruit, a table, a few pots and a Buddha bust are a strange symbolic play in A Portrait of Flowers. Mind you: not “portraits of people”, but only representations of things, shapes and structures. Mckinley does not affect the human body, which, when present in his paintings, is always very small size, the maximum is a child in a scenario, however, still. Not even the “movement” interestes in a particular way.
“MY SECRET GARDEN” 24 X 30 in [61 cm X 76 cm], Euro 2000 Oil on Canvas - Olio su tela
Aristotelian categories of place, space and time are not worth in Mckinley artworks. His painting looks more like photography, a set of immediate shots, solitary instant, who do not care of man and his troubles, or of Nature and its creations.
A&L 15
A&L 16
“BEYOND THE FACADE I AND II” 72 X 96 in [184 X 244 cm] USD 8000 [Euro 8000] Oil on Canvas - Olio su tela
A&L 17
Structures, buildings, palaces become new signs and symbols of the “special conventional signs” that McKinley offers to his trusted admirers. Roads that open behind gigantic walls, small triangular openings between rectangular tuff blocks under a motionless sky. McKinley paintings’ general atmosphere is thin, almost motionless.
Each viewer will have to strip of his own culture, own experiences and own prejudices, to be dragged into an art “splashing strong African vivid colors” from all its pores. Blue, green, yellow, brown, orange, magenta chase on web as on a flowery meadow and they give life to an embroidery crazy but beautiful.
Somehow do Daniel prefers the composition of oils on canvas? Perhaps because it is easier to stand out sharp colors? or for some other mysterious reason. Howewer, forms and shapes that follow on the canvas are clear and precise.
Among pictorial themes of Daniel McKinley there are also everyday objects, bottles, cups, paintings but also work boots, which are mixed with other objects completely different: doors, stairs, holes, gashes in the walls and strange and old walls.
It is not given the observer to understand and determine if this love for Geometry and for colors is determined in Our Artist by a belief in a supreme being that governs all, or only in the power of numbers. His artworks are particular and they show a creator that is a person with a deep brain power.
A&L 18
MARC CHAGALL “BELLA WITH WHITE COLLAR” - 1918
A&L 19
A&L 20
ARTIST - DAGMAR GÖǦDÜN Hamam Sokak Mert Kule Apt. No:20 Kat:4 D:C 34728 Erenköy-İstanbul
dagmar@superonline.com www.dagmargogdun.com
Among the many examples of Nelumbonaceae, Lotus Cambodia has a very interesting cultural history. Even in mythology of Khmer’s times and in the Kingdom of Kambuja this flower had a special importance. Many works of art and monuments depict, for example, Apsara dancers over lotus plants or with lotuses in the hands. Lotus Cambodia has a very rapid growth, lives in ponds, but its leaves are repellent to water and dirt. For this reason, it is considered a symbol of purity, loyalty, creativity and intelligence. Buddhism consideres it as symbol of the essence of human life, which, while remaining clean, has its roots in the mud of reality. Lotus does not exist without the mud, as well as Buddha is manifested through the stresses of everyday life. In Cambodia, Lotus is eaten
“LOTUS CAMBODIA” Oil on Canvas
in almost all its parts. So that people – if we use a Greek word – could be called “Lotofagoi” (lotus eaters).
A&L 21
LOTUS, oil on canvas - After so many years that I deal with Art, perhaps with a deliberate naivete as a teenager who makes his first cultural discoveries, I still wonder if artists choose the subjects or subject chooses the artist. Dagmar Göǧdün is an artist established, deep and with highly developed sensitivity. Then, I think, by force, that it was the artist to choose the subject in this case: the lotus flower, the water plant (native to Asia or Australia). Against this background, it opens up very interesting consequences. Writers speak in words. Painters with colors and subjects. Nothing is causal. Dagmar Göǧdün’s subject of art has a fascinating name: Nelumbo Nucifera (Gaertn, 1788), aquatic plant of the family Nelumbonaceae. It is a sacred flower in the Hinduism religion and in Buddhism religion. For a long time it was also part of the symbols of the flag of some of the ancient Indian states. It fascinates me to think that the artist Dagmar, who lives in the East Gate, Istanbul, has been so farsighted to choose a subject so rich in history and religious and with so deep cultural symbolic implications.
A&L 22
As if Dagmar with a simple painting scream to all of us his constant, intense, beautiful invitation to peace and to brotherhood among peoples, with no difference between the one and the other.If we reflect well, the Lotus in the Buddhist religion is unmistakably “symbol of the law of cause/effect”, which is one of the principles taught by Siddhartha. The brushwork of Dagmar is fluid, the colors perfect in their rhapsodic weaving. A play of lights and shadows enriches the painting, which looks just like the metaphor of the life of a man, who always lived between the light and dark of his aspirations and actions. RANUNCULUS, oil on canvas - There are about 600 species of plants belonging to the family Ranunculaceae [Ranunculus subgenus Batrachium – Batrachium from Greek “Batrachos” meaning “frog”]. In these flowers that belong to the yellow series, petals are very bright and eye-catching.
A&L 23
In America, it is also called “buttercup”. It owes its nickname/diminutive of “little frog” to the Old Latin. Maybe because of it was born around the ponds, and how frogs it stays there. But according to the ancient Socratic definition, which Dagmar knows well, we all the inhabitants of the Mediterranean Sea coast “are like frogs around a single big pond”. This flower, however, in the North Western Region of the Pacific Ocean coast is called “eye of coyote” because of according to legend, the coyote was able to launch in the air its eyes for fun, when an eagle stole them at flight. Then, the coyote, unable to see, replaced its eyes with the yellow flowers of Ranunculus. In this artwork, Dagmar Göǧdün shows to us an explosion of wonderfully twisted flowers to one another. A hymn to Nature, and to Life. White, red, yellow, green, pink and their shades chase each
A&L 24
other on the canvas in a lively and joyful carousel, which is also an invitation to enjoy the beauty of our creation, the World. Dagmar invites us to enjoy the gifts of Nature simply, with great humility and love.
RINDERA LANTANA, oil on canvas - The subject, chosen by the artist Dagmar Göǧdün this time, is very challenging. Artist’s brushwork and compositional scheme shows how much precision and attention such artwork must have cost its creator. Rindera Lantana is one of 150 species of plants belonging to the family of the Verbenaceae (which are spread in America, Africa and also in the Eastern Region of Australia). In Old Latin was also called “viburnum lantana”. The soft colors, which describe and fill the design of this painting, are lying with great skill and calm, as if a special effect – that goes beyond the simple painting – has been searched. From some points of view, you can say this artwork simulates an imagine taken in a scientific microscope in a botanical laboratory. So much precise details. The flower seems to be moving in the black vacuum. The description of the filaments so thin, so swaying, is really sought and it simulates movement in its entirety. Black, white, pink, green and their shades chase each other in spirals, drop shadows, and overlays, that make very complex the vision of such a pictorial subject. It is definitely a very evocative and interesting artwork, that shows a considerable pictorial talent. Overall, we are facing one of the best tests of Dagmar Göǧdün painter, who has the ability to describe the pictorial subject in all its details, not only the most significant and interesting.
A&L 25
A&L 26
MARC CHAGALL “GREEN VIOLINIST” 1924 A&L 27
A&L 28
ARTIST - FRANS BLEIJI Burg. Knappertlaan 218b 3117 JA Schiedam Netherland info@fransbleiji.nl www.fransbleiji.nl
At Artist’s Studio, 50 X 80, oil on linen - Visiting Bleiji’s studio is not an easy task, nor you do it everyday. Viewer of Art, art lover might think of being in a wonderful shop of a toymaker or antiques of an old European city of a hundred years ago, but, in doing and thinking so, they would fall in the sweet deception that Master Bleiji architects at the expense of his admirers and his public. Bleiji has absolute knowledge of the design, all-encompassing attention to the classic rules of perspective, and also he is a master of shadows and lighting effects. An artist who dares to focus all of his paintings and he invests all his being in the painting technique of trompe l’oeil must be sure of his painting skills, but also of his own conception. Bleiji refers to the great Dutch painting tradition (master of the art of trompe l’oeil - deceives the eye), but he is also able to go further back in time, fully drawing on the great masters who have perfected this painting technique, but he did not disdain the knowledge of the work of artists such as Escher, Dali, Rivera, Harnett and Boilly Louis Léopold. As for the colors, Bleiji has absolute mastery of their use across the board but also the nuances; therefore, I have to assume also the knowledge of precise techniques and strictly subject to the rules of both mathematics of geometry, to ensure the desired effect. Brushes, tin pencil boxes of different colors and shades, bottle and especially a celestial dirt pall (that hangs off a shelf) are at disposition of the visual trap that Bleiji prepares to the viewer.
A&L 29
A&L 30
Cabinet with toys, 100 X 58 cm, oil on panel - When Bleiji creates the perfect blend of colors, he used to evoke - and/or create - an almost magical world of very special atmosphere, which is halfway between the world of childhood, the world of unreality and world of reality. Even the shadows come to life and play to give a tone, to build a volume. There is all the paraphernalia of the children’s games. All paintings are perfectly identical to the real, indeed the real goal is that they seem more real than the real. On the color palette of Bleiji, blue and red dominate; they also serve to give body to the painting that tends to take on depth and complexity. For those reasons, Bleiji needs to paint a postcard in the right background and a car on the top shelf. All toys seem to rest on a protruding chest of drawers, from which even the clown lying on the right dangles shoes. It is not easy what Bleiji can do with mathematical precision, but showing a seraphic calm.
A&L 31
EGGS, 30 X 40 cm, oil on linen - Frans Bleiji is a perfect set designer and he has inherent in himelf the taste of pictorial photography, which is very useful in the preparation of classical subjects such as still life, the products of nature or eggs, when he decides that these are his best allies in his personal pictorial path. The technique, which uses masterstroke, is a natural technique and old. It is based on the use of chiaroscuro and perspective, reproducing reality in such a way that the preparation concocted by the artist seem quite real to the viewer. Bleiji knows that the probable simulation of the physical world creates a subtle play of references between reality and perceptual illusion. Modern audiences love to get lost in this and in turn they know how to lose the limitations imposed by the phenomenological world. The light illuminates from the right. Eggs and enameled pot are highlighted; the knife is used to give the illusion of depth as well as the red nail that sticks out from the shelf, by contrast with the geometry of the plane. A job very well done!
A&L 32
PEARS, 50 X 50 cm, oil on linen - A still life very interesting and a pictorial test very important for this Artist. Our Artist feels heir of a long tradition and he does not flinch before any test, always trying to make a small step forward in his personal artistic path. Frans Bleiji must not be a superstitious type, because, so often working with shadows, he has an absolute contiguity with a very special and dangerous element. In the ancient world, especially in Greece, the word, which described the concept of shadow, was in itself the bearer of ambiguity. The shadow is not only the appearance of being, but it is also a reflection of the living. Skiagrafia meant painting made on the basis of the shadow reflected, the design which traced the outline. The painting Pears is the apotheosis of the shadows. Everything hinges on three floors, which simulate a depth that exists only for the viewer’s eyes, and the color palette of Bleiji is minimized. Few colors (green, white, brown, yellow), a thousand shades. Definitely a copyright trial worthy of mention.
LET’S PLAY, 30 X 40 cm, oil on canvas - It must have cost a lot of effort the perfect layout of the scene with circular and rectangular shapes, so arranged as to give the idea of space, even where there is not. The lighting from right to left and shadows serve to give consistency to the painted objects, that might seem in motion, as if the spinner and the marbles were going to fall off the shelf plane. It designed a children’s world, but the eyes are those of an adult. The adherence to the rules of perspective is a mathematical precision, as well as the color mixture, that simply describes a range of colors and shades really interesting. The poker card under the shelf serves to give the illusion of space and certainly the provision of the scene is the height of that of a master of direction. A very interesting test for this artist; the painting draws fascinatingly and incomprehensibly the attention of any observer. Looking at the painting on the bias and sides, you really understand how much Bleiji was good at painting this subject.
A&L 33
Cabinet with Enamel, 60 X 40 cm, oil on linen - Bleiji’s primary goal is purely to induce in the observer the illusion to be looking real and three-dimensional objects, while in fact these same objects are painted on a two-dimensional surface. It is a pleasure to see this painter’s work, because from the first moment you notice that he is a cultured and refined artist - though slyly and loves to play hide and certainly he is not an artist that proceeds at random, guided by fashion of the moment and experiencing a thousand roads without running never a way through. The mixture of colors of this painting is spectacular, sophisticated to the smallest detail and full of mathematical logic. In the right wing there is light and more vivid colors, bright red with black, blue and yellow. In the left wing, there are white enamels and shadows, which together with the cork give the background of the scene objects, randomly placed. The ladle even hung outside the cabinet and a bottleneck helps in fooling the high of the viewer.
A&L 35
A&L 36
MARC CHAGALL “THE BLUE FIDDLER” 1947
A&L 37
A&L 38
ARTIST - MENNO VOS Normastraat 181 7323 TP APELDOORN NETHERLAND
info@mennovospaintings.nl
“NO BORDERS� Acrylic on Canvas 100 X 100 cm, 2016
It is not easy at all to try to enter the pictorial world of Menno Vos. Like many children who play in a beautiful amusement park we are attracted by beautiful colors, catchy and shimmering, but immediately a very important question arises: are we really sure to perceive and deeply understand the real message of the artist? So when we are not sure of understanding what our most spiritual senses allow us to guess, than it is useful to analyze Art also with mind. The work of Menno Vos is not a pacified work but a continuous stream of consciousness that runs down a mountain towards the valley, dragging everything that it meet on its journey. It is a strong, robust painting with beautiful colors - and if we want even gaudy ones - that is strictly linked to Nature and life. Pictorial themes that are treated by Menno Vos are beautiful and evocative. The forest, the waterfalls, the birds and the seahorse become a wonderful opportunity to talk about world and nature. A world that has no boundaries and it is free to expand and to realize itself according to its own choices. In the artwork NO BORDERS (2016, Acrylic on Canvas, 100 X 100 cm) the artist paints a scene
A&L 39
“THE SEAHORSE” Acrylic on Canvas 60 X 80 cm, 2014
“THE FOREST” Acrylic on Canvas 60 X 80 cm, 2015
that is actually not in nature, but rather as the image, that he transfigures. The colors blue, green and red chase on the canvas, creating a harmonious and captivating whole. Typical figures of a natural landscape are intuited by the observer but he is never sure of what his eye transmits to his mind. Artwork of charm.
THE SEAHORSE (2014, Acrylic on Canvas, 60 X 80 cm) - Our Artist likes to play with seahorses, but he also loves pure movement. The picture is harmoniously structured, with light tones corresponding to dark tones in a pictorial structure with arches. Menno Vos realizes a very elegant pictorial system with bright colors, which sometimes come into strong contrast with each other.
FOREST (2015, Acrylic on Canvas, 60 X 80 cm) - For Menno Vos not only natural fauna is important, but also natural flora. He is passionate about everything that nature contains, but he transfigures it with his powerful artist sensitivity. An invisible artist, who loves to hide behind his compositions and play with the observer A&L 40
“ANOTHER WORLD” Acrylic on Canvas 80 X 60 cm, 2015
A&L 41
as the cat does with the mouse, challenging him to enter his world and understand his true artistic and cultural message.
ANOTHER WORLD (2015, Acrylic on Canvas, 80 X 60 cm) In this work the imagination of our painter flies so high that we can define him as a poet of color. Huge swirls of green, red and yellow chase each other over a still and timeless sky. Charming and evocative.
BIRDS (2016, Acrylic on Canvas, 100 X 100 cm) - If the art lover or the simple observer will have the care and patience to approach this powerful painting with the serenity of a child immersed in nature, then the happy man will really hear the birds singing in unison. You will see in the distance forests, a stream of flocks of black birds but also colorful ... in short, the spectacle of Nature.
“BIRDS” Acrylic on Canvas 100 X 100 cm, 2016 A&L 42
“CASCADE” Acrylic on Canvas 60 X 60 cm, 2017
CASCADE (2017, Acrylic on Canvas, 150 X 150 cm) - Fans of Menno Vos’ artworks in this painting are called to make a very difficult but at the same time beautiful operation. They must return with their minds and senses to their childhood, when that time in the woods with the grandfather looking for blackberries and raspberries, they were in a pleasant valley where a small and sweet waterfall ended. These are typical landscapes of the homeland of Menno Vos, but, with the work of this powerful artist, they also become landscapes typical of the homeland of the soul of those who have the intelligence and the desire to study and feel them.
A&L 43
A&L 44
MARC CHAGALL “MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM” 1939 A&L 45
A&L 46
ARTIST - PHILIPPE THÉLIN Rue De Théâtre 3 1820 MONTREUX SWITZERLAND
pthelin@bluewin.ch www.philippethelin.ch
“Portrait àl'oeil crevé” (2016) 100x80 cm
PORTRAIT À L’OEIL CREVÉ (2016, 100 X 80 cm) - I think it is a very interesting artwork because - thanks to it - it is easier to recognize some of the pictorial peculiarities of the art of Thelín, which will become a constant in all his artistic production: the strong and decisive brushstroke, but without outline; the strident contrast of colors, the distortion of reality within the mind and the sensitivity of the Artist.
AUTOPORTRAIT AU PANSEMENT SUR LE NEZ (2016, 81 X 100 cm) - Who is really Philippe Thélin? The intelligent observer will never know it because our Artist loves to torture his external image with self-portraits pulled at the height of coloristic expressionism. They are exaggerated colors that collide with each other in a fight with no holds barred. Does the artist suffer or does the artist have fun, looking at observer from the canvas? A&L 47
“Autoportrait au pansement sur le nez” (2016) acrylique 81x100
AUTOPORTRAIT AU PANSEMENT SUR FOND VIOLET (2002, 100 X 81 cm) - Variation on the theme of self-portrait. This time the character painted in the painting is a bandaged head that looks briefly at the observer. Looking with interest at this painting, it makes me think that there is a way of saying in Italy, which is right for us: do not cover our head before we broke it! And this very particular poet-painter winks to the spectator with the only clearly visible eye that comes out of the bandages that cover his face. The painting establishes a direct contact with the observer.
A&L 48
“Autoportrait aux pansements sur fond violet” (2002) acrylique 100x81
“Blesséàla tête” (2014) acrylique 80x100
BLESSÉ À LA TÊTE (2014, 80 X 100 cm) - Analyzing the paintings of Thélin, inexperienced observer runs the risk of making a beginner’s mistake, exchanging our artist for a painter who is simply naive and passionate about color up to the extreme limit. It is not so. Thélin has two faces. He was a geologist, a researcher, a university professor, a graduate doctor in everyday life and his pictorial models are high, considering that he looks to artists like Munch, Corinth, Soutine etc. Even in a painting like this one you can notice the study of details and attention to form, naturally all
“Spectral” (2015) acrylique 92x73
A&L 49
Selfie II (2016) acrylique 92x73
transfigured according to the sensitivity of our Artist.
SPECTRAL (2015, 92 X 73 cm) - Philippe Thélin is a tireless seeker (in German Language a Suchender). He seeks himself but sometimes to a careful observer this search may seem confusing as a poorly successful attempt at psychological introspection. The self-analysis of Thélin is, however, very incisive and powerful. Our author does not disdain incursions in the field of the oneiric and the symbolic, but giving a very personal coloring to the canvas. SELFIE II (2016, 92 X 73 cm) - Thélin is an old-fashioned
A&L 50
painter: observer is deceived if he thinks that our painter is only an instinctive naive painter! Our emphasizes himself as a character, but he uses this pictorial theme only to get involved with the observer. He has a reverential sense of admiration for those who risk, putting themselves on the line just as they observe and study his pictures so problematic, sometimes so confusing, but sometimes full of a depth of communication that is hard to find today and, above all, it is completely disarming.
A&L 51
A&L 52
MARC CHAGALL “THE BLUE HOUSE” 1917
A&L 53
A&L 54
ARTIST - PATRIZIA BIAGINI Via G. FALCONE 2 00066 MANZIANA
patriziabiagini@virgilio.it
“LA PORTA ROSSA”
Artist Patrizia Biagini is one of those rare cases of instinctual artist, who an art critic like me find with great difficulty in his work. Biagini is interested in a series of topics and cases of human life, which often spoiled her to investigate the darkest corners of the human soul. But the artist is not afraid to descend into the depths of her soul and her science to bring out the archetypes of woman and man she paints with intensity, which true observer can hardly tolerate. Here we are dealing with a powerful artist who has not yet finished exploring her intimate sides, but who perceives from a distance human calls to love and brotherhood, that everyday men have no ears to hear.
“LAMPEDUSA”
A&L 55
A&L 56
MARC CHAGALL “OVER VITEBSK” 1924
A&L 57
A&L 58
ARTIST - WEI YAN
75 Roxton Road, Oakville Ontario, L6H 6V3 Canada yuran527@yahoo.ca
“IMMORTAL LAND” 24” X 24”
IMMORTAL LAND, 24” X 24” - This artwork is a perfect example to try to understand the beautiful and deep world of the artist Wei Yan. The pictorial means that artist often uses are mixed (Chinese ink, watercolor or acrylic), but the hand that guides the brush is always firm and secure. Wei Yan loves to combine cultural and transcultural elements that come from both the East and the West.
INFINITY, 24” X 60” - Inside artist Wei Yan, East and West are combined, and pictorial themes are reminiscent of a glorious past and an ancient land, which artist mixes and overlaps with the immense and pure spaces of a large and generous Canada. Infinity is understood in the sense of without borders.
“INFINITY” - 24” X 60”
A&L 59
“LATE AUTUMN” 12” X 16”
LATE AUTUMN, 12” X 16” - A woman, an image, a feeling pierce my soul in a late and tired autumn. A breath of wind fades a beautiful hair that I see disappearing in the distance. A sense of emptiness and loneliness pervades me. Perhaps I can only keep the memory of her that has passed into my life as a happy season and that now is nothing but a dead leaf falling from a tree.
UNRESTRAINED, 24” X 36” - The cultural baggage of artist Wei Yan is broad and enriched by sources that come from different cultures. Perhaps while painting artis’s mind flew to beautiful Chinese festivals of a distant childhood (with dragons, winged animals and spells), or to the many books artist read as an adult,
“UNRESTRAINED” 24” X 36”
A&L 60
thinking of a special Pegasus, which perhaps resembles the artist a lot. The observer will decide what to make of the sensations that this painting excites in us. Unnatural gesture of the fourth leg of the horse speaks volumes about how we are completely immersed in the field of the oneiric.
Artist Wei Yan ‘s Brief Biography
Wei Yan, Born in Beijing, China. Having completed his BA degree at Beijing Capital Normal University, Fine Art department, he studied at Seneca College in Toronto, Canada. His works have been collected from North America, Europe and China, also won many professional art awards. He is the member of several professional affirmations such as Society of Canadian Artists, Portrait Society of America, Portrait Society of Canada. His art works represented by different art galleries across Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
A&L 61
A&L 62
MARC CHAGALL “THE JUGGLER” 1943
A&L 63
A&L 64
ARTIST - RUDIK PETROSYAN 520 WESTVIEW AVE 2nd FL CLIFFSIDE PARK, NJ 07010 USA rudikpetrosya@hotmail.com www.rudikpetrosyan.com
“LIGHT ATTRACTION”
LIGHT ATTRACTION - This painting is a true celebration of colors. It almost seems that Petrosyan has fun in cheating the ingenue observer. The real theme of the picture must remain hidden. Then a riot of colors comes out of the canvas and it splashes in the eyes of the observer, preventing him from understanding the real game of the artist, which is all “provocation” and “evocation”. From this painting springs a strength and a desire to live in the light and at the maximum of their possibilities. Truly impressive.
VENICE IN MY DREAM - Who has never had Venice in mind or in his forbidden dreams? Venice is a powerful and strongly evocative pictorial subject. Petrosyan loves the incursions in the dream field and this time describes a beautiful dream in a beautiful painting. Two figures floating on the water in front of one of the most famous squares in Venice. The buildings, the structures are reflected in the water, creating a game of reflections very evocative. It is not known whether the figures, probably two Venetian nobles of the golden age, are the copy of two carnival masks or just a mental projection of our artist. The scenographic
A&L 65
“VENICE IN MY DREAM” A&L 66
pictorial structure is truly magnificent. The colors are spread on the canvas with great mastery and their nuances in one stroke are brought to us in a world that was, but which now is no more.
PARADISE - What is Paradise for Rudik Petrosyan? There are three musician angels with zither, guitar and trumpet in a beautiful red and blue forest. The pictorial structure is divided into two floors, front and back (the forest described in the background is more blurred than the angels). We know contours of the bodies of the angels only but never their features, that would seem human. It is not necessary to bother a powerful and beautiful poet like Dante Alighieri to say that music and cult of beauty are two ways that lead us to God. In fact, in the Dante's Paradise the souls are blessed because they enjoy the vision of God, of His light,
“PARADISE� A&L 67
“ANGELS” A&L 68
and for this reason they sing and dance incessantly. A painting with great attractiveness, for sure.
ANGELS - Rudik Petrosyan is an artist passionate about colors, but his passion is not superficial or a mere stylistic exercise. Petrosyan expresses himself through colors, he evokes moods through colors, he constructs a new world through colors. In this painterly-themed painting, Petrosyan finds an important stylistic solution to express his feeling about angels. Two beautiful figures, but totally evanescent (closed eyes and nose are perceived only) seem to hint at a dance step with a wave movement towards the left. The richness of the drapery and the contrast between blue, red and their nuances make this painting very evocative.
A&L 69
A&L 70
MARC CHAGALL “LIGHTS OF MARRIAGE” 1945 A&L 71
A&L 72
ARTIST - JOSEFINA TEMÍN Hacienda de Rancho Seco 221 Colonia Echegaray Naucalpan, Edo. de Méx. C.P. 53310 jtemin@hotmail.com www.josefinatemin.com
“EL PEZO”
“PALMITAS Y COCOLES” (SERIE DI 3)
“REDONDECES” (SERIE DI 2)
ANTURIO Y PEDRA (SERIE DI 2)
Josefina Temín is a true artist and a teacher of sculpture that young people should take as an example. She works with wood, paper or other completely natural and simple materials, but she has an absolute mastery in making elegant the materials she uses. Her sculptures seem jewels of an ancient treasure. They are precious, because there is no greater elegance than that which is enclosed in the purest and most uncontaminated Nature. Josefina adores Mexico, her homeland, and enhances its beauty by raising it as a symbol of creation. The compositional techniques of this artist are simple but at the same time do not give room for compromises so her work is really difficult. Josefina’s sculpture requires self-denial, precision and a nescio quid that only a few lucky artists perceive during the actual creative process. Flowers, palms and petals become the opportunity to tell Nature in its splendid diversity, which never stop to change and transform itself. Clearly the beautiful natural places of Mexico have played on her more mentally pure creative instinct. A&L 73
A&L 74
MARC CHAGALL “OVER THE VILLAGE (CITY)” 1918
A&L 75
A&L 76
ARTIST - IZTOK ŠMAJS-MUNI EFENKOVA 29 3320 VELENJE, SLOVENIA +38635874174, +38641430043
iztokmuni@hotmail.com http://hopna.net/smajs/index.htm
As an art critic, I can only have words of praise for the artist Iztok Šmajs Muni. He is a very powerful artist with a long experience and obtained in almost the whole world. Our artist has participated in exhibitions, installations, international art fairs and artistic events of great value, winning prizes and awards. His Art is a difficult one to understand for the general public, because it is very deep and intellectual. Who remembers Ars Electronica of Linz, Austria 1998, can well understand (our artist was there). DYPTICH and STEPFATHER, that you see below, are two extremely interesting works, I would say almost fascinating in the pure sense of the term: they bewitch with their neuronal beauty. Multi-colored reticulates are intersected and intersecting they reproduce pure shapes of rectangle and circle. A truly interesting work worthy of the utmost attention. “STEFPHATER” Acrylic on Canvas 190 cm diameter
“DYPTICH”, from DXOM series, 90 X 60 each panel
A&L 77
A&L 78
SA.E.DA EDITORS Printed in Italy January 2018