&Company
Quidley
Fine Art
In Good Company
&Company
Quidley
Fine Art
26 Main Street - Nantucket, MA 02554 - 508.228.4300 38 Newbury Street - Boston, MA 02116 - 617.450.4300 www.QuidleyAndCo.com
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“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” - Aristotle
Dear Collectors and Friends, As we move into our 8th season, I once again have the opportunity to share with you the very latest creative output of artists I have the pleasure of representing. Each year I am faced with a task that is in equal parts thrilling and frustrating. Thrilling because I am surrounded, in both the Newbury Street and the Nantucket galleries, by new paintings of surpassing quality, fresh o the easel. And frustrating because, short of publishing a coffee table book, it is simply not possible to present to you all of our artists and their new work. It remains a privilege to represent a number of artists who have been with the gallery since the early days and whose reputations have become even more ďŹ rmly established over the years. Their talent seems to grow exponentially, as does the number of enthusiasts and supporters of their work. I am thrilled to be part of their continued success. Continuing to oer paintings by the foremost land- and seascape and contemporary realist artists working today remains paramount to our mission at Quidley & Company Fine Art. At the same time, we strive to provide a fresh experience in our galleries, and to present to all our friends and collectors new artists whose work has impressed us recently. Some have established reputations and are newly represented by us; some are bright lights at the start of clearly promising careers whose work has already made a splash in the art world. I am excited to introduce them to you. I invite you to immerse yourself in this catalog. Perhaps you will be inspired to envision one of these works in your own home and consider adding to your growing collection. I encourage you to visit us and experience in person these paintings and many others. I look forward to seeing you in the galleries in the coming months. Chris Quidley
David Graeme Baker (American, b. 1968) David Graeme Baker was born in 1968 in Cape Town, South Africa and grew up in Pennsylvania. After earning a BA in fine arts from Wesleyan University, Baker graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, following in the tradition of Thomas Eakins and other American Realists. He is a figurative painter who has been living in coastal Maine with his wife, Sarah, and their two young sons since 2000. Clearly influenced by his family and surroundings, Baker’s paintings are emotionally evocative in their depiction of local settings and interior scenes of domesticity. Though his wife and children often serve as models, as the work progresses the artist remains open to inspiration from varied sources, considering multiple narrative possibilities and modifying the image so that the personal is transformed into the archetypal. The precision and lush detail evident in Baker’s paintings push the viewer past what is merely observable. “The narrative painter is like a novelist, he must explore the psyche of the characters in order to give them credibility. The outcomes, rather than clean, iconic meta-images or narratives, are paintings with more purposefully modest, tangled, personal threads that function as springboards for empathetic contemplation. The resulting paintings are a mix of reality, memory, and fiction.” - David Graeme Baker
Bluet 36” x 36” oil on linen
Sean Beavers (American, b. 1970) Beavers attended the School of Visual Arts in New York on scholarship where he received a BFA in fine arts and graduated with the Rhodes Family Medal for outstanding achievement. Creating artwork has been Beavers’ focus and expressive outlet since childhood. The artist was drawn to the New England coast a decade ago; he now resides in Southern Maine and teaches painting at the nearby New Hampshire Institute of Art and at the University of New Hampshire. Beavers’ technical virtuosity and keen sense of composition and design are demonstrated by his recent work, which includes hyper-realist still lifes and landscapes. His trompe l’oeil paintings of exquisitely rendered fruit depicted within rustic boxes tempt the viewer to reach in to touch the objects; his mastery of light and color creates a feeling of transcendence in his seascapes. Beavers designs and handcrafts many of his frames, lending the work a truly sculptural quality. “When I study something in nature there is a connection or understanding that I can’t describe, the beauty just moves me... I am trying to create through the language of light, color and space. I think of my work as symbolist. The subjects of my paintings usually represent something other than the objects themselves, like dreams, desires, frustrations, spirit, emotions, whatever I’m thinking about at the time.” - Sean Beavers
Hanging On 36” x 54” oil on linen
Doug Brega (American, b. 1948)
Atlantic Ave 25” x 40” watercolor
A native of Eastern Massachusetts, Brega attended Paier College in New Haven, CT. He studied under the noted trompe l’oeil artist Ken Davies, who impressed upon him the importance of drawing as a foundation, an approach to painting that was quite out of fashion at the time. A prominent contemporary American realist, Brega is a painter of portraits, New England homes, sailboats, and old weathered barns. His iconography is familiar and well loved; he seeks to convey a deeper reality, to reveal the essence of his subjects. His technical precision combines with an emotional authenticity to create a simple grandeur that transcends the objective reality of the scenes he depicts. Brega cites Andrew Wyeth as an influence on his work; like Wyeth, some of Brega’s most beautiful paintings depict scenes of Monhegan Island in Maine, and demonstrate his facility for capturing the unique light and atmosphere of the region. Brega has achieved a national reputation and has been the recipient of prestigious awards in virtually every show he has entered over his 25 year career. His paintings are part of the permanent collection in several museums, including, among others, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Design in Kansas City, MO; his work is also included in two private collections listed in the top 100 collections in the US. “What I strive for is a precise and honest interpretation, not a mirror of reality or a personal comment about a subject... (They) are sturdy, uncomplicated buildings and homes. The beauty is found in the clean forms and solid function of each architectural element.” - Doug Brega
Philip Buller (American, b. 1954) Born to diplomat parents, Philip Buller spent his formative years in vastly different cultures in India, Africa, Washington DC and New England. The young artist was encouraged by his family to explore his creativity in a variety of areas, and Philip developed an avid interest in music and visual arts. He studied graphic design, toured as a musician, and worked as a builder before formally studying painting and drawing at the California College of Arts and Crafts, where he received his MFA in 1994. Buller’s representational paintings are devoid of historical references, transcending literal narratives and signifying universal themes. Compositionally intriguing, his paintings at first glance present a visual chaos of patterns and figurative elements. Upon closer inspection, however, they resolve into a sometimes dense layering of forms and figures, some distinct and detailed and others merely hinted at with lush, summary brushstrokes. His compositions cohere as a result of the dynamic relationships between forms and color, and by a rhythmic quality that pulses across the canvas. Buller’s paintings are executed in part by utilizing a technique that involves painting directly onto metal screen mesh, which is then applied directly onto the canvas, transferring the imprint of the mesh along with the image itself. The process, which has its roots in printmaking and reflects the artist’s background in graphic design, allows Buller to marry traditional subject matter with a more modern technical approach. Buller explains, “I apply paint, remove paint - creating and obscuring forms. A form must be fully realized before it can be obscured. The ambiguity of a blurred image often encourages me to reach below a literal interpretation of form.”
At the Beach 56” x 48” oil on canvas
Matthew Cornell (American, b. 1964) Matthew Cornell was born in Fairfield, California in 1964. His first memories are of traveling by car across the United States, trips which profoundly affected his way of seeing and representing landscape and nature. After graduating from California State University at Long Beach with a BFA, Cornell moved east focusing on portraiture for a number of years in Florida and Kentucky. He eventually experienced a shift away from figurative painting, and began exhibiting his landscapes at art fairs across the country where he garnered an impressive number of prizes, including five Best of Show awards. Over time, the atmospheric effects created by light and weather became the dominant influence on his landscapes. Cornell’s current work is small in scale, rich in detail, emotionally evocative. His new streetscape paintings are closely observed, faithful renderings of nighttime scenes, painted largely in situ in the artist’s own neighborhood. Cornell’s personal experience of the quiet suburban streets he depicts imbues his paintings with a sense of intimacy. The moody canvases are illuminated by pools of light surrounding a single streetlamp, and punctuated by the glow of windows of darkened houses. Cornell continues to explore his relationship to nature through his art. “I have always loved the ocean... the essence of creation and destruction, a concept that permeates a lot of my paintings. Maybe there is a rhythm to the waves that connects it to your own rhythm. The crashing waves on the shore like a heartbeat. It is about balance... equilibrium... The ocean reaches for us and we reach for it. When we get close enough, it literally pulls us in. Maybe that is why I paint waves.” - Matthew Cornell
Summer Surf 7.5” x 9” oil on panel
William R. Davis (American, b. 1952) William Davis was born in Somerville, Massachusetts and grew up on Cape Cod. He is a self-taught artist who spent the early part of his career as an art dealer and collector of 19th century American works. Inspired by the artists he was collecting, he began painting full time and in 1983 he had his first show and began exhibiting his work in solo and group shows across the country. From the start, Davis’ work reflected his deep admiration for and influence by the 19th century American Luminists James Bard, Martin Johnson Heade, Antonio Jacobsen and Fitz Hugh Lane. He continues to use many of the techniques traditionally used by these painters to realize his personal vision. In 1987, Davis made history with the first one-person show ever mounted at the prestigious Mystic Maritime Gallery in Mystic, Connecticut. Over the course of his career Davis became enamoured of plein air painting, partly influenced by his friendship with artists Joseph McGurl and Donald Demers with whom he painted in various New England locations. Since that time, Davis has enjoyed a national reputation as a preeminent contemporary marine artist. His work has been featured in books and in well-regarded publications, and he is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. Davis continues to be inspired by the natural beauty of his native Cape Cod’s pristine coastlines, and by the forests and mountains of northern New England. In a tribute to Martin Johnson Heade he wrote for the magazine American Artist, Davis refers to sunset as “the hour when night usurps day,” observing that this is the “best time of day for painters to capture the ‘inner state’ of a landscape” and represents “an unequaled opportunity to sensitize the eye to the delicate mysteries of light and shadow.”
Repairing the Weirs 12” x 16” oil on canvas
Shaun Downey (Canadian, b. 1978)
Readhead in Autumn 32” x 48” oil on canvas
Shaun Downey spent his childhood in Oshawa, Ontario and is a graduate of Sheridan College’s interpretive illustration program. After high school, he enrolled in Angel Studios, a classical drawing and painting school headed by painter Michael John Angel. A student of the great Italian painter Pietro Annigoni, Angel also headed a school in Florence, Italy. While in college, Downey studied at the Academy of Realist Art in Toronto. Downey’s first show at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition in 2003 was a critical success, and he soon moved to Toronto’s west end, showing at several group exhibitions around the city. In 2010, his painting Blue Coco was selected for exhibition in the BP Portrait Award, an annual show held in June at the National Portrait Gallery in London, England. Blue Coco was one of about 50 paintings selected from over two thousand entries to this prestigious exhibition. Downey acknowledges, “It is a great honour to be a part of such an important exhibition, important both for myself and for the increased appreciation of figurative painting in general.” In May 2011 Downey had his first solo show at the Engine Gallery in Toronto. Influenced by the great painter/storytellers of the past, including Vermeer and Norman Rockwell, Downey strives to breathe fresh life into Realist painting by infusing images from his own life with classical ideas and modern cultural references. He currently resides in Toronto with his wife and fellow painter Kelly Grace.
Douglas Freed (American, b. 1944) Douglas Freed, an abstract landscape artist, was born in 1944 and raised in Ulysses, Kansas. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Kansas State University in Fort Hays. As a student and young artist, Freed was deeply affected by abstract-expressionist art, with its philosophical and spiritual underpinning. He was particularly influenced by the works of Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko, and the structured geometric abstractions of Mondrian. In his own work, Freed captures a variety of atmospheric elements - the mystical light found in nature, the haze in the distance on humid summer days, the overcast gloom of winter skies, the softness of landscapes bathed in gold, and the quieting mood of approaching darkness. Freed’s paintings emanate peace, spirituality, and balance, and their accessibility induces a contemplative effect. The often monumental scale of his compositions tends to magnify their meditative quality. Since his early exhibitions in the 1970s, Freed’s paintings and works on paper have been shown in hundreds of group shows and over fifty solo exhibitions across the United States. His work is in the collections of a number of museums, including, among others, the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, the St. Louis Art Museum, and the Museum of Art and Archeology at the University of Missouri in Columbia. “I try to find the grey area between traditional landscape painting and its abstraction into color fields. The compositions are about ambiguities of form and void, foreground and background and surface and deep space... My work continues in its evolution of style the search for an abstract means of probing the ambiguities of physical and spiritual experience of light, and its power to foster a more intense life of the spirit through profound emotional experience of form, color and composition.” - Douglas Freed
Pose 36” x 56” oil on canvas
Tracey Harris (American, b. 1970)
You Could Try Harder 18” x 24” oil on panel
Born in 1970, Tracey Harris grew up in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. As a scholarship recipient, she studied at Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, Missouri, receiving a BA in Fine Arts in 1992. After graduation, she studied at Goldsmiths College University of London in England, where she received the Post Graduate Diploma of Art. Harris is a Contemporary Realist painter with a quirky sense of humor and a confident handling of paint. Her most recent series of work reveals her close observations of the human figure and a keen eye for the iconography of modern life. These tongue-in-cheek paintings depict anonymous female subjects variously dressed in 1950’s style dresses or aprons, wearing tool belts or boxing gloves. The series unabashedly portrays desirable flesh in an overtly sexual manner; Harris illuminates the bare torsos and limbs of her figures with a warm, sensual palette. These are not, however, gratuitous displays of the female form. Art historical references abound: the artist’s skilled draftsmanship and ability to manipulate tonal qualities and light effects to indicate three-dimensionality allude to the Renaissance-era female nude; the compositional technique of cropping the figure is at once modern and sourced in Classical antiquity. Harris displays the breadth of her talent in a modern take on the traditional still life genre with a series of paintings depicting books with titles that extend to a broader cultural narrative. “I draw my subject matter from my experiences of raising my son from birth, on my own. My figurative images of women appear powerful (and sometimes snarky)... When someone encounters the work for the first time, there is laughter and a universal understanding of the difficulties in life and the importance of laughing at oneself... It is only natural to put it in the work.” - Tracey Harris Harris has exhibited her work nationwide in group and solo shows. She currently lives and paints in the Tulsa area.
TS Harris (American, b. 1966) Raised by two professional artists--her father was a commercial graphic artist and her mother was a popular impressionistic painter—T.S. Harris’s art career began at an early age. Harris’s parents moved to California when she was a teenager and opened an art gallery featuring her mother’s work. Far from being an “easy in,” Harris worked hard to create an artistic identity separate from her parents’ and to hone the quality of her paintings to earn an invitation to exhibit in the family gallery. Since that time Harris has been represented by galleries nationwide, exhibiting in group shows from San Francisco to New York City. Solo exhibitions of her work have been held in New York, and on the west coast in Carmel and her hometown of San Luis Obispo. Harris’s recent series, entitled “Lost Holiday,” was inspired by a candid photograph of a woman from the 40s or 50s that the artist discovered on line. She was struck not only by the subject matter and composition, but by a sense of identification with the idea of the woman herself, in spite of the gap of almost two generations. The resulting painting was the beginning of Harris’s self-described obsession with bridging the past and present. “The exciting challenge is to keep the paintings relevant and current even though the subjects come from another era. To avoid sentimentality, I keep the compositions bold and cropped, the paintwork loose, drippy and rough, even pushing some areas into abstraction... The large format paintings of beach, poolside and travel portraits express a bit of California glamour, they also carry hints of nostalgia and contemplation.” - T.S. Harris
Beach Bum 60” x 40” oil on canvas
Jim Holland (American, b. 1955)
Catboat in a Tidal Stream 30” x 40” oil on canvas
Jim Holland has had a lifelong interest in art, and studied painting while earning a degree in graphic design. During his 15-year career in advertising and graphic design, Holland spent his free time painting. During road trips to Cape Cod with college friends, he began to develop his unique style of painting in a spare, unfussy manner. In 1995 he began painting full time. Holland has a masterful ability to capture the soft, magical light that drew him, like so many other artists and lovers of nature, to Cape Cod and the Islands. Holland’s paintings demonstrate an astute compositional sense and an obvious emotional response to his subject matter. He portrays tranquil scenes that represent a unique moment in time, yet his images are timeless and universal in their appeal. With meticulous brush handling and an intuitive sense of the essence of a particular scene, Holland thoughtfully avoids unnecessary detail and distracting elements. Not surprisingly, Holland counts among his influences the great American painter Edward Hopper (1882-1967). Though devoid of figures, Holland’s paintings tell a rich visual story. The enduring themes in Holland’s paintings are the light and space near the ocean. “It’s an expansive and peaceful place to me. The colors can be brilliant or nearly monochromatic. A beached catboat or light slanting on clapboards and through windows... I find endlessly fascinating...how different light affects the mood. I’ll spend hours mixing paints on my palette and establishing an overall color and tonal scheme. Sometimes I feel I am more aptly called a colorist rather than a painter.” - Jim Holland
Donald Jurney (American, b. 1945) Donald Jurney was born in Rye, New York, in 1945, and was educated at Columbia University, the Pratt Institute, and the Art Students League. Nearly thirty years ago, he began his career with a one-man show at a temporary gallery space—the first of some twenty sold-out solo exhibitions. Over the years, Jurney has lived and worked in the Hudson River Valley, England, and in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, and has painted extensively in France and the West of Ireland. His work is firmly rooted in the great plein air landscape tradition. The overall effect of Jurney’s paintings is serenity and beauty, though close observation reveals an expert handling of paint; with sure skill he combines dry brush, impasto, and glazing techniques. The artist’s process typically begins on location, with a pencil sketch; back in the studio, Jurney begins to bring the painting to life. Guided by intuition, he might place a stroke of lively orange, scumble a highlight across the surface of a lake, or create a dense matrix of delicate green brush strokes that coalesce into a tree in full leaf. Bearing the impression of the particular setting in which they were conceived, Jurney’s paintings are a summons to celebrate the poetry of the everyday beauty of nature. The artist now lives and maintains a studio on the North Shore of Boston where he continues to focus on sharing his distinct and inspiring vision of the landscape. “Often a painting is a conversation between disparate shapes and forms, ... here brilliant, there disguised---in a carefullyconceived dance of light. This may be a celebration of a place, perhaps, or an investigation of an evanescent mood. For the viewer who has both the time and inclination to really look, one hopes to afford, by way of a painted surface wrought of subtleties, the opportunity to explore at leisure the wonder of the world in which we live.” - Donald Jurney
The Hayloft 36” x 28” oil on canvas
Michael Keane (American, b. 1948)
The Wind Dancers 36” x 48” oil on panel
Michael Keane is a preeminent marine artist renowned for his masterful oil paintings depicting iconic sailing vessels of a by-gone era. With inspiration drawn from the sea, Keane’s work is a celebration of sailboats in motion, majestic yachts with sails set. Whether portraying the delight of a pleasure cruise, the excitement of a regatta, or the tranquility of a midsummer beach scene, Keane’s compositions emphasize both the joy of being out on the open sea and the beauty of nature. The artist’s personal affection for sailing and coastal living is expressed through his paintings, lending them an emotional charge. Keane is a lifelong artist who expressed his creative inclinations as early as the age of four. As a young man, after nearly a decade of study with his first painting instructor, Keane came under the tutelage of Marshall W. Joyce, a marine painter with an established reputation. Sharing a waterfront loft studio space, the two men collaborated closely. During this time he studied portrait and figure painting with a well-known New York portrait artist grounded in classical oil painting. These studies were to have a profound effect on Keane’s work--the loving detail with which his boats are rendered elevates each painting to the level of portraiture. His work has also been strongly influenced by his boat building skills and many years of work as a boat builder. This year marks the 25th anniversary of one-person exhibitions of Keane’s paintings. His work has retained its value and remains highly sought after by an elite group of marine art collectors.
Lu Cong (American, b. 1978) Lu Cong was born in Shanghai in 1978 and immigrated to the United States at the age of 11. After graduating from the University of Iowa in 2000 with degrees in biology and art, he moved to Denver, CO after deciding to pursue portrait art rather than medicine. Since 2002, Lu has been studying at the Denver Art Students League, focusing his studies on life drawing, and has exhibited his work at that arts venue for the past decade. Lu’s early works were large and sensational; though they were painted with exaggerated melodrama and pathos, the artist’s keen insight and sensitivity towards his subjects were nonetheless evident. Between 2003 and 2007, Lu was recognized by a number of art publications as a notable emerging artist. Since then, the artist has developed a distinctive look that many have described as an original approach to figurative realism. Lu’s style pays homage to 18th century Romantics, yet is unmistakably conceived in and relevant to the contemporary era. His portraits do more than simply capture the physical and emotional state of the subject; they establish the complicated psychological interactions that ensue when one comes face to face with the sensual, inexplicable, and unsettling. Today Lu is considered one of the distinctive young artists working in the American West. “As my life and my art progress, I have come to cherish and kindle that familiar sentiment I have always felt since I was a boy; it is the longing for something that can never be fully obtained, but only vaguely hinted in the portraits that I try to make.” - Lu Cong
Makena (#7) 30” x 30” oil on panel
TM Nicholas (American, b. 1963)
The Harbor in Winter 30” x 40” oil on canvas
TM Nicholas is an esteemed artist who has won critical acclaim for his impressionist landscapes. Nicholas was raised on Cape Ann, in Massachusetts, and quickly grew to appreciate the unique landscapes of coastal New England. This peninsula, 30 miles north of Boston, has one of the richest artistic histories in America--the Cape Ann School is America’s oldest, continuously active art colony, and includes such painters as Fitz Henry Lane, Winslow Homer, and Charles Gruppe. Nicholas has been immersed in the art and culture of the area since birth. Today, as a representative of the Cape Ann School, Nicholas is considered the finest painter of his generation and is proud to carry on its 150-year tradition. Nicholas received his formal training at the Gloucester Academy of Art and the Montserrat School of Art. He studied with many of the area’s renowned painters, including his own father, Tom Nicholas, a National Academician. Though deeply influenced by his artistic forbears, he ultimately developed a unique style that solidified his professional reputation among critics and collectors alike. Nicholas’ humility and passion for painting are as important to his success as his artistic roots. He loves the process, the exploration, the challenge, and the discovery inherent in plein air painting. Nicholas’ paintings reflect his sensitive response to the natural environment, inimitably capturing light, color and atmospheric effects. He counts among his influences Aldro Hibbard and Water Palmer, and is particularly interested in those artists’ studies of snow and its endless variations of tone and hue, a pursuit that also compels Nicholas. Whatever the season or setting, Nicholas’ paintings portray New England in all its magnificent colors and rich textures. With an international reputation and devoted collectors in New England, Nicholas’ auction record remains strong. His works are in the Peabody Museum, the Cape Ann Historical Society, the Dover Public Library, and the MIT Lincoln Laboratory.
Anne Packard (American, b. 1933) Anne Packard brings to her work instinct and skill drawn from a deep family well of American and European painters. A third generation painter, she is a bona fide Cape Cod artist. Her grandfather, Max Bohm, was a leading turn of the century impressionist painter, who in 1916 came to Provincetown, MA with other European and American artists. Born and raised in Hyde Park, NJ, Anne Packard spent summers as a child in Provincetown. She moved there permanently in 1977 with her five children and soon after committed to life as an artist. Though largely self-taught, Anne studied informally with Phil Malcoat, and also attended Bard College. With their iconic coastal imagery, Anne’s paintings have inspired countless artists. To view an original Packard is to experience unequaled mastery of the medium and feeling for the subject matter. Her spare, serene images express the very essence of sea and sky; economical composition and lush brushwork capture the expansiveness of her seascapes. While her style remains firmly grounded in the representational tradition, Anne’s paintings vibrate with a certain mysterious, abstract quality. With deft paint handling she creates complex layers of undulating tonalities. Her paintings evoke a sense of transcendence, drawing the viewer in with their hypnotic quality and creating a space for meditative awareness. “My paintings have nothing to do with Nature. It’s something to do with forever going...the space behind the sky.... It’s an inner world of emotion and yearning. I yearn to express solitude. I want to create in my... paintings that privileged isolation. And awe. I am in awe out there.” – Anne Packard
Blue Horizon 48” x 36” oil on canvas
Anthony Panzera (American, b. 1941)
Piera 30” x 36” oil on canvas
Anthony Panzera has been teaching and studying the human form and exhibiting his works worldwide for over 40 years. Primarily a figurative painter, Panzera’s oeuvre also includes landscapes, seascapes and allegorical paintings. Influences on the artist’s work can be traced to experiences early in his career in two very different places: Florence and Nantucket. During a full-year sabbatical in Florence, he immersed himself in the study of the figure and the works of the great Italian masters. Shortly after that, he discovered Nantucket and was captivated by the island’s serene simplicity. He began painting en plein air and has been doing so ever since. Panzera developed a deep interest in the proportional theories of Leonardo da Vinci, resulting in the creation of The Leonardo Series, a group of 65 drawings based on Leonardo’s investigation of proportion. Other groups of work include a series of scroll drawings each measuring 15 feet in length, a group of life-size figure drawings, the 1001 Body Parts Series, and a group known as The Headless Torso. Mr. Panzera recently retired from Manhattan’s Hunter College, where he was a professor of drawing for over 40 years. During his tenure there, he also co-directed The Art in Florence and Rome Programs and taught a variety of courses at the New York Academy of Art, and The National Academy School, both in Manhattan. He received his undergraduate degree from The State University of New York at New Paltz, and an MFA degree from Southern Illinois University, in Carbondale. Panzera’s works are represented in many public and private collections and have been exhibited in solo and group shows across the country and in Europe. Additionally, he has curated a number of exhibits, authored several catalogue essays, and contributed dozens of articles to art publications. Anthony Panzera’s impact on not only the countless young artists who studied under him but on a long list of devoted followers and collectors is both immeasurable and lasting.
Peter Quidley (American, b. 1945) Peter Quidley was born on Boston’s Beacon Hill in 1945. Though he studied drawing throughout his college years, Quidley is largely a self-taught painter. Working as a professional artist for more than four decades, his goal has been to create paintings of beauty and enduring quality. Over the course of his career, Quidley gravitated toward a subtle narrative form, depicting peaceful and serene scenes, redolent of mystery, mischief, and simple innocence. All of his paintings—land- or seascapes, still lifes, or figurative pieces—convey a palpable emotional significance. Quidley’s characteristic style involves stripping his paintings of subject matter, iconography or clothing styles that place his scenes in a particular era; in so doing, the artist imbues his paintings with a sense of timelessness. He demonstrates a deep respect for the classical painting tradition through his practices of painting on panel, grinding his own pigments and choosing gold leaf water gilded frames. In a uniquely personal gesture, he often affixes to the back of a finished piece the brushes used to create the painting. According to one critic, “The first thing you notice about Peter Quidley’s oil paintings is the shimmering, lustrous character of the light which seems to radiate from the inside out, as if each picture is infused with its own individual incandescence.” Quidley’s work has been exhibited in numerous group exhibitions nationwide and internationally, and in solo shows across Massachusetts, including the Cape Museum of Fine Art, the Addison Gallery, and the Cahoon Museum of American Art. He holds the distinction of Copley Master, and is a member of numerous artistic societies. The artist is a renowned portraitist and does select work on commission. His works are in private collections around the world.
A Boat 24” x 36” oil on panel
Janet Rickus (American, b. 1949)
Still Life with Spoons 16” x 20” oil on canvas
Janet Rickus is an exemplar of contemporary realist painters with an established reputation. She was born in 1949 and raised in Chicopee, Massachusetts, but moved as a young girl to West Springfield, where her parents operated a grocery store. She graduated with a BS from Central Connecticut State University in 1971, and began painting still lifes in 1983. In minute detail, with a sumptuous color palette, Rickus presents life-size depictions of fruits, vegetables, and humble household vessels and kitchen linens. With loving treatment of her subject matter, Rickus endows these everyday objects with a certain nobility. Her often idiosyncratic compositions at times subvert the typical representation of objects, such as when she presents carrots vertically alongside slender vases, or balances a small lime atop a rotund melon. Presented in intimate relationship with one another and enjoying pride of place, Rickus’ objects exude an elegant geometry and order. With a forthright presentation, and painting strictly in natural light, Rickus rejects the darkly mysterious effects of the chiaroscuro technique, displaying a more modern sensibility. There is a sense of immediacy and familiarity in the paintings that creates an irresistible draw for the viewer. Throughout her 30-year career, Rickus has exhibited in dozens of group shows. She was honored with an exhibition of her work at the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts in 2001, and her solo shows in New York and Massachusetts have received great critical acclaim. Her work has been featured in prestigious publications, including ARTnews and Art and Antiques. Her painting entitled “Three Pears” was the cover illustration of Harvard professor Marjorie Garber’s book, “Vice Versa: Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life,” and images of her paintings were featured in a presentation by Garber at a colloquium at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Rickus’ artwork is included in a number of private collections, including those of television personality Jane Curtin and the late actor Jason Robards.
Forrest Rodts (American, b. 1960) Forrest Rodts graduated from Hobart College in upstate New York in 1983 with a BA in economics and a minor in fine arts. Growing up, he spent summers in Siasconset on Nantucket and in 1982 began showing his paintings with the Artist Association of Nantucket. In 1988 he had his first solo exhibition in Nantucket and he has been painting professionally ever since. Rodts’ finely detailed land- and seascapes reflect his love of the ocean and the unspoiled serenity of New England’s coastline, and have earned him an enthusiastic following. Over the years he has developed a personal style that combines color, light and composition with meticulous draftsmanship, bringing the familiar to life in a brilliant acrylic palette. Rodts’ landscapes capture the realism of sunsets, stormy skies, sparkling blue oceans and white-capped waves. The artist has recently turned his attention toward producing dramatic works that reflect his long-standing interest in marine history and the sailing tradition. Rodts has won numerous awards as a member of the Copley Society of Boston, the Artists Association of Nantucket and the Marblehead Arts Association. His work can be found in private collections throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. He lives with his wife and two sons in Massachusetts. “My paintings represent my continued study of water and light combined with my love of sailing, history and the ocean. My goal is to be as realistic as possible while still producing an aesthetically pleasing painting which will draw the viewer into its mood.” - Forrest Rodts
The Point 18” x 36” acrylic on panel
Sergio Roffo (American, b. 1953)
Harborfront, Old North Wharf 24” x 36” oil on canvas
Sergio Roffo is perhaps the foremost American coastal landscape painter working today. The youngest of six children, Sergio was born in San Donato, Italy. As a child, he immigrated with his family to Boston. In the 1980s Sergio studied art formally at the Vesper George School of Art under the tutelage of Robert Douglas Hunter. After graduation, Roffo began working with watercolors in his paintings of Boston cityscapes; he switched to oils when he and his family moved to the coastal community of Scituate. Roffo has been inspired by the work of the American traditional painters George Inness and Albert Bierstadt, among others. Over the years he developed a mastery of portraying the New England coastal landscape both near his home and farther afield. With a solid grounding in the fundamentals of his craft, Roffo captures the small details—the texture of dune grass, the particular quality of light of a Nantucket Harbor sunset—that bring a scene to life. Roffo is a plein air painter of the first degree; he displays a clear talent for expressing the elegance of nature through his masterful brushwork and ability to capture light and atmospheric effects. His intimate relationship with his subject matter—the sea, sky, beaches and boats that surround him—is evident in all of Roffo’s work. This emotional component, along with a uniformity of excellence, lends the work a greater degree of complexity, and has earned him an enthusiastic following. Roffo’s paintings continue to be highly sought after by devoted collectors. Sergio lives in Scituate with his wife and two daughters, where he continues to paint, teach workshops, and enjoy various other interests, including gourmet cooking, opera and classical music, gardening, tennis and sailing his 18 foot Marshall Sanderling catboat. “My mission is trying to convey to the viewer the spirituality and sacredness of my work, indicating the harmony of nature through color and light. As artists, our creative goals will never be accomplished. We will always be students of nature.” – Sergio Roffo
Gary Ruddell (American, b. 1951) Gary Ruddell was born in San Mateo, California, in 1951, and spent much of his time growing up drawing and painting. He received the BFA degree from California College of Arts and Crafts in 1975. The artist acknowledges the influence Bay Area figurative painting has had on his work, heightening his attraction to surface and materials, as well as the sensuality of objects. Over the years, he has developed a loose, expressionistic style, and cites Richard Diebenkorn, Gerhard Richter and Fairfield Porter as a few of his favorite painters. Ruddell first attracted attention for his science fiction book covers, displaying a flair for depicting action and combining realistic figures with less representational backgrounds. His vision, and his talent, however, soon drew him away from this early commercial work, and for close to two decades now he has been exhibiting his paintings in solo and group shows in prestigious galleries nationwide. Ruddell’s large, square canvases are windows onto scenes both familiar and mysterious, stage sets on which characters play out their personal narratives. Figures, distinctly rendered, hover in an amorphous landscape, setting up a relationship between representation and abstraction. With a distinct lack of sentimentality, Ruddell ups the emotional ante of each painting through the placement of his subjects in the composition. In sharp focus against the blurred, abstracted space they inhabit, in turning away from both the viewer and each other, Ruddell’s figures become symbols of the complex human experience. “For me, the act of painting is a way of knowing a process, of seeing. I like to think of my paintings as stills in a film, suspended moments, a private glimpse into the human condition. I paint figures as I see myself interacting with objects, almost as if it is a play in progress... What I am after are images of man’s relationship to his environment and his system of life in a ritualized role.” - Gary Ruddell
My Two Sons 52” x 46” oil on panel
David Shevlino (American, b. 1962) David Shevlino was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1962. A graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the University of Pennsylvania, he also studied at the Art Students League in New York. Growing up near New York City, Shevlino was exposed to art as a teenager. He began making trips to art museums at age 15 and developed a love of traditional figurative painting. During this time, he found himself especially drawn to the old masters; his interest in modern art was cultivated considerably later. Those early museum visits provided a sense of the origins and history of painting, and instilled a love of drawing and the creative process. In Shevlino’s current work, the canvas has increasingly become a place to experiment with different techniques of paint application. He is particularly interested in exploring the line between the traditional representation of the figure and the abstraction of it, and his paintings reflect his simultaneous use of both approaches. There is a spontaneous, gestural quality to David’s technique. His paintings are characterized by broad brushstrokes, a sensuous application of paint, and an obvious feel for tonal harmonies. At the same time, the artist demonstrates a firm sense of control, tightening up the composition through his deft modeling of the human form. David Shevlino has exhibited work nationally in both solo and group shows over the past two decades, and currently lives in Wilmington, DE.
Downward 43” x 39” oil on canvas
Hunt Slonem (American, b. 1951) Hunt Slonem was born in Maine in 1951. He studied at Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine; Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN; and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tulane University in Louisiana. In 1973 he moved to New York City, and since 2011 has been living and working in a 25,000 square foot studio in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. His studio, filled with mid-19th century antiques acquired at antique fairs and flea markets, is a veritable museum. These objects both satisfy his hunger for collecting and serve as a source of inspiration for his own work. Slonem is an artist of prodigious output and infinite imagination, with a strong affinity for nature. His work has long been influenced by his travels to such exotic locales as Hawaii, Nicaragua, Mexico and India. He is best known for his Neo-Expressionistic paintings of animals, butterflies, and birds in particular, all of which act as a sort of leitmotif. Canvases are filled with these objects, which are reproduced over and over in an act of repetition that has been prominent in his work for over 30 years now. His paintings are layered with thick brushstrokes of vivid color, often cut into in a cross-hatched pattern that adds texture to the overall surface of the painting. Slonem has had a long, illustrious and varied career. He has been commissioned to paint large-scale murals and has collaborated on product design with major retailers, including a stoneware collection for Tiffany & Co. and a custom–painted A5 sedan for Audi. Since 1977, the artist has had more than 350 exhibitions at prestigious galleries and museums internationally. Globally, more than 100 museums include his work in their collections, among them the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. Slonem is the subject of a number of monographs, including “Hunt Slonem, An Art Rich & Strange” which features text by Donald Kuspit, and his work has been featured in countless prestigious publications. Hunt Slonem divides his time between New York City and Louisiana, where he owns two plantation homes on the historic register.
Finches Right Eye 40” x 30” oil on canvas
Steve Smulka (American, b. 1949)
Making Waves 20” x 30” oil on linen
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Smulka attended The School of Visual Arts in Manhattan on a full scholarship, studying under acclaimed photo realist Chuck Close, among others. He completed graduate school at The University of Massachusetts at Amherst with an MFA. The years after graduation saw the evolution of a minimalist, neo-abstract, expressionist painting style. During this time, the artist moved back to New York City, and had his first show at the Soho Center for the Arts in 1978. Later, during a trip to Italy with his wife Ginny, Smulka had the opportunity to immerse himself in the works of the Italian masters. It was in the aftermath of this experience that he began painting once again in the realist style. Smulka has garnered international recognition for his distinct approach to Contemporary Realism. While also a renowned figurative artist, Smulka’s signature motif is the meticulous reproduction of oversized glass bottles, jars, and decanters set against backdrops that might include trees, mountains or a rocky coastline. The artist accomplishes a virtual transformation of paint into prism and translucence into reflection and refraction, and the results on canvas are mesmerizing. His work has earned him particular attention from critic J. Bower Bell, who writes, “Each work is lovingly crafted; the treatment of glass profound, mature, the skill, awesome; but it is the light that matters, the light that is somehow transformed by facility of hand and felicity of brush into a compelling icon. This mysterious alchemy of craft, vision and cunning turns paint into light and light into magic.” Steve Smulka has exhibited in North and South America, Europe, and Japan, is a two-time recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, and has been collected by some of America’s largest corporations. He currently lives and works in New Mexico.
Robert Stark III (American, b. 1964) Predominantly a realist still life painter, Robert Stark III confronts the tradition of still life painting by challenging the viewer with dubious arrangements. His arresting compositions portray both interior and exterior settings, capturing the subtle effects of light and shadow to create a particular atmosphere or sense of place. Stark imbues simple objects with personality through his extraordinary ability to render in minute detail their smallest elements and imperfections. These exquisitely realistic, often small-scale paintings invite close scrutiny. Stark strives to pull the viewer in through an implied narrative; his remarkable technical proficiency results in paintings that can be deceivingly loaded with content, action, and intention. Stark draws strongly from the Dutch still life painters for technique. Through repeated applications of oil glaze the artist has developed a chiaroscuro style that gives the painting and the subject itself a strong sense of depth. Glazing permits the manipulation of pigments to either reflect or absorb light, producing a strong illusion of three-dimensionality. Stark’s compositions also remind us of early Spanish still life painters in their simplicity. He “peoples” his paintings with few objects that, in their placement, seem both random yet distinctly interrelated. Raised on Nantucket, Robert Stark attended the Taft School and Georgetown University, where he majored in Chinese/ Asian studies and Fine Arts. He has since returned to the island to focus on his painting.
Last Limes 12” x 12” oil on panel
Tim Thompson (British, b. 1951)
Escape from the Wreck of the Douglas 30” x 40” oil on canvas
Tim Thompson is a respected, world-renowned oil painter, and one of the undisputed leaders of today’s generation of marine artists. Born in Hull, England in 1951, Thompson spent his childhood in the Channel Islands, where his interest in the sea and sailing first developed. A self-taught painter, Thompson began his artistic career when he was 27, establishing his reputation with nautical paintings whose subjects ranged from the fighting ships of Drake’s era to modern racing yachts and the America’s Cup competitions. His works also include various historic and period seascapes and marine art, including heroic rescues at sea. While Thompson enjoyed success early on, 1982 proved to be a turning point in his career. That year, at a regatta in Cowes, England, he met media mogul and sailing enthusiast Ted Turner, who ultimately commissioned him to paint a number of his yachts. Thompson’s work is characterized by his use of traditional oil techniques. Placing layer upon layer of translucent wash on canvas, he produces a luminosity rarely seen in contemporary marine paintings. He has been much praised for his meticulous attention to detail and his ability to create dramatic and atmospheric images. Displaying an elegance and sophistication reminiscent of works by the 19th century masters of marine art, Thompson’s works are widely collected by marine art connoisseurs around the world. Thompson has co-authored three books, The Paintings of the America Cup, Gold Medal Rescues, and The Story of Yachting, and was the official artist of national race teams many times. He now lives in Saltash, Cornwall in the UK, with his wife and two daughters. “Color and movement are vital components in my work. It is important that I see exactly how the sails of a yacht are formed when she is rounding a mark or how the ocean appears during a storm.” - Tim Thompson
Evan Wilson (American, b. 1953) Evan Wilson was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He attended the prestigious North Carolina School of the Arts, and the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he met his lifelong mentor, Joseph Sheppard, an internationally acclaimed realist painter in the Old World tradition. After college, Wilson studied at the Schuler School of Fine Arts in Baltimore and in Florence, Italy. For nearly twenty-five years, Wilson has worked as a professional artist in the venerable realist tradition, evolving a painting style that acknowledges the past while capturing the present. Remaining true to his mission to bring realist painting back into the forefront of American art, Wilson displays the technical skill, confidence and bravura that is the result of years of international study. Whether he is painting an interior scene, a portrait or a still life, Wilson achieves a magnificent level of verisimilitude. He demonstrates an exquisite paint-handling ability; his rich color palette and talent for capturing light unite to striking effect. He has been praised for his masterful control of light and shadow, beautifully depicting their effects on figures and objects. The realism of his interior scenes is heightened by the sparkling reflection on silver pitcher, or by a rectangle of light across a table as it streams from an unseen window. His portraits reveal a personal, unidealized expression of his subjects. They exude a sensual quality, often featuring figures dressed in or reclining upon sumptuous fabrics so meticulously rendered the viewer can almost feel the texture, sense their opulence. Wilson’s paintings are an invitation to dive into the beauty of the world he depicts.
Sunflowers in a Moroccan Urn 36” x 30” oil on canvas
Karen Woods (American, b. 1963)
Around the Corner 24” x 60” oil on canvas
Born in Seattle, Washington, Karen Woods studied art in Florence, Italy and at the California College of the Arts where she received a BFA with high distinction in 1987. Since 1994, Woods has been living and working in Boise, Idaho. While in Boise, she found herself drawn to the co-existence and interaction of natural and constructed elements in her surroundings. Increasingly, her work focused on the urban landscape: cars, traffic signals, road construction, empty lots, intersections, and power lines. Her most recent work includes a series of paintings of a rain-spattered windshield that frames a streetscape; the perspective is that of the driver. This unique and compelling compositional technique creates a sense of space in front of the surface of the painting--the interior of a car--without actually depicting that space. The observer is drawn into the narrative through the simple act of viewing the painting; there is a sense of being at once enclosed from and connected to the urban environment. Creating a dynamic push and pull between the foreground and background, Woods expertly negotiates the relationship between the highly detailed, light-reflecting raindrops, and the blurred landscape beyond. Taking cues from both Eastern and Western landscape traditions, Woods aims to create an intimate space at any scale. “I paint—in the realist tradition... when I’ve been struck by the beauty in the ordinariness of my commute. These images are the “lyrical suggestions” that compel me to paint... the reward lies in capturing and expanding the space, time, and movement of a moment in everyday life, and to reveal its accompanying emotional weight: its anticipation, reflection, isolation, longing, and transcendence.” – Karen Woods
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