EVERT WITTE
Evert Witte was born in Nijmegen, The Netherlands in 1951. From 1969 till 1972 he studied graphic design at the Academy of Visual Arts in Arnhem, NL. After his studies he worked for the next ten years as a freelance illustrator. Around 1983 he started to make the transition from commercial to fine art and began showing his work in the Haarlem area, his hometown where the Frans Hals Museum was one of his first collectors. In the late eighties and early nineties he participated in exhibitions in: – The Jacob Smits Museum, Mol Belgium – Gallery Art Propos, the Hague NL. – De Kunstkapel, Gouda, NL. – Taller del Sol, Tarragona, Spain – De Vleeshal, Haarlem, NL. – Gallery Kaai, IJmuiden, NL. – Gallery Ramakers, The Hague, NL.
In 1991 Evert was awarded an artist grant by the Province of Noord Holland and in ‘92, ‘93, ‘94 by the city of Haarlem. In 1991 he made a study trip to Indonesia and Thailand for the “Temple” series, which he showed in a solo exhibition in Beverwijk, NL. In 1992 he also showed his work, accompanied by the publication “Imprints”, with two like-minded artist friends in Gallery Kaai, IJmuiden, NL. In 1993 he made a road trip in the U.S. from Miami to San Francisco that initiated the “Made in America” series. During that last trip he met photographer Sandra Russell Clark in New Orleans. Evert Came back to New Orleans as a visiting professor of painting and drawing at Loyola University in 1994. At the end of that year he moved from Haarlem to New Orleans where he and Sandra got married the next spring. In 1996 Evert joined the Cole Pratt Gallery in New Orleans and took part in “The Louisiana International Exhibition” at Clark Gallery, Southeastern University in Hammond, LA. On August 31, 2005 hurricane Katrina destroyed Evert and his wife Sandra’s house and studios with everything in them. Hundreds of art works gone. For the next two years, to get their lives back together, they moved to Long Island, NY where they had studios in Amaganset and East Hampton. In 2006 Evert showed at Cole Pratt Gallery and took part in “Surviving Katrina” at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans. He was awarded a grant from the Jackson Pollock Foundation as well as an Artist Residency in Santa Fe, NM. Between 2006 and 2010 Evert has shown his work at Cole Pratt Gallery, Perry Nicole Fine Art, Gebert Contemporary in Santa Fe. He participated in “Mapping the Terrain, New Directions in Abstract Painting” at the Contemporary Art Gallery of Southeastern University in Hammond, LA. ; “The Red Dot” Art Fair in New York; “The Miniature Show” in the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, MS. and “A tribute to Cole Pratt” at the New Orleans Museum of Art in New Orleans.
In 2011 I received a travel and research fellowship from the Jane Crater Hiatt Foundation through the Mississippi Museum of Art. By April of 2012 I found myself crossing the Tiber on a daily basis to study Rome’s abundance of Renaissance art. I did this not as an art historian but as a time traveling apprentice, re-evaluating contemporary painting in it’s western birthplace. The work in this exhibition is purposely influenced by my Italian experience. This is exemplified through the vertical hierarchy in composition and organization, the effectiveness through saturation and contrast in color, also through the architectural approach in scale, function and presence. In my work I am exploring interconnectedness and the process of painting itself. By simplifying mark making, color choice and construction, emphasizing and making visible the human hand, I am trying to touch on the physical and visceral possibilities and limitations of painting. – Evert Witte
PAINTINGS BY
Trespassing Acrylic on Canvas 60” x 48”
Urban Tales Acrylic on Canvas 60” x 48”
Blueskin Acrylic on Canvas 60” x 48”
Greetings From Grollo Acrylic on Canvas 60” x 48”
Trade Secrets Acrylic on Canvas 60” x 48”
Checking the Calibration Acrylic on Canvas 60” x 48”
The Education of Mr. A. Acrylic on Canvas 48” x 36”
Crossing the Tiber Acrylic on Canvas 48” x 36”
Inclusion No. 1 Acrylic on Canvas 24” x 24”
Inclusion No. 2 Acrylic on Canvas 24” x 24”
Inclusion No. 3 Acrylic on Canvas 24” x 24”
Inclusion No. 4 Acrylic on Canvas 24” x 24”
Inclusion No. 5 Acrylic on Canvas 24” x 24”
Inclusion No. 6 Acrylic on Canvas 24” x 24”
New Paintings by Evert Witte May 2 – June 28, 2015 All images copyright of the artist. Images of the works are reproduced courtesy of the artist and The Lionheart Gallery. Curated by Susan Grissom Designed by Erin Manion All rights reserved. No part of this may be produced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission in writing of the copyright holder and The Lionheart Gallery.
www.thelionheartgallery.com
914 764 8689
27 Westchester Avenue, Pound Ridge, NY 10576