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Inspiration: Peter Opheim

Lately, I have been struck by these beautiful large-scale paintings by Peter Opheim. The color and quality of the work is amazing! They are really inspiring the direction of some new work for me.

Peter Opheim, “Untitled”, 110” by 98”, oil/canvas, 2011 (#107)

Peter Opheim, “Untitled”, 75” by 65”, oil/canvas, 2010 (#108)

Peter Opheim, “Untitled”, 96” by 96”, oil/canvas, 2011 (#135)

To see more of his work, visit his website, www.peteropheim.com or check out a studio visit with the artist from New American Paintings blog: nice images that show the surface quality of Opheim's work.

Next Show to Open this Friday!!

The artwork featured in American Dreams will be a personal exploration of what it means to be an American today.  

Kristy Bishop, local mixed media artist, uses fabric, paint, sewing, yarn, and many other fiber mediums to create her artwork. Her past work has been inspired by the negative effects of human-induced changes and encounters with the natural environment.  For American Dreams, she is creating new work that examines the illusion of classlessness in America. She is interested in the idea of purpose and belonging in a consumer culture and the unprecedented widening gap in the distribution of wealth in America.

Sarah Frierson holds a BFA in Painting from the University of South Carolina.  Now a Charleston resident, Frierson works in a variety of painting mediums including oil and encaustic, showing her work at Rick Rhodes Gallery, Eye Level Art, and the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art.  Her work explores what “home” is in America today, focusing on movements of populations and the foreclosure problem in the U.S.

Paul Cristina is originally from Cleveland, OH and currently resides in Charleston, SC. He creates works of art in a variety of mediums including pen, ink, acrylic, watercolor, solvent transfers, digital collage, and mixed media. His work has been featured at Kulture Klash, The Meeting Space, and Jimbo’s Rock Lounge.  Through his work, Cristina investigates how our society is affected by the relentless exposure to excessive snippets of filtered, diluted and falsified information being fed to us through various media outlets, and how it strategically shapes our minds, influences our thinking, and progressively deteriorates our attention spans.

The art show will be a pre-4th of July celebration with refreshments provided by Three Little Birds Café and Catering and live music on the patio.  The party is free and open to the public. Complimentary sparklers will be provided!

Paul Cristina, A Method of Unthinking, mixed media on paper

Kristy Bishop, A Veiled Satisfaction, wool yarn, silk, linen, and rabbit skin glue

The Evolution of a Painting

This is a piece I finished back in January of this year for the Material World show.  With my lovely new digital camera (moving into the 21st century, I am!), I documented the steps of the painting--basically each photo is a stopping point I reached to allow the painting to dry before adding the next 'layer.'  Just thought it was interesting to see where it starts and how it ends.

Capturing the progression of the work was an idea I got from the website of another painter I recently discovered, Alex Kanevsky. You can view his process here (it's absolutely amazing!).  The photos were taken in my studio on different days and different times of the day, thus the changes in lighting.  There is also a companion piece to this painting, or shall I say, the second in a series I am working on...

Both pieces are for sale. Contact me for prices and availability.

Interesting article found on ARTINFO...

I hate to say it but.... smoking just looks cool.

Material World

Material World

Works by: Kristy Bishop, Sarah Frierson, Nina Garner, and Hirona Matsuda

Friday, January 28th from 5:30-7:30 pm

@ The Flagship, 475 East Bay St. (the old Hollywood Video, I'm told)

I've gotten a little slack on the Art Basel coverage lately. The reason behind my slackness is that I've been working on some new pieces for this show, which you should all attend. It's kind of a one night showing so please come see it!

It's totally free and open to the public. Delicious food and wine will be provided by Social. There'll be beautiful work from all four artists! Check out Kristy Bishop and Nina Garner now!

Charleston Represents

My trip to Miami had several motives. My main goal was to see the art, of course, but I am also lucky enough to work for an artist who was showing in Miami. My boss, Benjamin Hollingsworth, was showing several pieces in a show entitled Voyeur at a new luxury condominium on the corner of Collins and 21^st Street. So on Friday morning Kristy Bishop and I headed down to Miami Beach to help hang the show.

Luckily the opening later that night was awesome! Benjamin, Kristy, and I were a little worried after spending the afternoon just asking for bad luck—as a part of Ben’s installation, we broke mirrors and walked under ladders all afternoon! Whew! Here’s a few shots from the installation and the opening (sorry, the light’s not so great):

The before shot: installation

Other works at Voyeur; triptych by Ben Olson

The after shot: Kristy and Shelley lighting the candles at the opening

And I was happy to see there were other artists representing for Charleston! In addition to about 10-15 artists I spotted from Charleston in Miami, I knew that Scott Debus, another Charleston artist, was out there somewhere with a moving truck full of work, but we hadn’t found him yet. One night, while walking through the Design District of Miami, we stumbled upon Scott, putting his work out there on the busy streets. Scott had rented this huge moving truck and turned it into a mobile gallery. The shear spectacle was drawing in a huge crowd, with Scott’s paintings on wood creating a mural alongside the truck and a small entryway at the top of the truck’s ramp. It was like going into a fun house, and the inside was even complete with Scott’s fun house mirrors! He was selling a lot of work and had a line to get in. I call it a success! And even though Scott mentioned he had been there almost 24/7 all week and was maybe a little exhausted, I could tell by the smile on his face that he was having a great time too. All in all, it was a great vibe for viewing work. I talked to Scott recently about his experience and he suggests we all (Charleston folks) pack up our moving trucks and take over an entire parking lot in Miami next year. The mobile gallery is on—maybe we can make it an entire mobile art fair…who’s in?!

OHWOW!

All over Miami, there are countless openings and private art parties. On my second night in Miami, I went to the OHWOW opening in the Design District, entitled It Ain’t Fair, a clever play on the show’s separation from the convention hall style fairs. OHWOW has been putting on the It Ain’t Fair show since its establishment in 2008. The show featured works by Barry McGee, Neck Face, and photographer Tim Barber. The work tends to be a bit edgier and more like street art, what OHWOW refers to as progressive contemporary art. Like in much of the Design District and Wynwood areas of the art fair, this style of work and alternative setting draws a greater number of young people. It is nice to see that type of crowd viewing work by young and emerging artists and it’s a bit of a relief from the way the main convention can feel a bit stuffy, crowded at times with older, wealthy collectors buying art from fifty years ago.

And some of the work was really great:

Michael Genovese's highly reflective sculptures are reminiscent of ancient texts, like Hammurabi's Code

I love Aurel Schmidt's Prismacolor drawings/collages!

Visitors view photographs by Julia Ziegler-Haynes.

This little guy sat on top of a crate labelled and ready to go to the MOMA!

Sculpture by Lucien Marc Smith

Art at the Aqua!

4:00 PM on Saturday: After a couple hours at the Convention Center and an amazing lunch at La Sandwicherie (a great sandwich, walk-up, outdoor, counter-like place, that a friend recommended), we stumbled onto a little gem on our way back to feed the meter. Almost three hours later (whoops!), I was more than happy we had the detour—stumbling upon Aqua Art Fair!

The intimate setting of the fair, located inside the Aqua Hotel on Collins Avenue, instantly puts you at ease. The hotel rooms themselves are completely cleared out and each one is then occupied by one of forty-four galleries. The feeling is more intimate and far less intimidating than the main fair. The vibes are just good, with lights in the trees, lounge chairs, a hot tub, and a bar all in the courtyard surrounded by two stories of the renovated hotel, which still holds on to its mid-century charms.

And the art: AWESOME! Most of the galleries are from smaller cities in the U.S. and Canada (well, smaller than NYC or Berlin, like at Art Basel), like San Francisco, Philadelphia and even Tucson. And there are still those big city showings like NYC and Toronto—all in all, a great mix of work from everyone showing. In addition, most of the gallery owners and docents were welcoming, ready to answer questions, and offered information even before you asked.

The work shown reflected the broad range of mediums and ideas that artists working today are using. There was a lot of work that used unusual materials and surfaces like Jessica Drenk’s toilet paper sculptures or Gary Emrich’s photo transfers onto old paintbrushes (below).

And I was super happy to see a large number of encaustic works, including some beautiful work at Conrad Wilde Gallery and at Blunt Collective/AWOL Gallery!

These works and the galleries felt more in reach as a young artist. I left with the feeling that I could actually make it in the art world or be in a fair like this in the (maybe?) near future. I even met and talked with one of the artists who was nearby as I admired his work, which I loved and totally related to my own style of painting—Matthew Schofield.

The evening ended after almost three hours of careful browsing with my feet soaking in the hot tub in the courtyard and talking to new friends…the perfect ending to a perfect afternoon of art in Miami. And then it was back to real-life duties, like that meter and dinner, which would be the leftovers I was carrying around in a bag for a few hours!

And now for what I think was the best of Aqua (these pictures are by me and you can click ‘em to make ‘em larger!):

Carrie Seid, aluminum and mylar covered in silk; can ya see it?

Jaq Chartier, acrylic, gesso, and stain on panel

Amy Casey, Circling Wagons, 2008, acrylic on paper

I love how it's completely made up of shades of browns!

Megan Whitmarsh's embroidered creations!

Eamon O'Kane, ink on paper

This artist also does beautiful architectural paintings and sculptures.

Lauren DiCioccio had a number of works at Jack Fischer Gallery, all stitching including an entire deck of hand embroidered cloth playing cards. I loved these books, where every word is carefully stitched over!

Of course I was stopped in my tracks by this moon by David Joron. Ah, the likeness is astounding...

David E. Peterson

Diem Chau makes these delicately embroidered organza pieces and then stretches them over China bowls and plates.

Carved wooden coat hangers by Maskull Lasserre--there was a whole set!

Casey Roberts takes the chemicals for developing Cyanotypes and uses chemical reactions to create the colors in her paintings. I have no idea how this works but the result is amazing and beautiful!

Sidnea D'Amico

Rocky Grimes, I took home a little t-shirt souvenir screen-printed by this artist. Yay for inexpensive souvenirs that are also art!

Marcia Perello Ramos