Our Featured Artist of the Week – Zeke Berman

Goblet Portraits 1977

ArtistsinAuction

The work of Zeke Berman demonstrates a truly unique eye in the world of photography. We are truly grateful to have such a talented artist on board, partaking in our upcoming auction.

Berman has honed his craft over the last 35 years, producing singular, studio-based photographs that reflect his long-standing interest in visual cognition and optics.

His work has evolved much over the years but always explores an intersection between sculpture, photography and drawing.

From the outset Berman received strong critical acclaim. His work has been collected, published and exhibited in galleries and museums such as MoMA, The Metropolitan, The Whitney, and Art Institute of Chicago. He has been featured in the first New Photography Exhibition at MoMA and has received multiple awards, including the Guggenheim, NEA and NYFA Arts Fellowships.

In the beginning

As a kid, Berman loved sculpture. He attended the High School of Music and Art and studied sculpture at the Philadelphia College of Art. He only backed into photography after graduating. To date he approaches photography as a studio based art and his sculptural training clearly plays an important part in his working process.

During his years in art school, conceptual art and minimalism were a fresh aspect of contemporary art. At that time, Berman began a developing fascination in perception theory –  a lifelong interest that involves questions of cognition, optical illusion and the evolution of the senses. The idea that an illusion can change in appearance,  right before our eyes, is equally fascinating and inspiring to him.

His study found its way into his working process when he began to experiment with a camera in the studio. Berman’s epiphany came when he discovered a deep mystery and possibility in the transformation of a three-dimensional construction into a two-dimensional photograph.

A cumulative process

The formal range of Berman’s work and his sculptural use of materials is varied, original and idiosyncratic. All his pieces are intricately designed and constructed in his studio.

Berman uses a 4X5 studio view camera  to create all his photography. The procedure is an old one that delivers extremely sharp, and clear prints, as well as images that are very realistic in the description of the materials used. The end result is often a photograph designed from a construction but with the appearance of a drawing.

His process is cumulative in nature – he makes photographic sketches constantly as he constructs and reconstructs, creating many, images as the work evolves. Intuition and spontaneity ensue throughout the process. We asked him how he knows when he has finally completed a piece.  His answer is that it simply feels complete.

Optical illusion

In the late 1970’s Berman had a direct interest in creating different kinds of illusion. His work from this period clearly demonstrates optical illusion and the transformation of three-dimension into two-dimension.

“Cup with Objects” from 1979 is a great example of 3D/2D play. All the objects fill up the frame up to the edge, however, one slight shift of the camera and the pieces wouldn’t work together.

Cup with Objects

“Web,” a piece from the late 80’s contains an actual spider web. It is a very linear, abstract work, and one that clearly depicts the flow from drawing to sculpture to photography. In fact, much of his work from this time period was very linear in nature.

Web

Later pieces demonstrate the evolution and progression in his photography.

Take for example “Shoe and Tire,” a 1993 commission piece for Progressive Corporation, an auto insurance company. The company CEO is an avid art collector and commissioned Berman to create a suite of still life’s around which the company’s Annual Report was designed. He won several design awards for this work.

Shoe and Tire

“Heart,” created in 1995 was commissioned by graphic designer Mark Schwartz for his daughter who was born on Valentine’s day.

Heart

Although Berman rarely photographs people, “Standing Stack” from 1997 was made at a time when he wished to bring more human presence into his work.

Standing Stack

Berman lives and works in NYC. He now works mostly in color, a new turn in his evolving body of work.

To view the ArtistsinAuction website click here.

To view more of  Zeke Berman’s work, click here.

Plant Slice 1999

Fat Lamp and Cherry Blossoms 2008

Highlights of ArtistsinAuction’s Reception

ArtistsinAuction

We were thrilled to see such a great turnout of art aficionados at our preauction reception last Thursday in lower Manhattan.

More than 100 guests attended the event to see the works of several of our NewYork based artists, including Tom Smith, Mike Lindwasser, Dulcie Dee, Sean Parrott, EGSilberman, Robin Antar, Alex White-Mazzarella, Zeke Berman, Marilyn Weiss and Joni Diskint.  A great time was had by all as many of our talented artists were also in attendance to answer questions and share in conversation and cocktails.

All of their wonderful and varied pieces are available for sale, as are those by our many other talented artists across the country – and all at extremely affordable prices! We are currently featuring a wide array of media – photography, painting, drawing, sculpture, mixed media,  so there is truly something for everyone irrespective of taste.

Our auction date is soon approaching and it’s still not too late to bid on work that you love. Or perhaps purchase a piece for someone else – art makes for a  fabulous gift idea!

Please visit www.artistsinauction.com to view our complete roster of artists and browse through our catalog to see the entire collection of artwork we are offering for sale.

Untitled (magician) by Tom Smith

Floral #2 by EGSilberman

Picnic by R. Gene Barbera

"Her " by Monika Agic

"Competition of Forms 2" by Robin Antar

"Blue" by Roshan Houshmand

"The Swimmer #23" by Paul Sierra

"IN and OUT" by Marilyn Weiss

"Green House" by Darrell Jones

"After Dark My Sweet" by J. Kieran McGonnell

"Untitled" by John Phillip Davis

follow us:  

ART BUZZ:

Art  Addict:

Displaying Art…

The Art Newspaper:

Controversy over New Museum’s plans to show trustee’s collection…

ArtNet Gossip

Art Slant:
International Contemporary Art Network

Art Cat:
Art Openings, Current Picks

Art is truly for everyone – and everyone can appreciate art.

Our Featured Artist of the Week – Joni Diskint

ArtistsinAuction

Joni Diskint is fortunate to be a full-time artist – not a luxury afforded by many. She has set up her home in Chatham, New Jersey as a gallery – Joni Diskint Fine Art – specifically designed to showcase her work.

Her history probably dictated that she would set out on an artistic path. As a child, she was extremely creative, writing stories and making illustrations at a very young age. In fact, she nearly published a book when she was in the fifth grade.

The early years

But she only fully entertained the idea of being an artist when she was in college. She flourished in color and painting classes, received great feedback from professors, and decided to spend a year in London pursing her craft.

Things started to happen for her rather quickly. While living and painting in Colorado she began to show her work at local shows. At 25, she had her first show in Soho, NY, which marked the beginning of a yearly occurrence – she would show at a different gallery in Soho every year. At the time, she lived in the Berkshires, where she owned a gallery and would exhibit her work as well as that of other emerging artists.

At 30, she moved to the east side of NYC. “There was too much going on in the city not to be here”, she says.  Soon her work started selling in earnest, especially once she started offering prints of her pieces.

Seeing the light

The landscape is her inspiration – the colors and the light, as well as its never ending, constantly changing nature.  In most of her pieces the sky plays an important role because it is forever moving and always conveying a unique type of light.

Take “Lonesome Valley,” a very evocative and challenging piece that conveys a dramatic, dark sky contrasting against the white snow. The piece is very deep and intense and is made from a very dark color palette.  The ominous sky takes the viewer into a depth, to a different place.

The “Oil Lamps” are equally evocative in their portrayal of light. She bought the lamps in India and uses them for meditation, mostly at night when they cast a very solemn glow. Her idea was to capture the dark, that is to paint the light within the dark, and her aim was to go as dark as possible.  She had studied Vermeer and other masters who so artfully conveyed light, and so she felt the need to do so as well.

“Reflected Light” is another play on light, this time using the reflection of the sun against the trees at sunset. These trees are actually in her backyard and she worked endlessly to evoke the light to come through to the canvas.

Joni sells through her home as well as through a variety of charity shows. She also has a separate studio attached to the house where she teaches painting classes.  We invite you to view the work of our featured artist and to “see the light” in her varied works.

To view the ArtistsinAuction website click here.

To view more of  Joni Diskint’s work, click here.

Georgia O’Keefe: A Life of Color and Abstraction

ArtistsinAuction

If you love color and abstraction, you won’t want to miss the Georgia O’Keefe exhibit currently on display at the Whitney Museum in NY.  By now you’ve read multiple reviews, but it can honestly be said that this is one show you have to see in order to “experience”.

While it is true that Georgia O’Keefe’s flowers and landscapes made her one of the most celebrated figures of twentieth-century art, the radical abstractions she created throughout her career are much less well known. Yet they are equally spectacular. In fact, it is her abstract work that ultimately led to her creation of landscapes and florals, and not the other way around.

For O’Keefe, abstraction offered a medium in which she could portray the “unknown” – the many intense thoughts and ideas she could not express in words. Her work conveys emotional response to people and places, as well as the rhythms of nature and the experience of being enveloped by its mystery and beauty.

The exhibit also chronicles the life saga of an extremely prolific artist, allowing us to feel her emotions as she went through different stages of elation and agony. At times her pieces explode with color, at other more distressful times, color becomes somewhat subdued.

Charcoals

In 1916, O’Keefe burst onto the New York scene with her charcoal abstracts –  some of the most radical works ever produced in the US in the twentieth century. Renowned photographer Alfred Steiglitz, who would shortly become her personal and professional partner, gave her a show in 1917, exhibiting her work for the first time at his “291” gallery.

Witness “Early Abstraction” from 1915 – a linear work that takes on the form of a piece of sculpture.

"Early Abstraction," 1915

Vibrant Oils

She first introduced oils at the Anderson Galleries in 1923, marking the public’s first view of her work since 1917 at “291.” It was a jubilant time for O’Keefe, both artistically and personally, and the vibrant colors she uses – fiery reds, lush greens, erotic greens and yellow – convey her exhilaration. Favorites of ours include “Pink and Green,” 1922, “Corn Dark,” 1924, “Red Canna,” 1925-1928, and “White Sweet Peas,” 1926 (you’ll have to see these for yourself in person).

"Abstraction," 1926

.

"Grey, Blue & Black-Pink Circle," 1929

"Flower Abstraction," 1924

"Abstraction White Rose," 1927

There is one particularly darker piece from this time period, a work that portrays her experience of undergoing anesthesia before an operation to remove a benign breast cyst – “Black Abstraction,” 1927.

O’Keefe married Steiglitz in 1924 and they spent winters in NYC and summers at his home on Lake George. Many of the colorful lake series were produced during the peaceful times spent there.

Darker times

O’Keefe first started to travel to New Mexico in 1929. Steiglitz was having an affair with a younger woman and she felt the need to escape. In 1932 she suffered a nervous breakdown and stopped painting altogether until 1934. For the next ten years abstraction figured very little into her work until the Black Place Series, which were based on an area in New Mexico 150 miles west of her home at Ghost Ranch.

Paving the way

After Steiglitz’s death in 1946, O’Keefe moved permanently to New Mexico, at which time she began to introduce flat geometric planes of color, a factor that would play a central role in the art of the 1960’s. A great example is “Black Door with Red” from 1954.

A personal favorite is the opening work to the exhibit – “Above the Clouds” – an absolute masterpiece, which was created in the early 1960’s.

Although the exhibit stops around this time period, O’Keefe would go on to expand and evolve through her painting. She died in 1986 – at the ripe old age of 98 – having left an indelible mark on the world of abstract art.

To view the ArtistsinAuction website click here.

"Black Door with Red," 1954

"Above the Clouds," 1962-63

Our Featured Artist of the Week – Tom Smith

Untitled (magician and cape)

ArtistsinAuction

The collages of Tom Smith are optically stimulating and complex – viewers are often hypnotized by his mesmerizing work. So, we were eager to learn more about our featured artist’s creativity and the ways in which he developed his unique craft.

It turns out that Smith has art in his blood – his mother is an accomplished decorative artist and his father has a deep appreciation of the arts. So it was no wonder that he followed in the same footsteps. In fact, never once did he entertain the notion of doing anything in life that was non-creative.

Smith studied art in Baltimore, close to his hometown in Maryland, and majored in illustration due to his strong interest in narrative work and storytelling. He went on to graduate school to further pursue his metier. Half-way through his studies a light bulb went off in his head as he realized he had something definitive he wanted and needed to share with others.

The turning point

Fine artist and printmaker, Carroll Dunham, whom Smith assisted when he first moved to New York, was the most influential person in his early career. Carroll stripped down all of Tom’s work and forced him to focus strictly on drawing (he spent an entire year devoted to this particular craft).

As a result, Smith became more introspective and was able to move into the subconscious, channeling human interest into his pieces versus the other way around. After that significant one year period, he finally understood his creative sensibilities.

To date, all of Smith’s work is drawing based, whether he is painting, sculpting, photographing or making collages. He expects that his drawing will evolve to other forms of new media in the not too distant future.

Superhero meditation

Smith’s collages emerged directly from his massive collection of superheroes – comic books, figurines, etc. The idea was to meld character images and witness the optical illusions he was able to produce. In fact, he discovered that a character could be completely transformed through the introduction of another image.

His process is equally transformative. The meticulous skill involved, although highly technical, is extremely repetitive and, therefore, exceedingly meditative. At first he is in control, but soon control flies out the window as he begins to manipulate images. A discovery element is always present as he never is quite sure what will emerge.

Color theory and the work of Josef Albers also play a large part in Smith’s collage work. All the pieces are based on the intermeshing of colors and the appearance of images as a consequence of color selection and interaction.

Take Untitled (red, yellow, blue), one of the first pieces he designed. Smith decided to create a collage based on the primary colors of red, yellow and blue – the three opposite sides of the color spectrum. Poring through the hundreds of images in his possession, he had to uncover three images that not only bore the requisite colors but were also standing upright. Combining them, he was able to create a figurative piece with the characters in the middle, successfully intersecting Minimalist art with Contemporary art.

Untitled (red, yellow, blue)

Untitled (magenta) is equally illusionary. In this work, we witness a woman with minimal clothing represented in a very special way as her image is placed among a field of pinks and magentas.

Untitled (magenta)

In Untitled (bird and gun) we see two women, one holding a bird, the other, a gun, both with identical background colors. The resulting image is the appearance of two individuals in one space, despite the fragmentation. The piece has been pushed into a very simplistic direction, yet can be very disorienting to the viewer.

Untitled (gun and bird)

Smith’s collage work has been very influential to his other work. For example, collage, which is two-dimensional, naturally transcended into sculpture, which is three-dimensional. He tells us that he is getting ready to produce an entirely new body of work, utilizing figurative aspects, yet in the realm of the landscape.

Tom currently lives and works in New York City and has the unique opportunity to be working full-time in a studio assisting a number of established artists. He admits his good fortune and loves that he is always learning new techniques and staying “au courant,” not to mention extremely motivated. Plus, he gets to feed on the creative energy when he uses the studio for his own work at night and on weekends.

We invite you to peer into the hypnotic and magnetic work of a very talented artist.

To view the ArtistsinAuction website click here.

To view more of Tom Smith’s work, click here.

Untitled (double vision)

Icons of the Desert: Early Aboriginal Paintings at the Grey Gallery

ArtistsinAuction

Unpredictable, quirky, innovative and quite varied – some of the adjectives to describe the latest Icons of the Desert: Early Aboriginal Paintings from Papunya exhibition at NYU’s Grey gallery. I would also add dreamy, hypnotic and spiritual to the list

In 1971, schoolteacher Geoffrey Bardon provided a select group of men in Papunya, a community 160 miles west of Alice Springs in Australia, with acrylics and boards. Before these boards were made available, most artistic renderings had been in the fleeting form of body decoration, ceremonial objects and temporary ground paintings.

The new pieces established an artistic permanence as well as a striking new visual language, featuring dream motifs, ceremony, storytelling, song and the ancient tradition of mark making that dates back more than 10,000 years.

These Papunya boards, of which fewer than 600 remain, formed the genesis of the Western Desert Art Movement. Approximately fifty of these exhilarating pieces are on exhibit by notables such as Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Shorty Lungkarta Tjungurrayi, Johnny Warangkula, and Mick Namararri Tjapaltjarri.

I urge you to go and experience the sweat, tears and love that has been poured into each individual piece. The intensity is real, the vitality is powerful. Do not miss this one-of-a-kind exhibit which runs through December 5^th.

To view the ArtistsinAuction website click here.

Our Featured Artist of the Week – Dulcie Dee

Dulcie Dee at Monkdogz Gallery

ArtistsinAuction

Dulcie Dee, an American born Chinese artist, is also a native New Yorker who grew up on the Upper West Side. Her grandfather, Dee C. Chuan, was the founder of the China bank in Manila, Philippines. As a result of this familial tie, Dulcie was sent over by her father in the early 1970s to meet her Asian relatives. She spent much time during her growing years in the Philippines and received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University in Manila.

After college Dee became a freelance artist, working for the big ad agencies in NYC as a hands-on graphic designer for the better part of 15 years. She always painted and exhibited in shows along the way, the first in 1992, which was a one-woman show.

The Geisha Exposed

Her experiences in Manila were a real eye opener and initiated the start of her unique painterly style of Asian Art. She pored over the books in the local libraries and found loads of inspiration.

In the 1980s Dee started copying the Japanese shunga wood block print masters who had so fascinated her, such as Utamaro and Yoshitoshi. Mainly, she would copy Samurais and Geishas to paper. First she used color pencil, as well as pen and ink to simulate the wood block, but over the years she finessed the work to suit her distinct style. Interestingly enough, many of her Geisha paintings are self-portraits.

After four years in San Francisco, where she received her Masters, she came back to NY and started on a new Madame Butterfly series, a total of 12 pieces where she decidedly opened up the kimono and exposed the Geisha. Nicknamed the foreplay series, these works evoke a vibrancy based on color and semi-eroticism.

Soon after, in 2007, she participated in the Flashing Flesh group show at the Monkdogz gallery in Chelsea, marking the first time a Chelsea gallery exhibited her work.

Akiko

Mariko

Eri

Hard Times

“Peking Princess” came next. This large, oil on canvas is a self-portrait that depicts the Chinese girl painter caught amid the oncoming recession in NY. The blue/green hair symbolizes suffocation and struggle – life’s hardship where she is spinning her wheels and not really getting anywhere in terms of job prospects. The piece was shown earlier this year at the National Arts Gallery Roundtable, a show that included invited guest artists.

Peking Princess

Dee currently lives and works in her studio apartment in the Financial district. She constantly paints but is eager to find work, and at this point, a roommate to help share the costs of living in NYC.  We are excited to have her as one of our featured artists and wish her much success.

To view the ArtistsinAuction website click here.

To view more of Dulcie Dee’s work, click here.

ArtistsinAuction Preauction Reception

PREAUCTION RECEPTION

BUY ART!!!!

ArtistsinAuction, the premiere online auction company, wants to invite you to our Preauction Launch party!

Come and meet several local, talented artists, view their work and share in conversation and cocktails.

Thursday, November 19

studioimc

95 Morton Street

(between Greenwich and Washington Streets)

7th Floor

New York, NY 10014

7pm-9pm

To RSVP to this event, please contact info@artistsinauction.com.

If you know someone who may be interested in attending, you may pass along this invitation.

For more information on our business, featured artists and online auctions visit www.artistsinauction.com

Interview by R. Gene Barbera

Heart by Zeke Berman

Navigation Arf by Alex White-Mazzarella

Peking Princess by Dulcie Dee

Untitled (magician) by Tom Smith

IN and OUT by Marilyn Weiss

Floral #3 by EGSilberman

Competition of Forms 2 by Robin Antar

City of Lights by Mike Lindwasser

Oil Lamp 1 by Joni Diskint

Recyclo by Sean Parrott

ArtistsinAuction online catalog is LIVE!

ArtistsinAuction

ArtistsinAuction is proud to announce that our December 5th online auction catalog is now Live!!

Browse through a wide array of media – photography, painting, drawing, sculpture, mixed media – and place bids on pieces of interest. It’s a fantastic way to start or expand a collection of great art.

You can view our catalog directly or go to our website and connect through the “Bid in Auction” button at the top of every page. Remember, you will need to register in order to become an active bidder. Once you have done so, you may place preauction bids at any time. On December 5th, the live online auction will take place, at which time all bids will become final.

We encourage you to take advantage of the many affordable pieces of fabulous artwork we have on offer by our select group of talented artists from across the US.

To view the ArtistsinAuction website click here.

"Her " by Monika Agic

"Competition of Forms 2" by Robin Antar

"Blue" by Roshan Houshmand

"The Swimmer #23" by Paul Sierra

"IN and OUT" by Marilyn Weiss

"Green House" by Darrell Jones

"After Dark My Sweet" by J. Kieran McGonnell

"Untitled" by John Phillip Davis

"Picnic" by R. Gene Barbera

Our Featured Artist of the Week – EGSilberman

ArtistsinAuction

Growing up Evan Graham Silberman (EGSilberman) never believed he could really become an artist, that is, as a true profession. He is still not sure it is possible, yet it is his dream.

In college he focused on advertising where he did loads of “art” work. And at one stage, when he began writing novels, he found painting to be a terrific release.

At first he worked on glass, building layers to the top surface and honing what would become his signature style – textured dimensionality. As glass became precarious (it breaks very easily), he discovered acetate, a great medium in which the artist can slowly form and build a piece, and with the similar ability that allows light to reflect through the surface.

The joy of light

All of EGSilberman’s work has a certain sparkle and joy based on light and texture. He uses acrylics to build dimensionality and acetate to capture light. At distinct times of the day his pieces often take on a different perspective, allowing the viewer to experience the light.

His work clearly expresses form over the literal. Take “Woman Form” for example. The piece starts with an actual hard plastic shape that a friend discovered. He applied his special white pigment paint and added adornments to create a lovely piece of sculpture.

Woman Form

In “Red Aquatic,” and most of his recent work, he creates a depth in which each part of the painting conveys a particular shadow. The piece is multi-dimensional, texturally-minded, and essentially built to play with light.

Floral #2

Red Aquatic

“Blue Woman” and “Chair Woman” are earlier works that focus more on the classic image than on dimensionality, while “Grapes,” a classic still life piece, is one of the few flat works in his repertoire.

Blue Woman

Chair Woman

A working apartment

Evan’s studio is a working apartment, as opposed to the other way around. Close to 500 pieces from more than 10 years of working are meticulously placed in every possible corner, nook and cranny.

He doesn’t really display his pieces much, in fact he hardly ever formally showcases his work as self promotion is not in his nature. Evan continues to write and work as a freelance advertising specialist, but is hopeful that his art will be more recognized in the future. We are very optimistic.

To view the ArtistsinAuction website click here.

To view more of EGSilberman’s work, click here.

CMA’s 5th Annual Art Auction is a Success

ArtistsinAuction

If you ever wondered whether an art auction was a good way to sell art, you would have clearly found your answer had you attended the Children’s Museum of the Arts 5^th Annual Art Auction last Thursday.

With more than 40 pieces up for sale, both through live and silent auction, the event was a stellar opportunity for collectors to purchase a wide array of fabulous Contemporary Art by both emerging and established artists.

Works showcased included a Farah Fawcett Polaroid by Andy Warhol,  a William Wegman dog portrait, and a Dusty Boynton mixed media piece, among many others. Also for sale was a favorite of ours by Antoine Verglas.

Nina Chanel Abney

Dusty Boynton

Antoine Vergals

Mark di Suverno

Plus, the event was a blast, drawing in hundreds of socialites to the hosting gallery of Phillip’s de Pury and Company in New York City’s Meatpacking district.

And most importantly, the auction brought in a tidy sum, all of which will go towards expanding CMA’s outreach programs for underprivileged children.

To view the ArtistsinAuction website click here.

Our Featured Artist of the Week – Monika Agic

ArtistsinAuction

Monika Agic was born in Bosnia, part of the old Yugoslavia, and witnessed first hand the acute struggles of war. As a 22 year-old refugee in her homeland, she decided she had no choice but to flee to the US with her husband and five month old son. How did she muster up the courage? Survival is the only answer.

To this day, Agic cannot understand the logic to war and especially the hatred that ensued in her country. Her art, however, shows none of this demoralizing pessimism. In fact, her art could not be more optimistic in nature. Her past behind her, Agic only looked to the future.

Optimistic interiors

Agic (“Magic” to her growing fan base) concedes that she always had a certain talent for painting, even as a child. And while Bosnia was very supportive of the arts, a life as an artist was not viewed as appropriate.

Nonetheless, when she arrived in Iowa, bought a house and realized she had more space, she started to seriously focus on her true calling. Her real love was interior design and she always envisions a home when she paints, with the ultimate aim to create something beautiful and interesting. That is when she started exploring texture and the use of interference paint, which gives a different perspective based on the angle viewed from.

Money

All her pieces have a certain cheerfulness to them, often a result of the inviting textures and warm colors she uses.

Yin and Yang

“Her” came out of the desire to create something “hot.” The piece is extremely textured, starting with a background of pinks and oranges, gaining shape with the use of a palette knife.

Agic likes painting in pairs as she believes a solo painting often doesn’t hold up well in an interior. Hence, the creation of “Him,” the opposing side to “Her.”

Her

Him

“Strawberry Quilt,” which also has an opposing side called “Old Denim,” currently hanging in her own home, clearly conveys Agic’s signature texture. In fact, she created a YouTube video that describes the step-by-step process of this piece.

Strawberry Quilt

Essentially, she works with a palette knife at a 45 degree angle, building the texture. Then she works on highlighting through use of lots of glimmering paint. Finally, she finishes the piece with high gloss polymer.

Guitar

Agic has a website, but she admits she has not been successful selling through this avenue. Rather her site acts as a starting point to invite people to come over and view the work in her studio.

She has also started a coop with a partner, in which she brings in many local artists at varying stages of their career to participate in group showings. She explains that while her aim is to grow as an artist and expand her reach, she also wants to help others to succeed. No doubt this highly altruistic nature stems from the memories of her past and the optimism she received upon coming to the US.

To view the ArtistsinAuction website click here.

To view more of Monika Agic’s work, click here.

Mike Lindwasser Exhibits in Group Show

ArtistsinAuction

Saturday night was the opening reception for Dreamer’s Rendezvous, a group show at the A-forest Gallery in NYC’s midtown area.  We were proud to view the most recent work of our very own featured photographer, Mike Lindwasser.

Outside of the traditional Chelsea gallery neighborhood, the empty, dark street was a contrast to the bright, inviting feeling of the small gallery.  The show highlighted wonderful works in photography, painting, pen and mixed media by six different artists.

It was intriguing to see what Mike had been working on since we brought him on board at ArtistsinAuction.  Although he’s a local guy, (born and raised in NY, living in Jersey), Mike has been traveling a great deal.  His current photography is a reflection of his latest journeys to Japan (where he participated in another group show) and Mexico.

Mike prefers to shoot many of his pieces at night, without the aid (or as he might say, distraction) of lighting.  He works with long exposures, sometimes up to 30 seconds at a time, which create surreal-like images with a ghostly lighting effect.  One of our favorites at the show was of a tree Mike had photographed in Japan. The consequence of the extended exposure created a “whitening” that gave the appearance of a photo taken at midday.

Mike is also a transformation artist, manipulating everyday objects into surreal images by shooting from below.  Many of the pieces in our current auction, from the Building and Truck series, are small slivers of places or things encountered everyday.  But, by pointing upward, Mike creates an entirely new perspective, forcing the viewer to take a second look.

Lately, Mike’s preferred work is his Truck series, a personal favorite of ours as well. Most of the images were shot in yards around his New Jersey home. Once he had mastered entering the areas at night without getting caught he discovered fabulous details and vibrant colors that called out to him.

Galactic Truck

Blues

Previously displayed at a show at the Brooklyn Collective, our December 5th Auction will mark the first time these exciting pieces have been offered for sale.  We know you’ll love them as much as we do.

To view the ArtistsinAuction website click here.

To view more of Mike Lindwasser’s work, click here.

Children’s Museum of the Arts 5th Annual Art Auction

ArtistsinAuction

We are happy to announce that one of our affiliations, Children’s Museum of the Arts (CMA), will be hosting it’s 5th annual art auction on Thursday, October 22.

Now is your chance to witness and participate first hand in a live auction that features a fabulous array of art, including works by more than 40 artists, such as Andy Warhol, Peter Max, Yoko Ono, as well as John Bisbee, Carole Feuerman, among many others.

The auction is curated by Helene Miller and run by Phillips de Pury & Company. All proceeds will benefit CMA’s outreach programs that are geared towards underserved children and “celebrating the artist in every child”.

For more information and to purchase tickets please visit http://cmany.org/art-auction/artwork.html

To view the ArtistsinAuction website click here.

Our Featured Artist of the Week – Roshan Houshmand

ArtistsinAuction

If travel is the key to art, then artist Roshan Houshmand has successfully unlocked the door to creativity.

Born in the Philippines, where she lived for eight years, Houshmand then moved to Iran, her native land. While she currently lives in upstate New York, she has resided in no less than half a dozen places all over the world, including New York City, New Mexico and Arizona. But, Barcelona, Spain, where she lived for ten years, was the most important place in her life as an artist.

The early years

When Housmand was a child her dad used to manage a paint factory. She fondly remembers her love of playing with the many samples at a very early age. Once she attended art classes, she began to dabble in many facets of the arts – painting, sculpture, lithography – experiencing it all, but she finally focused on painting.

In college her work was mainly abstract in nature, but her travels lead to new inspiration.

On Travel and Particle Theory

Houshmand believes that travel is essential to her painting because the experiences allow her to absorb different colors and visions and to move out of her comfort zone. She also feels that working under unfamiliar circumstances results in the discovery of different techniques. Currently, she teaches at SUNY Delhi as well as private painting students, many of whom join her for painting workshops each January at a chosen venue in the world.

Her flower series are specific examples of the influence of her travels and they emerged from time spent in the deserts of Arizona. These pieces just burst with color and Houshmand admits that some of the magic is due to the fact that these life forms were so out of context to the surroundings.

Camelia

Houshmand’s most recent paintings are influenced by physics and, specifically, by a lecture that she attended in the summer of 2005 at Columbia University in New York. She soon began creating black and white pieces based on the following of particle trails, and later shifted the technique to color. She explains that this particular technique is all about painting in the moment.

One example is “Zed,” inspired by the photography of particle trails from bubble chambers. The spirals are trails that signify a certain amount of energy transmission and the title, oddly enough, is based on a wacky Dr. Seuss character.

Zed

“Celestial Chamber,” while based on particle trails, includes manipulated lines and conveys a sense of telescopic imagery. The horizontal and vertical lines, as well as the spirals, all remind her of map making.

Celestial Chamber

The Painting is in the Process

“Constellation” and the other dot paintings were done in Nicaragua and are meditative compositions based on schools of fish. While creating this piece and others like it, she found a very soothing feeling in the process.

Constellation

Houshmand paints everyday and she says the process itself is what gets her inspired. Her work continues to evolve over time and these days she is using much more color. All her pieces are extremely organic and one need not understand physics to gain a spiritual sense from her work.

 

 

Black Bird

She sells quite a bit of work off of her website as well as on other online venues, like ArtistsinAuction, and through local galleries. We are thrilled that she has joined us in our venture.

To view the ArtistsinAuction website click here.

To view more of Roshan Houshmand’s work, click here.

Blue

Art in Odd Places – Aka The Art of Frustration

ArtistsinAuction

Currently, an ongoing exhibit throughout the month of October, this quirky mishmash of things scattered east to west along 14^th street, is a lesson in futility.

You can actually pick up maps at various locations that specify the many installation locations, but in my recent outing at least 8 out of 10 indicated spots I visited, mainly street corners, were completely barren. Even the artwork supposedly housed in specific storefronts was next to impossible to find.

This is not to say all was lost. If you’ve ever wandered along 14^th street in Manhattan, you know that you’ll not be remiss for lack of activity. Union Square in and of itself is one of the most lively destinations in NYC, especially on a warm Fall afternoon.

And art is, in fact, in many odd places in the Big Apple. I was searching for a piece called “Distressed” on the southeast corner of the park. To no avail. However, I did come across some familiar figures from my recent DUMBO outing. I think these guys are everywhere, trying to make a point no doubt, although I’m not quite sure what it is.

Next stop, moving westward, was Good Stuff Diner. Nada. The owner didn’t even know to what I was referring. A tad more luck at Artie’s Hardware. At least they knew about the artwork in question. Unfortunately, neither the artist not the artwork ever appeared.

Just next door, was an installation on the second floor windows of Pratt Institute. Art, I guess. In an odd place, hmmmmm. Onward.

The Andrew Norwood House had a small neon light piece called “Brick” on its brick façade. The manager kindly turned the lights on so I could see what all the fuss was about. Further along, at Dubspot, a great little coffee shop, the attendant knew exactly what I wanted. I had to wait while he served an espresso, but then he used the remote to turn the TV on. “Lost Sheep” was the title of this psychedelic panorama. At this point I had pretty much “lost” my patience.

"Brick"

"Lost Sheep"

Finally, at Tenth Avenue Car Wash, I thought I hit pay dirt. Just my bad fortune that the piece was only viewable during the night hours.

So, during the month, if you happen to be strolling along 14^th street, keep your eyes open. There are, in fact, some pieces of art in odd places. You just have to be very, very lucky to find them.

To view the ArtistsinAuction website click here.

Our Featured Artist of the Week – Alex White-Mazzerella

ArtistsinAuction

Chaos, chemistry, creation. Three words that describe the unstructured and powerful works of Alex White-Mazzerella. Originally inspired by Expressionist painting, his art involves much freedom and spontaneity, with the ultimate aim of creating an expression and freezing it in time.

His process can start with a point of departure, like a sketch, but often just comes from his expansive imagination. Sometimes music can put him in a certain state of mind to create, and through the exercise of painting he finds the connection to the subconscious.

All his paintings evolve through many layers and he is constantly transforming them. He stops and concludes a piece if he feels a certain strength or the inclination that there is nothing left to be done.

A Boston native, White-Mazzerella only recently got into painting in earnest, although he admits developing a natural affinity to sketching and drawing at a very early age. Currently he works at the Art Student’s League in NY under the tutelage of Phillip Sherrod.

White-Mazzerella works with many different materials – pastels, charcoal, house paint, acrylics and pencil. His technique often involves dropping paint, which he believes effectively conveys the movement of time on paper.

He also creates collages, such as “Navigation Arf” – a whimsical look at traveling. The piece is of a large face with photos embedded in the eyes and mouth in an imaginary landscape.

Navigation Arf

“El Bicho” started with a sketch of an African tribal mask. It eventually evolved into something more whimsical.

El Bicho

“Rufus” originated from a color study and took off from there. He created a face, then deconstructed it and used the paint dropping technique to complete the work.

“Beware of Chinatown” is a whimsical take on Chinatown. White-Mazzerella lived in Hong Kong for a while and he saw first hand the ruthless experience of being a fish. Here you see a profile of a dog looking lasciviously at a fish.

Rufus

Beware of Chinatown

Alex works fast and is very prolific. He generally spends four hours per day painting. He sells through galleries and can often be found on the streets of Soho on weekends offering his work.

His 2009 exhibition schedule has included Sideshow Gallery in Brooklyn, It’s a Wonderful Life Niagara Bar in Manhattan, as well as Urban Slant, Gallery Onetwentyeight, Art for Change, Hacia Afuera and Gelabert Studios Gallery, all located in Manhattan.

Alex is excited about his upcoming expo in Oslo, Norway and ArtistsinAuction is excited to have him as one of our featured artists.

To view the ArtistsinAuction website click here.

To view more of Alex White-Mazzarella’s work, click here.

Kandinsky at the Guggenheim – To go or not to go

ArtistsinAuction

That is the question.

The work of Vasily Kandinsky, the Russian born pioneer of abstract painting, is overwhelming in and of itself. Put together 150+ pieces in one show and you have a dizzying uphill swirl that is the Guggenheim. There comes a point where you just need to sit and find your bearings…and wish it would end.

The dizzying and electrifying journey is somehow easier on the way down, maybe because breathing has finally kicked in.

Still, Kandinsky should be seen. His oeuvre clearly examines the capacity of color to communicate, and his experimentation with form and line ventures into a distinct realm of abstract expressionism.

The exhibit brings together the three largest holdings of the artist’s work, from the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachaus in Munich, as well as private collections, and traces the artist’s life over three distinct periods:

Munich and Murnau 1908-1914

A highly creative, discovery period that is my personal favorite. The use of soft lines and a beautiful blend of color can be referred to as a controlled chaos. There is a sense of abstract with meaning and one feels that a story is being told. Two pieces “Black Lines” and “Light Picture,” both from 1913 and part of the Guggenheim collection, are fabulous. (Please note: the pieces below are works from 1914, not the works I just mentioned above. I was shortly banned from picture-taking after snapping these shots.)

Bauhaus 1922-1933

The work from this period is exciting, yet rigid, utilizing bright primary colors and elementary forms with sharp lines. The triangle embodies active, aggressive sentiments the square evokes calm and peace, while the circle conveys the spiritual, cosmic realm.

Paris 1933-1944

During this time of political turmoil and later war Kandinsky experimented with material and a softer, subtler palette, often depicting biomorphism (free form or design suggestive in shape of a living organism) as well as scientific imagery.

In the last panel at the very top of the museum is a piece from 1942, a copy of which is in my parent’s kitchen.

All being said, do not skip the watercolor pieces, housed in a separate side room. These works on paper are as important as his canvases, demonstrating his experimentation with the transparency and opacity of watercolor paint. They chart the evolution of his oeuvre – from the landscapes and seascapes of the early years, to the geometric patterns of the 20s and 30s, through to his final biomorphic works in the 40s.

To view the ArtistsinAuction website click here.

Our Featured Artist of the Week – J. Kieran McGonnell

ArtistsinAuction

James Kieran McGonnell was born in Ireland, speaks with a lovely Irish lilt and has a keen affinity for most things Irish. And American.

He is highly influenced by artists hailing from his homeland, most notably Francis Bacon and Louis Lebroquay, both of whom emerged out of the post WWII art movement – the period known as Existentialism. He is also greatly persuaded by notable writers such as Yeats, Samuel Beckett, Jim Thompson and Virginia Woolfe, to name a handful.

So it’s not surprising that literature, history and art history all have an immeasurable effect on what he does. In fact, every one of McGonnell’s paintings is embedded with a rich history that is clearly evident.

History in the Making

Take “Red Herring” for example, in which circles reside within a square, a theme popularized in 50’s pop art and the work of American Color field painters, such as Kenneth Noland. The concept is a play on the idea of searching for something undefined. All the fish are in a regimented order depicting the routine and safety of everyday life. What will happen to them?

Red Herring

In “Once Upon a Spinning Time”  two dancers are  doing the jitterbug. The piece represents the first dance of Obama and his wife, Michelle, at the inauguration and evokes a snapshot out of the continuum in which you expect the future to have a certain and predictable outcome.

Once Upon a Spinning Time

“After Dark My Sweet” is based on a Jim Thompson novel and a Yeats poem. The idea of moths drawn to a light conveys a sense of danger and the piece demonstrates the unpredictability of the future.

After Dark My Sweet

“Ghost Bike” is also based on a Yeats poem, conveying all the beauty in the world thus far, but that which cannot be experienced because it has passed. The bike is a symbol of the life of a person, the tragedy and beauty in history.

“A Pair of American Glasses” and “Live at the Green Mill – Radio Days” both symbolize American history– that which has long passed but stays with us forever.

A Pair of American Glas

The Method to the Motive

McGonnell has spent the past 15 years transferring images onto canvas. His technique is intense and intricate. First, he designs the images in his head, instilled by the inspiration of poems, literature, a muse of history or a reaction to daily life and living.

The ideas are then transferred to the computer, and through graphic imaging and photography the piece begins to take on a very conceptual shape. Next, McGonnell hand draws the entire piece on canvas with a pencil.

Finally, he paints. Through a combination of air brush spray paint and hand painting, utilizing high quality products containing silicones and resins, the work evolves into the finished masterpiece.

There is no question that Kieran McGonnell is a prolific and disciplined artist. He has been painting constantly for many years, currently in his upstairs studio, and works with galleries and dealers both in New York and Chicago, where he currently resides. He also shows once a year in Ireland. He says this has been the toughest year to date –no small statement from a talented artist such as he.

To view the ArtistsinAuction website click here.

To view more of J. Kieran McGonnell’s work, click here.

D.U.M.B.O. – Art Under the Bridge Festival

ArtistsinAuction

Dumbo has changed. A lot.

Since venturing into this sliver of a wasteland under the Manhattan Bridge almost ten years ago, I have witnessed no less than a complete turnaround. When the D.U.M.B.O. – Art Under the Bridge Festival began in 1997, abandoned and dilapidated manufacturing structures were becoming home to a growing number of artists, all in search of affordable studio spaces. There was perhaps one corner deli that served the area.

Now,  pet grooming stores, not to mention a Chase bank, posh clothing and furniture stores, as well as a growing number of eating and drinking establishments, blanket the area.  And the familiar trend – artists move in, area grows hip, trendy stores gain a foothold, tourists and mainstream New Yorkers discover the area, housing becomes unaffordable, artists move out – is becoming clearly evident.

Still, the festival draws an ample crowd and the event is highly entertaining. The outdoor performance and public art are good fun – witness the fish parade and the knitted zombies – and the remaining artists, many of whom have been here since the beginning, open the doors to their colorful studios, displaying a wide array of creative talent.

To view the ArtistsinAuction website click here.