Lisa Kokin

Marriage a Vacillating State of the Libido, Mixed Media

2001

American painter and author Alex Beard is best known for his elaborate wildlife compositions created in his signature style of gesturalpainting, which he has coined “Abstract Naturalism.” Raised in a family that fostered philanthropy, creativity and exploration, Alex has traveled extensively around the world. The diverse cultures, colors, and climates of Africa, India, China, the Americas, and Australia have profoundly influenced both his professional and artistic practice. While earning his BA from Tufts University, he studied painting and drawing at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. In his early twenties Alex moved to New Orleans to continue his formal training at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts. Fueled by curiosity about the cultures and wildlife he had been exposed to in his early years, Alex has spent much of his life traveling to the some of the world’s most remote wildlife outposts - paintbrush in hand. His time in nature enables him to continually hone his style – creating complex compositions in which abstraction and figuration collide, while exploring themes of cultural and environmental interconnectivity. Alex’s work figures prominently in several private and public collections and he has exhibited extensively throughout the United States, including solo exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and abroad in Hong Kong. An impassioned conservationist and philanthropist, in 2012 Alex established The Watering Hole Foundation – a public charity engaged in saving endangered wildlife and preserving their environments. His documentary, Drawing the Line, fused his artistic talent with his dedication to preservation, chronicling the plight of the endangered Wild African Elephant, as seen through the eyes of a conservationist artist. In addition to producing a series of short films, Alex has authored and illustrated a critically acclaimed trilogy of storybooks published by Abrams. The series, Tales from the Watering Hole, includes The Jungle Grapevine (2008), Monkey See Monkey Draw (2009), and Crocodile Tears (2010). Along with other New Orleans artists Raine Bedsole, Dr. Bob, George Dunbar, Mitchell Gaudet, Alan Gerson, Thomas Mann, Steve Martin, James Michalopoulos...

Tim White-Sobieski Alpha LV#1, 2005 Unique photo print on canvas 28 × 20 in 71.1 × 50.8 cm Tim White Sobieski has been commissioned by LVMH multiple times, and in 2005, was invited to create an artwork for the new Louis Vuitton Flagship Store on Champs-Elysees in Paris alongside artists James Turrell and Olafur Eliasson. The project consisted of a 24-meter programmed fiber-optics video wall. Another colossal video wall was installed at the Petit Palais for the celebration of the launch. This was a unique cooperation of the three artists. In 2006, the Louis Vuitton Company invited Tim White-Sobieski back to participate in an exhibition entitled "Icons", an interpretation of the iconic logo-bags. Other artists included Marc Jacobs, Zaha Hadid, Ugo Rondinone, Sylvie Fleury, Shigeru Ban, Robert Wilson and Andrée Putman. From the 2006 ‘Icones’ exhibition at Espace Louis Vuitton, Paris. celebrating Marc Jacobs’ reinvention of their iconic pieces, works by Andree Putman, LV invited the architects Zaha Hadid and Shigeru Ban, the video artist Tim White-Sobieski, the director-scenographer Robert Wilson, and the artists James Turrell, Shigeru Ban, Sylvie Fleury, Bruno Peinado, and Ugo Rondinone to riff on their fashion logos Louis Vuitton's classic designs are an inextricable part of chic travel history. From trunks to leather bags to wine holders, their styles have traveled across time and fashion, becoming classics that never look old. With the genius of Marc Jacobs, these icons have entered new domains where art and fashion are directly linked. Tim White is a video and installation artist based in New York and Berlin. He was educated as an architect and dedicated himself to visual art and filmmaking, exploring the fields of painting, sculpture, photography, video, video installations and light installations throughout his career. He began showing in New York in the early 1990s with his "Blue Paintings." Emphasis on the role of the subconscious in his paintings had affinities with visual abstractionism and literary existentialism. He has consistently been at the technological forefront of video and light art, being called a "video maverick" and "an abstract "'painter of motion.'" Tim White-Sobieski was born in 1961 and emigrated to the United States in 1993. He attended New York University and Parsons School of Design before embarking on a career in art. Much of his work draws from literary work that has inspired the artist, and he has often featured icons of American literature in his installations. Writers such as Walt Whitman, John Steinbeck, John Updike, Kurt Vonnegut, J.D. Salinger, William Faulkner, and Robert Penn Warren all have a permanent presence in Tim White-Sobieski’s oeuvre. Musically, White-Sobieski composes most of his own film and video soundtracks, but also incorporates the work of his contemporaries such as Brian Eno, David Byrne, Robert Fripp...