Karen Silve

Above and Below II

2021

Karen Silve developed an interest in Post-Impressionist and Fauvist painting, and they informed her early figurative abstractions. She studied in the graduate painting and design pro...

Karen Silve developed an interest in Post-Impressionist and Fauvist painting, and they informed her early figurative abstractions. She studied in the graduate painting and design programs at the University of Denver, creating abstract work that was inspired by the landscape and by the color lessons she learned in France. Later, the Abstract Expressionist painters Willem de Kooning and Joan Mitchell, and the German artist Gerhard Richter became important influences on her work. In 1993, Silve moved to Portland, Oregon, worked in graphic design and began to explore painterly process in a series of meditative paintings. In the late 1990s, she created two extended groups of paintings, first the Musician Series, and then the Cellist Series. Both series focused on players with their instrument, and on a feeling for music expressed through abstracting the human figure, gestural brush strokes and vibrant color. After this she moved on to rhythmic, calligraphic brush strokes and drips of paint. Evolving from this period is the ongoing series of abstract paintings that Silve continues to create. Silve has exhibited her work extensively in solo exhibitions including at the Portland Performing Arts Center, the Forsyth Center Gallery at Texas A&M University, the Visual Art Center of Northwest Florida, the Tuscaloosa Performing Arts Center and the West Linn Public Library in Oregon. Group exhibitions include those at The Institute for American Universities, Aix-in-Provence, France, the Jemison-Carnegie Heritage Hall...

Karen Silve developed an interest in Post-Impressionist and Fauvist painting, and they informed her early figurative abstractions. She studied in the graduate painting and design programs at the University of Denver, creating abstract work that was inspired by the landscape and by the color lessons she learned in France. Later, the Abstract Expressionist painters Willem de Kooning and Joan Mitchell, and the German artist Gerhard Richter became important influences on her work. In 1993, Silve moved to Portland, Oregon, worked in graphic design and began to explore painterly process in a series of meditative paintings. In the late 1990s, she created two extended groups of paintings, first the Musician Series, and then the Cellist Series. Both series focused on players with their instrument, and on a feeling for music expressed through abstracting the human figure, gestural brush strokes and vibrant color. After this she moved on to rhythmic, calligraphic brush strokes and drips of paint. Evolving from this period is the ongoing series of abstract paintings that Silve continues to create. Silve has exhibited her work extensively in solo exhibitions including at the Portland Performing Arts Center, the Forsyth Center Gallery at Texas A&M University, the Visual Art Center of Northwest Florida, the Tuscaloosa Performing Arts Center and the West Linn Public Library in Oregon. Group exhibitions include those at The Institute for American Universities, Aix-in-Provence, France, the Jemison-Carnegie Heritage Hall...

Acrylic on linen painting

Acrylic on linen painting

Acrylic on linen painting

The present work of art titled "Urban Abstraction (ripped off posters)" is part of a series of paintings that the artist composed in the 1980s and 1990s inspired by the observation of the urban reality of those years. The artist take the cue from his walks in Florence, both in the center and in the suburbs, and by the observation of billboards and posters scattered throughout the city. The mass of information, colors, messages and words were carried on the canvas with acrylic colors, ideally reconstructing the tears and overlaps of all the information and advertising contained on these huge sheets of paper that invade our cities. The geometric lines are overlaid with jagged lines, overlaps and color dripping and also the choice in the color palette, with different shades of white, gray, rose, orange red and blue helps in rendering the result of the tears and ripped paper. The result is a beautiful multicolored modern abstract canvas, both aesthetically and ethically, with many rich layers of color, texture and expression in which the artist leaves his own message. The painting is housed in a simple modern white lacquer wood frame. Andrea Spinelli...

Title - Day For Night. Acrylic Painting by Artist Troy Smith. The painting is signed by the artist on the back and comes with a small brass plaque with the artist's name. Comes wit...

Hidden words and symbols hide beneath the bold red exterior of the painting. Solid watercolours were used to sketch shapes below the surface. The red surface treatment reacted with t...

Blue Gaze, 1977, by Robert Natkin (1930-2010) Acrylic on canvas 66 x 66 inches framed 25.98 x 25.98 cm) Signed on bottom right Exhibitions: In 1957, Momentum, Chicago, IL In 1968, Pointdexter Gallery, New York, NY (solo) In 1969, San Francisco Museum of Art (retrospective 1952-1969), San Francisco, CA (solo) In 1974, Within the Decade: Selections from the Guggenheim Museum Permanent Collection, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY In 1980, Masters of American Watercolor, The Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, OK In 1992, Gimpel Fils Gallery, London, UK (solo) In 2007, LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe...

"Limitations 1" is a masterful painting that challenges the boundaries of artistic expression through a restricted palette of red, black, and neutral white. Despite its seemingly co...

“Maine Edge 3” 36 x 36 inches is a one-of-a-kind original, modern, abstract impressionist nature inspired painting by Juanita Bellavance. In this highly expressive painting Juanita a...