Khaya Witbooi

Captain de Klerk - Colorful, Edgy Pop Art Meets Street Art, Original Painting

2016

Victor Wang's highly textured paintings involve thick layers of paint over collaged images from the Tang Dynasty. In "Let Her Go", the foreground shows a modern female figure sitting upon the side of a boat which gives the impression she is wearing wings and about to take flight. Upon closer look, there are various scenes taking place around her in the water - warriors with knives drawn, a jeep in pursuit of some unseen enemy, a cauldron boiling over. Influence by the Renaissance Masters, Titian and Rembrandt for their glazing and layering techniques respectively, the artist builds the surface using heavy paint, swirling and mixing the color on the canvas. The end result is a poetic and emotionally powerful representation of the human form. Victor Wang Let Her Go oil on canvas 48h x 60w in 121.92h x 152.40w cm VWG011 My path through life has been adventurous, exciting, and dream-like. My experience of settling into America in search of better opportunities has been both challenging and inspiring. I use the human face as a vehicle to paint human experiences - worry and wonder, sadness and pleasure - which reflect the emotional stage directly tied to my immigration experiences. I grew up amongst the sunflower fields in northern China. In my childhood years, I played under the bright, yellow sunflowers with my brothers everyday. China’s Cultural Revolution played an important part in my life. During that time, sunflowers were used as political allegories to depict how citizens of China should follow Mao who represented the sun, since sunflowers follow the sun’s movements. People eventually inferred the deception that this symbol masked. After graduating from high school, I was sent to a labor camp in the country for ‘reeducation’ during China’s Cultural Revolution. There, I was subject to grueling farm work. Often, I worked in corn and sunflower fields from sunrise to sunset. Thus, for me, sunflowers evoke both personal joy and sadness. Therefore, to deliver my complex feelings, I use sunflowers as a metaphor to connote my background and emotional stage. My incorporation of collages of figures from China’s Tang Dynasty represents my Chinese heritage and is a constant reminder of where I came from. The texture and earthiness on the canvas’s surface are inspired by the texture of the soil on the farm where I worked in China. Although I often gain great pleasure from the process of painting, it is most important to unfold expressively those feelings within myself. Wang belongs to a generation of immigrant painters from China, whose artistic background was defined by socialist realism but took advantage of their skills and broke away from that tradition to create new subjects in the U.S. “When I was a student during Cultural Revolution, Soviet realism art was among the dominant source of influence and it grabbed us like lightening...

As a tribute to his Italian roots, Bruno Surdo presents the "Fishermen of Mola di Bari". A hidden gem of a city in the Puglia region of Italy, Mola is home to generations of Surdo's ...

A mosaic of individual portraits is combine into the large scale piece entitled the "Framework of our Humanity". Each gray scale portrait is done in painstaking detail portraying a multitude of what make each of us unique yet surprisingly the same. Bruno Surdo, trained classically, brings a modern twist to portraiture. Bruno Surdo Framework of Our Humanity oil on panel 98h x 77w in 248.92h x 195.58w cm BRS081 Bruno A. Surdo b. Chicago, 1963 EXHIBITIONS 2021 Ethos + Truth, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL 2020 Realities, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL 2018 Liberation, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL Blood Sport, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL Art on Paper 2018, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Pier 36, New York, NY SOFA Chicago 2018, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL 2017 POP!ARAZZI, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL Coming Attractions, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL 2015 SOFA Chicago 2015, Ann Nathan Gallery, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL Bruno Surdo: Allegories, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2014 Bruno Surdo: Respond, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Modern Metaphors, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL 2013 Bruno Surdo: Revelations, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Vice + Virtue, Northern Illinois University Museum of Art 2012 Contemporary Realism Biennial, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN 2011 Bruno Surdo, University of St. Francis School of Creative Arts, Fort Wayne, IN Uncensored, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2010 Art Chicago 2010, Ann Nathan Gallery, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 2009 Art Chicago 2009, Ann Nathan Gallery, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 2007 Bruno Surdo, Art Institute of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN 2006 Context/Content: Making Meaning with the Figure, University of Arkansas, Conway, AR Creative Imaginings, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL Bruno Surdo: Cycles, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2005 Art Chicago 2005, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2004 Tragedy, Memory, & Honor, Richard M. Daley Center, Chicago, IL Art Chicago 2004, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Group Show, Arcadia Gallery, New York, NY Drawings VII, Koplin Del Rio Gallery, West Hollywood, CA Armory Show, New York Armory, New York, NY 2003 Paintings & Drawings, College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL The Art Show, New York, NY Bruno Surdo: New Work, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Art Chicago 2003, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2003-10 International Show of Contemporary Artists, Chicago Art Open, Chicago, IL 2002 Bruno Surdo: Perception of Appearance, Frye Museum, Seattle, WA Tragedy, Memory, & Honor, Richard M. Daley Center, Chicago, IL Bruno Surdo: Transcendence, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Art Chicago 2002, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Tragedy, Memory, & Honor, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2001 Magic Vision, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR 1998 Evanston and Vicinity Artists, Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL 1996 Bruno Surdo: A Personal View, University of Wisconsin, Kenosha, WI 1995 Bruno Surdo: Recent Works, College of Lake County, IL AIDS in Our Society, Loyola University, Chicago, IL Bruno Surdo: Life, Struggle, and Hope, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL 2001 Magic Vision, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR Bruno Surdo: Dualities of Life, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 1999 Group Show, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 1998 Group Exhibition, Fine Arts Building Gallery, Chicago, IL 1995 Spiritual Inquiries, Struve Gallery, Chicago, IL 1994 Recent Works, The 14th Annual Juried Exhibition for Lake County Artists, Grayslake, IL Go Figure, Figurative Works on Paper, Chicago Printmakers Collaborative, Chicago, IL SELECTED COLLECTIONS The Re-Birth of Venus, Temporary Loan, Fort Wayne Museum of Art Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR College of Lake County, Greyslake, IL Flashpoint Academy, Chicago IL John Robert Wiltgen Design Shoemaker Ruud Collection Julie & Thomas Danilek Michael Vozzella and Mike Silver Benjamin Fernandez Tom Braake Betsy Colburn Michael Diemand & Lor LaRose Michael Staab & Kathy Brock Bruce Leep Frank Tzurect Mary Foley Rosalyn Carlson Mimmy Turney Janet Long Halstead Billy Hunt Carol Galli Myles Kerrigan Honorable & Mrs. Edwin Berman Theodore Gage Northrop Art Museum Past Present & Future Company Dr. James & Peggy Kemmler Salvatore Monastero Nix & Virginia Lauridsen Joel Miller David & Marlene Zerkel Ann & Andy Abel Claudia Rush Marc Miller Leonard Goldberg Lawrence Pucci Howard Tullman Collection Susan & Manny Kramer James Rinnert Richar Interiors Michael & Nancy Colt Khalid Altijir Dr. Joe Grodman Beryl & Jack Gore Larry Wolf & Eric Naegle Chuck Wolandi Jack Schwab & David Sandelin Thomas Kaczmarek Marti Dinerstein Craig & Michael Golden...

In the age of social media, we are vying for attention 24/7. Bruno Surdo explores this idea in this large scale painting entitled "A Selfie, A Pink Unicorn, Paparazzi? What Does It ...

Adversary is the Hebrew definition of the word Satan. In the New Testament, Satan becomes the being that stands in direct opposition to Christ and, by extension, God the Father. Nev...

Ben Duke E oil on canvas 55h x 63w in 139.70h x 160.02w cm BSD031 Ben Duke b. 1977 Louisville, KY Education 2006 M.F.A., Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD 2002 B.F.A., University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 2001 Summer School of Music and Art, Yale University, New Haven, CT Selected Exhibitions 2023 Ben Duke & Suk Ja Kang: New Work, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL 2022 This Is Home, Crooked Tree Arts Council, Petosky, MI 2020 Benjamin Duke: Paintings, Vickers Theater, Three Oaks, MI 2019 Family Reunion, Roy G Biv Gallery, Columbus, OH 2018 Wrap It Up, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL Portraits and Place: Select Works from Gallery Victor Armendariz, curated by Corporate Art Advisory, Metropolitan Capital Bank, Chicago, IL Liberation, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL 2017 Distortion, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL Coming Attractions: Inaugural Exhibition, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL 2015 The Suburbs Eyes: Picturing the Sprawl, (invitational), Ernestine M Raclin Gallery, Indiana University, South Bend, IN 2014 21 and Counting, The Painting Center, New York City, NY A River Without Banks, Paul Collins Art Gallery, Grand Rapids, MI The Contemporary Figure, Ben Duke and Robert McCann, Moss-Thron Gallery of Art, Fort Hays, KS 2013 Benjamin Swallow Duke and Nathan Barnes, Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture, Bozeman, MT Benjamin Swallow Duke and Esther Randall, Rosewood Gallery, Kettering, OH Thresholds, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE 2012 Sublime Rupture, Target Gallery, Catalog with Essay by Dominique Nahas, Alexandria, VA 2011 Identity In Itself, Lapham Gallery, Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Center, Glens Falls, NY Benjamin Duke, Tony Shumsky, Roy G. Biv Gallery, Columbus, OH Upheaval, [traveling solo exhibition] University Art Gallery, Saginaw Valley State University, Saginaw, MI 2010 Kuandu Museum Residency Show and Open Studio, Kuandu Museum of Fine Art, Taipei, Taiwan Biennial Faculty Exhibition, Kresge Art Museum, East Lansing, MI Art Chicago, Merchandise Mart, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Upheaval, [traveling solo exhibition] Cloyde Snook Gallery, Adams State College, Alamosa, CO Floating, Fitton Art Center, Hamilton, OH 2009 Disrupted Particulars, Macomb Center for the Performing Arts, Clinton Township, MI Art Chicago, Merchandise Mart, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Notwishstanding, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL SOFA (Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art), 7th Regiment Armory, Ann Nathan Gallery, New York, NY Biennial 25, South Bend Museum of Art, South Bend, IN 2008 We Drew a Circle and Called it and Island, Garden City Art Space, Taipei, Taiwan Benjamin Duke and Teresa Dunn, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Kenosha, WI Imaginary Cities, Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Hills, IL Awakening, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2007 SOFA (Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art), 7th Regiment Armory, Ann Nathan Gallery, New York, NY Art Chicago, Merchandise Mart, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Palm Beach 3, Palm Beach County Convention Center, Ann Nathan Gallery, West Palm Beach, FL Above and Beyond, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Darkness: World and Culture, Caladan Gallery, Beverly, MA Baker Arts Center 10th National Juried Exhibition, Liberal, KS Nude International, Lexington Art League, Lexington, KY 2006 Launch: Graduate Thesis Show, Baltimore, MD (solo) Second Chance: Brewer’s Art, Baltimore, MD (solo) Biennial Faculty Exhibition, Kresge Art Museum, East Lansing, MI Academy 2006, Conner Contemporary, Washington, DC. Opening Exhibition, Touchet Gallery, Baltimore, MD Only Human, School 33, Baltimore, MD Go Figure, Maryland Federation of Art, Baltimore, MD 2005 Emerging Artists, Maryland Federation of Art, Baltimore, MD real vs. Real, City Café, Baltimore, MD Artscape Art Fair, Baltimore, MD Group Show, Hoffberger Gallery, Baltimore, MD 2004 Clamor, Rose Wagner Center for the Arts, Salt Lake City, UT (solo) Boxing, Fox Gallery, Baltimore, MD 2003 Paintings, Finch Lane Gallery. Salt Lake City, UT (solo) Regional Show, Saint George Art Museum, Saint George, UT Show us Your Stuff, Left Bank Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT Spring Salon, Springville Art Museum, Springville, UT 2002 Trasa Urban Arts, Salt Lake City, UT 2001 Seen and Unseen, Union Art Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT (solo) Professional Experience 2006-present Assistant Professor, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 2006-2005 Instructor, Ruriart Community Art Center, Ellicott City, MD 2004-2003 Instructor, Peterson Art Center, Salt Lake City, UT Selected Awards 2015 Alfred and Trafford Klots...

This mixed media painting on canvas measures 36x54" framed size 38x56". Titled "Brando and G", it is in Ceravolo's classic urban Pop style. In this mixed media painting on canvas ...

STARSKY BRINE’s paintings and drawings captivate audiences with their distinctive style and a recurring theme, the search for the nature of humanity. In his bold works, the artist fo...

Inspired by the imaginative, colourful art scrawled on walls in city alleyways, ‘Cutter’ is one of a series of graffiti style paintings recently created by Serbian-born Viktor Mitic. Mitic has been working in this playful pop-art style since the 1990’s. “It's a combination of people, forms and urban scenes. I also mark pieces with random wording to produce something that would resemble organic images as they would appear on the street. These are mostly done in Toronto or NYC.” Viktor Mitic He earned a BFA from the University of Toronto in 1995 with studies in art history at Sheridan College. He has exhibited his post-Pop inspired...

STARSKY BRINE’s paintings and drawings captivate audiences with their distinctive style and a recurring theme, the search for the nature of humanity. In his bold works, the artist fo...

STARSKY BRINE’s paintings and drawings captivate audiences with their distinctive style and a recurring theme, the search for the nature of humanity. In his bold works, the artist fo...

Contemporary pop art painting by Texas / Mexico-based artist Tyler Casey. The work features an abstract painting inspired by the Bolshoi Ballet Company in ...