Nikolaos Schizas

Blue rage (Abstract painting)

2021

Acrylic and pumice on director’s chair canvas, netting, Hessian scrim, sacking, nylon rope and canvas - Unframed. Anthony Frost, son of Sir Terry Frost RA, is an English abstract ar...

Acrylic on canvas - Unframed The Shadow Boxer and skipstep paintings grow out of an interest in the paradox of spatial comprehension found in abstract painting. As with the shadow ...

Acrylic and pumice on sacking, sailcloth and canvas - Unframed. Anthony Frost, son of Sir Terry Frost RA, is an English abstract artist whose vibrant, colorful paintings and prints...

Oil and acrylic on canvas - Unframed Laura Newman's paintings combine geometric delineations of space, ephemeral color fields, dynamic lines and organic forms, resulting in atmosphe...

Acrylic on canvas. Unframed. The skipstep and Shadow Boxer paintings grow out of an interest in the paradox of spatial comprehension found in abstract painting. As with the shadow...

Acrylic and pumice on hessian and canvas - Unframed. Anthony Frost, son of Sir Terry Frost RA, is an English abstract artist whose vibrant, colorful paintings and prints exhibit the...

SHERRON FRANCIS (AMERICAN, B. 1940) Trap Rock, 1972 Acrylic on canvas 22 3/4 x 16 inches Signed, titled and dated on the reverse A reappraisal is long overdue for the second-generation abstract expressionists. Artists such as Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis, Dan Christensen, and Sam Francis are already well-known names. However, Sherron Francis, a female artist from the Midwestern United States, exhibited alongside many of these stars, yet has not been the recipient of a major exhibition in nearly 40 years. Francis was born in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, Illinois in 1940. She studied fine art at the University of Oklahoma from 1958 to 1960 before transferring to the Kansas City Art Institute for better educational opportunities. At the time, Francis remained loyal to figurative art. Philip Pearlstein, a contemporary artist and visiting professor once remarked at the confidence of Francis’ draftsman abilities. In the early 1960s, art dealers and gallerists from New York would visit the Institute to recruit artists by offering scholarships, but they only offered these scholarships to men. Francis was forced to plead with deans to allow a scholarship for women so that she could continue her studies. She ultimately graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1963. In Missouri, Francis met Dan Christensen (Class of 1964), an artist friend, who would play a key role in her career throughout the next two decades. Francis then received her MFA from the University of Indiana, where she was housemates with Mernet Larsen, before assuming a teaching position at Eastern Michigan University. In 1968, with only $300 on hand, Francis moved to 16 Waverly Place in Soho. At the time, the neighborhood boasted some of the biggest names in abstract expressionism. She quickly became friends with Peter Reginato, Walter Darby Bannard, Michael Steiner, Peter Young, Larry Zox, and Larry Poons, who all lived and worked in the neighborhood. In fact, Francis introduced Larry Poons to his now wife, Paula, a friend and student of Sherron’s. Francis helped to found The Bowery Gallery in 1969 and received her first solo exhibition there in 1970 for her figurative works. After this exhibition, Francis decided to switch to abstraction. By 1971, Christensen, who was exhibiting with Andre Emmerich, introduced Francis to the legendary gallerist. There was no better gallery to be showcasing abstract expressionism and color field painting during this decade for an artist. For example, in 1972, Emmerich held solo exhibitions by art titans, such as Hans Hofmann, Al Held, Esteban Vicente, David Hockney, and Morris Louis. In 1973 alone, Emmerich gave one-person exhibitions to Helen Frankenthaler, Kenneth Noland, Hans Hofmann, Jack Bush and a new discovery: 32-year-old Sherron Francis. The January 27 - February 14 exhibition for Francis was a great success with Peter Schjeldahl commenting in the New York Times: “Francis has…sidestepped the danger of seeming hopelessly derivative of such artists as Mark Rothko, Morris Louis and Helen Frankenthaler —by, it seems to me, the use of a single canny formal device. All her canvases are tall, vertical rectangles. What this shape achieves is a physical presence that supports the paintings' fragile play of color and texture. Bearing roughly the proportions of the human body, but bigger in size, her pictures confront the viewer with a satisfying firmness, inviting delectation.” Francis’s career now took off with the stain paintings. In a 1974 article in Arts Magazine, Whee Kim writes, “She has asserted the credibility of her own answer to the problem of the outer edge of a canvas by limiting her investigations to a singular central image. In her variations on this theme, an intuitive sense of color and touch is given restricted free-play.” Schjeldahl added, “Her paintings, stained and brushed to a suavely grainy texture, each float an area of warm, soft color in a somewhat less‐intensely colored field. The areas are amorphous in shape and closely related, by hue, to the surrounding fields. Her colors run to luxurious brown‐golds, dreamy bluegreens and dusty pinks, though each canvas is alive with a variety of evanescent hues and tints. The goal of her art is to be at once as gorgeous and as delicate as possible: she intends to ravish.” In 1973, Francis exhibited at the Whitney Biennial and then received a second solo exhibition at Emmerich the following year. Corporate collections and private enthusiasts, including Helen Frankenthaler, rushed to purchase her paintings. More than sixty of her paintings sold in one year at Emmerich’s gallery. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Francis exhibited at other leading American galleries, including Janie C. Lee Gallery in Houston, Barbara Kornblatt Gallery in Baltimore, Douglas Drake in Kansas City, Rubiner Gallery in Detroit, and Tibor de Nagy Gallery in New York. Francis always marched to the beat to her own drum. Although she admired the works of Jules Olitski, Jack Bush, and Kenneth Noland, Francis never felt that her work and lifestyle were influenced by others. When her friends summered in the...

Abstract artist Fiona Ackerman continues to be inspired by the staggering beauty of the natural world. In this lush, colourful botanical-themed composition the genus of the plant fam...

Geometric shapes, bold colours—royal blue, hot pink, yellow and a single stroke of orange create a fresh and playful abstract composition in this new work by Calgary artist Aron Hill...

Rapid marks of white, gold and cerise form a cloud that hovers on an indigo ground in this luminous painting by Alice Teichert. Titled Nocturne, Fre...

Aron Hill enjoys playing with bold colour and simple form. This abstract composition by the Calgary artist features a white oval ringed in black above a rainbow of colour—arched band...

Katherine Bello Title: Retracing Steps Medium: mixed media on canvas Year: 2020 Size: 36" x 24" x 1.5" Signed, dated and inscribed by hand COA provided (issued by representing gallery) Katherine Bello's aim as an artist is to capture a sense of place, a moment of time, or a feeling - to evoke a sense of wonder. Bello loves paint and paint brushes; bold, gestural mark-making and the interplay of color. She is influenced by light and landscape, poetry, history and science. Formerly educated in Chemical Engineering and Interior Design, Bello is drawn to the process of creating Something out of Nothing. Abstract, sbstract art...