Aaron Smith

Rapscallion

2017

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...

Victor Wang's painting "Falling Leaves" is a blend of luminous colors and buttery textures meant to capture a moment of meditation. In this work, a young woman faces the viewer, her soft delicate skin and innocent gaze contrasted by the thick swaths of paint used. Wang is 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. This painting is unframed. Please contact the gallery for framing options. Victor Wang Falling Leaves, 2017 oil on canvas 65h x 48w in 165.10h x 121.92w cm VWG010 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 rod...

Bright swaths of blue, red and green abound in this painting by Georgia Hinaris titled "Piggy Back". The thick, textured paint and the use of bold satu...

This painting was inspired by my attempts to understand the feelings of young Black men who I would see on public transportation going to and from classes or jobs. I admired their fortitude in attempting to fit into a society that expresses such irrational hatred and fear of them. My "Saint Anthony" is tempted by a gun, unlike the legendary "Saint Anthony" who was tempted by sex. The destructive Clarence Thomas and George Zimmerman are lower right. We've backed Black men into a corner where drug dealing is one of the few options open for their survival. Although Blacks and Whites abuse drugs at the same rate, the so called "War on Drugs" is only enforced on Blacks. The action takes place in Millennium Park in Chicago. Part of the Plensa Fountain is reimagined as a memorial to Richard M. Daley, whose ethically dubious parking meter deal only benefits the rich, and not the city. William Krüg Temptation of Saint Anthony...

A study for a series of larger paintings based on motion capture studios, this painting combines classic technique with modern sensibility. Here the seated model leans against an antiquated iMac. Upon closer examination, the preparatory sketch lines are visible on the model's feet and her forearm. Unfinished works were first seen during the Renaissance with Masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Donatello. It became fashionable to leave works incomplete, so much so, that it became an aesthetic term 'non-finito'. Andrew S. Conklin Kelsey Seated, Arm with iMac oil on panel 12h x 17w in 30.48h x 43.18w cm ACK011 Motion Capture Paintings, Chicago My recent painting series describes the reality of motion capture environments by showing the interplay between female athletes and male technicians. These paintings are meant to explore conventions of female representation in Western figurative art and to contrast this past practice with the contemporary imagery of that subject via computer-based image technology. This project was instigated by a number of things: first, by my abiding interest in depicting the human form in paint, as I find its versatility in a design, its invitation to empathy, and its difficulty, to be something worth attempting to depict with success. In addition, my curiosity regarding the new ways to depict the form using electronic technology seem to challenge to the traditional methods I rely upon, and I wanted to comment on the similarities and differences between the studios of the painters and the technicians. In this way, I aim to continue my investigation into what I see as the contrasting quality of human nature, and symbolically represent opposites such as mind and body, analog and digital, realism and idealism, terrestrial and the transcendent. Andrew S. Conklin is a figurative painter. He holds an MFA from the Academy of Art University, and studied painting at the National Academy of Design in New York City with Harvey Dinnerstein...

Remarkably varied brushwork captures this young woman in a wide array of textures, from the dewiness of her peach colored skin to the silky fabric of her robe to her lush auburn hair. The side view gives her a stately quality set on a dark background. The painting is framed in a black frame with a small gold inlay measuring 24.25h x 20.5w inches. Caleb O'Connor Untitled oil on panel 20h x 16w in 50.80h x 40.64w cm CO006 Caleb O’Connor b. 1979 Honolulu, HI EXHIBITIONS 2017 Grand Opening: Coming Attractions, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chciago 2010 Contemporary Realism Biennial, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN 2008 “Art Chicago,” Merchandise Mart, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL “Palm Beach 3 Art Fair,” Ann Nathan Gallery, West Palm Beach, FL 2007 “SOFA (Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art)” Park Ave. Armory, Ann Nathan Gallery, New York, NY “Art Chicago,” Merchandise Mart, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL “Palm Beach 3 Art Fair,” Ann Nathan Gallery, West Palm Beach, FL 2006 “Art Chicago,” Merchandise Mart, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2005 “Caleb O’Connor: Dreams to Reality,” Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL “Art Chicago in the Park,” Butler Field, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2004 “Introducing Caleb O’Connor,” Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL “Art Maui,” Annual Juried Exhibition, Maui Arts and Cultural Center, Maui, HI 2003 “Rustica,” The Palazzo Bonini, Fivizzano, Italy “Group Show,” Fondatzione ARKAD, Seravezza, Italy “Facing the Real,” the Artists House, Museum of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel “20/30 Vision,” Hui Noi Au, Makawao, HI 2002 “Summer Show,” Gallery K, Washington DC 2001 “Serving Youth,” Gallery K, Washington DC (solo) “New Works,” Caleb O’Connor, School 33, Baltimore, MD (solo) “Small Works,” Gallery K, Washington DC Juried Exhibition, Gomez Gallery, Baltimore, MD Juried Exhibition, MICA Fox Gallery, Baltimore, MD 2000 “The Nine from MICA,” Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Art Gallery, Baltimore, MD GRANTS AND AWARDS 2003 Fulbright Grant to Italy, Project: Painting and Sculpture Elizabeth Greenshields Award, Quebec, Canada 2001 Elizabeth Greenshields Award, Quebec, Canada 2000 Morris Louis 32 Scholarship, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD 1999 Painting Department Award, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD 1996 Presidential Scholarship, Washington DC PUBLICATIONS 2002 Linda M. Grossman, “Meet an Emerging Artist, Caleb O’Connor,” American Artist Magazine “20/30 Show,” Maui News, Arts and Entertainments, October, Maui, HI 2001 Jessica Dawson, “The Beast Within,” The Washington Post, January 11, Washington DC Steve Purchase, “School 33 Opening a Great Show,” The Baltimore Guide Enterprise, MD “A Star is Born,” The City Paper, Baltimore, MD “Best Exhibition of the Year,” The City Paper, Baltimore, MD EDUCATION 2003 Studied under Israel Hershberg...

This painting is made by Dutch artist Jantien de Boer (1984, Classical Academy for Painting Groningen) The artist likes to tell a story in her paintin...

"Jumpers" is a framed oil on linen on panel work by Philip Buller, depicting abstracted figures engaged in ice-skating and skiing. Buller's painterly approach to these Wintery subjects, as well as the repetitive, echoing composition evokes the nostalgia of vintage home movies or layered photography film. The vibrant, contrasting colors and figures in mid-jump create playful tension and a heightened sense of movement. This piece has an artist-supplied black frame that is in "as-is" condition. Pricing includes the pictured frame. The unframed dimensions are 65 X 80 inches. About the artist: Philip Buller was born to American diplomat parents in Delhi, India in 1954, but spent his youth mostly in northern Virginia and his ancestral home...

My painting practice began with subverting the idea of a still life to create an absurd experience where the presence of carefully observed and exaggerated absurd forms painted from ...

My painting practice began with subverting the idea of a still life to create an absurd experience where the presence of carefully observed and exaggerated absurd forms painted from ...

My painting practice began with subverting the idea of a still life to create an absurd experience where the presence of carefully observed and exaggerated absurd forms painted from ...

My painting practice began with subverting the idea of a still life to create an absurd experience where the presence of carefully observed and exaggerated absurd forms painted from ...