Barbara Friedman

Yellow Toy

2018

Alessandra Gasparini was born in Genova in 1964, but she would say that she was born in the sea. When she was a child she used to run along the beach like a beginner siren, and there she remained alone, listening to the spells of waves, to the magic of tides and the secrets hidden in the shells? Right there her painting was born; an alchemic mix between brackish water and the pungent fragrance of colors. Alessandra had a long artistic training that was for her not only a study, but a way of thinking. She studied in Italy and in Germany, and her works were exposed in many important private and public exhibitions. When Alessandra was a child she had her own sweet muse, hidden somewhere at home, waiting for her. She waited for the right impastos like the cadmio that she desired so much for her dress. When at the end, Adelaide revealed, Alessandra’s painting had an emotional blow, a new creative impulse. Just like a real muse, Adelaide is exigent and she demands complete devotion. As she appears perspective becomes oblique, lines and forms get in trouble and follow her changing moods. And Alessandra indulges her. Her paintings, where Adelaide is the only protagonist, are made up of warm and dense colors, creating metaphysical atmospheres coming from a rebellious and naughty soul. So painting is a blade, a weapon. The blade is a sharp mirror...

In this new body of work, Kremer continues to explore and celebrate the physical experience of being, juggling eros, flora, fauna, and saga in abstract relationships that continue to...

Jed Jackson was born in Fayette, Arkansas. Throughout his education, he studied under artists such as Janet Fish, Fairfield Porter, and Leland Bell, and reaps influence from the “gri...

Caravaggio painted "The Incredulity of St. Thomas" with Christ looking down as he pilots Thomas’ hand to his side. Not looking at Thomas or the others, but to his wound. He seems interested in the proof of his embodiment. He wants to know that this is real. He too, questions his body, his life and death. As for the paintings, William uses materials and methods of the Civil War era. The linen on which he paints was in use at that time as well as the tubed oil paints. He is one of the few artists who tacks his canvas to the stretchers using similar tacks that would have been used by Winslow Homer. While he leaves the works unframed for this reason, the artwork could certainly be framed. This artwork is unframed. Contact the gallery for framing options. Reenactment is a material culture where the feel of authentic wool has transformative power. The closer you can recreate the “kit” of the authentic soldier the closer you are to that past. In the pursuit of touching the past there are questions- Is this real? Did this happen? Is this me? Is this us? The gesture of piloting a finger into the side represents these repetitive questions. - William Blake Known for his highly charged depictions of Civil War reenactments, William Blake’s powerful paintings show the recursive bodies of reenactors as they gesture across time. Participating in over 40 reenactment events, Blake currently interprets as the artist-correspondent Winslow Homer at these battle reenactments. He immerses himself in the materiality of his own obsession by constructing period clothes, camping on battlefields, and documenting the reenactment similar to Homer’s documentation of the authentic war. The figures in the paintings reverberate the past with respect and with a desire to educate, humble, and play. With each annual iteration of American Civil War...