Matthew Cook

The Misunderstanding - Still Life with Honey Bee on Edge of Crystal Decanter

2020

Tina Figarelli is a classically trained artist whose favorite subject matter in her artwork is ideas with a strong narrative. Tina leaves the viewer hin...

Depictions of dead birds have a long and rich history in Western Art having been used as a subject matter by artists from Albrecht Durer to Pablo Picasso. The Golden Age of Dutch Painting brought an iconic rise to still-life painting. Much like decadent, ripe fruit and extravagant, sumptuous floral arrangements, these taxadermied birds were transformed into stunning examinations of color, light and texture. Here, artist Tina Figarelli...

Mark Bowers- Artist Statement With the depiction of landscape playing such a central role in the history of North American art, it seemed to offer many of the critical possibilities I was looking for, and it felt more and more like something I have always known. Something I could easily apply, stage, and manipulate as a diary. My work consists of small-scale highly detailed landscape paintings. They are inspired by the comfort, trepidation, and beauty found in the mundane Chicago Suburbs. I combine nature, decorative house wares, municipal structures, and personal artifacts to hint at current life and future implications in the orchestration of these elements. Each work in the series is a portrait of a search for markers on a journey, an attempt to learn from what is palpable and to appreciate the intangible. The paintings are meant to suggest the truth in the un-idealized moment--the actual truth only exists off the edges of my canvas, off stage, and in the experience of the viewer. Painting the objects in these compositions is like positioning characters on stage in a play, each adding to the dramatization Mark Bowers Little Blue Houses oil on panel 15h x 30w in 38.10h x 76.20w cm MJB008 Mark Bowers b. 1977 St. Joseph, MI Exhibitions 2013 American Painting Today: Physical and Visceral, Krasl Art Center, St. Joseph, MI 2012 Fort Wayne Art Museum, Contemporary Realism Biennial, Fort Wayne, IN Rockford Art Museum Midwestern Biennial, Rockford, IL Ann Brierly Gallery, Winnetka, IL 2009 Art Chicago, Represented by Ann Nathan Gallery, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL Ann Brierly Gallery, Winnetka, IL 2007 Beverly Arts Center Biennial, Chicago, IL Ann Brierly Gallery, Winnetka, IL 2005 Ann Brierly Gallery, Winnetka, IL 2003 Ann Brierly Gallery, Winnetka, IL Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI 2001 The Box Factory Gallery, St. Joseph, MI 2000 John G. Blank Center for the Arts, Michigan City, IN Michigan State...

"True North - Orientation" is a worms-eye view of a jumbled sky bursting with both fireworks and a rainbow. The surreal quality of the imagery makes the viewer question reality. The ellipsed edges confirm the scene as an inner vision rather than a window on the world. The foreground billboards add another dimensional question to the landscape. The painting itself is painted on a handmade wooden panel with beautifully finished edges so no frame is needed. Mark Bowers True North - Orientation oil on panel 9h x 12w in 22.86h x 30.48w cm MJB012 TRUE NORTH PAINTINGS Unconscious systemic biases may guide our actions or direct us---similar to the human construct of “True North”, which holds to coordinate systems. The Earth’s “Magnetic North” moves over time according to polar shifts; flux and correction is enabled by polarity. In these paintings (Privilege, Orientation, Belief, Identity, Equity), I use compositional elements referencing nautical com- passes to suggest that society must navigate not within systems, but naturally through positive relationships and change. I hope that my art represents our present day - but also imparts a dreamful glimpse of hope and faith within. Explanation: A magnetic compass does not point toward the true North Pole of the Earth. Rather, it more closely points toward the North Magnetic Pole of the Earth. The North Magnetic Pole is currently located in northern Canada. It wanders in an elliptical path each day, and moves, on the average, more than forty meters northward each day. Evidence indicates that the North Magnetic Pole has wandered over much of the Earth's surface in the 4.5 billion years since the Earth formed. Mark Bowers- Artist Statement With the depiction of landscape playing such a central role in the history of North American art, it seemed to offer many of the critical possibilities I was looking for, and it felt more and more like something I have always known. Something I could easily apply, stage, and manipulate as a diary. My work consists of small-scale highly detailed landscape paintings. They are inspired by the comfort, trepidation, and beauty found in the mundane Chicago Suburbs. I combine nature, decorative house wares...

"True North - Privilege" is a dream-like view of a cloud filled sky yet nothing feels quite real. The ellipsed edges confirm the scene as an inner vision rather than a window on the world. The foreground gives a glimpse of a white structure but we must use our imagination to piece the scene together. The painting itself is painted on a handmade wooden panel with beautifully finished edges so no frame is needed. Mark Bowers True North - Privilege oil on panel 9h x 12w in 22.86h x 30.48w cm MJB011 TRUE NORTH PAINTINGS Unconscious systemic biases may guide our actions or direct us---similar to the human construct of “True North”, which holds to coordinate systems. The Earth’s “Magnetic North” moves over time according to polar shifts; flux and correction is enabled by polarity. In these paintings (Privilege, Orientation, Belief, Identity, Equity), I use compositional elements referencing nautical com- passes to suggest that society must navigate not within systems, but naturally through positive relationships and change. I hope that my art represents our present day - but also imparts a dreamful glimpse of hope and faith within. Explanation: A magnetic compass does not point toward the true North Pole of the Earth. Rather, it more closely points toward the North Magnetic Pole of the Earth. The North Magnetic Pole is currently located in northern Canada. It wanders in an elliptical path each day, and moves, on the average, more than forty meters northward each day. Evidence indicates that the North Magnetic Pole has wandered over much of the Earth's surface in the 4.5 billion years since the Earth formed. Mark Bowers- Artist Statement With the depiction of landscape playing such a central role in the history of North American art, it seemed to offer many of the critical possibilities I was looking for, and it felt more and more like something I have always known. Something I could easily apply, stage, and manipulate as a diary. My work consists of small-scale highly detailed landscape paintings. They are inspired by the comfort, trepidation, and beauty found in the mundane Chicago Suburbs. I combine nature, decorative house wares...

"True North - Identity" is a worms-eye view of a brilliant blue sky with a maze of distinctive clouds. The surreal quality of the imagery makes the viewer question reality. Are the clouds actual clouds or made by some other means? Are those fluffy clouds behind the bare branches or mountains? The ellipsed edges confirm the scene as an inner vision rather than a window on the world. The painting itself is painted on a handmade wooden panel with beautifully finished edges so no frame is needed. Mark Bowers True North - Identity oil on panel 9h x 12w in 22.86h x 30.48w cm MJB014 TRUE NORTH PAINTINGS Unconscious systemic biases may guide our actions or direct us---similar to the human construct of “True North”, which holds to coordinate systems. The Earth’s “Magnetic North” moves over time according to polar shifts; flux and correction is enabled by polarity. In these paintings (Privilege, Orientation, Belief, Identity, Equity), I use compositional elements referencing nautical com- passes to suggest that society must navigate not within systems, but naturally through positive relationships and change. I hope that my art represents our present day - but also imparts a dreamful glimpse of hope and faith within. Explanation: A magnetic compass does not point toward the true North Pole of the Earth. Rather, it more closely points toward the North Magnetic Pole of the Earth. The North Magnetic Pole is currently located in northern Canada. It wanders in an elliptical path each day, and moves, on the average, more than forty meters northward each day. Evidence indicates that the North Magnetic Pole has wandered over much of the Earth's surface in the 4.5 billion years since the Earth formed. Mark Bowers- Artist Statement With the depiction of landscape playing such a central role in the history of North American art, it seemed to offer many of the critical possibilities I was looking for, and it felt more and more like something I have always known. Something I could easily apply, stage, and manipulate as a diary. My work consists of small-scale highly detailed landscape paintings. They are inspired by the comfort, trepidation, and beauty found in the mundane Chicago Suburbs. I combine nature, decorative house wares...

STILL LIFE WITH BIRDS AND RAISINS, WORKSHOP OF FRANS SNYDERS (1579-1657) An exquisite and attractive work, our painting with its rich and harmonious composition is one of the remarkable examples of the passion of art lovers of the 17th century for still lifes, the genre in full ferment in Antwerp in early 17th century, long before its arrival to Paris in the 1630s & 40s. Our painting presents on an entablature covered with wine-colored velvet cloth, various objects in an artistic arrangement which is intended to be spontaneous. The tight framing, like an extract and the piled up objects suggest a plenitude and an infinite richness of what nature can offer and reinforce the feeling of prosperity. The wicker basket overflowing with translucent bunches of grapes in green and purplish hues with icy reflections dominates the right side of the painting. In the center is the game birds, partridge, snipe, sparrow, pincon and others, each bird with a fine and precise design, transparent plumage, the meticulous rendering of the different beak or leg parts, zebrures and streaks of the down. On the left, two stacked white and blue Chinese...

Painted in the style of the 17th century Dutch painter Alexander Andrienssen, this painting is of a glass vase on a wood surface filled with flowers. The artist's careful attention ...

Oil on panel In the refined strokes of a 17th-century Dutch artist, a captivating still life unfolds, showcasing a meticulous arrangement of culinary delights that transcend the mun...

Still-life with a profile portrait was painted by Spanish artist Goyo Domínguez in 1994. Acrylics in a 65 cm by 54 cm wooden panel. Using a classical style with renaissance reminisc...

This unpublished composition is a recent addition to Adeodato Zuccati’s catalog. The study of this painting by Gianluca Bocchi, an Italian art historian specializing in Italian still lives, is available upon request. This composition is typical of the productions of Adeodato Zuccati, an Emilian painter...

Giovanni Paolo Castelli called Spadino (Rome 1659 - Rome 1730) Still life Oil on canvas, cm. 81x31 - with frame cm. 92x41 Shaped and gilded wo...