Bai (Carl Karni-Bain)

Live Composition II, African American Artist, Painting on Paper

2024

In the artist's Art on Design print series, Be the Dance, 2023 by a.muse is a colorful one-of-a-kind art on paper. The work is an invitation to freedom of self-expression and invites...

Two Men and a Horse, 2024 by contemporary African American artist Bai (Carl Karni-Bain), is a 30 x 22in acrylic, oil pastel, and ballpoint pen abstract figurative painting on etching...

The earthy tones, rich in texture in an acrylic and oil pastel by African American artist Bai is a portrait of an androgenous subject with Modigliani eyes, Ornetta, is an enigmatic p...

Inspired by Matisse, Flower Vase, 2020 by a.muse blooms with color and energy. A 14" x 10" one-of-a-kind abstract art on watercolor paper hand-pulled by the artist on an etching pres...

Roland Ayers (1932-2017). Improvisation, 2nd Series, #5. Ink on paper, measures 19 x 24 inches. Unframed and unmounted. Signed and dated lower right, titled lower left. There are a few minor areas of loss in margins as depicted in close-up photos. Additionally, there a a few minor tears in margins. Ayers holds the distinction of having participated in the first important survey of African-Americans, Contemporary Black Artists in America, a 1971 show at The Whitney. Biography: Artist and art educator, Roland Ayers was born on July 2, 1932, the only child of Alice and Lorenzo Ayers, and grew up in the Germantown district of Philadelphia. Ayers served in the US Army (stationed in Germany) before studying at the Philadelphia College of Art (currently University of the Arts). He graduated with a BFA in Art Education, 1954. He traveled Europe 1966-67, spending time in Amsterdam and Greece in particular. During this period, he drifted away from painting to focus on linear figurative drawings of a surreal nature. His return home inaugurated the artist’s most prolific and inspired period (1968-1975). Shorty before his second major trip abroad in 1971-72 to West Africa, Ayers began to focus on African themes, and African American figures populated his work almost exclusively. In spite of Ayers’ travel and exploration of the world, he gravitated back to his beloved Germantown, a place he endowed with mythological qualities in his work and literature. His auto-biographical writing focuses on the importance of place during his childhood. Ayers’ journals meticulously document the ethnic and cultural make-up of Germantown, and tell a compelling story of class marginalization that brought together poor families despite racial differences. The distinctive look and design of Germantown inform Ayers’ visual vocabulary. It is a setting with distinctive Gothic Revival architecture and haunting natural beauty. These characteristics are translated and recur in the artist’s imagery. During his childhood, one of the only books in the Ayers household was an illustrated Bible. The images within had a profound effect on the themes and subjects that would appear in his adult work. Figures in an Ayers’ drawing often seem trapped in a narrative of loss and redemption. Powerful women loom large in the drawings: they suggest the female role models his journals record in early life. The drawings can sometimes convey a strong sense of conflict, and at other times, harmony. Nature and architecture seem to have an antagonistic relationship that is, ironically, symbiotic. A critical turning point in the artist’s career came in 1971 when he was included in the extremely controversial Whitney Museum show, Contemporary Black Artists in America. The exhibition gave Ayers an international audience and served as a calling card for introductions he would soon make in Europe. Ayers is a particularly compelling figure in a period when black artists struggled with the idea of authenticity. A questioned often asked was “Is your work too black, or not black enough?” Abstractionists were considered by some peers to be sell-outs, frauds or worse. Figurative* work was accused of being either sentimental or politically radical depending on the critical source. Ayers made the choice early on to be a figurative artist, but considered his work devoid of political content. Organizations such as Chicago’ s Afri-Cobra in the late 1960‘s asserted that the only true black art of any relevance must depict the black man and woman...

This artwork "Untitled #1" 1992, is a mixed media (Aquatint, screen print and collage) on heavy wove paper by noted American artist Terence David La Noue, b. 1941. It is hand signed,...

Tempura on heavy paper, signed and dated 1945 lower left. The piece measures 23" x 30" including the frame and presents very well overall. Provenance: Willard Gallery, NYC Brad...

Abstract Composition is original lithograph realized by the artist Antoni Clavè. Hand signed on the lower right margin. Numbered on the lower left margin. This original print is from an edition of 50. Good conditions. Antoni Clavé (Barcelona, 1913 – St. Tropez, 2005) Antoni Clavé was a Catalan master painter, printmaker, sculptor, stage designer and costume designer. Nominated for two Academy Awards as Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design for his work for a Andersen's movie in 1952. One of Spain's best known and most celebrated artists, he changed his style, evolving from baroque, ornamental style to a minimal aesthetic. He is best known for his lyrical abstractions, artworks combing paint...