Amanda Besl Figurative Paintings

NIGHTIE NIGHT 1 - In this original artwork, focus is placed on the blending of delicate detail and expressive brush work. A subtle tone on tone texture is built up in the background ...

Willard Dixon is widely recognized for his calm, contemplative landscapes and skyscapes, paintings that hold stillness, clarity, and a quiet reverence for nature. In this exhibition,...

Large Atmospheric Black & Yellow Painting of Broadway New York City by British Urban Landscape Artist, Angela Wakefield. This unique original...

Frank Dekkers Summer 140 x 200 cm (not framed) oil on canvas On the pictures we also show you the artist receiving the flowers on our opening of this exhibition september 3th 2023 i...

Luminoso mazzo di fiori ,Rose rosse e rosa e tazzine MAYA KOPITZEVA (Gagra, Georgia, 1924 - 2005) Le opere di Maya Kopitzeva sono state acquisite dal Ministero della Cultura russo,...

This painting reflects Bruno Surdo’s continued engagement with classical realism as a vehicle for contemporary allegory. A young girl, centered and frontal, sits in an inflatable ring surrounded by floating plastic waste—bottles, containers, straws—both above and beneath the water’s surface. The composition is calm, almost symmetrical, yet emotionally unsettling. Surdo’s atelier-based training is evident in the careful modeling of the child’s anatomy, the naturalistic rendering of skin tones, and the controlled atmospheric perspective. The figure is painted with the same dignity and structural clarity found in Renaissance portraiture, elevating what could be a simple environmental image into a modern history painting. Art historically, the work draws from the tradition of allegorical portraiture, where innocence is personified to communicate moral themes. The child recalls Renaissance depictions of putti or symbolic youth figures, yet here innocence is placed in peril. The floating debris creates a contemporary vanitas motif: instead of skulls and extinguished candles, the symbols of decay are plastic and petroleum byproducts—markers of environmental neglect. The waterline dividing the composition subtly recalls the layered moral narratives of Baroque painting, where surface beauty often concealed deeper truths. The title, Contaminating the Innocent, underscores this allegorical intent, transforming the image into a meditation on generational responsibility. Within Surdo’s broader oeuvre—often concerned with spectacle, identity, and human consequence—this painting shifts toward ecological consciousness. Yet it remains consistent with his practice of grounding urgent modern themes in the visual authority of classical technique. By presenting environmental degradation through the lens of Renaissance-informed realism, Surdo avoids didactic illustration and instead creates a quiet, haunting indictment. The stillness of the child’s gaze contrasts with the chaos of the polluted water, reinforcing the central tension: the vulnerability of innocence in a world shaped by adult action. Bruno Surdo Contaminating the Innocent oil on canvas 48h x 48w in 121.92h x 121.92w cm BRS072 Bruno A. Surdo b. Chicago, 1963 EXHIBITIONS 2020 Realities, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL 2018 Liberation, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL Blood Sport, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL Art on Paper 2018, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Pier 36, New York, NY SOFA Chicago 2018, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL 2017 POP!ARAZZI, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL Coming Attractions, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL 2015 SOFA Chicago 2015, Ann Nathan Gallery, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL Bruno Surdo: Allegories, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2014 Bruno Surdo: Respond, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Modern Metaphors, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL 2013 Bruno Surdo: Revelations, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Vice + Virtue, Northern Illinois University Museum of Art 2012 Contemporary Realism Biennial, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN 2011 Bruno Surdo, University of St. Francis School of Creative Arts, Fort Wayne, IN Uncensored, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2010 Art Chicago 2010, Ann Nathan Gallery, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 2009 Art Chicago 2009, Ann Nathan Gallery, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 2007 Bruno Surdo, Art Institute of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN 2006 Context/Content: Making Meaning with the Figure, University of Arkansas, Conway, AR Creative Imaginings, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL Bruno Surdo: Cycles, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2005 Art Chicago 2005, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2004 Tragedy, Memory, & Honor, Richard M. Daley Center, Chicago, IL Art Chicago 2004, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Group Show, Arcadia Gallery, New York, NY Drawings VII, Koplin Del Rio Gallery, West Hollywood, CA Armory Show, New York Armory, New York, NY 2003 Paintings & Drawings, College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL The Art Show, New York, NY Bruno Surdo: New Work, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Art Chicago 2003, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2003-10 International Show of Contemporary Artists, Chicago Art Open, Chicago, IL 2002 Bruno Surdo: Perception of Appearance, Frye Museum, Seattle, WA Tragedy, Memory, & Honor, Richard M. Daley Center, Chicago, IL Bruno Surdo: Transcendence, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Art Chicago 2002, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Tragedy, Memory, & Honor, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2001 Magic Vision, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR 1998 Evanston and Vicinity Artists, Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL 1996 Bruno Surdo: A Personal View, University of Wisconsin, Kenosha, WI 1995 Bruno Surdo: Recent Works, College of Lake County, IL AIDS in Our Society, Loyola University, Chicago, IL Bruno Surdo: Life, Struggle, and Hope, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL 2001 Magic Vision, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR Bruno Surdo: Dualities of Life, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 1999 Group Show, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 1998 Group Exhibition, Fine Arts Building Gallery, Chicago, IL 1995 Spiritual Inquiries, Struve Gallery, Chicago, IL 1994 Recent Works, The 14th Annual Juried Exhibition for Lake County Artists, Grayslake, IL Go Figure, Figurative Works on Paper, Chicago Printmakers Collaborative, Chicago, IL SELECTED COLLECTIONS The Re-Birth of Venus, Temporary Loan, Fort Wayne Museum of Art Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR College of Lake County, Greyslake, IL Flashpoint Academy, Chicago IL John Robert Wiltgen Design Shoemaker Ruud Collection Julie & Thomas Danilek Michael Vozzella and Mike Silver Benjamin Fernandez Tom Braake Betsy Colburn Michael Diemand & Lor LaRose Michael Staab & Kathy Brock Bruce Leep Frank Tzurect Mary Foley Rosalyn Carlson Mimmy Turney Janet Long Halstead Billy Hunt Carol Galli Myles Kerrigan Honorable & Mrs. Edwin Berman Theodore Gage Northrop Art Museum Past Present & Future Company Dr. James & Peggy Kemmler Salvatore Monastero Nix & Virginia Lauridsen Joel Miller David & Marlene Zerkel Ann & Andy Abel Claudia Rush Marc Miller Leonard Goldberg Lawrence Pucci Howard Tullman Collection Susan & Manny Kramer James Rinnert Richar Interiors Michael & Nancy Colt Khalid Altijir Dr. Joe Grodman Beryl & Jack Gore Larry Wolf & Eric Naegle Chuck Wolandi Jack Schwab & David Sandelin Thomas Kaczmarek Marti Dinerstein Craig & Michael Golden...

Ksenya Istomina Rosehip 20 x 20 cm (Framed 32 x 32 cm) Oil on cardboard This Still-life painting by Russian artist Ksenya Istomina is made in 2020 during the Lockdown in Russia. The...

Sherrie McGraw has been at the forefront of the American Art scene for over thirty years. As a young woman in Oklahoma City in 1978, she was urged by her teachers Richard and Edith G...

Artodyssey "Julita Malinowska's paintings belong to those, which once seen - are never forgotten. The open spaces, sometimes cool and bright, at other times heavily saturated with co...

This evocative portrait by Anne Darby Parker pays tribute to Paula Modersohn-Becker while maintaining a distinctly contemporary voice. Softly modeled figures emerge from a muted pale...

Eleanor Woolley Winter Shadows 17 Original Painting Oil Paint on Canvas Size: H:15 cm x W:15 cm x D:4cm Sold Unframed Please note that insitu images are purely an indication of how ...

Dessert of Love [2021] original Acrylic on Board Image size: H:52cm cm x W:63cm cm Complete Size of Unframed Work: H:49cm cm x W:60cm cm x D:0.5cm Frame Size: H:52cm cm x W:63cm cm x D:3cmcm Sold Framed Please note that insitu images are purely an indication of how a piece may look I wanted to bring together geometrics and plants with a tropical twist, the actual painting was completed through winter, ultimately it was a fun exploration in new ways of creating pattern, gradients and colour. Adam Bartlett, painter and print designer, is available for sale online and in our art gallery at Wychwood Art. Adam Bartlett is a former fashion print designer who studied textiles at Manchester University and is now a full time artist, specialising painting and illustration; common themes are that of nature (jungle and tigers) and still life, both abstract and surreal, inspired by a mixture of Mughal and contemporary art. His recent clients include the Zizzi Restaurants, Easy and Ibis Hotel chains; producing large scale mural art...