Chris Berti Art

Evoking nostalgia while looking towards the future, "Viridis" is a dynamic wood wall sculpture that embodies mid-century modernism. Pigmented lacquer on poplar wood creates a captiva...

Evoking both nostalgia and a forward-looking vision, "Penna" is a dynamic wood wall sculpture that captures the essence of mid-century modernism. Pigmented lacquer on poplar wood cre...

"Boofy (Large Version)" is a minimalist and modernist wood wall sculpture reminiscent of both mid century modern forms and bold graphic design. Boofy is part of my popular "Small Po...

"Tuxedo" is a minimalist and modernist wood wall sculpture reminiscent of both made century modern forms and the brutalist architectural movement. The piece was inspired by my love ...

Includes a Certificate of Authenticity

Bronze heron by American sculptor Wayne Williams. Signed and dated 1993. Edition 2/2. Mounted on a walnut base. From Finger Lakes Magazine 2001: Art is everywhere in the Finger Lakes. Inspired by the region’s diverse scenery and lifestyles, artists pursue their creativity outdoors, in studios and in workshops. In the many well-established museums and galleries or at the newer fledgling arts organizations, a wide array of artistic styles and talents are represented. Often the artists, like Wayne Williams, share their artistic skill and passion through teaching at local colleges. Williams, who is retired after a 35-year career at Finger Lakes Community College, found his calling there. “I didn’t want to teach in public schools,” explains Williams of his career choice. “I wanted to be at the college level. CCFL (the Community College of the Finger Lakes, as it was then known) was literally creating a college, right from scratch.” The year was 1968 and Williams was charged with coordinating the new college’s art program. Rand Darrow, a CCFL student in that first year, remembers attending Williams’ art classes in a commercial building on Main Street just south of the railroad tracks in Canandaigua. Darrow appreciated his instructor’s relaxed manner. “He was a great teacher,” recalls Darrow, “cracking jokes all the time.” Darrow graduated with a major in Liberal Arts and continued on to SUNY Oswego where he earned a BA in fine arts. He taught art to elementary and middle school students for 30 years. These days Williams and Darrow typically cross paths at the Wayne County Arts Council in Newark where Williams and his wife, Marleen, are heavily involved. Williams offers classes in figure drawing and sculpture and hangs the gallery’s shows, including his former student’s “Slavic Tales of Novgorod” this past August. “I’d like to take a sculpture class from him,” says Darrow. In 2003 when Williams retired, the college honored him and another retiring art professor, Tom Insalaco, by renaming its art gallery the Williams-Insalaco Art Gallery. It was known formerly as Gallery 34 to recognize its origins at 34 North Main Street in Canandaigua. Williams held professor’s rank from 1976 and served as director of the art gallery beginning with its opening in 1983. Williams, who was born and raised in Newark, New York, says he began doing art at about age 8. By the time he was in junior high school his career direction seemed clear. He received local and national awards for his art and a scholarship to Syracuse University, from which he graduated in 1958 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture. He continued with graduate work at Syracuse, receiving an MFA in sculpture in 1962. He worked full time as a sculptor until he began teaching. At one point Williams admits he wanted to be a painter, but didn’t want to adopt the abstract expressionist style in vogue in the 1950s, preferring to pursue the realist tradition. He advises any would-be artist to “do what you do because you love it.” After graduation he traveled abroad, spending time in Belgium, the land of his ancestors. “My family’s name was originally Willems,” explains the 73-year old who still relishes the time spent in the Flemish countryside. Williams speaks excitedly about art, referencing the lives of great artists. He acknowledges that American artists do not have the same stature as those in Europe, where Old Masters like Brueghel and Rembrandt are national heroes. These days the energetic Williams, known primarily as a sculptor, is active at the Phelps Arts Center where he is on the board of directors. In mid-September when a group of visitors on a motor coach tour explored artworks displayed in the beautiful church-turned- gallery, they were treated to a large number of Williams’ bronze and metal sculptures, along with his charcoal drawings. “I’ve always loved his work because he deals with things, people, and animals you understand,” says the center’s Director Emeritus Marion Donnelly, who has known him for many years. Outside the Phelps Community Historical Society, Williams’ life-size figure of a farmer raises his pitchfork above a colorful flower garden on the front lawn. Inspired by the peasants working the fields in Europe, the metal figure is shown with wooden shoes. This is Williams’ largest copper piece, loaned to the Phelps museum in connection with Artistry in Sculpture, a community exhibition in 2009. Williams added a new base using a metal wagon...

Includes a Certificate of Authenticity

Includes a Certificate of Authenticity

Embossed monogram signature. Referenced in "Beyond Time; The Art of Alfred Van Loen" SunStorm c.1993, p. 38. Van Loen was a highly influential modern artist and teacher of German de...

This piece is unsigned. Irving Lehman (1900-1983) was an American Jewish painter, sculptor, engraver, and designer. Born in Kiev in then Russia, Lehman studied at the Art Students League, Cooper Union and the National Academy of Art and spent much of his working life in New York City. Part of the Abstract Expressionist school, he worked in oil and watercolor as a painter and in metal and steel as a sculptor; his works have been shown in galleries in England, France, Italy, Israel and Japan, and were included in an international traveling exhibition in Europe in 1951. Like many other artists of his generation, he painted for the WPA and then adopted a more abstract style after WWII. Lehman spent much of his career in NYC. He had his first exhibition at ACA Gallery in 1934. He also exhibited at the Whitney, National Academy, PAFA, Brooklyn Museum, Chicago Art Institute, and others. This work contains Constructivist elements anticipating the more gestural abstraction of the post-WWII New York Abstract Expressionist School. Member of American Art Congress, worked near Woodstock and in Columbia County...

This Series focuses on the combination of wood and sleek modern painted panels. I feel they are retro-futurist. The juxtaposition of the organic and warm wood grain with jutting, sha...

Modern abstract brutalist metal sculpture by Houston artist Bob Fowler. The work features a skeletal figure welded in a box or locker. Firmly attached to a white and natural wood bas...