Category Archives: Art Monday

April 26, 2010 · 9:09 am

ARTmonday: John Tremblay

Over the weekend, just as I settled into my spot and prepared to be brilliantly productive, my husband started sending me links to condos for sale in the neighborhood. No, we’re not actually moving, probably not anyway, but I have been complaining about this and that around here, and he was bored, waiting for the boys to be through with their tennis lesson, and that’s how he chose to pass the time. Anyway, I was so moved to distraction, that I could no longer concentrate. So, I started to clean, well, organize. I came across a handful of glossy brochures from Phaidon excerpting new titles, including Painting Abstraction: New Elements in Abstract Painting by Bob Nickas. The work below, Major Stars by John Tremblay, immediately caught my eye. I was able to find a few of his other works online. I definitely prefer the shaped canvases to the flat geometric compositions.

Major Stars, 2008
acrylic on canvas
Paula Cooper Gallery, NYC

Hail and Farewell, 1997
paint on wood
Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam

Holbein’s Dead Christ, 2005
acrylic and paint marker on canvas
Paula Cooper Gallery, NYC

Map of the World, 1999
screenprint, acrylic and metallic paint on canvas
Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam

The Elated Pedestrian, 2005
Acrylic & laquer pen on canvas
P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center / MOMA, Long Island City, NY

Jazz Hands, 2008
acrylic on canvas
Paula Cooper Gallery, NYC

Dynamite Hill, 2008
acrylic on canvas
Paula Cooper Gallery, NYC

3 Comments

Filed under . REGULAR FEATURES, Art, Art Monday

Tagged as John Tremblay, Painting Abstraction: New Elements in Abstract Painting, Paula Cooper Gallery

April 12, 2010 · 2:31 am

ARTmonday: Timothy Cummings

Over the weekend I chatted with Tyler Doran of Heir Antiques in Providence. I hope to actually visit his shop sometime soon. He has an amazing eye for the creepy and refined. One of the items that caught my eye on his 1st Dibs page is the colorful spot portrait below, by artist Timothy Cummings. Turns out he’s done a whole series of such works. Some are quite disturbing, but some are eerily beautiful.

SPOT PORTRAIT

Iris print with monotype and hand coloring 57/100
12″ X 10.5 framed
Heir Antiques, Providence

SPOT PORTRAIT 4
acrylic on board – 8″x10″
Dabora Gallery, Brooklyn

SPOT PORTRAIT, 2001

Nancy Hoffman Gallery

SPOT PORTRAIT 8
acrylic on board – 8″x10″
Dabora Gallery, Brooklyn

The last two are not part of the Spot Portrait series, but have a similar aesthetic, I think.

Phantom III, 2008

acrylic on panel – 10″x8″

Catherine Clark Gallery, San Francisco

The Flowering, 2006
Nancy Hoffman Gallery, New York City

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Filed under . REGULAR FEATURES, Art Monday

Tagged as Heir Antiques, spot paintings, Timothy Cummings

April 5, 2010 · 10:38 pm

ARTmonday: The Art Bus

Now you’ve pretty much got no excuse for not checking out the art scene.

This past weekend, the Boston Art Dealers Association launched The Art Bus, a free shuttle between the Newbury Street and South End art districts.

The bus goes between the Back Bay and South End free of charge from noon to 4pm on the first Saturday of the month from through June, and will start up again in September.

The bus runs a continuous loop making stops at:
• Thayer Street at Harrison Avenue
• Newbury Street at Berkeley Street (in front of the Church of the Covenant)
• Newbury Street at Dartmouth Street (in front of Fitz Inn parking lot)

Each ride requires a pass. Passes are free and are available at all BADA member galleries.

All aboard!

ARTmonday: Gurari Collections

This winter when I was checking out the galleries and shops in the newly converted 1880 mill building now known as 460 Harrison Ave. in SoWa, I wandered into Gurari Collections, which bills itself as a gallery for antiquarian contemporary arts. An intriguing label and fitting.

Its focus is at the intersection of art and science, featuring etchings, engravings, drawings, watercolors, paintings, and interesting objects borne from architecture and design, urbanism, the human figure, fantasies and follies, and science and the allied arts. The gallery is basically a walk-in curio cabinet.

A few days ago, gallery owner Russ Gerard contacted me, inviting me back for a visit. I shall certainly go sometime soon, and take photos, but in the meantime, I thought I’d share images from his website.

Column Capital Frontal – Wendy Artin
watercolor

Cetaceous – Mollie Goldstrom
etching

Calderum Motorim – Vico Fabbris
charcoal

Perspective 39 – Jan Vredeman de Vries
engraving

Fountain 31 – Georg Andrea Bockler
copperplate etching-engraving

Plan De Paris, 1739 – M.E. Turgot, Louis Bretez, Claude Lucas and Aubin
20 copperplate engravings

English Victorian Adjustable Zograscope

Crookes Tubes and Radiomete

ARTmonday: Carlos Estrada-Vega

I discovered the works of Mexican-born, California-based contemporary artist Carlos Estrada-Vega at Ernden Fine Art Gallery in Provincetown. His three-dimensional chunks of color are so satisfyingly saturated and rich, like high quality Cray-Pas. In fact, many of the works are created from a mixture of materials that may well produce an oil pastel effect on paper. The paintings consist of tiny square pegs of wood, usually no larger than one inch in diameter, which are individually painted with pure pigment and then attached with a small imbedded magnet on the back to a steel plate. The effect is quite tactile; very much like a modern children’s toy you might find at an art museum gift shop. Here are some examples of his work:

Bonita Carter #43-III, 2008
Oleopasto, wax, pigment, oil & limestone (8″ x 8″)
Margaret Thatcher Projects, NYC

Walt, 2005
Wax/Oleopasto/Oil/Pigments on Canvas on Wood with Magnet Inserts attached
to a Metal Plate (10″ x 10″)
Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago

Procopio, 2008
Wax/Oleopasto/Oil/Pigments/ Limestone Dust on Automotive Primer on Wood with Magnet Inserts attached to a Metal Plate (33.25″ x 33.25)
Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago

Bo’quecito, 2008
Wax/Oleopasto/Oil/Pigments/Limestone Dust on Automotive Primer on
Wood with Magnet Inserts attached to a Metal Plate (36″ x 36)
Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago

Saulito, 2008
Oleopasto, wax, pigment, oil & limestone (6″ x 6″)
Margaret Thatcher Projects, NYC

Working Drawing #6, 2007
oil, wax, oleopasto, limestone dust, and pigments on panel (12 x 12 x 1″)
d.e.n. contemporary, Beverly Hills

Güerita, 2008
Wax/Oleopasto/Oil/Pigments/Limestone Dust on Automotive Primer on Wood with Magnet Inserts attached to a Metal Plate (8.25″ x 8.25″)
Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago

Maceo, 2005
Margaret Thatcher Projects, NYC

Working Drawing #8, 2008
Oleopasto, wax, pigment, oil & limestone (5″ x 5″ x 1″)
Margaret Thatcher Projects, NYC

79 squares
oil, wax, oleopasto, limestone dust and pigment on canvas on wood
Artnet.com

Stephanie’s, 2008
Oleopasto, wax, pigment, oil & limestone (8″ x 8″)
Margaret Thatcher Projects, NYC

Caridad, 2007
Wax/Oleopasto/Oil/ Dry Pigments on Canvas on Wood with Magnet Inserts attached to a Metal Plate
(17.5″ x 17.5″)
Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago