ARTmonday: Jacob Kulin

I first came across Jacob Kulin through a publicist for D Scale, designer Dennis Duffy’s furnishings showroom in the South End. She had emailed me images of an amazing tree branch, glass, and steel table that I was able to include in an article for the Globe, and in my post Get the Look: Trees (it’s the very first image). When I found out he is local to Boston, I was inspired to pitch a column on contemporary furniture designers in Boston to my editor in Stuff. She liked it, and I’ll probably do the piece in January. Meanwhile, I learned that Kulin also creates fine art sculpture. Hardly a surprise given the sculptural nature of his furniture. Here are some of his artwork that I particularly like.

Picture 4Untitled 2009  –  Powder coating over aluminum, stainless steel.

Picture 8Untitled  –  Lamp-worked glass beads, steel, anodized aluminum.

Picture 3Windjammer 2009  –  Canvas, mahogany, aluminum, waxed cotton cord.

Picture 10Untitled – Ostrich eggs, acrylic, stainless steel, walnut.

Picture 7Untitled 2008  –  Glass, zebra wood.

Picture 6Aspen 2008   –  Aspen wood, steel, silver leaf over aluminum.

Picture 9Untitled – Enamel over copper, steel, cherry.

ARTmonday: Anne Packard

Anne Packard is the quintessential Cape Cod painter. She creates beautiful, luminescent landscapes in oil. Unlike a lot of examples in the genre, her works are skillfully exquisite. The best place to view Anne’s work is in Provincetown at the Packard Gallery, a charming converted New England church. She shares the space s with her daughters, painters Cynthia Packard (read my blog post on Cynthia here) and Leslie Packard. The Packards descend from a long line of painters, which include Anne Packard’s grandfather, Max Bohm, who is a well-known Impressionist painter who went to Provincetown back in 1916.

Below is an oil painting by Anne Packard that my husband and I purchased a few years ago. It hangs over our living room fireplace. (Sorry for the inexpert photographic quality). I have also been loving browsing through her newest coffee table book, Anne Packard: Introspective (Skylark Press, $95), that her very kind publicist left on my doorstep (literally). Scroll down for a sampling of her works.

our anne packard

TurquoiseSeascapeTurquoise Seascape

stormybeachStormy Beach

TwoDoriesTwo Dories

AdriftAdrift

SeasideSeaside

ASummerPlaceA Summer Place

GreenDorynGreen Dory

EmptyChairEmpty Chair

pack portAnne Packard

ARTmonday: Lauren Nelson

The other day I received a nice note from interior designer/stylist/artist Lauren Nelson. She’s recently relocated to Boston from the West Coast. I plan to profile her interior work after we chat, but in the meantime, I thought I’d show you her strong, colorful works of art.

Oaxacan AlleyOaxacan Alley,  screen print on paper, 27″x19″

Muni StopMuni Stop 43, 6,  mixed media on canvas, 24″ x 36″

Alameda Sunday, version 1Alameda Sunday, version 1, screen print on paper, 16″ x 20″

Sunrise Desert RideSunrise Desert Ride, , screen print on paper,  9″ x 12″

Thought You KnewThought You Knew, mixed media on canvas, 25″ x 12″

Intro Series 2Intro Series 2, acrylic on paper, 8″ x 10″ (sold)

Intro Series 3Intro Series 3, acrylic on paper, 8″ x 10″ (sold)

Nude 1Nude 1, charcoal on paper, 18″x24″

ARTmonday: Declan Halpin

This weekend I went to see the new show by Declan Halpin at one of my favorite art galleries in Provincetown, Ernden Fine Art Gallery at 397 Commercial Street, where the works are polished with a bent toward the abstract, and the gallery director, Dennis Costin, is always welcoming and gracious.

Halpin creates sculptural paintings on metal panels. I purchased two a few years ago that I still adore. The colors are soft, the top one has an almost unfinished quality. The scattering of dots you see are actually holes made with a blowtorch. The petal-like shapes of the bottom piece are also holes, and there is another layer of metal behind the panel. My photos do not do them justice.

declan me

Below are images from the current show at Ernden. Halpin’s works are much brighter this time, with an emphasis on geometry. The series explores the relationship between humans and 21st century technology. Halpin sees this as a “blend of science and romance ” and finds the experience both “jarring and wonderful”.

Could_Be_Maybe_300Could Be, Maybe
10 x 13 x 1
Acrylic on Aluminum
$1200

Approximate_300

Approximate
24 x 22 x 1
Acrylic on Aluminum
$2200

Everybody_Knows_It_300Everybody Knows It
12 x 12 x 1
Acrylic on Aluminum
$1200

Specify_300

Specify 1
8 x 10 x 1
Graphite and Acrylic on Aluminum
$900

Unsolicited_300Unsolicited
11 x 12 x 1
Acrylic on Aluminum
1200

FasterThanComputers_300Faster Than Computers
22 x 27 x 1
Acrylic on Aluminum
$2000

Obviate_300Obviate
12 x 12 x 1
Acrylic on Aluminum
Private Collection

declan at workHalpin at work.

ARTmonday: Mary Ellen Strom

Two years ago at the School of Museum of Fine Art’s annual holiday sale (now called Inside Out), my husband and I were mesmerized by a video installation by Mary Ellen Strom (the first one pictured below). It was a little pricey (after all, you’re buying actual video equipment), but we seriously considered the purchase. Strom, who teaches at the SMFA, is represented by one of my favorite galleries in Boston, the Judi Rotenberg Gallery.Strom’s work has been shown at MOCA, MOMA, and the ICA, as well as the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum.

The three images below were part of Strom’s 2005 solo show “The Nudes”, at the Judi Rotenberg Gallery, comprised of a series of video projections re-staging paintings of female nudes by well-known male artists, including Manet, Velasquez and Magritte. Strom’s installations feature contemporary women artists who are portrayed as subjects rather than objects.  The videos are staged with live models in meticulously produced settings, and videotaped with a high definition video camera. The nudes were installed as a series of individual video projections onto the gallery walls. The projections are the size of the original paintings.

Strom says of these works, “We can identify with the subjects and feel power and sexuality not passivity. We can be conscious of our act of viewing while allowing ourselves to experience pleasure, theirs and ours.”

StromNude2Nude No. 4, Andrea Hendrickson — 58″ x 48″, video projection, 2004

Strom Nude1Nude No. 3, Dillon Paul — 69″ x 48″, video projection, 2004

strom Hope Clark 4 Nude No. 2, Hope Clark — 48″ x 32″, video projection, 2004


A F T E R . . .

artwork_images_423788845_162510_maryellen-strom“The Surprised Nymph” by Edouard Manet, 1859-60

dillon ptg“Venus” by Diego Rodriguez de Silva Y Velazquez, 1649- 51

magritte“Bather Between Light and Darkness” by Rene Magritte, 1935