All photos by Marni Elyse Katz/StyleCarrot
Along with everyone else with an Instagram account I created a #topnine2016 for my @StyleCarrotCurates account, where I exclusively post artwork that I live with, work with, or discover as I go about my life. (My main account @StyleCarrot has a broader reach, featuring interiors, food, cocktails, art, nature, and other beautiful things that catch my eye. I hope you will follow both @StyleCarrotCurates and@StyleCarrot on Instagram!) Here’s a bit more about the top nine (plus one, which tied for ninth place). They’re all wonderful works and include a pieces from a couple of the world’s best known artists, local New England artists, pieces I’ve shown in my curatorial endeavors, and also an artwork from my living room.
Que Tourne Le Vent, acrylic on canvas, 48×48
Abstract painting by Canadian artist Karine Leger from her exhibition at Lanoue Gallery in Boston’s SoWa district that I saw at a First Friday a year ago. I love her work and clearly so does everyone else as this is the most liked post on my @StyleCarrotCurates Instagram feed.
Rapture and Persimmon, oil, resin, spray paint and paper on linen, 48×36
These two stunning beauties are by my friend Sarah Lutz, who lives and works as a full time artist in New York City and Provincetown. She and Mike Carroll of Schoolhouse Gallery in Ptown lent me the paintings for a pop-up art gallery cocktail party I threw at my home in Truro this summer. I wanted to keep them forever; it’s as if Sarah painted them for the space. Although I didn’t splurge on these (they are still available; let me know if you’re interested), I did acquire a Sarah Lutz original at the Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill auction. I posted it here, and although it didn’t make the top nine likes on IG, it easily tops my list of personal favorites.
This fall my husband and I took a weekend jaunt to Nantucket. Another big thank you to White Elephant Elephant Hotel, Hy-Line Cruises,Lola 41, and the boutiques I visited, which included Pete’s Fish Tales Prints. Artist Peter Van Dingstee studied the Japanese art of gyotaku which entails creating prints on rice paper using actual fish. Here he has rolled out a large swordfish print. You can see more of his work on the full blog post I did here.
from the Synthetic series
It’s not fall without plenty of shots from the SMFA Sale. This portrait by L.A. fashion photographer Hannah Bates is right up my alley. So much so that my husband purchased it for me for Chanukah. At least I think he did; there’s been an artwork just this size wrapped in brown paper in our living room since that night. I’ll find out for sure when I return to Boston after holiday break; fingers crossed. Hannah Bates is an MFA candidate at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Celestial Anemone, pen, ink & collage on paper, 11 x 8.5
Providence-based artist Jenny Brown makes the most magical marine-inspired mixed media collages. I hung three at my pop-up this summer and a Truro couple bought two for their daughter. Jenny gave me this piece, which is a print of an original, this fall when I returned the third piece. I still need to have it framed, but it the meantime it’s propped up on my living room bookshelf.
A work by Ellsworth Kelly at the 2016 SMFA Sale.
My Garden Door and Entering the Garden, oil on canvas, 25×25
A new acquaintance told me to check out Boston-based artist Laura Allis Richardson, who works at Fenway Studios. She graciously invited me for a studio visit (full blog post here). I left with these two pieces, now on display and for sale at Webster & Company in the Boston Design Center. (I can help if you are interested.) Mr. Webster and I have mounted a new exhibition for the Fall/Winter 2016-17 season; here’s a peek.
Last February I went to the Boca Raton Museum for the first time, where I spotted this Louise Nevelson assemblage. I still remember learning about Louise Nevelson’s work in the Art Since 1945 class I took at summer semester at NYU in college. A week later I went to a dinner party at a friend’s parents’ home on Fifth Avenue (or maybe it was Park Avenue?) . . . in their foyer was a small Nevelson sculpture, as well as a Giacometti.
This is a favorite piece from my personal collection, purchased for me by my husband at Skinner Auctions, so I’m thrilled it made it into the @StyleCarrotCurates #topnine2016. It’s a dancer by the Russian-born, American artist Abraham Walkowitz. The piece, which sits on my mantle in Boston, pictures modern dancer Isadora Duncan, of whom he has done over 5,000 drawings. It inspires me during my living room yoga sessions.
Jitterbug, oil on canvas, 24×18 • Sun on the Shore, acrylic on canvas, 24×24
This is technically the tenth, but it tied in the number of likes with the dancer above. This Instagram shot pictures a stretch of wall on the second floor of our Truro house, hung with lots of artwork for the pop up. The two paintings on the left are by Maine artist Jenny Prinn. I first hung Jitterbug at the model apartment I decorated at Troy Boston. Later both pieces hung at Webster & Company. I haven’t returned them to Jenny yet so if you’re interested they are still for sale!
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