ARTmonday: 10 Variations On White

This past week I’ve been working intensely on an urban development / real estate piece for the Boston Globe, interviewing a number of Boston’s top real estate developers and architects. The other day I had the pleasure of talking with Sam Norod, a principal at Elkus Manfredi. Wrapping up business chatter, we connected on other things, including art. Norod’s daughter, Hilary Tait Norod, is an artist in her late 20s who recently moved back to the East Coast. Of course I clicked over to her website to have a look.

I was drawn to her white abstract paintings. The White Series began as a challenge—with the exception of the black outlines, all the colors on the canvas have been mixed with different ratios of white paint. The shapes in the compositions develop from through layering the paint and other materials on the canvas.

Norod explains her series of white abstract paintings with this statement: White is the color produced by the reflection, transmission or emission of all wavelengths of visible light without absorption. When light reflects off of a white surface the full spectrum of color is displayed, even when we may not see it. However, in the production of white paint there is no use of color.

Here is a roundup of mostly abstract artworks, all in variations of white, and all by artists represented by Boston art galleries.

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Hilary Taite Norod, The Black Swoosh
Galatea Fine Art

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Bill Fisher, Red Dots
Courtesy of Arden Gallery

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Julia Weiman, Reverse II
Courtesy of Bromfield Gallery

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Wilfredo Chiesa, White 1 (La Serenissima)
Courtesy of Alpha Gallery

janie-redman-immobility-series-spoon

Janice Redman, Immobility Series (Spoon)
Courtesy of Clark Gallery

cristina-pitsch-flora-of-fauna

Christina Pitsch, Flora of Fauna
Courtesy of Kingston Gallery

suzanne-ulrich-no-1459

Suzanne Ulrich, No. 1459
Courtesy of Barbara Krakow Gallery

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Danette English, Vase Series #19
Courtesy of Andrea Marquit Gallery

magda-biernat-adrift-22

Magda Biernat, Adrift #22
Courtesy of Robert Klein Gallery

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Bernard Haussmann,#2249 untitled (Darwin’s Coral)
Courtesy of Chase Young Gallery

ARTmonday: Artwork for TroyBoston Model Apt #1409

I love when I have the opportunity in my work to showcase local Boston artists and makers. For the last couple of months I’ve been working on a interior decor scheme for a model apartment at Troy Boston, a brand new, upscale, “green” rental building in SoWa. It’s a little outside my usual scope of projects and it’s been fun. You may have seen the initial post I did about it, when I was determining the color scheme for the apartment—Impressions: Creating a Color Palette of Charcoal + Dusty Rose. The final palette is indeed based on this post, with plenty of textural elements, including velvet, sheepskin, cork, plywood, and copper.

The best part has been curating the artwork. The art collection is the distinctive feature of the overall design and I hope people will view it as an exhibition rather than mere decoration. The pieces, which include paintings, photographs, sculpture, and mixed media pieces, are all done by New England-based female artists. Some of these Boston artists are  talented friends (Lee Essex Doyle, Tess Atkinson, Grace Hopkins),  others are young artists whose pieces I’ve purchased over the years at the SMFA Art Sale (Laura Beth Reese, Eugenie Lewalski Berg), others are artists I’ve become familiar with through blogging (Cig Harvey, Alicia Savage, Anastasia Cazabon, Anna Kasabian, Rachel Cossar, Winky Lewis, Jenny Prinn), and others are Boston artists who are new to me  (Heather McGrath, Linda Cordner).

I knew from the start that I wanted to include a statement artwork of a partially obscured woman; a moody fashion-y photograph of an elusive woman. I was able to get a few, though no oversize pieces due to the prohibitive cost of printing. Nevertheless I think the collection will hold together well. At the end of this post, you can see my current hanging scheme for the main wall, and for over the bed. I also plan to print a few of my own Instagram photos to pin or (washi) tape up.

Here I present to you the Troy Boston Model Apt #1409 art collection featuring over a dozen Boston area artists.  I hope you love it and will learn more about these talented women, all of whom have generously lent me their artwork.

alicia-savage-field

Alicia Savage
 self-portrait  •  Panopticon Gallery
Fort Point, Boston, MA

laura-beth-reese-snowy-nude

Laura Beth Reese  •  self-portrait from Nude series
Boston, MA

dig-harvey-the-goldfinch

Cig Harvey, MidCoast Maine
The Goldfinch  •  Robert Klein Gallery

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Anastasia Cazabon  •  From the Secret World series
Boston, MA

grace-hopkins-ca01

Grace Hopkins  •  CA01
Color photograph on canvas
Truro, Cape Cod, MA

grace-hopkins-nassau06

Grace Hopkins  •  Nassau06
Color photograph on canvas
Truro, Cape Cod, MA

grace-hopkins-lights-la45

Grace Hopkins  •  LA45
Color photograph on canvas
Truro, Cape Cod, MA

rachel-cossar-tights

Rachel Cossar  •  Tights
Instagram photograph backstage
Ballerina, Boston Ballet  •  Boston, MA

lee-essex-doyle-lantern

Lee Essex Doyle, Boston, MA
Prada I Orange  •  Childs Gallery  •   Watercolor and ink

winky-lewis-swimsuit

Winky Lewis, Portland, ME
Black and white photo of the artist’s daughter

eugenie-lewalsk-berg-six-couples

Eugenie Lewalski Berg  •   Six Couples
Cast concrete relief with graphite and oil pastel
Boston, MA

linda-cordner-bayside-sky

Linda Cordner  •  Bayside Sky  •  encaustic
Linda Cordner created this large encaustic for the apartment after seeing my color palette inspiration post.
SoWa, Boston, MA

tess-atkinson-vista-series

Tess Atkinson  •  Vista Series
Color photograph face-mounted on plexiglass
Boston, MA

iceland-heather-mcgrath

Heather McGrath  •  Sunset in Iceland
Color photograph printed on sheet metal
SoWa, Boston, MA

anna-kasabian-tide-pool

Anna Kasabian, North Shore, MA
Tide Pool III   •  stoneware
This many not be the exact piece that will hang. Anna Kasabian is lending me three pieces, which I will see when she drops them off next week.

jenny prinn

Jenny Prinn, Maine
Little Footsteps I  •  Oil on canvas
This is not the exact canvas I’ll be hanging. Jenny Prinn has graciously offered to paint an original work for the project.

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Main art wall
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Art over the bed
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ARTmonday: Cig Harvey’s Gardening at Night

Maine-based photographer Cig Harvey‘s new book Gardening at Night is both a visual and literary treat. The poetic prose that weaves through the book accompanying her dreamlike photographs is as magical as the images themselves.

A former photography teacher and city dweller, and current mother and Midcoast Mainer, Cig Harvey is represented in Boston by the Robert Klein Gallery on Newbury Street, where the Gardening at Night exhibition is on display through June 13.

I blogged about Cig Harvey’s photographs last March, when I first discovered them through Artsy. I’ve since connected with her and count her among my favorites. I am excited to be displaying “The Goldfinch” in the model apartment I am decorating at Troy Boston this spring. Many thanks to Cig and Maja at Robert Klein for making that happen.

Here is a sampling of images straight from the pages of Harvey’s book, and a quick shot from the gallery too. (Cig, if you see this, I am sorry to have missed you at the opening!)

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Fine Art Photo Book By New England Photographer Cig Harvey

Gardening at Night  •  Cig Harvey

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“Gardening at Night” on view in Boston through June 13
Robert Klein Gallery

ARTmonday: Cig Harvey

Thanks to the Artsy newsletter, I discovered a new photographer last week who I love, love, love—Cig Harvey.  And she’s kind of local. Cig Harvey lives in a farmhouse in the Midcoast of Maine. She was an assistant professor at the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University for ten years, but recently took a leap of faith to devote her life to “purely making things.” Good choice.

Her images are visually crisp, but the subject matter a bit mysterious and at times moody. She uses herself as the subject, as well as children (hers?). They’re right up my alley, and would have fit into numerous posts I’ve done, like “Girls at Play,” and runs in the same vein as women photographers I’ve highlighted, such as Anastasia Cazabon and Rhi Ellis.

The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, and the International Museum of Photography all have her work in its collections. She is represented by Robert Klein Gallery in Boston, Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland, Robin Rice Gallery in NYC, and Kopeikin Gallery in L.A. I hope my collection will include a Cig Harvey at some point oo.

cig-harvery-pomegranate-seeds
cig-harvey-watering-can
cig-harvey-velvet-settee
cig-harvey-surf-trip
cig-harvey-the-palm-tree
cig-harvey-the-cleat
cig-harvey-deep-bay
cig-harvey-syd-cookie
cig-harvey-girl-with-white-twel
cig-harvey-the-instinct
cig-harvey-portlands-diner
cig-harvey-picked-petals
cig-harvey-hope-chest
cig-harey-goldfish
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ARTmonday: Didier Massard

Today I interviewed interior designer Frank Roop at his studio. But more on that later. Since it’s ARTmonday, I thought I’d show you images by photographer Didier Massard, whose work I discovered hanging in Frank’s living room. (He hosted a Boston Home party there last spring to celebrate the cover story about his place, “Material Witness.”  I adore Frank’s work and was excited to see his sumptuous showpiece. And I had a small piece in the magazine too – my first for them – “Some Like It Hot.” ) Here is Frank Roop’s living room. Didier Massard’s photograph I fell in love with is hanging on the left.

roop-lr

Photo by Eric Roth

Today I finally had the opportunity to ask Frank about the work and the artist. Turns out Didier Massard’s work is shown in Boston right on Newbury Street, at the Robert Klein Gallery. I haven’t been in there in quite a while, (my husband tends to prefer painting over photographs) but Robert Klein Gallery represents a number of photographers I love, including Sally Gall, Sally Mann, and Tom Baril.

Didier Massard’s photographs are surreal, romantic, otherworldly landscapes. Contrived landscapes. He builds models in his Paris studio, which he then photographs.

Didier Massard Autumn Tree Photo

Autumn Tree, 2001

Didier Massard Spring Tree Photo

Spring Tree, 2002

Didier Massard Tree Top Photo

Tree Top, 2002

Photos courtesy of Robert Klein Gallery