1. Penny Hes Yassour. Phantom Landscapes
Rubber Installation; Many Lengths, very large, Stux Gallery
Rubber-like sculptures hang in the front room of Stux Gallery. Instantly, I was reminded of curtains, dried acrylic paint, and punk rocker t-shirt mesh. The pieces were suspended together while interesting shadows lingered beneath the installation. Visitors were allowed to walk between the hanging “sheets” and evaluate the room. The shadows from the Phantom Landscape resembled clothing patterns that were ripped and destroyed.
Israeli multimedia artist, Penny Hes Yassour, is particularly influenced by nature, politics, and philosophy. NY Art Beat states, “The Israeli landscape has always contained elements of camouflage, not only in the physical and practical sense as employed by the army, but also in the geo-political sense, blurring distinctions between “real phenomena” and its cover.”
Also I found this interesting. Looking through the spaces in the Phantom Landscape, the shadows create a continuous drawing; they exist as a nomadic sight.
Also represented by Stux Gallery, Barnaby Whitfield surely disturbs yet questions the mind. Imagery and symbolism play a great part in his surreal portraits. Several paintings are of himself and or friends. Terrify images of clowns, zombies, or anyone that could be deceased entered into my personal thoughts. His figures carry an illumious glow or transparency. Along terrifying at first, I became attached and interested to hear what Whitfield was saying.
NY Art Beat adds, “Whitfield’s characters are rendered in gorgeously soft and dreamy pastel, their bodies glowing with eerie internal light, but perversely marred with sickly hues that allude to bruising, rotting, sweltering flesh.”
3.
Sargent, John Singer
Madame Pierre Gautreau (Madame X)
1884
Oil on canvas
82 1/2 x 43 1/4 in.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Oh Madame X. What a beautiful painting you are. I sat and drew the painting during our visit to the Met. The angle was quite difficult to draw - especially since people kept walking in-front of the famous painting.
The model for, Madame X, actually was a wealthy woman who commissioned Sargent to paint her portrait. The Met’s blurb also said that after the painting was finished, the model and her parents complained it was distasteful because her dress strap was falling off her shoulder. Sargent was then forced to repaint the model with her strap up.
Madame Gautreau was a socialite who every Parisian man adored. Sargent, an American ex-patriot, often was criticized for painting the beauty in a “snobby” and “revealing” manner.
Woodcut, mixed media
67 3/4 x 135 1/2 Inches
172 x 344 cm, Max Lang Gallery
4.
Detailed wood carvings, photo transfers, 3D reliefs, drawings. .. and all on old wooden doors. The artwork was about 5 feet high and 10 feet long. As you stared into the landscape of workers on a farm, you begin to feel the story. Emotions dealing with sadness seep out. An achromatic color choice was only used for the added images within the series, Memory Door Series. The only color was the carved wood from the old doors.
Interestingly enough, while searching through Huan’s website, I realized I have seen his works before. Sculptures of buddhist trapped in sphere globes were shown. Funny how his work reappeared again.
5.
Manet (French, 1832–1883)
Madame Loubens, ca. 1878–82
Pastel on canvas; 17 1/2 x 21 1/16 in.
Collection of Jean Bonna, Geneva
Manet, Manet, Manet. [And no I do not mean, money, money, money. ] I sincerely adore the artist and his style. I have studied his gesture and pastel drawings and still am amazed. Soft, free feeling, and scribbly. The viewer can see his pencil marks and his finger prints. I can only hope to draw as well as this man.
I saw, Madame Loubens, at the Met during the exhibition, Renoir to Raphael. A room filled with artists from Degas, Renoir, Raphael, Manet, and many others from the artist movement, overwhelmed my heart. I must have lived during that time! Who knows why I am attracted to the period. I feel so apart of it.
I wish I could have posted more images, but I am afraid I could not sneak any pictures past those testy guards!
