realism

Lee Friedlander: Parties, Human Clay

Lee Friedlander: Parties, The Human Clay

by Lee Friedlander

Hardcover: 188 pages
Publisher: Yale University Art Gallery (Sept. 5 2017)
Language: English

American photographer Lee Friedlander has curated a selection of his wonderful black and white photographs, focusing on parties, celebrations, and gatherings in this new volume. His photography explores the human condition- the courtships, socializing and posturing- revealing a reality to his subjects different than the image they attempt to project in to the world.

Posted April 14 2018 by Peter D Harris

Alvin Richard

Moncton, Canada

Warhol, Degas, Mondrian, Vermeer….Hello Kitty? Normally one of these mass consumer items wouldn’t fit in with the others on the list, but in the paintings of Alvin Richard, all these influences and images come together in charmingly arranged tableaus. The small scale acrylic paintings-rarely exceeding 12” square-offer the viewer a mash-up of pop culture and art history references. Skillfully painted in a high realism style, they feel like an extension of the artist’s own interest in the intersection of mass culture and art history.

An intriguing aspect to Alvin Richard’s paintings, is his proficiency for mimicry of other artists’ painting techniques. Mary Pratt, a well-known Canadian realist, is symbolically represented in one painting when the artist expertly reproduces her signature warm light on the jam jars in the background. In another, a book on the Impressionists with a cover painting of Edgar Degas is exactingly rendered. In “Marbles over Warhol” perfect miniature Warhols sit under a bowl of marbles. Alvin Richard makes paintings that are rewarding to spend time with-they draw you in with a masterful painting technique, and hold your attention as you work to decipher the symbolism and aesthetic connections the artists is forging between these familiar items.

To see more of Alvin Richard’s work, please visit: www.artists.ca/richard/ and www.alvinrichard-art.blogspot.ca/

Posted July 8 2016 Images used with permission, copyright Alvin Richard

Marie H. Sirois

Magog, Canada

Marie H. Sirois is a painter, photographer, musician and installation artist who has set herself a herculean project spanning the next 16 years. Her project explores the relationship between German composer Robert Schumann and his wife, virtuoso pianist Clara Wieck. While getting familiar with Schumann and Wieck’s life and compositions, she envisions an ambitious body of work that bridges painting and music. It is via four series of paintings, like a symphony in four movements, that she aspires to depict the transformation of the couple’s feelings through the important events that shaped their relationship.

Marie H. Sirois has already completed the first movement in the series, Le Prelude, with an installation and performance piece presented in 2014. A visit to her website shows the meticulous progress that she is making towards the second movement.

To read more about Marie H. Sirois´ project, please visit: www.mariehelenesirois.wordpress.com

Posted July 2 2016 Images used with permission, copyright Marie H. Sorois

Frank Gonzales

Tempe, USA

The paintings from prolific artist Frank Gonzales read like a beautiful mash-up between different styles, subjects and eras in painting. The artist combines his interest for ornithology and desert flora, adding one part John James Audubon and another part contemporary abstraction to create works that play at the intersection of realism and the constructed image.

The subjects of Frank Gonzales’ paintings- birds and plants- are typically painted over minimal colour field backgrounds with large drips and streaks of paint woven over and under the subjects. The brightly coloured painterly marks contrast with the highly skilled rendering of flora and fauna, immediately reminding the viewer of the constructed nature of the painting.

To see more of Frank Gonzales’ work, please visit: www.frankgonzales.net

Posted June 23 2016 Images used with permission, copyright Frank Gonzales

Jaime Valero

Madrid,Spain

The portraits of Spanish artist Jaime Valero are an interesting example of contemporary realism that embodies the duality of simplicity and complexity. Each large-scale painting is pared down to a few basic elements seen throughout all of Jaime Valero’s work: a solitary figure typically from the shoulders up in an aquatic environment. The figures, both male and female, sometimes look out at the viewer, other times they are preoccupied with activity. While the format of each piece is minimal, it’s the painters’ acute observation of the figure that adds layers of densely packed information and visual complexity to the painting.

Jaime Valero uses photography as a source material for his paintings- a pragmatic necessity for capturing his water soaked subjects-but the end result are paintings that don’t feel beholden to the source. Instead, as Jaime works over the entire canvas, he’s constantly judging what the painting needs: adding small details, layering transparent glazes, and placing shades and tints that give life to the figure. The end result is a surface of which every square inch is packed with information about the figure, and stands as a testament to the observational skills of the artist.

I highly recommend watching the videos on Jaime Valero’s website. In both Spanish and English, Jaime narrates through the painting process-it’s a fascinating peak into the artist’s technique and motivation.

To see more of Jaime Valero’s work, please visit:www.jaimevalero.net

Olivia Kemp

London, England

Olivia Kemp’s pen and ink on paper drawings are a visually dense, detailed examination of landscapes, man-made structures on the land, and the inevitability of decay of these structures as they are overtaken by nature. The drawings invite close inspection as even the most minute details of the landscape are depicted with clean precision and a sense that nothing has escaped the artist’s gaze.

Olivia Kemp completed her masters at the Wimbledon College of Art, followed with “The drawing year” postgraduate program at the Royal Drawing School. Her work is in many notable collections, including the V&A museum and The Royal Collection.

See more of Olivia Kemp’s work here: Oliviakemp.co.uk

Christopher Stott

Vancouver Island, Canada

For anyone that’s ever perused a vintage store and wondered about the history of each item on display, who owned it, how was it used, how it came to acquire the dents and patina from a life in service, the appeal of Christopher Stott’s paintings will be immediate. Film projectors, box cameras, clocks, manual typewriters, books and electric fans from a previous era are featured in his paintings. The mechanical objects-sometimes grouped together, often solo against a sparse white background-are painted with a careful observation that is reverential to an item that has passed its service life.

The exacting realism of Christopher Stott’s paintings encourage us to linger with the work, and examine them with the same thoughtful attention the artist has instilled in each canvas. While the objects are made of metal and glass and plastic, their surfaces have been aged and altered by human use. It is the human narratives and stories that are revealed when we spend time with the paintings. There is an honesty about the paintings, as with every layer of paint added to the canvas by the artist, a more profound truth is revealed.

To see more of Christopher Stott’s paintings, visit: www.chrisstott.com

Solo Exhibition at George Billis Gallery LA on now until June 25, 2016www.georgebillis.com/christopher-stott