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Thursday, July 30, 2009
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Ugallery Art Exhibition: Art That Makes My Mouth Water
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I am a practicing foodie, and my kitchen is adorned with eclectic utensils and fresh food in baskets. One of my favorite parts of decorating my kitchen is arranging the fruit bowl in a well-balanced still life composition. These Ugallery artists take it a step further and immortalize the tantalizing shapes and forms of fresh food. Now, you can start the day off right with the breakfast citrus of Ugallery artists Katie Puenner, Ryan Pickart and Lisa Zelem. The suspense of half-chopped vegetables hints at a fine meal in progress in the still life works by Melissa Ebeling and Chris Weiermiller. The oil painting, The Egg, is perhaps my favorite photorealistic artwork on the website. In honor of my commitment to like fish, I have included two fantastic representations of fresh sea food right from the boat. The exhibition concludes with the hearty meat of a special occasion, and a family enjoying one another's company in anticipation of their Italian feast. Buon appetito!
Labels: Ugallery Art Exhibition
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Monday, July 27, 2009
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Reconfiguring the Body, at the National Academy Museum
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The human figure was once the center of artistic training, the barometer of a painter's talent. To master the body was a requirement for aspiring artists, and for many years, it was the most valuable and highly respected genre. Over the past 200 years in America, treatment of the human form has come in and out of fashion, thwarted by abstraction and minimalism, revived and reconstructed in the past several decades.
The exhibition "Reconfiguring the Body in American Art, 1820 - 2009" at the National Academy Museum in New York is an attempt to present the past 189 years of American figurative art. Using only works in the National Academy's permanent collection, the exhibition is a uneven and inconsistent, with the majority of works pre-1950. Reflecting the National Academy's collection and its limitations, only 10 of the 160 works are contemporary.
With very little represented in the past decade, the exhibition left me wondering where we are today. Has the figure been revived or suppressed? How are today's emerging artists absorbing the past 2 centuries and reconsidering the human figure? Consider the selection below as a supplement to the National Academy Museum exhibition, filling in the gaps in the past several years. These emerging artists carry on the figurative tradition in new and adventurous ways, taking the centuries-old genre in interesting directions:
Labels: Art News
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Wednesday, July 22, 2009
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Ugallery Art Exhibition: Colors of the Desert Southwest
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Born and raised in Arizona, I relish the colors, landscapes and weather of the desert southwest. I moved away recently, and these artworks remind me of the warm winds, majestic scenery and quiet but prolific wildlife. Ugallery artist Joanne L Gallery's paintings of a road runner and prickly pear cactus are bursting with color. I hear that the monsoons have started, unleashing much-needed rain, which is an image captured abstractly in Anna Lemnitzer's Rain from the Windows. The mixed-media piece, Scorpion from the Shelf, is full of movement, and many desert-dwellers share the experience of finding a poisonous animal in a living space and wondering how many more are there that we do not see? The following black and white photographs are reminiscent of the historical photographs proudly hung around the southwest as evidence of our changing economic and natural conditions. The Mexican Gray Wolf, shown here in two juxtaposed settings, has a troubled history in Arizona, where one of the top industries was cattle farming. Competition for land and the safety of the cattle caused extensive hunting and the near extinction of this species. The ensuing landscapes are gorgeous and they remind me of the everyday, hidden majesty of the desert southwest.
 Joanne L Gallery
Running Bird
$900
acrylic on canvas
30" w x 40" h
Labels: Ugallery Art Exhibition
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Friday, July 17, 2009
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Report from ArtHamptons
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 Last week we took a short trip out to Bridgehampton, New York, to the ArtHamptons 2009 art fair. In 2008, the inaugural ArtHamptons fair was jam packed with blue-chip, multimillion dollar art, from Picassos to Cornell boxes. The several thousand in attendance could have arrived via private jet to one of their several homes, and although the atmosphere was casual, the underlying tone was one of wealth and splendor.
From July 10 - 13th, ArtHamptons 2009 faced a very different environment. With the mood in the Hamptons effected by real estate prices and plunging bonuses, ArtHamptons 2009 rebranded itself, featuring more emerging artists and galleries, and creating a more accessible and wallet-friendly atmosphere. Allowing for many more emerging artists proved very successful; according to one ArtHamptons insider, the opening night preview had twice as many attendees as last year!
Rick Friedman, the founder and executive director of ArtHamptons, says that now is the best time to enter the art market, and there's no doubt. In the introduction to the ArtHamptons catalogue, Friedman says "...[by] discovering fresh and upcoming stars, you can acquire items that should not only accrue in value, but also bring everyday beauty into your home." Successful subject matter at ArtHamptons included decorative pieces, still lifes, and nudes, with emerging artists moving the fastest.
Enjoy the following Ugallery emerging artists, who focus on the nudity and/or sexually explicit subject matter, similar to the most popular works at Arthamptons last week:
Labels: Art News
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Thursday, July 16, 2009
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Ugallery Art Exhibition: How About Orange?
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"How about orange?" That's what Jessica Jones asks on her awesome design and craft blog, and I ask it to you now. Here are my top picks of Ugallery's orange artwork collection. See how these artists use the color to express emotion, movement and color theory in different ways. Abbey Golden uses orange in Off the Seine to convey the heat of a summer day in Paris. Ryan Pickart uses orange to make your mouth water. Emma Ehrenthal uses orange to show the energy, life and emotion in dance. Michael Dotson uses it to the effect of creating a surreal landscape. Finally, Nicole Asendorf's piece is an explosion of expression.  William Mercado Symphony of Thought $650.00 acrylic on canvas 22" w x 28" h
Labels: Ugallery Art Exhibition
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Tuesday, July 14, 2009
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Artist Connection: Interview with Ugallery Artist Matt Habiger
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This week's artist interview features Ugallery artist Matt Habiger, on why size matters.
Q. Your artwork is among the largest on Ugallery, at 11' by 4.5'. How do you accomplish such monumental works?
 A. I use extension ladders, stepladders, scaffolding, five-gallon buckets, stools, bar chairs, tables, and box speakers. Usually anything I have available within the vicinity to get myself to the height I need to be at. I have been a house painter for the last 21 years so dealing with the sheer size of my large projects comes easily to me. I like to paint big because it is much more comforting than painting in a small little space. I have always enjoyed being in the presence of large pieces of art because you have to see them in person to understand the detail and the meaning brought together by the sheer size.
Q. Do you use a solid piece of canvas?
A. Yes, my easel is designed to hold a 54" tall  canvas stretcher. For my wide pieces I can make a 6-yard roll of canvas go pretty quick. I once purchased a large 10' by 10' canvas drop cloth and stretched it. My art has taken on a wide-screen effect because I like to purchase rolls of canvas and stretch them so I can reach everything without too much ladder work.
Q. What types of tools do you use to apply the paint?
A. I love my commercial paint sprayer. Growing up, I learned the art of the airless sprayer from my dad's painting company. I spread paint around with cardboard pieces, trowels, palette knives, any size brush, dish brushes, and house brushes. I like to use what I have on hand. I use random objects just to see how they turn out, sometimes it is awesome and sometimes it is not. The fan brush will always be my favorite to add the highlighting touches to a painting.
Q. When you are looking at a 10-foot-long blank white canvas, what are your thoughts?
A. Pure excitement! My first step is usually  setting up the studio with the perfect painting situation. Everything gets set up to the point where all I have to do is walk in, pick up the spray gun and start painting. When I am staring at a canvas, I consider the general color scheme involving three to five colors. I always jump right in without having to think much at all.
Q. How did you come to choose abstract expressionism for your artworks?
A. Throughout my college career, I was hooked on the history of art. During a class at the University of Kansas called "Modern Art from 1945 to Present," I was thoroughly intrigued by the abstract expressionist movement, especially the works of Jackson Pollock. I was hooked on its ideas. Abstract expressionism allows me to have the freedom to make something beautiful without requiring me to perform at a high level of precision. When I paint, I am free. When I am at work during the day, I have to trim around windows or cut in perfect ceiling lines in someone else's space. In my own space, on the canvas in the studio, there are no rules other than the confines of the canvas border. The larger my pieces are, the more comfortable I become.
Q. In a recent conversation you had with a patron on your Ulog, you said you sometimes paint about your "never-ending frustration with the opposite sex." Can you elaborate on this source of your inspiration?
A. Painting, no matter if it is on a house or on canvas, is a time for me to reflect and straighten out my head. My large pieces tend to take the brunt of the relationship sword. My smaller pieces are spotlights that focus more on me and the advancements in my growing and learning process. The Limitations collection really showed these frustrations, not only because of women, but also because I was beginning to explore myself as an artist. The frustrating times are great times to paint. Over the past couple of years, I have learned that the good times are great times to paint too.
Q. One thing you and I have in common is our affinity for the great color blue. How do you choose the colors for a painting?
A. I usually like to have a plan when I go into a painting, but I never keep my hopes up with sticking to a whole plan in process. Sometimes I think a lot about the colors, and sometimes I just grab whatever is in the nearest tube or gallon. We definitely share our affinity for blue. I have many different shades of blue in my studio. There are no rules to my color scheme, but I am enjoying the contrast of the primary colors. My art is a time for me to place colors together that make no sense when you think about them in and of themselves. The highlights bring another dimension to the painting, providing a source of flow to the underlying dance of colors.
Q. Your painting seems to have two styles. The Limitations pieces have defined shapes and lines, whereas the other style is more flowing and the brush strokes are more visible. What were your intentions for these two styles?
A. The early Limitations pieces were the beginning of my discovery of my love for painting on canvas. Over the course of the past ten years my style has broken up from what once began as hard-edged organic shapes into a looser, more flamboyant brush stroke which goes back to the freedom that I have found with abstract art. I find that I have two current styles. The first style has more defined figures intertwined into random strokes. I use strictly oil tube paint for those pieces. As for my larger pieces, I utilize my love for oil enamel and my skills with my sprayer. This provides the base on the canvas so my creativity can flow with the use of tools to spread the paint thus creating textures and depth. Both styles are finished with highlighting.
Q. Your painting, Limitations 4, is noted to cause strange experiences when sleeping in the same room with it. Please share some of the stories surrounding this piece of artwork.
 A. I had a roommate who was obsessed with the painting, so he hung it in his bedroom. After a few weeks, he took it out because he complained that he would awake in the middle of the night to the strange sensation that there was a presence in the room. He would glance upon the painting and see the image of a person in it. He immediately took the painting out of his room and had me put it away somewhere out of sight. I thought he was completely full of it, so a few months later I hung the piece in my room. After a few nights with it, I came to the conclusion that he was right. There was a presence within the light-blue shapes that could only be seen when it was nighttime with no lights on. Maybe I was just feeding off of my roommate's insecurity with the piece, but to this day I refuse to hang it in my bedroom.
Q. In some pieces, forms are discernible. I found a face in True Space and a self-portrait of yourself in Self-Portrait 2. Do these figures tell part of the story?
A. These figures do not tell a particular story, they simply are investigations of myself. Perhaps they are part of this chapter of my life that that has yet to be finished.
Labels: Ugallery Artist Interview
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Friday, July 10, 2009
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ArtHamptons opens today
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Today marks the opening of the second annual ArtHamptons art fair, located behind the Bridgehampton Historical Society, in Bridgehampton, New York. Over 60 high-end dealers from the US, Canada, and Europe will exhibit over $200 million worth of art from July 10-12, twice as much art as last year. Self-described as a "mini - ArtBasel in the Hamptons", the fair will feature both blockbuster works (such as a $15 million Andrew Wyeth "Helga" painting at Peter Marcelle Contemporary of Southampton), but also relatively inexpensive works by younger artists.
This year, ArtHamptons will award painter Jane Wilson, who lives in nearby Water Mill, with a lifetime achievement award. Born in 1924 and represented by DC Moore Gallery, New York, her serene paintings of Long Island beaches are not unlike some works in Ugallery's June 25th exhibition on this blog, "Falling in at the Water's Edge". Wilson's near-abstract landscapes also shares the same infused light as Ugallery artist Sarah Beth Goncarova's paintings below.
Stay tuned - Ugallery will have a full report from the ArtHamptons fair next week!
Labels: Art News
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Thursday, July 9, 2009
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Ugallery Art Exhibition: We Are Women
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A woman's life coasts up and down with joys and tragedies. We experience the serenity and safety of childhood, only to leave home and explore the world a few years down the road. We are lovers, dancers, parents, and artists. We are women. Share the experiences captured by Ugallery artists as you are taken through the inerasable moments in a woman's life.
 Ryan Pickart - Sleeping Girl 1
 Beo Nguyen - Family
 Erik Benjamins - Untitled (The First Day of My Life)
 Michael George - Runaway
 Daniel Lachman - Shoes and Wine
 John Read - Embrace
 Brian Whiteley - Wanna Dance?
 Abbey Golden - Girltalk
This piece was created after friends and I were randomly selected to be dancers on the stage at a Girltalk concert, and the experience was truly epic.
 Pritika Chowdhry - Red Bed Series #3
Red is not a neutral color for women since red is the color of blood, which for us is associated with reaching puberty, loss of virginity, periods, and childbirth. Particularly for Indian women, red is the color of the wedding dress and the "sindoor" powder that is put on one's forehead when one is getting married. Red is also the blood that is spilled when violence occurs, whether domestic or outside the home.
 Peter Blair - Interrogation
 Lara Wolf - Biker Chick
 Darren Ornitz - Swahili Colors
These women are dressed in traditional Swahili clothing and are walking back from collecting sea urchins on Kendwa Beach, Zanzibar.
 Meghan Sours - Mother and Son
I like to provide viewers a chance to reminisce about the quiet times in life we no longer seem to have time for.
 Kristen Terrana - Facades of Age
"Facades of Age" is a piece that shows the juxtaposition between the different masks we wear at different stages in our lives. When we are young, the masks empower us; they make us Super Heroes. As we get older, we don our masks to hide parts of ourselves we do not want others to see. Sometimes we use these guises in order to make ourselves more appealing to others, while shielding our insecurities.
 Marcine Franckowiak - International
Bravado is a very consuming projection that women require in order to function in society. The subjects in my paintings exhibit this quality through their poses and interaction with their counterpart. The women represented in my work are obscured by a Mexican wrestling mask, which symbolizes a hyper masculinity. Women play many roles in their daily life; they go from mother, to wife, to executive, to friend, to lover; this is the significance of the Mask in my work.
 Maria Tsaguriya - Damaged
"Damaged" is about a personal experience that had a deep emotional impact on me, and I believe that many viewers can relate to the experience.
 Rachel Goede - Just Lost Her 401K
This piece is part of my "Recession Women" series. This woman is fiery, smoking, and just trying to make it by. She just learned that she lost her 401K due to the bad economic conditions. In the meantime, she has been trying to stay fashionable despite her lack of money, wearing secondhand jewelry, an old but seemingly brilliant red hat, makeshift earrings, and a patch to conceal minute holes in her shirt.
 Kaylie Abela - Target 4
 Sunil Gangadharan - Rendile
by Leah DrakeLabels: Ugallery Art Exhibition
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Tuesday, July 7, 2009
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Artist Connection: Interview with Ugallery Artist Lana Williams
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This week's artist interview features Ugallery artist Lana Williams, on the illusion of space and connecting with history.
Q. Your portfolio displays three series: colorful abstracts, Italian landscapes and war-themed portraits. What are the backgrounds of these three distinct styles?
A. Each series has direct influences from my daily life. A series is not started and completed, for there is a perpetual flow that is directed by my immediate inspiration. The abstracts are purely responsive to the medium and color, but inspired by many things. The landscapes are literal translations of my experiences in nature and particular places. And the war-themed portraits began appearing in my work after spending time with my Nana looking through her old family photographs as I searched to better understand my family and country's history.
Q. Your abstract pieces have beautiful color and depth. How do you achieve this style?
A. My goal is to create an illusion of space where distinguishing what lies in the foreground and background becomes blurred by overlapping different planes. Not only do the colors and values create this distortion, but also the tactile surface quality of thick paint gives literal depth to the paintings.
Q. Your war portraits are grimmer compared to the bright abstracts and landscapes that you create. What is your intention for these artworks?
A. I was searching for my own connection with my family and country's history and trying to draw a connection between past, present and future. They were painted from old black and white photographs (perhaps one reason the colors are grimmer), but the color scheme was intentional. My goal is to capture the stories told by my Nana of times during the war.
 Q. Your landscape paintings remind me of the beautiful Italian countryside. Where did you draw inspiration for these pieces?
A. Italy of course! I studied abroad in Florence last fall, and spent lots of time traveling and painting. The Italian countryside was an endless place of inspiration.
Q. Has your experience as an artist led to travel in many places?
A. For me, being an artist and traveling go hand in hand. My immediate surroundings always have an influence on my art, either a state of mind or a painting of a particular place. The places I go and the faces I see are valuable to me as an artist and have inspired paintings such as Gypsy and Canal in Venice (sold). I am sure my future travels will inspire great things.
Q. Where are the most interesting places you have been in an artistic sense?
A. I can vividly remember sitting with my watercolors on the giant white rocks in Cinque Terre, Italy painting the breath taking landscape. Italy, France, and New York are all great places with rich artistic history where I was able to see many of my favorite famous paintings. However, I do not have go far; my backyard often instigates inspiration for many paintings.
Q. Do you find greater inspiration when painting en plein air or in your studio?
A. While I love painting en plein air, I find my studio space inspiring because it is my creative space where I turn on my music and let my imagination run wild.
by Leah Drake Labels: Ugallery Artist Interview
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Monday, July 6, 2009
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Whistler at The Frick
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Welcome back - we hope that everyone had a great long weekend! After celebrating America's birthday on July 4th, another birthday is right around the corner. On Friday, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, the great American-born, British-based painter, would turn 175 years old. To celebrate, check out the exhibition Portraits, Pastels, Prints: Whistler in the Frick Collection on view at The Frick until August 23rd (online exhibition here).
Although a contemporary of the 19th century Impressionists, Whistler adopted a more realistic style and championed the philosophy of "art for art's sake". Favoring aesthetic harmony over content, his works are quiet, balanced, and devoid of moral allusions. Reflecting the delicacy of his style, Whistler did not sign his paintings with his name, but rather marked them with a butterfly symbol.
This exhibition features twenty of Whistler's portraits, pastels, and prints that steel magnate Henry Clay Frick collected between 1914 and 1919. Perhaps more reflective of Frick's tastes than an example of Whistler's talent, the exhibition (and the entire Frick Collection) provides a delightful and informative insight into the spirit of an art collector. Frick collected not only great paintings by canonical European artists (Rembrant, Vermeer, Goya, etc), but also some of the finest small bronzes in the world, superb enamel and French furniture, and Oriental rugs. You can see these eclectic collecting tastes within the Portraits, Pastels, Prints: Whistler in the Frick Collection exhibition; Frick discovered Whistler and within 5 years, had amassed a collection reflective of Whistler's breadth, ranging from landscapes to portraits, large scale to small, paintings to prints, colorful works to muted.
The lesson learned from the Whistler exhibition is that a collector should consider, collect, and support all media and styles of his or her beloved artists. Collecting is about purchasing what you love, not necessarily falling into one particular niche of art. Both established and emerging artists often offer a diverse repertoire; if you love an oil painter, explore his or her prints. Kaylie Abela, for example, offers abstract acrylics and mixed media portraits; David Hinkle maintains his aesthetic in his paintings and lithographs; and Lana Williams creates strong abstract oils and vivid realistic paintings. Even if you cannot visit the Whistler exhibition before it closes this summer, a visit to the Frick collection is worthwhile to see the variety that is possible within an art collection.
Labels: Art News
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Thursday, July 2, 2009
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Ugallery Art Exhibition: Red, White, and Blue
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We love that July starts with a celebration of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In honor of Independence Day, Ugallery has selected works that will let this week's red-white-and-blue spirit shine on your walls all year long! Celebrate your independence with some original art, and take pride in America and its emerging artists.
Happy 4th of July!
Labels: Ugallery Art Exhibition
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Ugallery Blog
Read weekly art segments featuring Ugallery artists and news about the art world at large. We hope you enjoy this insight into the inner workings of our gallery and invite you to take part in the discussion as well.
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