artinbrooklyn.com » Figurative

Kathleen Migliore-Newton

Mike — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 16:11:50 +0000

The subjects should be seen in the larger context of dislocation and cultural hybridization. Living in New York City, I am a witness to the arrival of immigrants, and the human panorama of people of diverse cultures going about their daily lives. I have tried to dream their lives.

The collision and the intermingling of these millions of foreign-born people representing so many races and creeds, make New York a permanent exhibit of the phenomenon of one world. The citizens of New York are tolerant not only from disposition, but from necessity. Here is New York, E.B. White.

Kathleen Migliore-Newton
362 Adelphi Street
Brooklyn, NY 11238
Tel: (mobile) 1-917-804-2145
Paintings:
http://urbanpaintings.com

Winter, 40x56", oil paint on linen, 2003

Union Square, 28x39", oil paint on linen, 2010

The Light, 16x20", oil paint on linen, 2011

Summer, 41x40", oil paint on canvas, 2009

Stranger, 56x40", oil paint on linen, 2008

Martha Hayden

Mike — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 03:48:23 +0000

01. Self Portrait, 2005, oil on linen, 54 x 70

02. Book I, 2009, oil on linen, 50 x 42

03. An Allegory of Grief, 2010, oil on linen, 42 x 40

04. The Allegory of Painting, 2006, oil on linen, 54 x 70

05. Still Life, 2010, oil on linen, 20 x 22

Artist Statement
My painting is both realistic and abstract, it is on that elusive edge between there and not there. On first look everything is in place, then all dissolves. I want realism and abstraction to take turns. I want a painting sometimes very evocative of time and place, sometimes overwhelming in abstract, structural logic. My painting is concerned with spaces. It is analytic in terms of distance and volume, expressive, rhythmical, and fluid in terms of color. It is ordered volume, surprising color. I want a big interior space that draws the viewer in with logic of its own. I try to create excitement while ordering chaos. My painting is also about surface, about color and marks, about thick and thin paint, about using the tools of the craft. In themselves, my subjects are not important. I am concerned with painting as a formal problem. I try to show depth on a flat surface without destroying that surface. I am concerned with the relationship between realism and rendering. I ask questions. Is there such a thing as perspective, or is there another kind of relationship between near and far? These are traditional concerns, but I want nothing static. Every mark, every color, every direction, changes everything done before. I try to make my shapes and color say something in themselves. I look for a surprise, a drama, a different way of seeing. Each painting is a new work. I look for the relatedness of everything, trying not to see anything for itself alone, but as a part of the whole. I try to relate my work to history, to make paintings that are unusual, to push boundaries. In this context, my subjects take on meanings other than the accustomed ones. They are more than still life and landscape; they are comments on thinking and seeing.

Website
http://www.marthahayden.com/

Cynthia Sparrenberger

Mike — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 23:25:10 +0000

Empty House

Muse

Psychic Carnivale I

Psychic Carnivale II

Sanctuary
Artist Statement
These mixed media “drawing/paintings” find their roots in the exploration of unconscious images.

That” inner landscape” of the human soul where the boundaries of reality seemingly merge with the uncontrollable “netherworld” of dreams, visions, and nightmares.

Executed in pen and ink, as well as pulverized graphite, oil paints, oil sticks, pastels, charcoal and collage on both canvas and paper, the intention is to leave space for the viewer to individually engage, seeing or not seeing in relation to their own imagined perceptions of the images before them.

Website
http://sparrenbergerstudio.com/

JoAnne McFarland

Mike — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 01:22:39 +0000

August Morning

What Light Will Do

The Yellow Steps

Stunned By What She Saw

Filibuster Baby

Artist Statement
My motto is be humble and stay busy, so I’m always working on either my poetry or art. I go to my studio every day. Going every day means I’m always a little bit ready. And I do something creative every day. I think of myself as a maker, stopping and starting within a constant stream of activity.

When I’m working on a painting, I never look at what’s come before, so that I can start each piece fresh. This allows me to sometimes make great mental leaps, to change my thinking in surprising ways.

My work serves as a kind of journal, a reminder of how I was thinking at a particular stage of my life. For that reason, I seldom change pieces once I decide that they are done. Through my series of brownstone and doll paintings I explore what light does to color, and our often hidden emotional landscapes.

Website
http://www.joannemcfarland.com/

Rebecca Litt

Mike — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 15:57:39 +0000

Maybe This Will Stop The Tide, 18” x 20”, oil on linen, 2010

Relative Safety, 18” x 20”, oil on linen, 2010

They Stood Their Ground, 42″ x 60″, oil on canvas, 2010

Warehouse Waiting Game, 48″ x 60″, oil on canvas, 2010

No Swimming, 42″ x 48″, oil on canvas, 2010

Artist’s Statement

The people in my paintings are unsettled. They perch on rooftops, power lines, and fire escapes, inhabiting dreamlike, imaginary cities. Expectations cloud their vision, and, like people in a magical realist novel, they unquestioningly accept the absurd as normal.

Although I use the visual language of a perceptual painter, I mainly work from memories, filtering experiences and bits of autobiography into invented scenarios that would be unlikely, if not impossible, in the real world. Maintaining an element of fiction is important to me because I am trying to describe psychological places, where characters’ inner worlds shape the physical space and architecture around them. For me, the illogical situations my characters find themselves in embody the frustration of not being able to see clearly.

I work mainly from my imagination; with the help of mirrors, studies from life, and photographs. I usually start with an improvised drawing, through which the imagery evolves organically and spontaneously. The drawings suggest a loose narrative for the paintings – not a sequential story, but a series of related vignettes about the same or similar characters.

Contact

website: www.rebeccalitt.com

email: beccalitt@mac.com

John Woodrow Kelley

Mike — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 01:36:38 +0000

“Greek Boxer,” Oil on Canvas, 16″ x 16″ 1999

“Hippomenes,” Oil on Canvas, 40″ x 52″

“The Birth of Venus,” Oil on Canvas, 64″ x 36″ 1995

Statement of Intent
The Greek myths embody everything that is timeless about the human experience. They reveal truths and acknowledge mysteries. They survive in the subconscious of Western man to the point that to learn about them is to experience a shock of recognition. They have been a successful vehicle for man’s pursuit of self knowledge for countless generations, which is the reason I have chosen to make yet another interpretation of them through my paintings. Each generation has been inspired to a unique interpretation, and I have tried to present the old myths in a new way, showing all the irony and conflict of the modern world. The figures are contemporary, but the situations are ancient. It is a way of saying,”we are new, but we are old,” “we are young, but we must die”. History continually humbles the arrogance of man. The Greek myths tell us that this is our fate as well as our redemption.

Website
http://johnwoodrowkelley.com/

Rick Midler

Mike — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:16:46 +0000

Little Swimmer, 20”x30”

Run Along Home, 36”x36

Entering Neverywhere, 48”x48”

Artist Statement
This series of oils on canvas and wood panels explores Desire. It examines how the things we lust after gain our interest and how our imaginations process them. Color, movement and light are tools Life uses to attract attention. Emotions run through the landscapes in the form of teardrops. Colorful balls are planets, meteors, and objects to be collected. Here, in the pseudo-sexual circus-world of Neverywhere, one-eyed flowers, myopic slugbunnies and painted women are both the main attractions and the audience as they passively experience the world from the safest place of all – inside their own shells.

Artist Bio
Rick Midler’s paintings have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in galleries throughout the United States, including the Brooklyn Artists Gym,
The OmniGallery at the UBS Building, The Art Vanguard Gallery and the Premiere Wall at Crew Cuts Space.

In addition, his work is in private and corporate collections, including those of Big Foote Music, Triple Nine Entertainment and Audio Alchemy in Warwick, NY.

Among various other awards, Mr. Midler received an Emmy for a short film which appeared on HBO and honors at The London International Festival. His work as been published in Communication Arts, Creativity Magazine, The One Show Annual and The New York Times.

His artwork and creative direction helped bring the animated M&M’s characters to life. Throughout his commercial career he worked for companies such as FedEx, Pizza Hut and AT&T. Midler also worked with top names in the entertainment business, such as Spike Lee, John Turturro, Ashton Kutcher, Fran Drescher, Roseanne, Megan Mullally, Jack Palance, Stanley Tucci, Elijah Wood, Forest Whitaker and Sydney Pollack.

Rick Midler was born in Clifton, NJ in 1966. He received a B.S. in Visual Communications from University of Delaware in 1988. He currently lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn with his wife Samara and son Jude The Dude.

Website
http://www.RickMidler.net

David Kassan

Mike — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:48:20 +0000

Metronome, Oil on Wood, 50×60 inches

Approaching Noise (in progress), Oil on Wood, 40×34 inches

Lucas at 3 Months, Graphite on Bristol

Head Study, Oil on Wood, 18×14 inches

Artist Statement

As an expression of his own calculated observation and visual consumption of surrounding environment, introspective glimpses of reality imbue the art of David Jon Kassan. By immersing himself into his subject matter, Kassan is able to infuse his painting with life and realism. Kassan’s direction of realism follows the philosophies emplyed by the Ashcan School of American Realists. Kassan’s influences are varied; citing Robert Henri and John Sloan as his primary influences on philosophy and subject matter. As for style and technique he cites Antonio Lopez Garcia, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline and Clyfford Still as influences as well.

Website

http://davidkassan.com/

Luis Blackaller and Andy Cavatorta

Mike — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:36:12 +0000

“Honey I Shrunk Red Hook” at Lucky Gallery is a collaboration between Luis Blackaller and Andy Cavatorta, who aim to start a creative discussion about Red Hook, the inhabitants and folklore. The mission of this project is to bring together a diverse mix of members of the Red Hook community to use art and gallery space as communication devices. Blackaller and Cavatorta will create a cardboard model of the streets surrounding Lucky Gallery, and build a collection of photorealistic dolls representing Red Hook dwellers.

“Red Hook has an air of mystery that I can’t find anywhere else in New York,” explains Blackaller. “It feels somewhat uncharted, perhaps separated as it is from the New York comprehensive subway network. When thinking about making art for Red Hook, I immediately feel like using this art as an excuse to get closer to the people in it, and learn about the place from them hopefully helping them learn from each other in the process.”

The closing reception on Saturday, August 29, will feature a short film projected outside the gallery featuring highlights from the opening, the exhibition and interviews. The photorealistic dolls of Red Hook inhabitants will be given to their rightful owners and there will be live music from local musicians. Food and drink will be provided.

August 8th to August 30th, Lucky Gallery
Closing reception on Saturday, August 29, from 6-10 PM

Luis Blackaller is an artist from Mexico city with an interest in culture, technology and media. He graduated with honors as a Mathematician in the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He has worked as a Designer, Art Director and Motion Graphics Artist in the Mexican film industry for 10 years. He recently graduated with a Master of Science Degree at the MIT Media Lab under the mentorship of John Maeda, where he explored online creative social systems and their relationship with artistic expression and communication.

Andy Cavatorta can’t stop making things: robots, bikes, art, music, software and films. Sometimes the robots make more music, the software makes more art and the bikes shoot movies. He is currently developing musical robots and large-scale performances and installation with Ensemble Robot. Cavatorta is currently a graduate student at the MIT Media Lab.

Vanessa Watts

Mike — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:42:19 +0000

Wedding, acrylic on canvas, 18×18″

Sid, acrylic on canvas, 16×8″

McCarren Park, acrylic on canvas, 18×18″

Dawn, casein and acrylic on canvas, 8×10″

Artist Biography

I paint because I feel I must urgently create a record. I am cataloging the significant people and scenes in my life. I am consumed by the idea that I have a limited time to express myself, or that I will not remember things the way they are now.

The subjects of my current work are the people in my community. I live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and my friends and neighbors are glamorous, interesting and engaging. There is palpable electricity in my world and I want to capture it indelibly.

I paint on canvas using acrylics, casein, mica and gold leaf. I am fascinated with the way the Baroque painters captured extreme contrasts between light and dark using golds and blacks. I am working toward this goal with modern neon, pearl, metallic and mica colors.

I am self taught.

Website

http://www.vanessawatts.com

Rebecca Schiffman

Mike — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 17:30:24 +0000

“Jiva” 2007, Watercolor on paper, 9″ x 12″

“Water #1″ 2006, Watercolor on paper, 15″ x 8″

“Framed Feet” 2006, Watercolor on paper

Bio

I graduated from Cooper Union in 2004, moved back uptown to my parents house and started a zine/blog about The Upper East Side called The UES Journal. I have worked part-time at Guild & Greyshkul Gallery on and off for the last five years.

Since 2000 I have been making chainmaille jewelry and recently launched a jewelry line called IMK. I also now maintain a blog about pigeons called The It-Pigeon, and a blog about Vanity Plates.

In 2008 I recorded my second album To Be Good for a Day with Mike Musmanno in DUMBO, Brooklyn. It will be available on iTunes January 28, 2009.

Music
This song is “Untitled,” from Rebecca Schiffman’s sophomore album “To Be Good for a Day.”

Website

http://www.rebeccaschiffman.com/

Suzan Choy

Mike — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:08:31 +0000

Artist Bio

I am an illustrator living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Things I think about on a daily basis include sandwiches, Tina Fey + 30 Rock, monograms, masking fluids, humidity, laundry, NYTimes Science Times, and microns.

You can contact me at suzan@obokchoy.com.

BFA from Pratt Institute.

FUN FACT// Suzan is pronounced as Suzanne and not Susan, Susanna, Suzy or Suzie Q.

Website

http://www.obokchoy.com

Upcoming Exhibit

“Reflection”
Opening July 30th – August 30th

Destination
32-36 Little West 12th Street, Ground Floor
New York, NY 10014
tel: 212.727.2031
http://www.destinationny.net

Bruce Davidson’s 1959 “Brooklyn Gang” series

Mike — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:00:32 +0000

A new Bob Dylan video features photographs from Bruce Davidson’s 1959 “Brooklyn Gang” series to illustrate the song. In the spring of 1959, Davidson met a group of Brooklyn teens called “The Jokers”. That summer, he photographed the entire gang in their natural habitat, from hanging out late at night on the street corner to taking a Coney Island beach trip with their girlfriends. The “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’” video will appear exclusively on Amazon’s homepage until Wednesday, April 22, in the Bob Dylan Store for 30 days thereafter.

The complete series is on the Magnum website.

Haley Jane Samuelson

Mike — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:42:12 +0000

Artist Statement
My own work is largely concerned with the meaning and existence of the self in today’s unstable, fragmented world, specifically how the individual is able to reconcile the external and internal forces that cause us to function in different, often contradictory, roles. Performative in essence, frequently employing role play and adopting multiple or different personas, my work not only reconstructs and documents other’s lives, but regularly becomes an intense examination of my own. The photographs in my latest body of work are an exploration of my own private experience with love and intimacy. Derived from what began as collaboration with my romantic partner, Michael, the work is an embodiment of my own subconscious forces at work, mixed with real events.

More specifically, the work chronicles the obsessive nature of our romantic relationship, and its overwhelming effect on my life, visually attempting to eliminate the distinction between dreams and reality, reason and madness, and objectivity and subjectivity by merging everyday occurrences with psychological aberrations. Fragmented, the events it depicts are not literal but figurative illustrations of a unique psychological state resulting from the self-reflexive nature of our relationship and the psychological breakdown between oppositional forces that comes with love; the internal and external, the self and the other, presence and absence and lucidity and blindness.

Website
http://www.haleyjsamuelson.com/

Upcoming Exhibit
Opening reception June 25th at Hous Projects gallery in Soho, from 6-8

Josh George

Mike — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:34:28 +0000

“Voracious Vehemance” mixed media on wood panel 36×48

“Be Recumbent and Hushed” mixed media on wood panel 36×48

“Staunter Through Subversion” mixed media on wood panel 24×36

“Freedom Patrol” mixed media on wood panel 48×48

Artist Statement

My studio is about 200 square feet. I have one window that lets in morning and afternoon light and fresh city air to dissipate the turpentine. I have a fluorescent lamp overhead giving decent fake illumination, a sturdy wood easel, a thigh-high file cabinet that holds oil and acrylic paints, brushes, mediums, knives, tools, rags and my various paint pallets that are each an inch thick with years of pigment. Piled on the floor is a collection of wall-paper sample books that I’ve acquired through various sources. My main supplier has been a store down in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. They usually have several books for me that would otherwise be garbage. Getting them home can be a hassle: it’s a long walk to and from the R train carrying them by their plastic straps. Wallpaper is an important part to the collage stage; my other important supplier is Giuliana, the owner of the gallery representing me in Milan. I get a package from her every few months containing miscellaneous labels, maps, stamps and ticket stubs. The hunt and the searching for these raw materials is endlessly inspiring. It might be just a color or a repetition that starts the creative process, that makes me wonder: What kind of narrative can I create out of someone’s discarded junk?

When I start a piece I work from a variety of sketches and photos, from a loose idea that stems from a common scene or situation. The subjects are unnamed characters or unknown places, often it might be a mundane everyday activity represented but it leads to a setup for some unseen story. I use my wife and myself as models a lot because it is convenient. I like to have a life reference for things like hands, toes and noses. It’s hard to invent the subtle ways that light affects form.

After some quick thumbnails I do a quick line drawing with an oil crayon on a sheet of wood panel that has been primed with a neutral toned latex paint, usually a brick red or a warm gray. Wood panel is also a hassle to get home. Sometimes I rent a van and get several pieces, it comes 48 inches by 96 inches, but storage in a Brooklyn studio is limited. I often find myself getting a piece at the lumber yard that has been cut in half and I hump it home on the subway. Sometimes the saw there is busted and I end up cutting it up myself on the sidewalk with a utility knife. Though acquiring these materials is sometimes an arduous task, on my trek from the lumber yard to the studio, I get excited by the blank panels, and see them each as an opportunity.

After my drawing is applied the next step is gluing the collage elements down with gel-medium. This stage can be the longest and requires patience and precision. I’m working with pattern, color and texture, big to small, background to foreground— the mess created can get quite exhilarating. Next I block-in flat areas with acrylic paint using a pallet knife, again big to small, out of focus into focus. By scraping over the collage elements, I let some colors pop through while covering other areas up. A kind of chaos is created. After it has dried thoroughly I rescue it, make sense of the seemingly senseless with oil paint. This can also be labor intensive, becoming precious at this point.

It takes a few days looking to decide if I’m done or not. Every shape has to be in its correct location, shadows have to be the correct temperature. Highlights on eyeballs and fingernails have to give a sense of realism. To be fully satisfied with a work of art it has to hold some kind of personal gesture that maybe only I get. It might be a note that my wife has left for me, a used UPS bill, a reference to a comic book I read years ago, or maybe some element is a complete surprise that is done intuitively, something that might have been on my mind prior to starting. If in fact I am finished I’ll sign it. The last step right before I photograph it is to apply a protective layer of varnish. This is done outside of course and seals it up for good.

Contact and Links

www.joshgeorge.com
joshgeorge.blogspot.com

www.triagallery.nyc.com
www.sherryleedy.com
www.entroterra.it

Louisa Armbrust

Mike — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 01:57:55 +0000

Free Range Hockey, artist’s rendering of ongoing project, final materials are adhesive vinyl, dimensions variable

Melee 1, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40″, 2008

Scenario 3, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16″, 2008

Artist Statement
The conflicting characteristics of play fascinate me. Play is described as the opposite of work, but is used to train children to be ‘team players’ in the workplace. What if our co-workers were always trying to bite us? People take up sports to relax and have fun, then take them very, very seriously. Think of parents at a Little League game or packs of weekend warriors in head-to-toe Lycra riding their bikes while shouting to each other about their VO2 max. Play and playfulness are everywhere.

Choosing materials and techniques borrowed from commercial signmaking, such as stenciling, digital prints and laser-cut adhesive vinyl, I use games as my language and pictograms as my ‘alphabet’ to examine how play can be both productive, teaching ideals of fair play and sportsmanship, and an end in itself, as when a falling leaf must be chased or a bottle cap flicked, for the fun of it.

Artist Website
http://www.louisaarmbrust.com/

Giuseppe Castellano

Mike — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 01:40:03 +0000

Luca and Sarah, 16×20″, oil on canvas

Giuseppe Castellano is a portraitist working in Windsor Terrace, available for commissioned works. For more information, contact him at pino.castellano@gmail.com.

Nuria Rabanillo de la Fuente

Mike — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:36 +0000

Materialismo, Nuria Rabanillo de la Fuente

Artist Website
www.rabanillodelafuente.com

Niesha White

Mike — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 23:24:54 +0000

Niesha White, “Deer”

Niesha White “Eloise”

Niesha White, “Bottom In Drag”

Artist’s Statement

My name is Niesha White and I am the daughter of an ex-Mormon hippie mom and an ex-Muslim hippie dad who raised me in the sea-salt air of a fishing town south of LA. After surviving a cross-country relocation, I ended up rooted in the beautifully strange spiritland of Brooklyn.

When I was small, I trusted art to be my companion. I knew, in that bold knowing way of children, that I would be an artist. But, just as knowing develops layers and confusing corners with experience, my artist identity bumped into various obstacles. What I have learned, however, is that each time I come back to my artwork, there are trace elements of whatever I have experienced while I was away. My art, therefore, carries hints of all the stages of my life, from magic realism to political activism, from modern dance to linguistic exploration.

Most recently, I have been working on a series of wood burnings and paintings which I call masks. This series, which uses animal heads on human bodies (and vice versa at times), is an exploration of how identities can change in stages of one’s life or even due to a new situation. The following narrative was written from the perspective of one of my pieces:

Masks Narrative

She was straight up fierce once, all boots and dreams. But the spin of the clock and a few unexpected outcomes had worn down her dreams into new shapes she kept mistaking for ordinary objects. Even her boots lost their shine. But what choice did she have but to live that way, waiting between breaths for a big bang shift of perspective.

On a random day in snow covered January, the tilt that she would later refer to as the ‘new beginning’ occurred. A casual downward glance is all it took, a realization that the subtle sexy sag in the seams of her tired boots made them more beautiful than ever. Then, like the slow relief of a late night aspirin, she began to see bits of glimmer in the corners of her dreams again. Packing this new view of herself, now masterfully woven from the reeds of who she had been, she picked up the mask and took her first grown-up swagger into ‘I can be anything’.

Contact the Artist

artinbrooklyn.com » Figurative

Kathleen Migliore-Newton

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