|
 In the June 2007 issue of Out of Art; the Magazine for Current Outsider Art, Sanford Smith, the organizer of the renowned Outsider Art Fair in New York City, stated in an interview that he was positive 'the Fair would remain in the Big Apple'. And he was right; the Fair will remain there but it will also expand in 2008, when under his patronage, the first European Outsider Art Fair, intended to complement the Fair in the United States, will be held in Vienna.
Now that the organization is up and running and the Fair has a rough outline, I can take this opportunity to sketch a short introduction of the hows and whys surrounding the event. One thing is certain: everyone with a passion for Outsider Art can now focus not only on New York but also on Europe. And expectations are immense. After all, is this not the continent on which this exceptional art form was born?
The Buzz in New York and Vienna
For 15 years, the Outsider Art Fair in New York has attracted increasing numbers of devotees, connoisseurs and collectors of 'art with frayed edges'. Long before the Fair actually opens, the city is buzzing with enthusiasm. On both sides of the Atlantic, email correspondence increases, hotel reservations and appointments are made to meet in the Big Apple. The Fair is seen globally both as an historic overview of Outsider Art and as a display of its current state of affairs. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Monday, 17 March 2008 07:18 |
|
|
|
Monday, 01 October 2007 17:02 |
 For a regular guy from Long Island to be dubbed the American Renoir could be daunting. But Patrick Antonelle, whose solo exhibition can be seen at the Van Der Plas Gallery, 89 South Street Seaport, Pier 17, 2nd floor, from December 17 to January 28, 2007, with reception opening on Friday, the 17th 6-9pm. Nor did the good natured Antonelle seem to mind when one interviewer recently mentioned his name in the same breath as that of Thomas Kinkade, although he should have. For while Kinkade is a popular schlock phenomenon, known for his cozily artificial treatment of light, Antonelle is a real painter with an unerring sense of natural light who just happens to have a popular following. Which is to say, not only is Antonelle`s work in numerous corporate collections and prestigious private collections of contemporary art, it has also been purchased over the years by people like Leonard Bernstein and Frank Sinatra, as well as by serious collectors who are normally more likely to buy a Renoir or a Monet than a work by a living painter. An unabashed adherent of Impressionism and Pointillism, Antonelle updates the techniques of both movements to create his New York City scenes, as well as his landscapes of Nantucket and European locations in England, France, and Italy. Indeed, he is one of the few contemporary painters who has mastered those techniques sufficiently to capture subtle qualities of light on different surfaces as proficiently as his Parisian predecessors. In his New York views, particularly, he shares their ability to invest scenes of everyday life with freshness and vivacity. |
|
Read more...
|
|
Saturday, 01 September 2007 16:53 |
 'Blood, Icons, Clouds: Living With Diabetes' is an art exhibit by David Mark Bradley opening Thursday, October 25th at Van der Plas Gallery in the South Street Seaport in downtown Manhattan, NY. 'After pricking my finger to test my blood sugar level, I have to wipe the blood somewhere. One day, I smeared it on an ink drawing. I was shocked how pretty, and on fire the red was. What cadmium red aspires to be,' says David Bradley. The 'Blood' portion of the show is a dialogue with diabetes, inspired by how Type I diabetics test their blood sugar levels many times daily in an often sweaty, anxious dance to determine whether or not they are 'normal.' The more 'in control' one is with healthy levels, the more that person outwits death. And rediscovers hope. Issues raised by 'Blood' include: For a person with diabetes, what does hope feel like at the end of one' fingertips? Confronting mortality, rust, fears of death, needles, dismemberment. Recycling of bio-medical waste products, keeping syringes out of landfills. 'Tikun:' turning negative energy to good, as in creating art that reaches for immortality. And in today' workplace, what does 'paid for in blood' mean? |
|
Read more...
|
|
Saturday, 02 June 2007 16:51 |
 Konstantin Bokov is an Ukrainian Immigrant who's lived in Washington Heights for the past 23 years. As a teenager in the 1940s he herded sheep and played the accordion, until one day in his early 20's he saw a Van Gogh painting at an exhibit in Moscow and was inspired to put down the accordion and immediately began painting. He arrived in New York in 1975 and has devoted himself to painting the city and its residents in his unique expressionist style. In a recent profile, the New York Times described him as, "eccentric...an elusive character...with his tall, lean frame, his olive trench coat cinched with a bright blue belt..." and marveled that, "he has no phone and did not respond to notes left for him." Bokov's paintings and his "found art" or "recycled" sculptures have been exhibited at galleries throughout the United States and around the world, including shows in Japan and Paris. The influential State Museum of Vladivostok in Russia has requested his work for an upcoming exhibition. Recently, he's been experimenting with several new techniques - creating reliefs using recycled materials, and painting on photographs and prints. He is fascinating to watch at work. His trademark portraits of people at art openings capture the essence of character in a few lines, using anything he can get his hands on, like an old ballpoint pen. The strokes appear effortless. |
|
Friday, 01 June 2007 16:35 |
|
 They are called ‘outsider’ artists because their art is made without formal training, and sold, if at all, outside mainstream art venues. Their work has an emotional power and veracity that has fascinated people for decades.
The featured artists in this exhibit are: Thornton Dial, born in Alabama in 1928, worked as a welder, carpenter, bricklayer, house painter and a factory worker building Pullman boxcars. He made his art in his off hours and showed it to almost no one. After meeting collector William Arnett he began to create art full time in the late 1980’s. His large assemblage paintings feature animal, human and plant images that depict real events, often historical situations affecting the black experience in the southern U.S. With his works on paper offering a whimsical view of these themes. Dial’s work is in the permanent collection of several museums including The High Museum, The Smithsonian and The American Folk Art Museum in New York City. Lonnie Holley of Birmingham, AL, was born in 1950 and raised by a succession of foster parents and relatives. A 1979 tragedy started his artistic career: after his sister’s children were killed in a house fire, Holley carved grave markers from local industrial sandstone. He brought some carvings to the director of the Birmingham Museum of Art, which led to inclusion of his work in a 1981 exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American Art. Holley’s use of mediums progressed to found objects and paint. His work often refers to his ancestral heritage and themes of spirituality. Lonnie’s work is in the collection of several major museums including the American Folk Art Museum. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
