Art Expo New York Part Two: Un-Traditional
So, I promised that here in Part II, I would focus on artists at the Art Expo whose work is deceptively traditional in style or medium, but where the total effect is something completely wild and different.
So let's jump right into it.
1. Rob Gonsalves.
This is the very first work of Gonsalves' that caught my eye a couple of years ago. His works are wonderful figures, buildings and items rendered in highly traditional and realistic ways but the finished works are dreamlike and beautiful, like an Escher crossed with some Medieval Flemish altar piece, or illuminated manuscript. He also has two wonderful books out, which are supposed to be for children, but appeal to the child in us all: Imagine a Day... and Imagine a Night...
2. Cliff Wassmann.
Wassman's display at the ArtExpo was of his latest work entitled "Antartica." His calm, silky paintings make this remote but very real place seem like something from a fairy tale.
3. Jeff Faust.
Faust renders every day objects into a glazed, smooth narratives. His works have the finish and polish of a great Renaissance masterwork and the startling detail of highly realistic surrealism.
4. Max Miller.
An artist who uses high realism to portray allegory, some of Miller's works are a little too obvious, but the technique and finish are more than worth the occasional over-the-topness of them.
Ganancia-Bennaim, from Spain, incorporates architectural elements, Spanish and Judeo-Ladino mysticism and traditionally rendered people into a fine, golden memory type paintings. I really loved one of her pieces, which was rendered as a window, with small shutters that opened up to reveal the woman hidden in a room. It was very beautiful.
6. Joshua Smith.
Most of Smith's paintings at the Expo depicted landscapes that were both realistic and abstract -- lone trees set against smokey, clouded skies -- with the horizon line sometimes placed in unexpected ways. The occasional representational painting, like the one above, incorporated solid elements with unusual results.
This painting caught my eye as we went by O'Brien's booth, and the artist's genial personality kept me there for several minutes, talking up a storm and watching him work on another of his "Where You Want To Be" pieces. I include his work in this loose topic of "deceptively traditional in style or medium, but where the total effect is something completely wild and different" because his landscapes do make you want to be somewhere else, almost to the point of being convinced you actually have been there, or just left there.
8. Stephen Hall.
Colorful backgrounds and interesting textures make the traditionally realistic shapes of the animals that Hall portrays pop out against the canvas.
Tillyer's sculptures and watercolors depict animals and artifacts in a realistic but way out there way. I particularly liked some of his watercolors of birds and the sculptures of roosters and chickens.
10. Michael McGuire
The colorful seascape and harbor paintings of Michael McGuire are set in realistic and traditional settings New England, but the colors snap like sunny Spain. Lovely boats and seabirds make his paintings soothing, despite the hot hot colors.
11. Michele Dangelo.
Michele Dangelo's portraits of houses and dresses are stripped down almost to their framework with bits of poems and very little background, making for very interesting, narrative-like paintings.
In Part III, I'll do a quick exploration of what's the best of what's left.
**The reproductions of works of art
herein displayed are not to be duplicated for personal use,
for distribution, nor for sale. All rights reserved.
All images are the copyright of the individual artists.
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