Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2024 i American Art Collector

Welcome to the June issue of American Art Collector! Summer is here and so is our ever-popular Collectors Focus on Pastels! Pastels are often associated with calming and peaceful vibes. In fact, Instagram users have even headed the way of pastels with the “candy minimal movement.” The soft hues allow contrasting colors to pop. In the world of working with pastels, an artist must maintain a constant balance of serenity, with accents of bright energy and color. The medium is truly making great strides in popularity and collectability. Pastel artists paint with what resembles chalk “paints.” Many of our American masters, such as Mary Cassatt, were pastel artists. In the introduction to the special section on Page 52, our own managing editor Sarah Gianelli dives into the beauty and collectability…

The Great Lakes region has a distinct historical and cultural identity within North America. As the name aptly states, the region centers around the continent’s Great Lakes and the U.S. states that surround them, including Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, as well as the Canadian province of Ontario. The five Great Lakes—Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario—cover a massive 94,600 square-miles all together, connected by many smaller lakes and rivers. An astounding accolade, the Great Lakes make up the largest freshwater system in the entire world, containing 21 percent of our planet’s surface freshwater by volume. And because the Great Lakes exhibit sea-like characteristics like strong currents, rolling waves, distant horizons and seemingly bottomless depths, they’re also known as the “inland seas.” From major art…

Confrontation looks different to everyone. It varies in intensity, in meaning and in circumstance. In some situations, the idea of expressing one’s concerns in direct opposition to another is so intimidating, the very notion almost impossible to consider. In other situations, confrontation is a natural and healthy part of life. In a new online exhibition hosted by 33PA, artists were asked to interpret what the concept of confrontation means to them, in all of its complicated forms. In Aki Kano’s watercolor Dinner with Mom, two women sit together at a table filled with food and drink. While the scene appears to be the simple sharing of a meal between mother and daughter at first glance, there’s a palpable tension in the air upon closer inspection. The mother, tight-faced, glances sideways…

This year marks West End Gallery’s inaugural Summer Feature Exhibit: Celebrating the Creative Journey, a group show featuring more than 50 new paintings by six artists that include Jennifer Fais, Edd Tokarz Harnas, Christina M. Johnson, Joseph A. Miller, Wilson Ong and Judy Soprano. “We carefully selected this group of artists based on the wide range of subjects, mediums and styles,” says gallery owner Jesse Gardner. “The cohesiveness and strength in this exhibit reside in its variety, and the path each artist is taking in their respective artistic journeys. In this sense, what sets each artist apart is indeed what brings this exhibit—and viewers—together. There’s something beautiful about that. What sets us apart, brings us together.” Joseph Miller, an associate professor of art and design at State University of New…

One can almost picture Jill Maytorena in her studio surrounded by heaps of vibrant textiles, colorful printed paper, ribbons, embroidery—and, of course, her pastels. Together, they will coalesce into elaborately patterned portraits, in which there is no firm delineation between the figure and the tapestry she is immersed in. “It starts with an intuitive grabbing of [pieces of fabric]—based on design principles—and being excited about how I’m going to reconcile this disorder or chaos,” says Maytorena. For her piece Persimmon, she focused on the patterns and the way the materials related to one another rather than what the figure would be. “I intentionally chose pieces that, in my mind, did not go together,” she says. “It’s nonsensical in a sense, but I also trust my intuitive process to make connections…

This is one of my favorite times of year, when all the ripe, fullness of summer is yet to come, as is the unbearable heat and humidity. It is a time of excitement and anticipation, as we ride the big, cool wave toward summer in full swing. This energy can be seen and felt throughout the pages of the June issue, where you can dip your toes into what’s to come as we move deeper into the summer season. We start getting into the mood with our Collector’s Focus dedicated to Marine and Coastline art and our Art Lover’s Guide to the Great Lakes Region—two sections filled with plenty of refreshing art to splash around in. Next month, as things heat up, we’ll strip down with our special section devoted…

The Momentary in Bentonville, Arkansas, recently opened Kristine Potter: Dark Waters, an exhibition of “richly detailed black-and-white photographs inspired by the enigmatic terrain surrounding bodies of water that bear names of violence in the American South: places like ‘Murder Creek,’ ‘Deadman’s Branch,’ and ‘Bloody Fork.’ The series of photographs, complemented by a video and sound installation, unravels the deeply held associations between land and a history of violence in this area of the nation,” the museum notes. Kristine Potter: Dark Waters is accompanied by Potter’s second monograph, co-published by the Momentary and Aperture. The exhibition is curated by Aperture executive director Sarah Meister; Alejo Benedetti, curator of contemporary art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Momentary; and Elise Raborg, curatorial associate of contemporary art at Crystal Bridges…

Red Arrow Gallery is hosting the duo exhibition To Til a Seed, featuring the artwork of oil painter Keith Jackson and mixed media artist Desmond Lewis. The show contains four oil paintings depicting sharecropping and tenant farmers from Jackson’s Southeastern Missouri upbringing, as well as a sitespecific installation with accompanying audio from Lewis. “The pairing of these artists’ work comes on the heels of their time spent together at the prestigious Skowhegan Artist Residency program where the two met and soon acknowledged their similarities in person and practice, although nearly three decades apart in age,” the gallery notes. To Til a Seed opens May 18 with an opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. and will be on view through June 29.…

In a series of new paintings, Aaron Westerberg plumbs the depths of a breakup and shows the vulnerability of the newly heartbroken. The show, titled Afterthought, opens June 13 at Arcadia Contemporary, with an artist reception from 5 to 8 p.m. Westerberg says the subject of the paintings is autobiographical. He recently went through a tough breakup and his heart spilled out on the canvas. The result is a series of tableaux featuring a man and a woman delicately, painfully pulling apart. Echoing the style of his hero John Singer Sargent, Westerberg renders his subjects in turn-of-the-19th-century clothing. The couple occupy private corners of public spaces—a train seat, a small cafe table. Westerberg’s mood may be nostalgic, but there’s an edge of the contemporary in his paintings, too. The scenes…

Artist GC Myers aims for maximum visual impact in his new solo show at Principle Gallery, by going bolder with size and color. The show title Continuum: The RedTree at 25 references that this will mark the artist’s 25th annual show at the gallery, and the enduring appearance of his signature “RedTree” in imagined landscapes. “Anytime your work has been with a gallery for an extended period of time, there is a need to continuously expand the range of your work in some way in order to keep it fresh,” says Myers in acknowledgment of his 27-year tenure with Principle Gallery. “And that is not only for the collectors. I spend a huge amount of time in my studio and it is vital that I feel excited by the work.”…

The hauntingly beautiful art of Alfredo Palmero combines the legacy of Spanish painter Diego Velázquez and the modern works of Jackson Pollock to create paintings that straddle the line between the contemporary and the classical. Palmero is exhibiting his latest body of work at Lily Pad Gallery West in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, running through the end of June. The show features a large selection of works from his Meninas series, which captures young women in lavish ballgowns of bright, bold colors that take up close to half of the composition. “These paintings are contemporary portraits that are heavily influenced by classical painters,” says Palmero. “They feature both abstract and representational elements and depict characters that do not exist in the real world. However, these characters are symbols of transcendence, pure life,…

Artist John Cosby has three homes—in Prescott, Arizona; San Clemente, California; and, perhaps his favorite, on the wide-open road. “Staying engaged with the road keeps me interested in the next painting,” Cosby says. For his show hosted by the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association, Looking West, a Portrait of the Places I Love, Cosby highlights these open road adventures, with a focus on the Western landscape and the sea. “From my motorhome, I can explore vast areas and paint what moves me,” the artist continues. “I titled the show Looking West for a reason—it gave me a broad interpretation of the subject matter and allowed me paint what I love to paint the most, and show the best of what I found in nature.” As for his style and technique,…

For the third iteration of Skyway 2024: A Contemporary Collaboration, five museums from Florida’s Central Gulf Coast come together to feature the diversity and strength of contemporary artworks by artists also from the region. While each museum unveils its own tightly curated selection of works, the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota hosts the first exhibition to open on May 25 and last to close in late January 2025. 1 “What’s always so exciting in this series of exhibitions, is the diverse practices that we’re able to capture and present,” says Christopher Jones, the Ringling’s Stanton B. and Nancy W. Kaplan curator of photography and media art. “Our region has some really great arts communities, schools and institutions, and frequently we’re able to highlight grad students and younger,…

Dan Simoneau has been painting for more than 45 years. The artist grew up in Maine and received his BFA at the University of Southern Maine with a major in painting. While he works with a variety of subjects, Simoneau primarily uses acrylics to paint the male figure in a contemporary realist style, influenced by the chiaroscuro techniques of Caravaggio and the compositions of Philip Pearlstein. “My muse, John, appears in many of my works,” says Simoneau, referring to his piece End of the Day. “This work was created as a demonstration piece during a lecture for the painting class at our local state university. I wanted to emphasize my use of light and shadow while also capturing a specific emotion or event. I also wanted to emphasize the use…

As a kid growing up near Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York, Joan Gladstone spent every summer day enjoying thrilling rides, hot dogs and pink cotton candy at the famous amusement park, or hanging out at the beach with friends. Later, as a teenager, Gladstone frequently took the subway to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Museum admission was free, so for $2, we had just enough for subway tokens, pizza and soft drinks,” she recalls. “Looking back, I realize how fortunate I was to have both a beach and great art on my doorstep.” That experience, plus a rigorous education at Boston University’s School of Fine Arts, propelled Gladstone to paint. “My oil paintings merge the carefree summer days of my youth in Brooklyn with the joys of living and…

Musée de la Villa les Camélias in Cap d’Ail, France, presents La Révélation de Meyreuil, an exhibition of 50 small paintings by San Franciso Bay Area artist Mitchell Johnson, on view from May 17 through September 29. Spanning four decades, the show explores the relationship between Johnson’s early work from Europe with recent pieces from California, New England and New York. On Johnson’s early French landscapes, renowned critic Donald Kuspit remarked: “But where Cézanne fetishized Mont St. Victoire, implicitly a symbol of his delusion of grandeur—climbing and conquering it with his art—Johnson is down to earth, indeed, in the streets of Meyreuil and the countryside around it. He allows the objects he finds there their everyday autonomy even as he finds aesthetic value in them, rather than reduces them to…

Currently on view at the Dallas Museum of Art, When You See Me: Visibility in Contemporary Art/History is a pioneering exhibition that brings together more than 60 works by established and up-and-coming artists. Predominantly artists of color, women and queer artists, the exhibition features such creative minds as Rashid Johnson, Simone Leigh, Tschabalala Self, Puppies Puppies, Hernan Bas, Salman Toor, Marisol, Theaster Gates, Samuel Levi Jones and many more. The artists in the exhibition utilize visibility as the framework with which to explore the issue of representation, while simultaneously investigating the power of invisibility. When You See Me: Visibility in Contemporary Art/History is on view through April 13, 2025.…

This past January, Ernest Shaw Jr.’s portrait of Justice Thurgood Marshall as a young lawyer was unveiled at the Maryland senate office building in Annapolis. Born in Baltimore in 1908, Marshall was a celebrated civil rights lawyer who helped end segregation in the United States and went on to become the first Black United States Supreme Court Justice. Shaw, an artist and teacher from west Baltimore, was selected for the commission through a process that was led by Maryland State Senator William C. Smith of Montgomery County. Senator Smith raised the funds for the portrait with the guidance of artist, curator and art historian Dr. Leslie King Hammond, alongside a panel of experts assembled by the Maryland State Archives. “The selection committee emphasized the need for the portrait to illustrate…

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Some of the most renowned historic American artists worked in pastels, although they might be more closely associated with a different medium. While Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) may conjure images of impressionistic oil paintings with loose, feathery brushwork, she was also an avid pastelist. Most artists of the era made pastel sketches as preparation for paintings but Cassatt saw them as finished works, and included them in her exhibitions. Her richly-worked, dynamic pastel Mother in Purple Holding her Child—which fetched $560,000 in a 2020 auction at Sotheby's—is a prime example of Cassatt’s style and signature subject matter. Dated circa 1914, this pastel is among the very last works that Cassatt created. After recovering from grief over her lost brother and ill health, there was only a brief period when she worked…

Swap meets, flea markets, yard sales, thrift stores, abandoned storage units—it’s remarkable where old family photographs can turn up, especially considering how personal they are to family members to then be offered at discount prices between stacks of scratched vinyl and old copies of Life magazine. Kevin Mizner can appreciate the tragedy in these photos. How they once had homes, and now are picked through by strangers. And yet, he also sees another chance to give these images life again. “They are very much discarded photos. Maybe some antique dealer bought them at a yard sale and they end up in a pile somewhere. No one wants them. They are old relics and nobody cares,” he says. “I think of it as history, and I love history. These are people…

Most people might not look twice at an agave plant. They’re sharp, spiny, succulent porcupines, used for making tequila, and born into a desert wasteland where it seems like nothing grows. But artist Anna Lisa Leal knows that’s not true. In her upcoming show, Agave Alchemy: Spirits of the Desert, Leal provides an enlightening perspective on this mysterious century plant and the poetic beauty it brings to the terrain of the Southwest. Through her paintings, Leal reveals the spirit beneath the agave’s rough exterior, weaving a story of life and death and the transitions in between. “When I think about this show, I hope people will see the beauty in [the agave] and the resilience,” says Leal. “Because we as humans need that resilience through life and these plants show…

David Dornan collects things—honey bear jars, Tabasco bottles and even a paint-spattered apron a worker was wearing in a store’s paint department. He says, “I’m particularly interested in the discarded, overlooked item and how I can bring it back to people’s attention—because it’s always going to touch someone’s heart in some way.” There is a feeling of nostalgia when one looks at a seemingly haphazard assemblage of objects or even a paint-covered Tabasco bottle that you’ve probably never seen. The painted objects are recognizable but not painted in a tromp l’oeil manner where the painter’s hand is not evident. Up close, Dornan’s paintings are about paint and the ways he applies it. He explains, “At a distance my paintings are depictions of familiar objects—cups and bottles, studio objects on a…

Every year, the Festival of Arts' Pageant of the Masters puts on a delightfully theatrical celebration of art. Through live reenactments and intricate installments—accompanied by live music and storytelling—the event transforms both traditional and contemporary visuals arts into living, breathing works of art. There’s a reason that art lovers travel from across the world to see these elaborate illusions in action. The theme of this year’s Pageant of the Masters is “À La Mode: The Art of Fashion.” “Modern fashion shows are very theatrical, and designers are always pushing the envelope of outrageousness and showmanship. That appeals to me,” says artistic director Diane Challis Davy, who originally studied costume design for the stage in college. “The 2019 Dolce and Gabbana runway show was an extraordinary spectacle. I’ve also been inspired by…

The Northwest Pastel Society’s mission is not only to bolster its members, but to inform the public about the beauty and scope of the pastel medium—executed through its annual Open International Exhibition. Beginning June 1, the show-will celebrate 72 original pastels by artists across the globe, displayed at Matzke Fine Art Gallery and Sculpture Park. The NPS 1st vice president, Anne Moore Knapp, shares a bit about what attendees can expect to see at this year’s 38th annual exhibition: “If you like ultra realistic [subject matter], established artist Bithia Bjurman and a new member, Harsha Rodage, have amazing pieces to draw you in. If you like floral works, Julia Lesnichy has some gorgeous roses in a traditional manner that nicely contrast colorist La Donna Kruger’s bouquets. There are a wide…

“While I represent realist art, I nevertheless paint air, light and emotion,” says Estonian artist Aapo Pukk. “Figuratively speaking, I am attempting to find a spring as pure as possible and extract water as pure as possible, while still remembering the locations of other springs,” he muses. “I am constantly searching. Every painting that is a success is like a reward for extensive work. Watercolor is the art of adding and taking away. I keep studying—myself, the possibilities of technique and the efficiency of methods. To find out the things I could pass on to my students.” Pukk’s watercolors (and his pastels) are light, airy and free-flowing. “My wife and I were holidaying in Croatia [when I painted Komiža, Vis Island, Croatia,” he says. “We watercolored a lot. After all,…

Kymberlee Stanley is a native Southern California oil painter who grew up visiting Catalina Island, and is deeply inspired by coastal color in the palette of her life and work. She is also a psychotherapist who utilizes water as a metaphor in her art and life to express what can be found both above and below the surface of our souls. Stanley began painting at the age of 46 after moving to Nashville and feeling homesick for the coast. Between 2019 and 2022, she moved to Catalina Island and painted avidly, taking pictures of boats from her standup paddle board and painting water scenes and reflections as a meditative practice. She enjoys painting in the quick alla prima style to bring a sense of immediacy to her work and connection…

1 Another piece by David Dunlop sells out of Susan Powell Fine Art A collector from Grand Rapids, Michigan, recently purchased David Dunlop’s Incandescent Marsh that was featured in the May 2023 issue of American Art Collector magazine. The painting, an oil on aluminum panel, highlights Dunlop’s ability to create pieces that emanate an radiance of its own vibrating light. “[The collector] was particularly struck by the bright, abstractly-rendered orange/red marsh grasses in the foreground and the luminous, glowing atmosphere of the distant marsh,” says gallerist Susan Powell. “He was grateful it was still available as the vivid image stayed with him for months.” Dunlop says, “I was thrilled to sell a painting months after it was seen. It shows that people do keep their magazines, and look back at them…