Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2025/No. 240 i American Art Collector

Welcome to American Art Collector’s October issue! This month I will be speaking at a “lunch and learn” event for Oil Painters of America and their member artists. The topic is “Canvas to Collector: The Power of In-Person Buying.” Almost every day, we hear from collectors telling us about a piece they bought from a gallery or artist. Sometimes it is an online acquisition, but currently, in 2025, it is more often in-person at a gallery or a show. In fact, across the country we have been seeing record-breaking sales, at auctions, exhibitions and events. This is great for the art world. In 2020, online purchases were at an all-time high but virtual acquisitions have dropped 70 percent since then. This is not to say that online sales are not…

A solo exhibition of new works by Jameson Green, Crutches, Crosses, Caskets/Caskets, Crosses, Crutches references a representation of the Black community A which centers around a cyclical metaphor for change: “Crutches, a culture wounded by its own hand or circumstance but wounded perhaps even fatally; Crosses, it will be prayed for, as a pastor prays for the soul at a funeral; [and] Caskets into the soil you shall return, but like anything created there will be an end.” “By then flipping the title to Caskets, Crosses, Crutches, the metaphor becomes about rebirth,” notes Derek Eller Gallery, which will be hosting Green’s new show. The exhibition runs through October 11 at the New York City-based gallery.…

Steeped in history but with all the perks of city living, Charleston, South Carolina, exudes a sultry, Southern charm that is hard to resist. With over 70 galleries, world-class institutions like the Gibbes Museum of Art and the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, as well as the countless artists who have made the city home, Charleston’s art scene is as vibrant as it is diverse. There is a concentration of galleries in the historic French Quarter, where monthly First Friday art walks are a beloved tradition among locals and visitors alike. The second Sunday of every month, a large section of King Street is pedestrian-only, and retailers, performers and food vendors fill the street for all to enjoy. Charleston embraces the full spectrum of styles, mediums and genres, from traditional…

Subscribe today to get the best contemporary American art magazine in the country, and the only monthly magazine that highlights the top artists, galleries, museums and fairs throughout the art market. Need proof? The proof is in your hands. Flip through this stunning issue to find the most thorough coverage of the contemporary realism genre through: » Previews of all the biggest gallery shows, art events and sales. » Destination guides for the hottest art markets. » Special genre sections to expand your collecting power. » 12 issues a year, each one presenting work from the top artists and the rising newcomers… and everyone in between! Join our huge community of subscribers who have chosen American Art Collector as their go-to trusted source for everything they need to know about…

Most of Russell Gordon’s bios online say the artist is known for his meticulous still life paintings and avian art, executed in a classical style influenced by the Dutch Masters of the 17th century. When I saw the new body of work he will be showing at Principle Gallery this October—proud portraits of animals in human garb from another era—I had to double check that they were by the same artist. But when you dive deeper into Gordon’s portfolio, you find that the elements of whimsy and fairytale were always there; he has simply amplified them in his recent paintings. “I see it as more of an evolution,” says Gordon. “It’s still animals and birds, there’s just more anthropomorphism…I’m both a history buff and a naturalist. And in these paintings…

Brian Haberlin is a superhero in the comic book universe. Writer, illustrator, producer and innovator, he revolutionized the industry by developing most of the modern methods of comic book production today. He is best known for his pioneering use of augmented reality in conjunction with story books, his unique digital style and as the co-creator of the award-winning Witchblade series, among others. Best known, for now. While still highly active in the world of comic books, today Haberlin is funneling more of his seemingly boundless—and boundaryless—creativity into (digital-free) fine art. A selection of his latest work will be on display at Arcadia Contemporary in New York from October 4 through 26. With retirement on the horizon, Haberlin made a conscious effort to devote more time to painting about five years…

An upcoming show marks a major milestone for artist Anna Rose Bain—her first solo exhibition in nearly 20 years of working as a professional artist. That is not to say that her talent has gone unrecognized. Just this year, she took home a top award in Portrait Society of America’s International Portrait Competition for her piece King of the Wild Things, one of many accolades she has received for her artwork. Raising children, including a son with severe autism, simply did not allow her the time to create a large enough body of work for her own show. Now that her children are a bit older, and with a recently refurbished studio, Bain is pulling out all of the stops for Little Kingdoms, which will feature roughly 40 paintings created…

When Arline Mann left her 25-year stint at Goldman Sachs, she knew she would have to find something else to tackle with the same tenacity she had poured into her high-powered business career. After all, she was only in her mid-60s at the time, and her parents had lived into their 90s, decades after they retired. After considering options that ranged from writing novels to becoming a detective, Mann settled on painting, specifically watercolors, and committed herself to mastering the art form. “When I asked my long-term instructor his advice for someone starting at this age but who is serious about it, he said ‘don’t try to be too many things.’ I’ve followed that advice—I’ve only painted in watercolor and have limited my subject matter to interiors and still lifes,…

Andrea Harrison’s paintings reflect a lifetime immersed in art and nature. Born into a family of creatives, she grew up surrounded by beauty and craft. Inspired by daily interactions with nature and animals, she translates those experiences into oil paintings on fine linen canvas, in a style she calls “abstract realism.” Harrison’s process is deliberate. Before painting, she takes time for silence and visualization, focusing on structure, color and expression. She believes that if a composition is truly balanced, it will hold its beauty from any angle—a philosophy that shaped her most recent Orchydia series. These luminous abstractions appear in paired counterparts, where mirrored shapes and shifting signature placements create dialogue and distinction. Collectors are drawn to their layered resonance and quiet power. Influenced by Georgia O’Keeffe’s bold reimagining of…

With each issue of American Art Collector I get to do a little armchair traveling when curating our destination guides, which zoom in on a different city, region or state each month. In October, we bring you our Art Lover’s Guide to Collecting Fine Art in Charleston, South Carolina, which begins on Page 60. I treat these special sections as if I’m planning my own trip and, as I delve deeper into my research, my interest in the location only grows. (Sometimes, I suddenly find myself looking into flights). Such was the case with Charleston, frequently cited as one of the top art destinations in the country—and, as you will see in these pages, for good reason. We’ve got the Charleston art scene covered—its world-class museums, abundant galleries and several…

The portrait of professor Colin Ferguson (1949-2014), commissioned by the University of Melbourne’s faculty of accountancy, stands as a powerful example of how portraiture can transcend representation to evoke legacy and humanity. This commission follows the success of Evert Ploeg’s portrait of professor Michael Crommelin for the university’s law school, an award-winning piece that resonated deeply for its narrative as much as its likeness. In selecting Ploeg, the faculty was struck by that earlier work’s ability to tell a story. With Ferguson, a distinguished academic figure in auditing, forensic accounting and information systems, they sought not only to commemorate his professional contributions but also to honor his profound human impact. His posthumous portrait posed a challenge rich with emotion, and filled with artistic and representational complexity. Ploeg recalls, “Through heartfelt…

By national treasures, I am not only referring to the countless masterworks in our country’s holdings, but the institutions (of which there are upwards of 30,000) that house, preserve and protect them and, in doing so, our cultural heritage. Museums are the bridge—and the gatekeepers—between the most significant works of art and the public. Fortunately for us, their mission is to make their collections accessible to as many people as possible. And they are anything but passive in their efforts. Curators are conceptualizing exhibits designed to engage people of all ages and backgrounds, creatively weaving the past into the present to underscore its continued relevance and foster mind-opening conversations. They are borrowing works from personal collections to enhance touring exhibitions. They are loaning important pieces from their own permanent collections…

For New England artist Jesse Stern, the act of drawing and painting has always put him at ease, providing an escape from the world around him. Growing up, art felt like a way to continue to play with his interest in comics and tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons and Dragons. As Stern entered high school, he began painting from life, and in his late 20s, started approaching painting more seriously. Today, he’s an accomplished artist with an MFA from the New York Academy of Art. This fall, Stern will be showing a new body of work titled Guardians and Exiles with New York Citybased gallery Arcadia Contemporary. Paintings in the upcoming exhibition depict various figures in winter coats, hoods drawn tightly, obscuring their faces and casting deep shadows. “I love…

A new body of work by still life master Leslie Lewis Sigler will be spotlighted during an upcoming solo show at George Billis Gallery. Past Lives will include works from Sigler’s ongoing series of antiques and heirloom objects placed against pure white backdrops. Every object that Sigler paints is imbued with its own personal story—a blend of visual beauty and unspoken histories. “When I’m searching for these objects, then drawing and painting their portraits, I imagine what kind of life they have had before they arrived in my possession. Sometimes I know their stories, but more often than not, I don’t,” she says. “Their condition, detail, form and function are clues to their past lives and transform an otherwise functional object into something rich with history and artistic beauty, with…

Following on the heels of Gallery 1261’s landmark exhibition Tight, that explored works created in nearphotorealism, comes the next phase of stunning, brand new paintings for the October show Tight². Gallery owner Chris Mileham, notes that this second edition, “honors artists whose work continues to push the boundaries of this high-definition realm—rendering their subjects with such immersive fidelity and technical prowess that viewers are often left in awe.” The show curator and participating artist, Anthony Waichulis, shares, “I’m elated to see a remarkable expansion of diversity in this year’s showcase—diversity not just in subject matter and voice, but in the approaches, intentions and executions that define what ‘tight’ representation can be. Too often, the label ‘tight’ is equated solely with colloquial notions of photorealism or hyperrealism. But this end of…

Born and trained in China, Wanning Liao’s art career took off in 2008 with her debut solo exhibition in Hong Kong, which marked the beginning of her recognition in the art world. Known for merging tradition with contemporary narratives, Liao’s artwork is grounded in realism with hints of abstraction blended in, as seen in works like her recent Back to Canaan 1 and Back to Canaan 2, as well as in her winning piece Chinese Tea Table 2, fabric surface in International Artist’s most recent Still Life Challenge. (See this work in the April/May 2025 issue of International Artist). Multidisciplinary in her approach, Liao works in a truly expansive range of media, including oil, chalk, charcoal, colored pencil, watercolor and even quartz sand. Her substrates are just as diverse—sketch paper,…

The National Oil and Acrylic Painters' Society (NOAPS) hosts the 35th edition of its Best of America International Juried Exhibition this October, featuring artists from across the United States and beyond. This year’s exhibition will be held at James R. Ross Fine Art Gallery in Indianapolis, Indiana, and offers an opportunity for artists to win one of 33 awards, totaling over $35,000 in cash prizes. The panel of judges includes prestigious artists Brian Burt, Ray Hassard and Joseph Orr, founder of NOAPS. “The 2025 Best of America International Juried Exhibition will showcase some amazing artists new to NOAPS as well as our well-known artists,” says Pat Tribastone, the organization’s president. “We are looking forward to portraits by Jian Wu, Evee Erb and Susan Perrish. Paula Holtzclaw, Bill Farnsworth and Del-Bouree…

In 2016, Elizabeth Barlow moved with her husband from San Francisco to Carmel-by-the-Sea on California’s Central Coast. “Suddenly, my world was suffused with trees, flowers, mists and soft sea breezes,” says the artist. “This verdant environment brought back memories of my childhood and led to a new trajectory in my work. I began a series called Flora Portraits, in which I depict flowers at many times their life size and set them in spare, monochromatic backgrounds. “Because my process is slow and meticulous, each painting brings with it a way of slowing down and paying careful attention, something that is hard for most of us to do in our distracting digital age,” continues Barlow. “I have discovered that painting the intricate details of a flower is a meditation that promotes…

Janet Grissom’s current series, Hocking Hills, includes paintings that she felt driven to create after a recent walk around the Ash Cave and Old Man’s Cave areas in southeastern Ohio. Retrieving fond memories of nature over the decades, she walked on the familiar rocky paths. “I wanted more than presence and being visually correct,” shares Grissom. “I wanted to bring back the emotion that enveloped me while observing the monumental sandstone, glistening waterfalls, towering hemlocks and lush undergrowth…I want the viewer to feel as if they shared in the interaction.” Grissom focused on the initial feelings that erupted in her mind when she was in the presence of Hocking Hills. There was little time to spare if she was to share the purity of the damp, green shelters and, upon…

The latest in contemporary American realism. Mourlot Editions—the legendary print house founded in Paris in 1852, long revered as the premier fine art lithography studio for some of the most iconic artists in history like Picasso, Matisse, Chagall and Miró—is a leading voice in the art world, working with just a handful of artists in the 21st century. A partnership will be launching soon between Mourlot and 13-year-old art prodigy Andres Valencia, based in San Diego, California. The print house is set to release a limited-edition collection of three prints featuring Valencia’s signature large-scale, Cubist-inspired works, which now sell at auction for $100,000-plus. Painting since he was 5 years old, Valencia has taken the art world by storm since making his debut at Art Miami in December 2021 (the youngest…

There is a lot of scholarly discourse about why Jenny Saville is an important artist, and rightly so, but it also muddies the waters of what can be summed up in one word—visceral. And visceral, by its very definition, is felt in the body, like a punch in the gut, or the slash of a knife. Its domain is the flesh, not the intellect. Saville knows this. A member of the loose group of painters and sculptors, the Young British Artists, Saville emerged into prominence in the early 1990s, with works like Propped, which depicts a disproportionately large woman with huge dimpled thighs, gargantuan hands and enormous, squishedtogether breasts, perhaps harkening back to those of her piano teacher that she remembers observing so long ago. One of her seminal works,…

Aneka Ingold looks back on her childhood and sees a common sight for many adults: an awkward kid trying to communicate with the strange world they live in. “I definitely struggled. I was a sensitive and quiet child, but that’s where drawing came in for me,” she says. “Art was a language that was my own. It allowed me to connect with others.” Art is many things, but at its most basic level art is exactly what Ingold says: it is language. It’s a way for a person to communicate an idea or emotion. To share an experience or an idea. To speak through color and form. For Ingold, art as a form of language bears similarities to the spoken word: it can whisper softly into an ear, or it…

A new body of work by Nathan Durfee marks a departure from his more figurative-focused paintings and instead casts members of the animal kingdom as the main characters in his playfully illustrative scenes. His distinctive pixelated style persists but the edges have softened as he explores different ways of approaching his canvases. “I think as an artist when you recognize your style—in my case the patchwork, the squares, the layman cubism—you start to look at how you can incorporate different painting techniques and compositional considerations with that style you’re known for,” says Durfee. One thing that hasn’t changed in Durfee’s paintings is their narrative nature and, in this latest series, it’s more prominent than ever with a story full of meaning and surprising depth in every piece. “In terms of…

Dyana Hesson has been painting larger-than-life florals for more than 30 years and, in recent years, has narrowed her focus to the native plants of her homestate of Arizona. Now, Tucson’s Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is showcasing roughly 40 paintings that span the artist’s passion for the botanical beauty of the Southwest and beyond. Wild Arizona: Native Arizona Plants and Places will be on view in the museum’s Ironwood Gallery from October 4 through December 7. An artist talk followed by a reception will take place on opening day from 1 to 4 p.m. Hesson scouts her subjects on hikes, off-road jeep adventures, and restoration projects, chasing elusive blooms around the state with the seasons. Although she didn’t start out with conservation in mind, she, like many who become more intimate…

Anne Blair Brown was born in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, and was raised in Nashville, Tennessee, where she currently lives. Her work centers on intimate scenes inspired by local surroundings as well as travel in the United States and abroad. “My artwork starts in reality and evolves through my imagination,” she says. “As an impressionist, I believe in a painting process that enables me to tap into my creativity rather than trying to copy and perfect.” Brown’s goal is to invite the viewer to connect with her paintings, using their own imagination to complete the story. “Impressionist painting is not about accuracy and depiction but is about expressing an emotion or capturing the essence of the subject with minimal detail,” says the artist. “Emotive brushwork and exciting color are my…

San Francisco Bay Area artist David Patchen sees color and pattern as a visual language used to create a personality or character for each of his pieces, akin to how sound is a language for music. “Most of my works are explorations of how shifts in hue, transparency, pattern and design can evoke emotional and sensory responses,” Patchen explains. “I’m particularly drawn to working with secondary tones across the color spectrum, finding richness in their nuance and building them into complex patterns. Harmonizing these elements across a form and executing them in molten glass presents a continual challenge, one that I approach with both discipline and curiosity, aiming to create results that are both surprising and joyful for the viewer.” In conceiving his glass art, Patchen often thinks more like…

Antonio, Walker 63 Bain, Anna Rose 100 Banovich, John 67 Barlow, Elizabeth 121 Bartlett, Bo 72 Birkenruth, Kelly 99 Brennan, Lew 76 Brown, Anne Blair 112 Brown, Brienne M 115 Burgan, Jennifer 123 Chun, David P. 74 Claussen, Andreas 126 Condon, Roberta 77 Copeland, Emily 77 Currier, Erin 75 Del Campo, Michele 98 Dowd, Jason 117 Durfee, Nathan 92 Farnsworth, Bill 117 Forrest, Christa 99 Fraser, Scott 97 Fraser, West 63 Ingold, Aneka 84 Gordon, Russell cover, 88 Greenberg, Orna 35 Grissom, Janet 124 Haberlin, Brian 94 Hall, Adam 66 Harrison, Andrea 120 Hassam, Childe 75 Hesson, Dyana 104 Hooper, Jill 73 Hudson, Kathleen 119 Kalyan, NFN 40 Kowch, Andrea 76 Landers, Sean 102 Lange, Robert 66 Lashley, Christie 63 Liao, Wanning 108 Lordier, Kim 115 Magee, Alan 48 Mann,…