Innholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2021 i Artists Magazine

“Work lovingly done is the secret of all order and all happiness.” —PIERREAUGUSTE RENOIR THE PRIZE IS IN THE PROCESS It’s always with real pleasure that our editorial team takes up the jurying of our Annual Student Competition, and we’re delighted to celebrate this year’s artists and their winning works of art (page 38). It’s especially satisfying to bring attention to new artists—of all ages—who are in the early stages of their art-making journeys. That also makes our deliberations as jurors all the more difficult, however, as we want to encourage everyone’s efforts. There are always entries, too, that are right there in the running—right up to the very end—that we eventually have to let go in order to pare down to the three prizewinners in a category, and those…

As I studied the composition of Ernesta (Child With Nurse), I imagined grid lines dividing the picture plane along tried-and-true design principles. I started by dividing the plane into quarters (green lines). Then, starting at the top midpoint, I added diagonals to the lower corners (pink lines). Next, I added a 3X3 grid (yellow lines). Here’s what those lines revealed: • Ernesta’s head and hands are beautifully balanced around the midline and the one-third line. • Ernesta’s body echoes the triangle created by the diagonals dropped from the top midpoint. • The nurse’s arm starts at the top midpoint and follows one of the diagonals. Beaux’s placement of that arm is essential to the overall design. • The horizontal thirds roughly divide the setting into the very dark background, a…

One of the paradoxes of still life painting is that an activity so intimate, controlled and studio-bound can reference the entire world and lead to a vast range of expressive possibilities. English painter Jason Line takes full advantage of this promise to make paintings that explore a variety of formal ideas and achieve a wealth of expression while using the simplest of props. In some works he has pursued quasi-musical relationships. Placing objects with carefully controlled intervals between them—balancing weights, contrast and color—he seems to occupy the same creative space as the composer of a sonata or a symphony. Soft and hard edges play against each other as objects dissolve into shadows or emerge cleanly delineated to assert their identity. Smaller objects act as grace notes, moving the viewer’s eye…

Surface: linen canvas or, occasionally, cotton duck canvas, wood or MDF panel Primer: Line says, “As lead primer is no longer available and, as I’m not satisfied with any of the alternatives that have come out, I’m currently experimenting with different primer recipes, such as an egg/oil emulsion or chalk-based primers.” Oil paint: various brands, including Michael Harding, Old Holland and Winsor & Newton Medium: genuine turpentine or refined linseed oil; occasionally, a glazing medium such as Liquin Knives: A variety of palette knives, generally used for mixing colors on the palette rather than painting or mixing on the canvas Brushes: Cornelissen hog-hair brushes and a variety of small synthetic brushes…

No one paints a gown like John Singer Sargent (1856–1925). Having grown up in New York City, I was fortunate to be able to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art on a whim. There I could see my favorite of his astonishing “dress paintings,” The Wyndam Sisters (opposite). I love how elegantly the women posed, with their fingers just so and their voluminous dresses devouring their bodies. The National Gallery of Art houses another of my favorite portraits by Sargent—Nonchaloir (Repose) (above). The subject’s relaxed position and the way the skirt of her dress sits next to her like a companion fills my heart to bursting with happiness. The dress-as-identity became one of my favorite subjects. Years ago I bought swaths of fabric to mimic the lushness of the dresses…

BEHIND THE SCENES The Landscape Painter’s Workbook: Essential Studies in Shape, Composition and Color (Rockport Publishers), is a long-awaited second book by artist, writer and instructor Mitchell Albala. He illustrates his teaching with more than 80 paintings by 45 contemporary landscape painters, accompanied with diagrams, thumbnails and photos. Ten exercises—all appropriate for oil, watercolor, acrylic and pastel—help artists, from beginners to experienced, apply the lessons and build their skills. 3-D PAINTING With acrylic paints by Gaffrey Art Material, you can create sculptural acrylic paintings without adding gels, pastes or other mediums. Gaffrey’s heavy texture acrylics are unique for their smoothly spreadable texture that holds a peak without sagging. Also available are Gaffrey’s medium viscosity acrylics. Paints and materials can be purchased separately or, for those who prefer some guidance, in…

MAKE DISCOVERIES Tarducci considers herself a mostly self-taught artist, although she was certainly inspired by her two artistic parents who shared their passion with their children. “They took us to museums all the time. Art was always a big part of our lives,” she says. “What I discovered, as a child, was that I was drawn to the really big pieces. I liked the idea of becoming part of the artwork—to feel that I was a part of something bigger than myself.” In this way, the artist learned that scale was something that moved her. Later, when she was a university student at Georgetown, studying languages, Tarducci still enjoyed going to museums. “I would spend endless hours in the East Wing of the National Gallery. I’d sit there in the…

I decided to paint a trompe l’oeil still life of a sailor’s valentine. In the 18th century, European sailors brought home boxes decorated with colorful seashells arranged in the shape of hearts or nautical symbols as messages of longing and remembrance for loved ones at home. Made by women in the port towns of Barbados, the shell designs were glued inside shallow wooden boxes. With a simple procedure of sealing wood, one can paint directly on a panel, such as a cigar box or wine crate. To capture the look of shells and rough wood, I used a wine-crate panel, onto which I arranged shells in a heart shape. The pine grain in these panels is strikingly clear and beautiful. It offsets the shell textures effectively. 1 I first made…

Jason Line grew up in an artistic household and fondly remembers trips to museums and galleries as a child. Encouraged by a high school teacher, he studied in the English art school system, first at Camberwell College of Arts, in London, and then at Gloucestershire College of Art, in Cheltenham. After college he moved back to London and took classes with June Collier, a former student of Frank Auerbach. Collier encouraged her students to engage in lengthy and searching observation of a subject, and Line’s interest in close observation eventually led him to still life. He has also done extensive commissioned work for television and film, including painted backdrops and settings for The Crown and the movie The Danish Girl. He has exhibited his paintings widely in the U.K. and,…

Like most representational painters, Noel faces decisions regarding how fully a painting should be finished. In practice, he seems to stop his paintings when the form has achieved a readable clarity and when the light is balanced throughout the picture. Details and secondary forms are often omitted or understated. A sense of roughness, brevity or ‘unfinish’ feed his intuitions about whether or not a painting feels right. “Finding the beauty of the color is so important, and hyperrealist accumulation of detail can be a hindrance,” he says. “I try to be as true as I can in the assessment of visual facts, but that’s not the point of painting. Light, air, flow, musicality—those are my priorities.” He goes on to explain, “Sometimes accumulations of detail intensify the presence of an…

Themes and stories are important to me, and I can get obsessive in playing out a visual theme. Usually, I’ll plan and paint several works at one time, but this series is different; it has been on-going for years, and although I’ve used only one model, the moods change from piece to piece. The first painting, Will You ... , included a hand-written text because I wanted to mimic sidewalk chalk writing. The second painting includes a neon sign because I’m currently fascinated with adding glowing effects to everything. My plans for the third piece will depend on the visuals that draw me next.…

New York THE SLIPSTREAM: REFLECTION, RESILIENCE AND RESISTANCE IN THE ART OF OUR TIME BROOKLYN MUSEUM • NEW YORK THROUGH MARCH 20, 2022 BROOKLYNMUSEUM.ORG “The Slipstream: Reflection, Resilience and Resistance in the Art of Our Time” features more than 60 artworks created from the 1960s into the present day—primarily by artists of color. The pieces are from the Brooklyn Museum’s contemporary art collection and are organized into seven themed sections: collective power, family ties, spiritual wellbeing, relationships to nature and the simple rituals of daily life. “Borrowing its title from an aeronautical term that refers to the pull of the current that’s left in the wake of a large and powerful object, the exhibition examines the placement and displacement of power that runs throughout American history and continues today,” says…

My first encounter with Old Master prints was as a teenager when I served as an intern for my university’s art museum. It was the summer between my sophomore and junior years, and for lack of any other professional ambition, I’d decided to major in art history. The museum job was a sort of half-hearted step toward developing a professional skill set. The plan backfired: I was so enraptured by the art I handled that I left school the following semester and went to work learning to draw on my own. It was the art, not the study of it, that would become my career. I soon realized that, of course, these two realms are far from being mutually exclusive. Art history had inspired me to begin drawing; likewise, drawing…

Being a self-taught painter, I often feel as if I haven’t quite “got it”—so I love wandering through art books and finding a masterpiece that speaks to an issue I’m struggling with. My goal is to figure out how a great artist addressed the same problem. I get comfortable, enjoy a few minutes of passive admiration and then get to work. Frustration with my compositions led me to the painting Ernesta (Child With Nurse), left, by Cecilia Beaux (1855–1942). The artist grew up in Philadelphia, studied in Paris and became a sought-after portraitist. She sometimes depicted her subjects in dynamic positions, using unusual compositions that look as if they were cropped from a snapshot. At the same time, the paintings display an unmistakably formal quality; they’re visually balanced and completely…

Portrait / Figure FIRST PLACE Ava Liberace Vienna, Virginia Bill in Blue (colored pencil and chalk on paper, 12x9) A family friend, Bill, has an at-rest expression that’s both stern and gentle. In creating his portrait, I pulled away from the gray of graphite and charcoal, choosing a less traditional color to give the classical realism a contemporary feel. To capture Bill’s look, I created an entanglement of light and ultramarine blue, using tapered crosshatch marks and saturated accents to weave together the edges of light and dark masses. As I strove to replicate every crevice and scintillation of light, this tapestry of details slowly formed a picture of Bill. SECOND PLACE Lee-Ann Kao Zionville, Indiana Peace in Pandemonium (graphite on paper, 18x12) I challenged myself to address the two…

DANCE AS AN ART FORM encapsulates the social conventions and fashion of a particular point in time. Capturing movement and the emotional component that often accompanies a situation where people are dancing poses particular challenges, both aesthetic and technical, for an artist. Examining paintings and sculptures from the ancient Greeks and Egyptians through the Renaissance up to today reveals how artists have solved the problems and communicated the complexity of their time by freezing a moment of the ever-changing human form in the act of dancing. Images of Dance from Ancient History Dance, music and art seem to have evolved simultaneously in human history and were often connected to religious events, such as funerals. The earliest known depictions of dance came from rock carvings and pottery in Egypt during the…

Scott Noel studied at Washington University, in St. Louis, before moving to Philadelphia in 1978. He furthered his studies at Tyler University, in Texas, and briefly at Yale before beginning his career as a teacher. He has been a member of the faculty of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts since 1996. Noel has exhibited his work in the U.S. in more than 40 major shows. His paintings may be found in many public and private collections, including the Museum of the Pennsylvania Academy and the Woodmere Art Museum, both in Philadelphia, and the Arkansas Arts Center. He has received fellowships from the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, the Independence Foundation and the Bader Fund. Gross McCleaf Gallery, in Philadelphia, represents Noel’s work and is featuring it in a solo…

For decades, New York City’s Whitney Museum of American Art has presented the Whitney Biennial, the longest running survey by a major museum showcasing what is happening in contemporary American art. These exhibitions were initiated in 1932 by the museum’s founder, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942). Between 1937 and 1972, the museum shifted to annual surveys; the current biennial schedule has been in place since 1973. Over the years, more than 3,600 artists working in a wide range of media have exhibited their creations in these exhibitions, and having one’s work chosen for a Whitney Biennial is a rite of passage for artists seeking recognition today. The upcoming Whitney Biennial was originally scheduled for the spring of 2021 but, due to COVID-related delays and political turmoil, has been rescheduled to April…