TRXTR – Bi-Polar Dive [2008]

After studying fine art, printmaking and sculpture with a focus on anti-war and anti-art art, TRXTR spent his time producing biodegradable natural sculptures in hidden landscapes across the UK and USA. Chemical based photographs were the only evidence of this work. This involvement with photography led him into alternative filmmaking with the Bristol Filmmakers Co-operative. During his three years of composing music for films with this organization, TRXTR became increasingly interested in the freedom and creative flexibility of digital imaging. His artwork displays a distinctive style that fuses layer upon layer of digital collage with hand-finished effects on archival canvas.

[Mixed media on canvas, 80 x 60 cm]

Patrick Faulhaber – Route 66 [1997]

Patrick Faulhaber’s (born Dallas, Texas, 1946) paintings, notable for their diminutive scale, capture the spirit and poetry of forsaken places, the ordinary and often abandoned outskirts of his hometown, Dallas. While his work could be defined as photorealist, so precise and accomplished is his painting technically, these miniature, meticulous renderings of motels, carnivals, bars, burger joints, taco stands and liquor stores are instead psychologically arresting and imbued with emotional nuance.

[Oil on wood, 12.7 x 19.05 cm]

Shaun Ferguson – Blue Room

A graduate from the Royal Academy Schools and previous outright winner of the Discerning Eye, New Discovery Award (at the time the largest financial award bestowed on any artists in an open competition in the UK) Shaun’s work has been praised by critics and is held in major private and public collections around the world.

“Capturing people in quiet moment of reverie and achieving a balance between paint and subject matter are my aims with the paintings. To both represent and give some inner life to a figure is a compelling and often elusive challenge”

[Acrylic on board, 20 x 16 inches]

Roberta Serenari – Homage to Balthus [2003]

Roberta Serenari was born in Bologna, Italy in 1957 where she lives and works.

See: http://www.robertaserenari.com/

[Oil on canvas, 120 x 130 cm

Balthus – The Golden Days [1944-46]

Balthasar Kłossowski de Rola (Paris, February 29, 1908 – Rossinière, Switzerland, February 18, 2001), known as Balthus, was an esteemed but controversial Polish/French modern artist. Moving in 1933 into his first Paris studio Balthus showed no interest in modernist styles such as Cubism. His paintings often depicted pubescent young girls in erotic and voyeuristic poses.

One of the most notorious works from his first exhibition in Paris was The Guitar Lesson (1934), which caused controversy due to its sexually explicit depiction of a girl arched on her back over the lap of her female teacher, whose hands are positioned on the girl as for playing the guitar: one near her exposed crotch, another grasping her hair.

James Alexander Simpson – Mary Ellen Stonestreet Hoffar [c.1840]

James Alexander Simpson (Georgetown, District of Columbia, 1805 – Baltimore, Maryland, 1880) was an American artist.

[Oil on canvas mounted on paperboard, 75.6 x 63.0 cm]

Una d’Aragona – I would sleep in the Stable with my Horse if I Could [2009]

Una d’Aragona was born in 1956 in Bromley, Kent, United Kingdom. She attended Morley College, London (2001-2002) and received a B.A. in Fine Art (First Class) from the University College Falmouth (2002-2009).

“In my paintings, I am attempting to articulate the shifting scenery of an internal landscape and primarily the mental space in relation to the outer world. I am interested in the liminal areas where boundaries are crossed and transgressions are made both psychologically and formally and the ability of painting to reflect and evoke these unseen worlds. The words are primarily large scale and process driven, materially abstract in nature with instances of figuration. A straightforward narrative is interrupted in order that viewers can complete or construct their own story and response.”

[Oil on canvas, 100 x 120 cm]

Marie Laurencin – Three Creole Women [1929]

Marie Laurencin (October 31, 1883 – June 8, 1956) was a French painter and printmaker. Laurencin was born in Paris where she was raised by her mother and lived much of her life. When she was 18 years old, she studied porcelain painting in Sèvres. She then returned to Paris and continued her art education at Académie Humbert, where she changed her focus to oil on canvas.

During the early years of the 20th century, Laurencin was an important figure of the Parisian avant-garde and a member of the circle of Pablo Picasso. She became romantically involved with Picasso’s friend, the poet Guillaume Apollinaire and has often been remembered as his muse. In addition, Laurencin had important connections to the literary salon of the American expatriate and famed lesbian writer Natalie Clifford Barney.

During the period of the First World War, Laurencin left France for exile in Spain with her German born husband, Baron Otto von Waëtjen, since through her marriage she had automatically lost her French citizenship. The couple subsequently lived together briefly in Düsseldorf. After they divorced in 1920, she returned to Paris, where she lived for the remainder of her life and achieved great success as an artist.

Gertrude Abercrombie – White Cat [c.1935-38]

For information about this artist see Friday, July 24, 2009 posting or click on label.

[Oil on canvas, 91.5 x 76.5 cm]

Morena Morini – Silence [2009]

Morena Morini (born Teramo, Italy, May 9, 1967) is an Italian artist. He lives and works in Teramo and is self-taught. His artistic search is dedicated to the detailed study of the figure. His figures, introduced like memories or nostalgia, are thinly veiled with melancholy. {Translated from Italian}

[Mixed media on canvas, 100 x 100 cm]