Profiles of Contemporary Art and - ARTisSpectrum

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Moving the goal posts. When I created my first art with a list, it was the furthest thing from my mind that I would do so many of them. It just felt so good to do them; I completed a half-dozen before I knew it. This gave me enough confidence to aim for twenty — a good, worthy, imminently doable goal. But I had more ideas in my quiver, so I kept going. Quite honestly, I liked setting an artistic goal, and then breaking it. So I set another. I decided to aim for forty of fifty paintings, write a corresponding piece of poetry for each, and publish it as a book. By the time it came out as “Art of Lists,” I had dozens of subsequent paintings to pursue, so I set another goal: “Art of More Lists.” The same thing happened when I achieved this goal. I am now working on the sequel to the sequel, a volume called “Art of Even More Lists.” My point here is not a plea to publish, but rather the appeal of pushing yourself with achievable markers. It’s like losing weight. If your aim is 75 pounds, it can be discouraging. But if you aim for ten and it makes you feel good, you will then continue for the next ten, and the next ten. The journey of these mini-goals becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Living on adrenaline. In my most prolific phase, I found myself so enamored with this series; I could easily paint until four or five in the morning. I often worked on several pieces at the same time. Sometimes I would paint by night, and create photo references by day. I once actually postponed a vacation rather than depart in the middle of a painting. I can’t help but think that this is a good thing. Undoubtedly, it’s a high. It suggests that your creative juices are racing through your veins, your brain, and your total being. It means that you are onto something that feels completely relevant to you, and essential to pursue. During this time, I was consumed with one word: more. I wish that feeling for every artist. It’s better than any drug. Tired vs. Exhausted There’s a good chance that you’ll feel that you are ready to head towards great undiscovered terrain prematurely. After all, you are tired of working in the same vein. The lure of the unknown beckons. And yet, I remind myself that painters far more accomplished than I have cultivated their own signature style over many, many years. Picasso stayed in his blue period for three years. Roy Lichtenstein created his comic book images for seven. Jackson Pollack continued his splatter work until he died. I once told a fine artist that I thought it was time for me to move on to the next thing. He disagreed. “No, you are not done with this,” he advised. And then he told me something rather mystical. “It’s not completely your decision,” he cautioned. “The work itself will tell you when it’s time to move on. In some way, it will announce to you that this journey is exhausted. You just need to be attuned, aware, and objective enough to hear it and see it.” So I continue. As the Wiz said, “Ease on down the road.” I still have ideas for a few dozen more paintings in this series. It’s a pipeline, and I am not prepared to jettison it until I find something that excites me as much. But I am beginning to experiment with other completely new avenues. I did one a few months ago and liked what it represented. It spurred several ideas in that direction. Then I went back to my “Art of More Lists.” Last month, I headed in a completely different direction. That intrigues me as well. Again, I returned to “Art of Even More Lists.” Obviously, I am not done with it. However, it is telling that I now wish to play in other areas. Maybe I will never completely leave home. Despite my apparent fatigue with this series, I have grown very attached to it. It’s been like a marriage. I have given much to it, and it has given me years of happiness and artistic growth in return. The thought of never doing another list truly saddens me. So I will not say goodbye to it. By the same token, I cannot feel trapped. In the vernacular of shrinks, perhaps it is time for a more mature, open relationship. My current thinking is that I will continue to create work in this series, but I will definitely explore new artistic avenues. Maybe one will speak to me, and demand my full attention. Part of me really hopes so. Part of me also knows that when that occurs it will be one bittersweet day. John Nieman is a fine artist who lives in the United States. He worked for many years in marketing before turning his considerable visual talents to professional art. His work has been included in a number of national and international shows. 100 ARTisSpectrum
Deeply rhythmic in her dynamic, soulful abstractions, painter Shenna Vaughn evokes the pulse of contemporary humanity. Using vibrant, warm colors, Vaughn creates stirringly poetic compositions of vivacious shape and form. Biomorphic, curvaceous circles are juxtaposed with sharp, jutting lines, suggesting the diversity of human emotion and feeling. Bravely daring us to confront our feelings directly, the artist symbolizes through paint the plethora of passions and sensations we are challenged by daily. Vaughn carefully, dexterously applies her paints with a smooth, pristine finish, suggesting the neat veneer that most of us wear in our public life. But she also penetrates into our psyches through her energetic, spirited compositions, questioning the boundaries of fantastical imagination and the authenticity of reality. With a Bachelor’s degree from Hunter College in Manhattan, Shenna Vaughn has exhibited her work throughout New York City. She lives and works in Jamaica, Queens, and volunteers her time for painting murals with New York Cares. www.vongodesigns.com www.Agora-Gallery.com/Artistpage/Shenna_Vaughn.aspx Shenna Vaughn Mental Chaos 2 Acrylic on Canvas 48” x 36” Júlia Fernández Eva Oil on Canvas 24” x 20” Opening windows on cryptically skewed realities, the art of Júlia Fernández offers viewers a glimpse into the artist’s fantastic visions of impossible, living worlds. With a keen eye for detail and a mysterious and haunting emotional poignancy, Fernández works in oils on canvas bring to life visual meditations in paint as she blends together surreal and hyperreal elements. Mystical entities emerge from the depths of the artist’s subconscious with an intriguingly striking duality of place and time. Dynamically immersed in their surroundings, these enigmatic, super-human figures become sphinx-like apparitions within a narrative of dreams. Leaving behind a life of factories and fumes, Fernández leapt into her art with great energy and determination after a heartbreaking personal loss, feeling an undeniable drive to express herself and create works of beauty and optimism to touch viewers’ spirits. Born in Spain, she is mainly self-taught as an artist, and having become a virtuoso in paint through years of practice she now exhibits internationally. www.pinturasjulia.net www.Agora-Gallery.com/ArtistPage/Julia_Fernandez.aspx Within the visionary images of Teresa Young’s fantasy worlds one finds a dreamlike molecular abstraction. Tightly crafted forms of line are joined and piled layer on layer, building cell-like structures and figures of abstraction that hint at hidden realities. Young’s creations are composites of her imagination, distorted realities of the mind referencing the natural world in fragmented segments and pieces. Faces and eyes emerge within the surreal, swirling visions of Young’s subconscious, bringing clarity as they become emotional focal points to rest upon within the atmospheric ripples of space. Mastering many mediums, Young’s detail-driven works are drawn in ink and pencil on paper, painted in acrylic on canvas, and created as luminous transparencies painted on glass, as she pulls her inspiration directly from the depths of her own mind. A naturally prolific artist even from an early age, Teresa Young came back to pursue her creative aspirations seriously only recently, with a renewed drive to express herself creatively as she finds growing international success. Teresa Young www.teresa-young.net www.Agora-Gallery.com/ArtistPage/Teresa_Young.aspx Blue Abstract Acrylic on Canvas 23” x 19” 101 ARTisSpectrum
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ARTisSpectrum Volume 25 The Chelsea
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Forthcoming Exhibitions Summer Exhi
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ARTisSpectrum Publisher Agora Galle
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Profiles If you like to keep up-to-
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Iva Milanova Belief Oil on Canvas 3
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Professional artist wasn’t your f
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Flavio Pellegrino Flavio Pellegrino
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Pilar Fernandez Duarte Spanish arti
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Robert Beverly Hale teaching at the
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ARTisSpectrum Magazine Silver Editi
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25 ARTisSpectrum
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The Synergy of Success ...Why Agora
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The Synergy of Success ...Why Agora
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THE SYNERGY AT AGORA GALLERY CREATE
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Jazz Baby Oil & Acrylic on Canvas 4
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Anti Liu Anti Liu’s sensitive yet
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Ford Weisberg Elegantly smooth in t
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Susannah Virginia Griffin Competing
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Chritch Chritch in her Studio Forei
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Carolyn Rogers Elio Talon Audacious
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Raul Cantu El Nucleo Giclee Print o
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Kenji Inoue Let`s go Drive Acrylic
Page 49 and 50: Carmen Sotuela With a boldly toned
Page 51 and 52: sometimes undetectable to us; it is
Page 53 and 54: VéroniKaH Self-taught artist Véro
Page 55 and 56: Betsey Chesler day, including class
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Page 59 and 60: Tamara Dimitroff Tamara Dimitroff l
Page 61 and 62: Masoud Abedi We are often outsiders
Page 63 and 64: Dr. Caroline Josephs PhD Sydney --
Page 65 and 66: Susannah Virginia Griffin It was an
Page 67 and 68: Mary Nangah My experience in NYC as
Page 69 and 70: Wendy Cohen Life is meant to be ext
Page 71 and 72: Umeko Okano Japanese artist Umeko O
Page 73 and 74: InDy (Didier Bovard) For Didier Bov
Page 75 and 76: Thierry Fazian Caribbean artist Thi
Page 77 and 78: Chantal Westby Learned and formally
Page 79 and 80: Eberhard Marx’s oil on canvas and
Page 81 and 82: those materials that lie before her
Page 83 and 84: Gary Hong Patricia Brintle Brillian
Page 85 and 86: documentary film and anything in be
Page 87 and 88: Portland Art Museum presents Mole F
Page 89 and 90: When asked about the work Broken Ci
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Page 93 and 94: Becky Franco Twilight Oil on Canvas
Page 95 and 96: An imaginative spirit dances throug
Page 97 and 98: Rosa Ibarra Every stop on Rosa Ibar
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Page 107 and 108: Carol Grief by Michel Picotte in th
Page 109 and 110: W. Waller: Through the artist, Mich
Page 115 and 116: Berlin by Iva Milanova Berlin is kn
Page 117 and 118: Prague by Rumen Sazdov “Prague Ma
Page 119 and 120: Toronto by Bisa Bennett Toronto is
Page 121 and 122: Sydney by Joolie Green Sydney is so
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