Download PDF - ARTisSpectrum

Jim CobbPhiladelphia artist Jim Cobb creates dreamy, vibrantrepresentational and abstract images that go beyondtraditional constraints of line and form to express the emotionsthat lie within. Through his work, he masterfully transcends thesolidity of his subjects, layering color and form so that objectsare seen and then evaporate as the things that surround themcome to crowd their space. Thus, his paintings evolve intoethereal images, where one object bleeds into the next, leavingnothing defined and all subject to the viewer’s perspective andinterpretation.Fueled by a career that involved foreign assignments in Europeand Japan, Cobb’s art reflects these life experiences, highlightingall he has come to love about both Western and Asian art. Inapproaching his work, he paints how he feels and allows the restto evolve as it will. What results are paintings that inspire quietobservation and emotion in the viewer, devoid of challenge orconfrontation, giving that viewer a space in which to contemplatethe world in new, previously unexplored ways. As Cobb himselfexplains: “When we as artists share our feelings through spots ofcolor, we hope for a spark which will lead to the beauty aroundus. We understand that the object and its shadow are illusions.Only the feeling is real.”Rainy Night Oil on Canvas 24” x 36”www.jimcobbpainter.comwww.Agora-Gallery.com/ArtistPage/Jim_Cobb.aspxMaría José AlbaLouis Amstrong Oil on Canvas 31.5” x 31.5”For Spanish artist María José Alba, painting offers anopportunity to create a more meaningful connection betweenpast and present. Her Pop Art compositions are filled withnostalgic Americana, some clearly informed by a period duringwhich she lived in Texas. Neither overly stylized nor hyperrealist,her bright compositions feature rural and urban scenes, still lifesand portraits. She relishes the iconography of country life, markedwith knowing nods to American artists like Andy Warhol (in a gasstation sign’s iconic logo) and Georgia O’Keefe (with a bull skullhanging on a road sign). Alba also finds powerful subjects injazz musicians, painting their stylish clothes and focused facialexpressions against warm, monochrome backdrops.Something about her style of presentation, the way objects andfigures seem to hang not so much in their surroundings but ontop of them as if floating against a trompe l’oeil backdrop, lendsa self-awareness and complexity to these nostalgic images.Alba portrays these idealized pasts as partly imaginary, memorycommingled with fantasy. In doing so she acknowledges the everevolvingcomplexity of our relationship to our past and its constantly shifting influence on our present and future. These vividimages full of textures, smells and sounds transport the viewer to a shared vision of the glorious past.www.Agora-Gallery.com/ArtistPage/Maria_Jose_Alba.aspx57 ARTisSpectrum