Light My Life

David Bowers, born 1956 in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania and graduated from art school in Pittsburgh in 1979.  He began working as a staff artist at various studios in Pittsburgh.  Two years later, David began teaching at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh where he lectured for ten years.  This job was perfect for Bowers at the time due to the short hours in the classroom.  These short workdays enabled a lot of free time to perfect his painting technique before he entered the illustration field.

Fragmented Homemaker | Oil on mansonite | 17" x 14 1/2"

Waiting for Spring | Oil on linen | 18" x 12"

Birdkeeper II | Oil on mansonite | 17 3/4" x 14 1/2 "

Birdkeeper III | Oil on panel | 22" x 14"

Leda and the Swan | Oil on linen | 20" x 24"

Little Tiny | Oil on panel | 11" x 11"

The Three Graces | Oil on linen | 24" x 22"

State of the Nation | Oil on wood | 13 1/2" x 21"

The Cock Thief | Oil on linen | 18" x 18"

The Tool Guy | Oil on panel | 18" x 14"

Life Lines (Self Portrait) | Oil on Panel | 16" x 20"

On the Edge | Oil on panel | 15.3" x 20"

Daddy’s Girl | Oil on linen | 30′ x 20′

The Secret | Oil on panel | 14" x 20"

Claudio Edinger was born in Rio de Janeiro, May 3rd ,1952. His photographs have appeared in major magazines around the world, including Stern, The New York Times, London Sunday Times, Vanity Fair, Frankfurter Allgemeine, El País, Time, Paris Match, Newsweek and many more. His work has been exhibited at the ICP New York, the Pompidou Center, France, Photographer’s Gallery, Eng- land, Perpignan Photo Fest, France, Higashikawa Photo Fest, Japan, Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Museu de Imagem e do Som, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Instituto Cultural Itau, Casa da Cultura Judaica, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, among others. He has been twice awarded the Leica Medal of Excellence, The Ernst Hass Award, Pictures of the Year Award (1996) and the Higashikawa Award in 1999 for foreign photographer of the year, among other honors. His work is in the collection of the International Center of Photography, Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Itau Cultural, Pirelli Collection, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Higashikawa Photo Fest, Metronom Barcelona, among many others. He lives in São Paulo, Brazil.

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awards, grants & honors | Leica Medal of Excellence twice - Chelsea Hotel & Venice Beach | Life magazine Award, Finalist of W. Eugene Smith Grant 1989 - Madness |  Ernst Haas Award 1990 - Madness  | One of the year’s best books - American Photo 1997 - Old Havana | Vitae Foundation Scholarship, 1993, Brazilian Carnaval  | Japan Foundation Scholarship, Hong Kong Project 1997  | Pictures of the Year 1996, Best Photo in a Magazine/Newsweek  | Higashikawa Award (Japan) - Best Foreign Photographer, 1999 - Carnaval  | PDN Photo Annual 2003 - One of the year’s best personal projects - Rio  | PDN Photo Annual 2006 - One of the year’s best books - Rio |  Prêmio Porto Seguro 2007 – São Paulo 4x5

The photographs for this portrait series were taken in various locations around the world between 1987 and 2005.

The Gerontology Research Group estimates there are 250,000 centenarians (people 100 years and older) currently living in the world. In rare instances, people live to 110 years and beyond, inspiring a new demographic label: supercentenarian. The Gerontology Research Group, through rigorous investigation of records, acknowledges about 65 supercentenarians, and estimates that about 350 are alive worldwide today.

The idea to photograph people who have lived in three centuries evolved over the course of the project. First, I was simply interested in taking portraits of people who appear worn beyond their years by living extraordinarily hard lives. Those experiences drew me to centenarians, and on to supercentenarians and their stories.

People consistently ask the same questions when viewing the portraits: How does a person live to be 114 years old? What do these long-lived people have in common that makes many of them look younger than people in their 90s, 80s and even 70s? The notes on aging is a short review of the current research on longevity.

The experience of talking with a 110 year-old man whose father stood next to Abraham Lincoln during the Gettysburg Address does not easily lend itself to words. A photograph seemed appropriate.

Mark Story, September, 2005

110 year 115 day-old* man of German and Irish descent. Several of his grandparents lived past 100. He served in the Army in World Wars I and II and then worked as a railroad brakeman. During the Depression he traveled much of the country riding the rails with hobos. At 102, he was walking ten miles a day. Now he walks three miles a day and can still read the bottom three lines on an eye chart. He gave up drinking in his 60s, but smoked into his 80s. He continues to work a few hours a week at a tanning salon/espresso cafe. He said, "I still chase good-looking women around. I just can’t catch up with them — my legs don’t work fast enough."

*not verified by GRG

108 year-old American man of English descent. He grew up on a Montana ranch that he later inherited from his father, who lived to 101. He had 1,500 head of cattle and rode Kentucky-bred horses. Fifty years ago he liked to drink whiskey and gamble. Now he’s into fitness; at 102 he was still doing thirty push-ups a day. He walks a mile to church every Sunday in his black cowboy boots, white suit, pink tie and Stetson hat. "I don’t drink, smoke or chase women;" he says, "they chase me."

105 year-old Italian man born in Sicily. 101 years ago, his family came to America on a boat; he remembers his mother negotiating for food for his family and waving at the Statue of Liberty. At 18, while working at a cement factory in Texas, the Black Hand (Mafia) threatened to "take" family members. To escape the pressures of extortion, his family moved to southern California. In the 1920s, he rode trains with hobos. While working in Yellowstone Park, he got to shake President Hoover’s hand. He opened a flower business when he was 40 and retired from it three times, finally retiring at the age of 89. On his 105th birthday, he had a couple of glasses of red wine and danced with the girls, his doctor and "the blonde nurse."

110 year 320 day-old American man of Native American, African American and Swedish descent — the 44th oldest living person in the world. His father stood on the platform next to President Abraham Lincoln as Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. His father was the illegitimate son of Lincoln’s Vice-President, Andrew Johnson, who became President after Lincoln’s assassination. He is quickwitted, opinionated, blind, talkative and one of the last living veterans of World War I. "Why have you lived this long?" I asked. He said, "I don’t fool around with women, beer, wine or whiskey."

72 year-old man, a wheat and lentil farmer. I asked him how he filled his time since he had retired twenty years ago. He replied, "Just sit around, I guess. That’s all there is to do here."

106 year-old Coeur d’Alene Native American woman, the oldest living tribe member. She helped her father farm and run steamboats. She married twice, first a traditional marriage that didn’t last long. Her second marriage lasted fifty years.

86 year-old Navajo Native American woman living near Canyon de Chelly, Arizona.

88 year-old Navajo Native American man living near Canyon de Chelly, Arizona.

90 year-old Navajo Native American man who spent much of his life working for the railroad in Arizona.

102 year-old Chinese man, a farmer who started working at age four. He had huge hands on a frail body. He said, "I would never stop working."

46 year-old Portuguese man. Deformed by polio and rickets, he used two crutches fashioned from tree branches to hold himself up as he watched a group of friends play cards. His friends teased him and laughed with him — they said they loved him. He seemed to have a great sense of humor about his condition.

42 year-old Cherokee Native American man who had been living homeless on the streets of Los Angeles for seventeen years. He said, "Being homeless is better than living on a reservation."

Back from one of his trips abroad, Charley Case has brought a snake with him, enclosed in his stomach. Could it be the Kundalini? Wrapped around the base of his spinal cord, this formidable source of energy is capable of activating the conscience in a flash. That is the background, but rest assured: there is no need to master the Hindu or Buddhist nomenclature in order to penetrate the artist’s rich and protean world. Charley Case is by no means a New Age theoretician: his references to the secular culture of India are always skilfully blended with humour and fun. For instance, the parasite, which in the end exited through his lower body, took on the form of a luminous snake (“The return”). Additionally, he instils new energy into previous research: a character with arms and legs spread, based on the famous drawing by Leonardo da Vinci, which he used formerly to produce a troubling human roasting, is reinterpreted in many different ways, as a symbol of energy and geometry. The snake unites the space from bottom to top: at the top of the staircase, the artist has produced a “Galactic Vortex” – earth deposited in concentric circles on glass, giving the effect of a huge x-ray. The wheel (chakra in Sanskrit) is found throughout the exhibition, for instance the immense wall painting which greets visitors: this spiral consisting of a multitude of humanoids, the signature of the artist, imbues the wall with new symbolic and imaginary dimensions. In a successful attempt to renew a venerable genre, Charley Case has also produced two tondi, awash with the same crowd of unrestrained characters.

However enigmatic it may be, the title of the exhibition – which is also the title of a series of twelve new videos – should, however, be taken literally: “NOW WON”, the present has won. The terms are anacyclic, suggesting the idea of balance. While his film [Entre] explored the concepts of duality, and “Out of Time” erased the idea of duration, Charley Case intends to concentrate on the “here and now” with “NOW WON”. “When the past and future disappear, the present can be fully embraced”. The image of this newly-found unity is the sphere. From this point of view, “Antenna Siesta” embodies the whole meaning of the exhibition. A direct descendant of the now famous “ Nemawashi Cacahuète”, the installation consists of a semi-sphere made from a rigid, translucent synthetic material combined with nine short films projected onto a rectangular block, three by three. While the peanut encouraged people to move within its organic form, “Antenna Siesta” invites them to renew their strength through immobility. Seated cross-legged or curled up in the foetal position, spectators find themselves in a place between heaven and earth, where the sound is deformed. Does not all the unhappiness of people come from their inability to remain at rest, in a sphere? Placed in a public arena (the Galeries de la Reine in Brussels), “Antenna siesta” has aroused very different reactions, recorded by a discrete camera attached vertically, whose images are part of the nine films projected. Diogenes, whose wisdom was probably not unconnected with life in a circular habitat, is seen alongside sewer workers coming out of the earth, and the artist’s young son, filmed shortly after his birth through a deforming globe. The editing, which is random in appearance only, manages to correspond the images of a cobra in its basket with that of the semi-sphere occupied by a visitor.

The idea of the couple permeates “NOW WON”, more to evoke complementarity (however problematic this may be sometimes) than duality. In “Pi au Carré”, the camera focuses on the fingers of two pianists, a man and woman, during their performance of a Rachmaninov four-hand sonata: they both devote themselves entirely to the common performance while remaining in their separate worlds – the fusion is created via the music. This complementarity can be found in a number of drawings and watercolours produced by Charley in collaboration with his partner, Ana: from the formless stains she deposits on the paper at the start, he produces images that are sometimes amusing, sometimes troubling. The quasi-psychoanalytical or even therapeutic dimension of the gesture speaks volumes. The series produced in this way are described by the artist as “oracles” in which the present consists of the past and future.

Faithful to his habits, Charley Case collaborated on a number of works with other artists and technicians. One of the “oracles” will be turned into an electronic version, accessible online. But the most spectacular collaboration is without question the exchange with the painter Robert Quint which resulted in an impressive triptych entitled “Zeitenbummler”, the inter-temporal stroller. Directly inspired by Hieronymus Bosch’s “The Garden of Earthly Delights”, the three paintings develop a complex iconography where the river of Paradise might possibly evoke the Ganges. The participants in the trance party featured on the upper part appear curiously to be destined for Hell: should the inclusion of the interpretation by Charley Case of Brueghel’s “Fall of Icarus” be seen as a warning to those who fly too close to the sun? The same theme is developed in a short film filmed in super 8 using psychedelic colours, where a Sadhu, in charge of ensuring that passers-by sample local hallucinogenic specialities, is playing with a human skull attached to a picket. Elsewhere, death itself, in the grip of an irrepressible fit of giggles, appears to be trapped forever in a trip that could prove fatal. “En-transe”: that is the title of the book-portfolio consisting of 24 lithographs and seven films, accompanied by poems by Emmanuèle Sandron. Published by Bruno Robbe, the book enjoys a special presentation here.

Traditionally seen as the refuge for shaman ceremonies, the “Babel tepee” planted in the gallery by Charley Case is indirectly linked to Bosch and Brueghel in its evocation of a theme dear to both painters. Carried along by their frantic race to reach the summit, the humans on the canvas gradually turn into a shapeless mass. Their inevitable fall, painted inside, can be seen through the canvas on the outside. Salvation is to be found in the present moment, tinged with magic, which the artist tirelessly pursues in his photographs: the cloud-carrier, the diver frozen in the instant in which his body becomes a sphere, and the child hiding behind the headless Buddha.

Pierre-Yves Desaive in Aeroplastics Contemporary catalogue

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Inner out

2005 | encre & lavis sur papier | 25 x 17 cm

2005 | encre & lavis sur papier | 25 x 17 cm

2005 | encre & lavis sur papier | 25 x 17 cm

2005 | encre & lavis sur papier | 25 x 17 cm

2005 | encre & lavis sur papier | 25 x 17 cm

2005 | encre & lavis sur papier | 25 x 17 cm

2005 | encre & lavis sur papier | 25 x 17 cm

2005 | encre & lavis sur papier | 25 x 17 cm

Oraculo del Istante

2005 | pointe Bic & encre de chine sur Ecoline | 9 x 13,5 cm

2005 | pointe Bic & encre de chine sur Ecoline | 9 x 13,5 cm

2005 | pointe Bic & encre de chine sur Ecoline | 9 x 13,5 cm

2005 | pointe Bic & encre de chine sur Ecoline | 9 x 13,5 cm

2005 | pointe Bic & encre de chine sur Ecoline | 9 x 13,5 cm

2005 | pointe Bic & encre de chine sur Ecoline | 9 x 13,5 cm

2005 | pointe Bic & encre de chine sur Ecoline | 9 x 13,5 cm

2005 | pointe Bic & encre de chine sur Ecoline | 9 x 13,5 cm

Carol Rhodes (scottish, born 1959) was born in Edinburgh. She grew up in Bengal and returned to the United Kingdom at the age of fourteen to complete her education. She studied painting at Glasgow School of Art from 1977 to 1982. After a five-year gap, Rhodes resumed painting in 1990 and held her first solo exhibition in 1998. She is known for her paintings of fictional, apparently insignificant, landscapes which are usually viewed from an aerial perspective, which makes them look almost abstract. Rhodes lives and works in Glasgow.

Rhodes is drawn to painting areas of landscape which are familiar but commonly disregarded, such as service stations, car parks and airports. Her source material includes geography textbooks and aerial photographs. Rhodes paints the scenes on smooth boards, giving her paintings a detailed, enamel-like quality that is reminiscent of early Netherlandish pictures. She uses muted colours and an even light, which serve to emphasise the effects of any shadows or strong colour added. Rhodes makes a deliberate contrast between the small scale, on which she works, and the often huge area she depicts.

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Click the image for a
full size enlargemen

Service Station | 1998 | Oil on board | 46.90 x 47.10 cm

Industrial Belt | 2006 | oil on MDF panel | 71.5 x 81 cm

Black River |2005 | oil on MDF panel | 20 x 57 cm

Coal | 2008/9 | oil on MDF panel | 54 x 64 cm

Compound and Slope | 2008 | oil on MDF panel | 64 x 54 cm

Flood Area | 2005 | oil on MDF panel | 50 x 57 cm

Operations | 2008 | oil on MDF panel | 46.5 x 50 cm

Town | 2005 | oil on MDF panel | 60 x 53.5 cm

Welcome. My name is José Ramos and I’m a nature/landscape photographer. I’ve developed an increasing interest in photography over the last years, and the passion grew so strong that this is the art I’ve chosen to express myself, as well as pay hommage to the beauty and power of the world which surrounds us. In the end, what matters to me is to be able to depict and create my own interpretation of what surrounds us, sharing my vision in the form of photography. I’m looking forward to hear from you. Please leave a message in the guestbook or contact me through email. All my images are available for sale. You can buy my prints at Untappedsource.com, Deviantart.com, or click on the "Buy Print" link located on each photo’s page.

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Do not trespass…

Do not trespass beyond this point. This warning includes the whole human race. Any further damage to the planet will be followed by severe punishment, carried by the natural law of the elements. You have been warned…

José Ramos

Alvor - Portugal

Frozen (E)motions

The stability of a controlled and tightly programmed world fights against the urgent need to part with the good old corroding routines. Inside the battle of inner opposing strengths, moving forward into the unknown always seems too much of a daunting task. Frozen in time we realize the infinity of options, and finally see the strings that pull our destiny. Frozen motion, frozen emotions…

José Ramos

Alvor - Portugal

Into the Iron Age….

This photo was shot on a portuguese Iron Age citadel called Citânia de Briteiros. It’s a vast complex of ruins, preety well conserved and maintained. It’s always a pleasure when the mind starts to wonder how ancient times were, how it would feel to have been there, breathing that air, living those lives, such different lives… In this image, you can see the ruins of one of the circular houses of the citadel, located on it’s highest point.

José Ramos

Guimarães - Citânia de Briteiros - Portugal

Quiescence…

Quiet… Quietness… Slumber… Calm…

Something in the air causing it…

Mistery… Adorement… Delight… Apotheosis… Light… Enchantment… Nature… Attraction…

Something between those words causing it…

Something…

José Ramos

Cabo Raso - Portugal

Slipstream

Held on a parallel dimension, and secured to the ground by the strong bonds of nature, I feel the world escaping through my fingers, in an endless motion in an endless time escaping… and returning… escaping… and returning…

José Ramos

Cabo Raso - Portugal

The Faith Woods…

"These woods whisper so loudly, and grow with such a brute force unto me, that no matter what, all I can do is to retreat to contemplation…" Entering into history and facts:

"The Convent of Capuchos of Sintra is one of the many examples of 16th century religious piety in Portugal and became known for the extreme simplicity of its construction. Built on a very small scale with cells and dormitory lined with cork and a chapel whose vault is formed by rock itself. The Convent followed the principle of universal fraternity and brotherhood of the Franciscan monks. The inhabitants belonged to the Province of Arrábida (South of Lisbon), of the Order of Friars Minor Regular and Observant (Grey Friars). The gateway to the Convent, a simple roof with a ceiling and wooden beams covered with cork, is a just expression of the privation and perseverance that guided this building, divested of decorative elements. Still occupied at the end of the 18th century, The Convent of Capuchos of Santa Cruz may have been abandoned in 1834 with the extinction of the religious orders determined by the liberal regime. The remaining artistic elements in the convent are now in a very bad condition, partly as a result of the passage of time, but mostly due to the vandalism this monument has suffered."

José Ramos

Photo taken at Convento dos Capuchos - Sintra

The Light Inside

Why chase light and bring it home stuck on a tight rectangle? Why wait and hold till it sparks? Why go? Why?

Just trying to lit the light I can’t find inside….

José Ramos

Ferragudo - Portugal

The Shipwreck

Life cycles pass so quick, and we often fail to realize their presence and endless motion. On the center, an abandoned shipwreck lost in shadows sets the example for the necessity of seizing life as it is, till it is no more…

José Ramos

Alvor - Portugal

The Soul Drift

"Why doesn’t the flow lead us to the tingling and innocent burning of our inner souls. Why does it make us captive and forgotten…?"

Inside me, this image exerts an extremely strong desire of returning to the womb. As we grow, we tend to get tied up on an increasingly complex web of pressure, demands and suffering that we never thought possible. A few times, we are violently pulled up from it and start wondering: "How have I lost it all? Who stole my innocence, my happiness amidst the simplest things?". I don’t know who stole mine… but I guess I’m the thief…. In the end, there’s just a huge mass of souls marching against the stream, farther away from the sun…

José Ramos

The Strange Blend

Once more I ventured to one of my dearest places, innocently hoping the world would show it’s real face to myself in that late afternoon. Twilights always intensely soothe my soul, along with a contradicting anxious excited heart, as if the next molecule of oxygen depended on the beauty of the landscape ahead… I could call it "aerobics of the soul", being the excitatory neurotransmiters my inner sweat, and the images taken the muscle cells that stregthen the body. After such strange reflection about ethereal physiology, there I was, facing another strange phenomena, the one where an exquisite blend of elements joins together, and gives sense to the beauty in diversity and contrast…

José Ramos

The Infinity Fountain

Once more, standing alone in front of another memory, I harvest my thoughts from the infinity fountain ahead. The cycle repeats, as I find myself pulled away from the tedious life of today, feeling I could grab the source and remain there silently… After one hour of search and 20 minutes waiting under a rock for the intense rain to stop, the skies finally opened to let the sun set in and show it’s strength. The beach was absolutely desert, and the next 30 minutes were made of pure photographic pleasure… I came home wet and cold, but my inside was warm and soothed…

José Ramos

Until the end…

Until the end shall we march together…. until the end shall we walk the final path united as one…..

As twilight arrives, I’d better hurry before it’s too late to be alive. You should hurry too…..

José Ramos

We had wings…

Remember when you were a kid, when you had wings and the world was simply a conceptual boundary of existence? It used to be fun, it used to be simple, it used to be magic. Suddenly, someone cuts your wings and you are left hopeless, stuck in the middle of nowhere, trying to achieve impossible goals with the weak bare feet of your human condition… The soil hurts like hell, and your tears are no longer recognized amidst the sweat of deception. This is what they call growing, the day someone cut your wings, and forgot to teach you how to fly again…

José Ramos

One thousand words cannot show you a painting, but a painting is worth a thousand words. Never the less I will briefly try to tell you about my art.

When I paint, I work intuitively. The objects I incorporate into my work are everyday things I see around me. I paint in and finish each object before I choose a next one for my work. I used to paint abstract compositions as well as surreal dreams. Abstraction left me cold and removed from reality. The surreal world I painted left me sad and alone. Magically both of these disciplines taught me to love the representational world more. Now in my representational world, there is a land, a tabletop, or a window. This show invites you to see how cherries can exist in an imaginary landscape, on a tabletop, or in and next to a window.  

When I paint in a cherry as if it were in the composition, its shadow falls on the ground, on the windowsill, or on the tabletop. When I paint in a cherry as if I had taped it on the painting, its shadow falls on the surface of the painting. This way I give you two worlds in one. I also use two light sources to further the elusion of two worlds existing at the same time and in the same place.  

You might ask why a cherry. I love cherries. Their shape is simple.  Red and yellow cherries are warm. Their surface is slick. They can be sweet or sour. Cherries have represented many things in art history. Painters have attributed love, passion, virginity, devotion, lust, life, and many other ideas to this small fruit. I like the ideas of simplicity and passion. For me, cherries are simple because they are round as was the first life forms. Cherries are passion because they come to us in the hot summer days when we are ready to feel the sun on our bodies and abandon the cold dark days of winter.       

"Ricardo’s paintings possess a close resemblance to Salvador Dali and Renè Magritte. Carbajal-Moss surfaces have the finish and sheen of Flemish painters from centuries ago. His style is meticulous. His surfaces are filled with oversized fruit, female nudes that are transmuting into wafer-thin forms, landscapes that contain elements of architectural interiors and little creatures you won’t find in any zoological text.

Like Dali and Magritte, Carbajal-Moss enjoys confusing the distinctions between architecture and landscape, cultural artifacts and nature."

By Robert L. Pincus

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A Bunch of Cherries | Acrylic on Canvas | 19.7 " x 11.8 "

Four Friends | Acrylic on Canvas | 19.7 " x 11.8 "

Golden Cherries | Acrylic on Canvas | 19.7 " x 11.8 "

Just One | Acrylic on Canvas | 19.7 " x 11.8 "

Mango Delight 13 | Acrylic on Canvas | 31.5 " x 23.6 "

Two Kinds of Friends | Acrylic on Canvas | 19.7 " x 11.8 "

Under the Bed | Acrylic on Canvas | 19.7 " x 11.8 "

MARS-1 (aka Mario Martinez) is a left-handed artist who spends most of his time in the right side of his brain, communicating through a visual language. His unique imagery explores possibilities of otherworldly existence through highly developed, multi-layered landscapes. Often employing a fuzzy-logic aesthetic, Mars-1’s artwork has a sentient appearance, like a tulpa—which in mysticism, is the concept of a materialized thought that manifests into physical form. His unique style has been described as urban-Gothic, sci-fi abstracted, quasi-organic form.

Early inspirations include: graffiti, animation, comic book characters, ufology, extraterrestrials, unexplored life, mysteries of the universe, alternate realities and the abstract quality of existence. At the age of 13, Mars-1 began writing graffiti in his hometown of Fresno. He later attended Academy of Art in San Francisco, where he currently lives and works, remaining heavily active in the city’s contemporary art scene.

The true meaning of Mars-1’s imagery is ultimately left to the viewer’s interpretation. The artist feels this brings his creations full-circle, encouraging his audience not only to decipher the messages he wishes to convey but to receive thoughts and ideas of their own, as well.

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Click the image for a full size enlargement

Nuclear Mystics | Acrylic and Mixed Media on Panel | 2009

Happy Accidents #6 | Ink and Acrylic on Paper | 2009

Echoes 1 | Acrylic and Sumi Ink on Paper | 2009

Tulpa 2 & detail | Acrylic and Ink on Paper | 2009

Happy Accidents Series3 | Ink and Acrylic on Paper | 2008

The Nature of Time | Acrylic and Mixed Media on Panel | 2008

Unified Grid #1 | Acrylic on Panel | 2008

Past,present,future | Acylic and Mixed Media on Panel | 2008

O2 | Acylic and Mixed Media on Panel | 2007

O3 | Acylic and Mixed Media on Panel | 2007

Mescalito | Ink and Acrylic on Paper | 2006

Carbon | Ink and Acrylic on Paper | 2006

Untitled | Acylic and Mixed Media on Panel | 2006

Kim Simonsson born in 1974, Finland.

Kim Simonsson’s work is close to the world of Japanese mangas and cartoons. The artist assumes a certain attraction and fascination for this ultra-contemporary, urban world of Japanese culture, even calling his work “Finnish virtual manga”. There are a number of points in common, but a close examination reveals significant differences, such as the absence of colour, allusions to sexuality and violent attitudes. Also, mangas are not the only point of reference. His work also has a very Western side to it, with a wide range of ancient influences. Kim Simonsson’s work is characterised by a total lack of naturalism and expressive realism. He is more interested in finding formal perfection in his works. In fact, he tackles the highly delicate question of figuration, but in a different way. Although he brings back the formula, he does not return to the classical ideal that has suffered so much at the hands of the 20th century. The idea of a breakaway so dear to modernity is still present, but it takes another form – reminiscent of Mannerism – that fits in with our contemporary aesthetics and culture. Tradition is assimilated – there is no possible way back – and the acquired experience of modernity form an integral part.

We see an extreme sensitivity in his work, pure moments of grace in which poetry is never absent. The attitudes, the volumes made up of simple, full forms, the smooth surfaces with no sharp edges that our eyes glide across… it all combines to create a very personal and, in the end, highly sophisticated art form. In fact, Kim Simonsson gives us the impression of fixing a new type to disturbing elegance and grace. And yet, surprisingly, what attracts him is suffering. This fulfilment and the ideal of gentleness of the beings represented are very apparent and conceal a worrying reality. His works give an impression of remoteness and hesitancy. The attitudes and actions are detached from any idea of expression. The faces remain impassive and inexpressive. They evolve in a world of silence close to a certain form of autism. The lack of formal tumult has its response in the lack of emotional and social tumult.

Yves Peltier

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Idol | 2006

Swansnake | 2006

Dispute II | 2006

Ghostdog And Girl | 2007

Girl Babtized In Gold | 2007

Spitting At Gods | 2007

Immaculate Conception | 2008

Supporter | 2008

Scales | 2008

Afriend In Need Is A Friend Indeed | 2008

Ghost II | 2009

Carrie | 2009

Soldier III | 2009

Fighter | 2009

An ongoing series of photographs

The inspiration for the series originally came from photographic studies made as reference for paintings. The series has evolved to become a collection of photographs of found objects exploring the relationship between my work as a photographer and painter.

The images examine the discarded objects of consumerism and the subsequent metamorphosis when they are subjected to neglect and the elements, man made to organic, trash to treasure. Selection and proportion are vital elements within the images, bringing a sense of order to the essentially chaotic nature of the subjects. The images challenge preconceived boundaries between the painterly and the photographic, the abstract and the representational. Subjects are selected for their lack of obvious identity and are intentionally not identified allowing the photographs to be viewed as non figurative images, inviting the viewer to attribute their own reality. Alternatively the subjects are selected for their likeness to a seemingly unrelated subject, the selected subject transformed to the non figurative and then conceivably viewed as an unrelated figurative subject such as a landscape or seascape; a ‘Rorschach image’, further challenging the perceptions of the viewer.

I am extremely grateful for the interest shown in the “Found Paintings” series since they were published in Hasselblad Forum Magazine. Selected images from the series are now available as Limited Edition Prints. Please see Print Gallery for details.

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Waldkammer: Artist’s Statement

These paintings invite the viewer into the bewitching, claustrophobic realm of the Cabinets of Curiosities, or Wunderkammern. Such cabinets were originally an invention of Enlightenment-era collectors and amateur naturalists, where the "wonders" of nature (and especially the offerings of newly discovered, exotic territories) - coral, minerals, taxidermy, and the like - were lovingly and often fetishistically contained and displayed.

In this series, I have created nine imaginary cabinets, in which to explore humanity’s often destructive relationship with nature (and in particular, the crisis of deforestation). These wooden cabinets intentionally allude to the once-living trees that were their source. Some are carved into the shape of women, personifying trees, whose bodies have become cabinets. Meanwhile, the "curiosities" displayed are actual species, dependant on the trees for survival.

The omnipresence of cabinetry or other wooden framework in every painting (a direct visualization of Heidegger’s concept of "enframing"), becomes the symbol for our way of relating to nature: within the cabinets, nature is controlled, collected, "speciminized." But this same framework forms a barrier between nature and ourselves. We wish to peer into nature’s lush realm, to reenter the garden through ownership of its parts, but, "the impression comes to prevail that everything man encounters exists only insofar as it is his construct.1" Our invasion gives birth to our exclusion.

As carved wood references a tree, so also does it necessarily indicate the destruction of that tree, our interference with natural systems, and our appropriation of nature for our own uses. This "matyrdom" is implied in the carved figures that echo the reliquaries and saint grottos that were the medieval antecedents to the Enlightenment’s Cabinets of Curiosities.2 By correlating these two purposes - science (Wunderkammer) and devotion (reliquaries) - to the immediate, urgent knell of deforestation, I am striving to create a vocabulary for a new possible relationship to the natural world.

1.Heidegger, Martin, The Question Concerning Technology. Vorträge und Aufsätze, 1954.
2.Mauries, Patrick, Cabinets of Curiosities. Thames and Hudson, London, 2002

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“In my paintings, I attempt to unveil images of the subconscious underworld – my own and that of my culture. I utilize the methods and the styles of the past, in order to reinterpret current topics using the iconography of history. I think there is still gold to be mined from the meticulosity of the Old Masters, but I would like to alloy it with the dream-delving of Surrealism and the conscience of the Social Realists. It is my hope that art-makers worldwide succeed in our mammoth task — that of changing the current omnicidal tide of culture — before everything worth saving on this planet has been razed, or eaten. I believe there is still time to make a new myth. There is still a chance for imagination to rise to power.”

Madeline von Foerster Interview

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Amazon Cabinet | 2008 | 30 x 60 in. | 76 x 152 cm | Oil and egg tempera on panel

Redwood Cabinet | 2008 | 24 x 32.5 in | 61 x 91.5 cm | oil and egg tempera on panel

Resurrection | 2008 | 16.75 x 24 | 42.5 x 61 cm | oil and egg tempera on panel

Merbau Cuckoo | 2008 | 18 x 24 in | 46 x 61 cm | Oil and egg tempera on panel

Invasive Species II | 2008 | 12 in. x 15.5 in | 30.5 x 39.5 cm | Oil and egg tempera on panel

Rite of Remembrance | 2008 | 11 x 13.25 in | 28 x 34 cm | Oil and egg tempera on panel

Cabinet for a Spotted Owl | 2008 | 11 x 14 in | Oil and egg tempera on panel

Specimen Cabinet | 2008 | 12 x 16 in | 30.5 x 40.5 cm | oil and egg tempera on panel

Brian Ulrich was born 1971 in Northport, NY. His photographs portraying contemporary consumer culture reside in major museum collections such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography.

Ulrich earned his MFA in photography at Columbia College Chicago and a BFA in photography at the University of Akron. An internship at the Akron Art Museum further fueled Brian’s research and knowledge of the history of the medium. He later spent considerable time working at the Howard Greenberg Gallery in NY and then the Cleveland Museum of Art, often staying after hours to sift through the vast libraries, collections and archives of photography. It is this understanding of the history of the medium that informs much of his work which today addresses issues social, political and historical.

Since finishing his graduate studies in 2004, Ulrich has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art; the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; the Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago; the Julie Saul Gallery; and the Robert Koch Gallery. His work has also been included in many group exhibitions such as the Art Institute of Chicago; the Museum of Contemporary Photography; Galerie f5.6 in Munich; the Krannert Art Museum; the Contemporary American Photography Festival in Mannheim, Germany; the Walker Art Center and will be included in upcoming exhibits at the Carnegie Museum; among others.

His first monograph, Copia was published in 2006 by Aperture as part of the MP3: Midwest Photographers Project. In 2007 Ulrich was named one of the years 30 Emerging Photographers by Photo District News magazine, and a critic’s pick by Richard Woodward for ARTnews magazine. His work has been recently featured in the New York Times Magazine; Orion Magazine; Vice Magazine; Mother Jones magazine; the Chicago Tribune; Artforum; Harper’s; Leica World; Yvi Magazine and as a frequent contributor to the like-minded magazine Adbusters.

Ulrich lives and works in Chicago and in addition to teaching at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Columbia College, he curates exhibitions, and is an active member of a community of young photographers and artists both local and global through his website and blog. This spirit of community building extends to an active lecturing schedule, appearing at the Aperture Foundation, NY; the Myers School of Art; the Haggerty Museum of Art; the Museum of Contemporary Art La Jolla, CA; the Montserrat College of Art, MA; St. Edwards University, TX; the School of Visual Arts, NY; Mississippi State University, MS; Youngstown State University, OH; the University of Illinois, IL; the San Francisco Art Institute, CA; and the Society for Photographic Education National Conference in Miami, FL, East Tennessee State University, TN; and the Myers School of Art, OH.

Brian is represented by the Julie Saul Gallery in New York, the Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago, the Robert Koch Gallery in San Francisco and Galerie f5.6 in Munich.

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Having declared that, "I paint myself, and so I paint the whole of mankind", one can speculate that Philip Akkerman (bn.1957), who has been painting only self-portraits since 1981, is doing more than just capturing his own image. Like the tradition of Dutch still-life painting where a universe is expressed within a few simple objects, Akkerman’s continuous, and slightly theatrical, documentation of his self-image lies both within this tradition as well as the more conceptual one in which time’s passage is marked. Based in Den Haag, he offers, in this simple approach, less answers but more questions about change, ageing, and how we see ourselves in our daily lives. A prolific painter, by following Old Master techniques, he is re-invigorating the past with a contemporary attitude.

Philip Akkerman is currently in Altered States (with Tony Matelli, Jim Nutt, Peter Saul and Thomas Schutte) at Leo Koenig Inc. in New York (till 31/07) and he has a solo show at the Andrew Mummery Gallery (till 26/06).

This interview was conducted by fax between London and Den Haag.

Sherman Sam: You have painted self-portraits since 1981. I’ve heard that you had a more conceptual education. What brought you to the conclusion that self-portraits were the art to make?

Philip Akkerman: I studied at the conservative Royal Academy in Den Haag for two years. I left this institution because I wanted to be a modern artist, contemporary, you know, and stuff like that. So I went to Atelier 63 (recently renamed "De Ateliers") in Amsterdam. My teachers were Jan Dibbets, Ger Van Elk, and my favourite Stanley Brouwn. So I went to this modernistic art school. But the galleries were white, the art magazines were glossy, the people were sterile and I hated it! I felt lost and decided to withdraw into myself to seek refuge, which I found… And I found a way of painting with slime, sperm, blood, snot, spit whatever: the Secret of the Old Masters.

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Self portrait No. 104 | 2005 | oil on Masonite panel | 40 x 34 cm

Self portrait No. 15 | 2006 | oil on Masonite panel | 40 x 34 cm

Self portrait No. 20 | 2006 | oil on Masonite panel | 50 x 43 cm

Self portrait No. 45 | 2006 | oil on Masonite panel | 27 x 25 cm

Self portrait No. 98 | 2006 | oil on Masonite panel | 27 x 25 cm

Self portrait No. 5 | 2007 | oil on Masonite panel | 40 x 34 cm

Self portrait No. 82 | 2006 | oil on Masonite panel | 50 x 43 cm

Self portrait No. 50 | 2007 | oil on Masonite panel | 40 x 34 cm

Self portrait No. 128 | 2007 | oil on Masonite panel | 40 x 34 cm

Self portrait No. 93 | 2006 | oil on Masonite panel | 40 x 34 cm

Self portrait No. 34 | 1994 | oil on Masonite panel | 40 x 34 cm

Self portrait No. 188 | 1999 | oil on Masonite panel | 50 x 43 cm

Self portrait No. 70 | 2005 | oil on Masonite panel | 40 x 34 cm

Self Portrait No. 24 | 2007 | watercolour and pencil on paper | 40 x 34 cm

Self Portrait No. 8 | 2007 | watercolour and pencil on paper | 40 x 32 cm

History and metaphor, journeys and geographical place intertwined with metaphysical space are Ori Gersht’s concerns and have been over the course of his successful fifteen-year career. Gersht’s practice bridges a history that is full of traumas whether it is the scars and weal’s left on the sunlit war torn buildings in Sarajevo in his Afterwars series, White Noise with his train journey to Auschwitz or The Clearing filmed in a forest loaded with memory in the Ukraine. Engaging in that difficult arena of not only pushing the photographic camera to the limits of what it can record, but also working in innovative ways with film and video, Gersht’s highly researched aesthetic has an instinctive innovative approach to the materiality of his medium.

Ori Gersht was born in Tel Aviv in 1967. Solo exhibitions include Afterglow, Art Now room at Tate Britain in 2002, The Clearing, Photographers’ Gallery, London in 2005/06 and Black Box at Hirschhorn Museum Washington in 2008/09. Recent Group exhibitions include Ori Gersht, Idris Kahn, Boo Ritson, Centro Andaluz De La Fotografia, Almeria in 2008/09, In Focus: Living History at Tate Modern, London in 2007, Twilight: Photography in the Magic Hour at the Victoria & Albert Museum London and Inside-Out, Contemporary Artists from Israel at MARCO, Vigo, Spain both in 2006.

Other selected works 1 - 53

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Meisel, Steven (b. 1954), American fashion photographer. Born and active in New York, Meisel graduated from Parsons School of Design and, after working briefly as a fashion illustrator, began photographing in the early 1980s. He is particularly noted for his contributions to Italian and American Vogue. Adept at appropriating a broad range of visual sources, Meisel’s reputation for diversity has brought him prestigious advertising assignments, from Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, and Versace. His collaboration with Madonna on her controversial book Sex (1992) is perhaps his best-known work.

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Elka Amorim is a native Brazilian artist and professor, currently living in the United States. After completing her bachelors in fine arts from the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil, she moved to New York city to get her masters at Hunter College. Elka has shown her work in various galleries worldwide, and is currently represented by two NY galleries; Galeria Galou and Pierogi. Her next big solo show will take place in September, 2009 at Gallery 5, in Richmond, VA (USA). Her most recent body of work consists of small self-portrait photographs that are incorporated into mixed-media collages. This series, titled “Cartas de Amor” is an homage to love, found and lost, and the  many endless love letters it has inspired throughout history. To read more about the work and the process, go to www.rvamag.com  and look for an article about the artist in the February issue of the magazine (Volume 4, issue 11). To view past works from Elka, visit her blog at www.ElkaAmorim.blogspot.com  

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Agatha | 12 x 12 inches | Photography and Mixed media on paper | 2007

Ana | 12 x 12 inches | Photography and Mixed media on paper | 2007

Arabian Nights 1 | 12 x 12 inches | Photography and Mixed media on paper | 2007

Arabian Nights 2 | 12 x 12 inches | Photography and Mixed media on paper | 2007

Crying Eyes | 9 x 12 inches | Mixed media on paper | 2007

Frida Querida | 9 x 12 inches | Photography and | Mixed media on paper | 2007

Lola | 12 x 12 inches | Photography and Mixed media on paper | 2007

Maria das Dores | 9 x 12 inches | Photography and Mixed media on paper | 2007

Pomegranate Dream | 12 x 12 inches | Photography and Mixed media on paper | 2007

Venus-Fly-Trap 1 | 12 x 12 inches | Photography and Mixed media on paper | 2007

Yemanja | 12 x 12 inches | Photography and Mixed media on paper | 2007

Li Wang’s private world is quiet, peaceful and gentle; an atmosphere of humor and grace pervades everything. Girls lay in bed as if they don’t know they are striking a pose, naturally, carelessly showing off their beauty. This is a fantasy of a Chinese intellectual. Not much is provoking. The girls are elegant and smart, but still sexy and playful, and most importantly, beautiful and sluggish. His intention is obvious. A single rose lies by the side of a girl. Sometimes, Li Wang includes himself in his painting, a lonely man with old-fashion round black frame eyeglasses, sitting by a girl’s side or holding a girl on his leg, admiring while looking at or drawing them. His humor and gentle romanticism are hidden somewhere in the painting. There is always a lone crow, a symbol of his soul in his world, but most of the time no other companion. But he is comfortable with himself, his book, his bird, enjoying his quiet state. The lines of his adroit skills make his world more elegant and beautiful. In the tradition of Chinese ink drawing, the expression of the line is a basic and powerful technique, no artist can avoid if he is to prove he is a fine painter. Li Wang’s colors are different, not much like those you find in history. A lot of warm tone colors are applied, and less black ink. He lets his colors spread densely on rice paper, making his paintings original and unique.

All paintings ink and color on rice paper | 17 x 16"

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Rafal Olbinski’s art is an extraordinary testament to integrity, spirit and adventure. Technically masterful, emotionally complete, his is one of the brilliant visions today in any art form.

Richard Burgin

Founder and Editor of the award-winning literary journal Boulevard

Olbinski’s illustrations regularly appear in major publications such as Newsweek, Time, Business Week, Atlantic Monthly, Playboy, Omni, The New York Times, New Yorker and Der Spiegel. The list of his corporate accounts includes among others: US Trust, 31 Corporation (England), Smith-Kline Beecham International, American Airlines, The New York City Opera and the Cincinnati Opera. His paintings have been acquired by many important art collections, including: The Library of Congress Print Collection in Washington, D.C.; Carnegie Foundation in New York; Republic New York Corporation; Searle Corporation; Browne and Co.; The National Arts Club in New York as well as numerous private collections in the United States, Europe, Asia and South America. Olbinski’s many awards include the International Oscar for the World’s Most Memorable Poster Prix Savignac 1994 in Paris. Press Recognition - Olbinski works have been featured in international magazines including: Print (New York), Novum (Munich), Graphis (Zurich), Communication World (San Francisco), Idea (Tokyo), Art Magazine in America (New York), Communication Art (Palo Alto), How (Cincinnati), The World & I (Washington, D.C.), High Quality (Munich) and Universe des Artes (Paris). Poetic humor is a quality rarely found in the fine arts. Rafal Olbinski has this gift. He wants to show us that our imagination is a magical world which we are recreating forever. He draws us into a different universe, and forces us to use our eyes to participate in a marvelous world which is the true dimension of dreams.

Andre Parinaud

President Salon International De L’Affiche Et Des Arts De La Rue, Paris

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Amy Arbus has published four books, including the award winning On the Street 1980-1990 and The Inconvenience of Being Born. The New Yorker called her most recent, The Fourth Wall, her masterpiece. She is a contributing photographer to New York Magazine’s theater section. Her photographs have appeared in over one hundred periodicals around the world, including The New Yorker, People, Dazed and Confused and The New York Times Magazine. Her advertising clients include American Express, SpotCo, Nickelodeon and Saatchi & Saatchi. She teaches portraiture at the International Center of Photography, Anderson Ranch and The Fine Arts Work Center. Amy Arbus is represented by Anthropy Arts and The Cohen Amador Gallery in New York, The Stephen Cohen Gallery in Los Angeles and The Schoolhouse Gallery in Massachusetts. Her most recent show was at Lincoln Center’s Furman Gallery in New York. She has had twenty-one solo exhibitions worldwide, and her photographs are a part of the collection of The New York Public Library and The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

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Torches | Sicily | 2003

jesus with crowd | Sicily | 2003

Puerto Rico Parade couple |New York City | 2003

Irish Dance Contestant #160 | New York City | 2003

Two girls in plaid dresses | 2003

Unwilling Participant | New York City | 2003

Procession close up | Sicily | 2003

Puddle | New York City | 2003

Repressed Mother | New York City | 2003

Ballet | Cuba | 2001

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