New Works from Poland

Mikolaj Kasprzyk / Morning / 2008 / oil on linen / 15 x 21 in

Nevin just returned from a quick trip to Poland and brought back an eclectic group of visual delights, including paintings by Mikolaj Kasprzyk and Jacek Lydzba , as well as etchings by M.P. and Elzbieta Bocianowski. These new works, as well as other NKG gallery artists, will be on view at the gallery in the near future. Please stop by to see them when you get the chance.

Here is a sneak peek of the new Polish works:

M.P. Bocianowski / Zimorodek / nd / etching / 7 x 5.5 in (paper)

Jacek Lydzba, Pink Room, 2007, watercolor on paper, 14 x 20 in.

New Works by Sondra Arkin

She’s done it again! Local artist Sondra Arkin recently brought four new works to the gallery depicting a different style. She was uncertain about the new direction her paintings were headed and wanted to see her work outside the confines of the studio. Arkin’s works were mounted on the gallery’s white walls right before the talk on Saturday afternoon. They were the most talked-about pieces of the day. Sondra may have felt that she “jumped off the cliff”, but she sure landed well.


Stylistic development is crucial in the oeuvre of every artist. If Picasso stuck with the academic realism of his figures prior to 1901, the history of art would have never witnessed his defying of tradition via the Blue, Rose and African-influenced Periods, as well as the different stages of Cubism. In the twenty-first century, artists are expected to reinvent their styles over and over again. For many, it is the only way to keep developing artistically. It is hard to do, and even harder to do it successfully.

Two of Arkin’s new works (pictured above), 32’’x32’’ encaustic on dibond paintings, particularly stand out. Her “brick wall” motif both dominates and accents the new compositions, without becoming repetitive, (as, in my view, the paintings in Sean Scully’s Wall of Light series did). These compositions are less structured than before, and indicate the artist’s desire to toss all pre-determined fears aside and simply jump into the unknown. The colors, though still energetic, are slightly muted, as if to reduce the focus on color itself in favor of returning to a focus on the effects of layering – which contain Arkin’s stylistic reference to the overlapping layers of joy, sadness, triumph and tragedy that come to define each of us.

In my opinion, the biggest difference between the old and new Arkin works is in her ability to create movement with the tactile rendering of colors. Rather than having the colors compliment each other side by side, Arkin has produced lines, points and shapes that are suspended in a timeless dance on the picture plane. In her new paintings Mitosis and Waterloo (both 2008), it is the texture that compliment each other; they tell stories and compose melodies. Like the musical paintings of Wassily Kandinsky, Arkin’s new works express power in linear forms and prove that abstraction is not simply the effect of a random process but the result of authenticity and an effort towards the beauty found inwards.

Above all, Sondra Arkin’s continued success in creating abstract art teaches us to observe our surroundings and "see" things we have never seen before or perhaps never looked close enough to see. May these musical pieces continue to add to the many layers of experience that influence our lives.

Artist Feature 9: Darek Pala

This week’s feature focuses on one of the first artists shown at NKG: Polish-born Darek Pala who currently resides in Miami, FL. Pala graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow in 1992 and became a well known exhibitor in Warsaw before moving to the U.S. in 1998. He still exhibits frequently there and has exhibited extensively in the United States and elsewhere in Europe. Pala’s paintings are marked by a thick impasto and bold colors that project both energy and mood.


[Author’s interpretation of Darek Pala’s Pamamour (Amant), 1999, oil on canvas, 42’’x42’’]

It is a sunny, Saturday morning on the Miami shoreline. A fair-skinned woman, wearing a flowery blouse, sits in front of her caffe con leche at the local breakfast café, smoking what appears to be a pipe. Sunlight radiates throughout the room, creating a sharp contrast of yellow against the light blue sky peeking out of the small window behind the woman. Globs of textured yellow paint are highlighted over a hidden under painting of orange, red, turquoise and indigo blue colors. To the left stands a contemporary accent vase, splashed in red, green, blue and white tones, with decorative stems sprawling out. As is typical in Pala’s paintings, this woman is depicted in profile. She raises her index finger, as if to request something. A tanned accordion player wearing a red coat and white bowtie stands cropped to the right, serenading her with lively [mariachi] music. Their eyes meet, and a connection is made. This seemingly private moment is brought to life by Pala’s use of yellow to bring out the intensity of the situation.

Darek Pala’s paintings vibrate with the energy of living. His figures, when facing each other, are engaged in constant dialogue. When we take a closer look, we discover the mixtures of their personalities. Pala is also a master of still-life objects such as flowers and fruit. On his canvases of flattened picture planes highlighted with sharp lines, these objects have the tendency to jump out at the viewer. Together, with the texture, they form a timeless and poetic, physical unity.

Like the geometric compositions of Joan Miró, Darek Pala has succeeded in exuding his love for shapes and vibrant colors. His mission statement in life is to trust his intuition and paint the world around him. Pala is not interested in painting only the happy scenes in life, but instead, to evoke feelings of love, fear, laughter, and delight through the eyes of a child.

Pablo Picasso once stated: “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” In my opinion, Darek Pala has excelled in remaining a true artist into his adult years, constantly reminding us to never lose our childish innocence no matter where this journey of life takes us.


For more information...
Official Website: http://www.darekpala.com
NKG Artists Site: http://www.nevinkellygallery.com/artists/pala

Artist Feature 8: Krzystof Kokoryn

Welcome back! I hope your new years have gotten off to a brilliant start. This month, we are going “back to the basics” and I will be blogging about the art that helped launch NKG five years ago – Polish contemporary art.

Krzystof Kokoryn, Duet (2005) 31.5 x 39.5 oil on canvas

A few years ago, Polish artists such as Krzystof Kokoryn (b. 1964) were strangers to the DC art scene, but they quickly attracted attention. An image of Kokoryn’s large painting At the Swimming Pool, appeared on the front cover of DC North’s August 2003 edition, and several other Polish painters were featured in press articles about the gallery. Kokoryn’s intensely colorful paintings are sure to bring life into a dark and dreary day. Their warmth seems to be just the right thing to set your eyes on during these cold, short days of winter.

Kokoryn, a native of Warsaw, graduated from the city’s Academy of Fine Arts in 1992. Since then, he has had numerous solo exhibitions in Poland, the Netherlands and Slovakia. We featured his work in a two-artist exhibition at the Nevin Kelly Gallery called “Opposite Poles” in 2004 (which contrasted the contemporary style of Kokoryn against the classical style of Polish artist Michal Zaborowski). Like many great artists since the Renaissance, Kokoryn paints everyday scenes such as musicians playing a tune, lovers chatting in a cafe or friends gathering around the campfire. Kokoryn’s works reflect his bohemian lifestyle and remain authentic notwithstanding his international success. He’s the kind of guy you might like to call up to grab a few beers with at the local pub and simply chat the night away.

Krzysztof Kokoryn, Bar (2002)

The first thing that strikes me about Kokoryn’s paintings is his ability to successfully incorporate both linear and painterly qualities. Many times, his intuitive outlines of the main subject(s) help draw the spectator’s attention to the specific scene. By doing this, he renders his own vision of the events unfolding around those depicted in the painting. A sense of joie de vivre is expressed in every one of his works, from the man playing the trumpet to the nude sitting on her bed.

Comparable to the long, primitive figural styles of Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani, Kokoryn illustrates human activity, relationships and emotion to the greatest extent. His paintings are enticing and serve as a reminder for us to live our lives in the moment, truly embracing the joy to live and be alive.

Artist Feature 6: Mary Chiaramonte

In an age of technological advancement, it is difficult to remember that life can be lived without constant access to our ipod(s), computers and cell phones. The average person is bombarded daily with a million more images than those who lived during the Middle Ages. It also seems that today, many parents spoil their kids with all latest gadgets and promote little human interaction in return. Not very long ago, Mary Chiaramonte’s parents did the exact opposite.

Local artist Mary Chiaramonte was raised the old fashioned way in Harmony, WV, a remote town of no more than 100 residents in the early 1980s. Growing up, Mary and her siblings had no TV and lived off of and worked on the land. They were encouraged to entertain themselves with objects in nature, thereby turning twigs into toys. As a result, Mary was left with the workings of her imagination and observation of the world around her to produce amazing paintings and drawings.

For as long as she could remember, Mary’s interest was in the visual depiction of the human story. As a child attending a Ringling Brothers Show with her family, Mary paid more attention to the people in the audience than the performers on stage. She is the kind of person who enjoys sitting on a park bench and watching the world go by. The thing that drives her day to day is knowing about other people and the lives they lead.

Though some may consider her work to be more on the darker side (due to the artist’s choice of a melancholic color palate), Mary’s heavily lacquered paintings explore the most intimate moments of the human experience. In her unique oeuvre, she “rejoices with those who rejoice and weeps with those who weep.” Mary’s paintings are personal and represent both the reactions of the persons depicted, and her own. Obvious symbolism also occurs in her paintings, such as a heart cut in two, roses and a string of dead fruit. The best part is that no matter what feelings are conveyed, Mary always leaves an air of mystery and personal interpretation in each piece created. This happens when images are cropped, she emphasizes her graphic style and certain body parts are purposely not shown.


One of my favorite works by Mary Chiaramonte is currently featured in NKG’s Third Annual Attainable Art show. Daylights (pictured above: 2007, mixed media, 20 x 16 in.) shows a female torso wearing a black dress from chest down, walking in the middle of a double-yellow lined road. This story takes place at night, and the figure is surrounded by five small, illuminating balls of light. The bottom part of the figure shines while the top morphs into the dark of the night. Given the intriguing cropping of the figure at bust level and a brilliant imagination, one can only begin to surmise the powerful story behind this painting.

***
Mary once said that she hopes to successfully document the lives of those she comes into contact with in her paintings as a way of doing something worthwhile in life. I think she has done just that. Check out her extraordinary paper-cuts at her official website, www.merrysee.com

Artist Feature 4: Sondra Arkin

Pictured Above: Orange Tide, triptych, 2006, encaustic on dibond, each panel 32 x 32 in.

For over 25 years, Sondra Arkin has transformed whatever space was available to her at that given point in time (spare bedroom, dining room or basement) into a haven for creative expression. Although art-making was always in her blood throughout the course of her life, it wasn't until 2001 that Sondra took a risk and quit her day job in marketing to pursue art full-time. This huge leap of faith resulted in a myriad of awards, features in newspapers such as The Washington Post, participation in both group/solo shows all over the mid-Atlantic region and most recently, working as a project curator on behalf of the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities on the new City Hall Art Collection @t the John A. Wilson Building downtown. Sondra's colorful, abstract, mixed media canvases, which rival those of Mark Rothko, and imaginative box-construction works have been widely received by local and national audiences alike. She is also a frequent exhibitor at our gallery and will be featured in the Third Annual Attainable Art Show, opening November 24th.

What strikes me the most about Sondra Arkin's work is her ability to create art that is both purposeful and powerful. No matter the size, material used or color combinations (only warm or cool colors, a combination of the two, a more monochromatic palate), Sondra's work never ceases to create a lasting impression for all who come into contact with it. It is not abstract for the sake of being non-representational, but abstract to evoke every little emotion that is hiding behind our imperfect, human façade. There is a distinct type of [positive] energy in her work that forces the viewer to pause, observe and think beyond what is physically represented on the canvas. Furthermore, Sondra's free style of painting caters to just about anyone: the hip, young art school student to children learning their colors for the first time, spiritual soul-seekers and even to those in the professional world who value high aesthetics.

In recent years, Sondra Arkin's unique encaustic (otherwise known as "hot wax painting", which uses heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added -- dates back to 100-300 AD) technique has led the artist to break free from the picture plane approach and make paintings that take on a more sculptural feel. Now, her compositions are not only conceptual and vibrant, but also boast a soft, playfulness of colors that echoes a dichotomy of the combination of diverse materials. She also extends her experimentation of focusing simply on individual work with the inclusion of diptypchs, triptypchs and polytptychs, thereby proding the viewers to look at these pieces as a whole and enhance the conversations further.

Those who attended the Color: Field Tests show back in April/May of this year may remember Sondra's involvement to help promote the citywide Color Field Remix -- a movement from the 1960s that emerged after Abstract Expressionism and is widely characterized by abstract canvases painted with large areas of solid colors. Her entire oeuvre, be it a mixed media collage/box of found objects or a spiritual landscape of vibrant layers of warm colors, has the power to communicate a positive message to the masses: that life, as we know it, is comprised of layers, both good and bad. We as humans will experience both highs and lows in this journey called life, but these feelings are necessary as we stretch, evolve and grow.

Ultimately, Sondra hopes that what surfaces out of these layers of influence is something of value and beauty. By encouraging her viewers to take an introspective approach while confronted with her artwork, Sondra desires that a tangible layer will then be added to our respective lives, which will hopefully enrich it all the more.

Artist Feature 3: Michal Zaborowski

:: LAST CALL ::

Michal Zaborowski's H2O show closes this Sunday, November 11th! That means you still have time to come down and see it. We are open until 8pm both tomorrow and closing day, so please stop in and peruse if you haven't already done so (or, if you want to come again). This show was definitely a crowd-pleaser, on many levels. Thank you for your continued support.

:: CRIT WITH A TWIST ::

Since the Zaborowski show is drawing to a close, I thought it would be interesting to open the mic. up to our visitors and share what their various instinctive responses to the exhibition were. These responses were recorded during the course of this exhibition, and a diverse demographic of age and gender was attempted. As suspected, some constructive criticism was given despite the popularity of Zaborowski's works, but all in all, people felt that he is an amazing figure painter and definitely a post-modern Impressionist! Let's see what our fellow Washingtonians had to say:


[ N O T E :: responses were paraphrased for this blog entry]

"Seeing representative painting in this gallery is SO refreshing. The last few years, all NKG had were abstract artists - which I love - but not as much as the old stuff. It reminds me that there is good contemporary art out there."
Female, Local Neighbor, 60s

"I identify with the girl wearing the turquoise earring. She casually dries herself after a bath, with no shame of her nudity at all. It's better than Pierre Bonnard's figures that are so confusing and the colors kind of get lost when mixed together. At least this one is well-defined. I think this is a good reminder for us Americans who are too paranoid about our physical imperfections to even consider such a thing. Women of all shapes and sizes are gorgeous, and this painting echoes that very well."
Female, Washington DC resident, 40s

"These women are so well-dressed, even the woman delivering the water. What is it about our modern American culture that makes people dress so sloppy? There is definitely a European quality in these works - that you never find in America. It's absolutely delightful."
Male, Local Neighbor, 70s

"This show is not so good; actually, its quite boring. I mean, Zaborowski is a great painter, but I think these paintings are too academic. They remind me of the figures we had to copy during those gruesome years in art school. These paintings look like figures painted to perfection. I would like to see him go outside of his comfort zone and do something more abstract. His strongest painting, however, is Fishermen."
Bulgarian Artist, Female, Washington DC resident, 30s

"I can't stand the lack of a good and defined background in these works. It's like they are purposely mushed all together. He needs to make it more 3-dimensional. I preferred the work/background Zaborowski had in his 'Before and After the Dinner Party' exhibition."
Couple, Washington DC residents, 50s

**********

Please feel free to add your own responses to these various comments given by our fellow visitors. Join me next week for proper Artist Feature on one of NKG's favorite artists. Buon weekend!

Artist Feature 1: Michal Zaborowski

Welcome to the Artist Feature section of the Nevin Kelly Gallery blog. Join me every week as I muse on one of our gallery's artists (either Polish or local/emerging), introducing their work(s) to this blog's dedicated readers here in Washington DC and beyond. Should you have any feedback, please leave a comment under the specific entry and I will get definitely get back to you. Please note that from now until November 11th, the closing date of the H20 exhibition, I will be blogging solely about Zaborowski's various paintings.

Glass of Water, Oil on Canvas, 55'' x 32'', 2007

There is a lot that can be said about the presence of water in Zaborowski's romantic paintings that were selected for this exhibition. Sometimes it's subtle, other times overwhelming. In Glass of Water, Zaborowski's rendering of the human figure dominates the canvas so much that the presence of water, found in the cocktail glass and tightly grasped by the woman's right hand, is almost camouflaged into the soft, gray background. Instead, the focus is found on the woman's face, which seems to be the only element that is properly proportioned compared to the rest of the body. Her eyes stare out into space and meet yours if you stand at an angle, to the right of the painting.

Standing in the presence of this woman makes you wonder who she is, where she comes from and what she is currently engaged in at this very moment. Pictured from a sideways profile, with her legs propped up on a wooden stool, sitting in what appears to be a traditional armchair, one can surmise one of many things. Perhaps she just returned from an evening out on the town (cocktail party, dancing under the moonlight, romantic dinner?), evident by the elegant blue and white dress hanging off her body and the black stiletto pumps dangling off her feet. There is a garment of some sort draped on the back of the chaise, perhaps a quilted, fancy overcoat that provided warmth to her exhausted, far from perfect body on the way home. Her left arm is allowing her to stretch a bit while glancing to the other side of the room. She seems to be awaiting the arrival of someone or something - but who? The darker, square-like shade of muddy gray oil paint lends no blatant clue to this mystery: for all we know, she could be expecting her lover or simply the her maid to freshen her drink. Most importantly, she hides nothing.

Like Titan's Venus of Urbino, I believe Glass of Water was painted to exude the purposeful, sensual beauty of the female figure (but not in a provocative way). There is a blatant sense of honesty that is rendered in his painting and a simple narrative that is to be told. No matter where our curious imaginations may take us, it might be worth considering this woman as the "reclining nude" of the 21st century - who does not have perfect bodily proportions yet expects viewers to accept her as she is. She has no shame, and shows her fair yet strong legs off proudly. And as for the glass of water she is clutching in her right hand? It could serve as her weapon of defense for anyone who dares to mess with her honest, beautiful self.