Maxim Fomenko
Robert Nelson
Kazuki Takamatsu
George Spencer Watson
Tag: pop surrealism
New Painting: Libertine Axon
“Libertine Axon” 16×16 inches, oil on panel. (Sold) Click to view in full.
This is on view at The Gathering Place at both their locations starting Friday and going through the winter.
Two Group shows in March
March 2nd – March 24th “Full STEAM Ahead” arts-based learning, this group show @ Stocker Arts Center, Elyria, Ohio. Reception March 2nd from 3:30-6:30pm
March 25th: “We Are the Resistance” group show @ Revolution Gallery, Buffalo, NY and 10% of sales go to Planned Parenthood, where I once was a volunteer as a teenager.
I’ll be at both events for their receptions!
Biomorphic Garden Party solo exhibition at 78th Street Studios
Hey! My show is almost here! I’ve been working my tail off on it despite everything medical that has happened this summer. I’ve also ordered some fancy truffles for the opening reception with designs that look like the paintings — so it’s serious now. This is my first show of my new work and if you live in NE Ohio I hope to see you there….
Join us for the opening reception at the HEDGE gallery satellite space Suite 215 during Third Fridays at 78th Street Studios.
Friday, November 18th from 5 to 9pm
This series brings together painter Arabella Proffer’s interests in botany, microbiology, monsters, space, disease, and the evolution of cells. Within those interests, she explores the particular roles that organisms, medicine, DNA, and hybrids play, all while creating from her imagination and instinct. Shaping aesthetic outcomes of these paintings doesn’t come from research or re-creating what already exists; she creates her own nature within these little worlds. If cells and viruses can look beautiful when magnified, what about organisms on other planets? Is there something bigger we are a part of? What will these cells look like 10 days later – what about 10 million years later? Proffer visualizes every stage of evolution from our planet and ones yet to be explored.
This exhibition is made possible by the support of the Ohio Arts Council.
www.arabellaproffer.com www.hedgeartgallery.com
Proffer’s surreal organic environments start from a place of abstraction and evolve into surroundings filled with strange hybrids of flowers and organisms. In 2010 the artist was diagnosed with a rare cancer which was crawling through her body at an alarming rate. Ironically when her oncologist showed the scans of the tumor and aggressive virus, they looked almost identical to Proffer’s most recent paintings, tentacles and all! This fascination with the macro universe and micro universe has continued through Arabella Proffer’s work — and more recently in a circumstance of life imitating art — she has battled re-occurring illness, continuing to paint what seem like familiar creatures and symbols during her recovery.
After more than a decade of being known as a figurative painter, this is the first time her new direction has come together as a solo exhibition.
The show will be up until December 23rd.
New Painting: Jerk
“Jerk” 12×12″ oil on panel.
This will be part of my upcoming solo show in the fall, made possible by the Ohio Arts Council.
New Painting: Tween
“Tween” 12×12 inches, oil on panel.
This will be part of my upcoming solo show at HEDGE Gallery’s satellite space inside 78th Street Studios this fall. It will be my first solo show of my biomorphic work I have been concentrating on.
New Painting: Carmel
12×12″ oil on panel. You can adopt her over here.
This painting I spent a lot of time on for a specific show at Auguste Clown Gallery in Melbourne. I shouldn’t have agreed to do the show, as making this painting took time away from work on my upcoming solo show. A week before I was to send it off to Melbourne, I got an email from Scott Listfield about what had been going on with Auguste Clown. Trust me, it takes a lot for artists to out a gallery — let alone in a bulk email.
I’m so glad I decided to not send it. The fallout was pretty quick you can see here, here, and here.
Auguste Clown still have a painting of mine in their possession — which I notice is no longer available online — and I am hoping they do the right thing and return it to me. It’s amazing they owe artists hundreds of thousands and they were jerking around collectors who bought work.
Whether it is blue chip galleries or Dorito chip galleries, I’m glad this whole thing became very public via social media. A lot of people don’t realize it happens on all levels; it is usually kept quite because the artists don’t want to be perceived as “difficult”, but it does happen and a lot more than you think. For this gallery to get in this deep, then disappear and close once they were called out very publicly, is certainly a more extreme example.
New Interview + Art in Aspen
If you’d like to give it a read, Dirge Magazine did a pretty extensive interview with me about medical history, writing, and being an extrovert artist.
And if you happen to be visiting Aspen, Colorado, I have two paintings in the “Subtle Gaze” group show put on by Max Kauffman at the Crystal Palace in Aspen, CO. The show opens Saturday, Feb. 6th 6:30 to 9pm and runs through the month.
Artists I Like Right Now: Dark Times
Well jeez, 2016 has gotten off to a strange and dark start, hasn’t it? Here are some current artists reflecting my moods.
Danny van Ryswyk
Stephen Mackey
Cleon Peterson
Friendship Friday Gift Guide
I hate shopping. Well, I hate being around sales people, and other people, and… well usually I know what I want and I go right for the thing.
Sometimes I experience something wonderful, like at Saks or at Rubenstein’s . Any high-end place that does it right by giving me samples and champagne. But really, anytime I go to a big chain store or even the grocery store, I want out! I certainly don’t want to cook a huge holiday meal for more than 6 people. Isn’t that what a caterer is for?
I don’t understand people who line up at electronics stores and whatnot when the sale prices are not really that great, or gear up like it is an exciting outing. A holiday tradition? Yesh!
So I thought I’d throw together a list on my friends who make or sell cool stuff and places I buy from. I’m sure I’ve missed a lot, but this is a good broad list of everything from music to jewelry to neckties to art.
Stick it to the man this season. Keep it independent!
Susan Danko (tiny art and some big art too, starting at $30!)
Edith Lebeau (original paintings and portrait commissions)
Hyperclash (clothing, lifestyle gifts, and art)
Blood Milk Jewels (I need more of this stuff)
WolfChild (cool graphic tees)
The Cotton Candy Machine (books, prints, toys, and original art)
Maybe Mars (Chinese psych rock and the most punk thing going on)
SassyFrass (upcycled jewelry)
Tim Frick Guitars (because a custom guitar sounds awesome)
RTD Design Collective (classes, jewelry, accessories and more)
Dionysus Records (exotica, garage rock, and punk reissues)
Derf Backderf (graphic novels you’ll dig)
Marianne Angeli Rodriguez (art things for your walls)
Camille Rose Garcia (the fairy tale books, yes)
Beessential Personal Care Products (I like the shampoo)
Bent Crayon (curated source for psych, electronic, experimental releases)
Babooshka Boutique (for the goth girl in your life)
Cyberoptix (for the dapper man in your life)
LittleRobot (amazing art prints)
The Brilliant Magpie (prints and tiny originals for only $5 !)
Scottesque (been saving up for one of these tartans, I’ve had my eyes on them for like, 6 months)
Now that was easy. Go on, have a drink!
