SUMMER 2009

CONTEMPORARYART
AMERICAN
 ART
CONTENTS
Summer 2009
AMERICAN
CONTEMPORARY
UP FRONT
18 Summer Art Events
19 Klaus Moje 18 27 44
20 Ceramics in Israel

EXHIBITIONS
24 New York
28 Park City
29 Los Angeles
30 Philadelphia

ARTISTS 32 William Stoehr: Reconstructing 34 Summer Art in Washington, DC

42 Peggy Kwong-Gordon the Portrait
43 Julia Fernandez-Pol
44 Schimmel Gold
45 Arthur Schumaker

Cover Image by Ed Moses,

Skywalk #3, 1999, acrylic on
canvas, 72’’ x 60’’. Courtesy
of Robert Green Fine Arts. 38 Witold-K: The Man and the Artist

Publisher: Richard Kalisher Advertising © 2009, R.K. Graphics. All Rights

Editor: Donovan Stanley advertising@acamagazine.com Reserved.
Design: Rui Vilela Richard Kalisher
Contributers: Kate Chimenti, F. Lennox 561-542-6028
Campello, Jillianne Pierce, Lauren
Schwartz, Laura Standley, Kelly Stone ACAMAGAZINE.COM

CONTENTS 5
 JOE MANGRUM
CHRYSALIS STAGE
JUNE 11 - JULY 13, 2009
Opening: June 12
6 - 9 PM

293 Grand Street Brooklyn, New York 11211 T: 718.218.8939

www.chicontemporaryfineart.com
Bill Gian “Koo Karroo”

870 Santa Fe Drive Denver, CO 80204

www.carlawrightgallery.com
303. 257. 1898
 “Infinite Love”
“Coffee Waves”
“Discantus 2”

Mountain Shadow Gallery

is now representing
Merlin Cohen
Tucson-based Sculptor

Meet us at
Sculpture in the Park
Loveland, CO
August 8-9, 2009
Merlin L. Cohen • “Infin-8” • Colorado Marble, Black Granite

520-577-6301
www.MountainShadowGallery.com
3001 E. Skyline Dr. • Suite 109
Tucson, AZ 85718
NE Corner of Skyline & Campbell
M-S 10 to 6 • S 11 to 5
Base • 64” x 18” x 15”
Carla Wright “Shady Blossom”

870 Santa Fe Drive Denver, CO 80204

www.carlawrightgallery.com
303. 257. 1898
 Bill Gian Fats

870 Santa Fe Drive Denver, CO 80204

www.carlawrightgallery.com
303. 257. 1898

Carla Wright Stonehaven

 KEVIN
ROBB

“Gracefully Skating”
stainless steel,
height 10’

sculptural expressions in bronze and stainless steel

7001 West 35th Ave ■ Wheat Ridge, CO 80033 ■ 303 431 4758 ■ 3d@kevinrobb.com ■ kevinrobb.com
Arthur Schumaker
www.arthur-schumaker.fineartamerica.com www.aschumaker.com
UP FRONT

ART EVENTS

ART Santa Fe Beyond the Border

[July 23-26] San Diego
[Sept 2 - 4]

The Santa Fe festival returns for
its 9th edition at El Museo in the
heart of Santa Fe’s new Railyard Art
District. ART Santa Fe provides a
total experience that includes not
only a high class mix of excellent
contemporary galleries from all
over the globe, cutting edge art
installations, and emerging artists
and dealers, but does so in an utterly
unique setting that offers visitors the
ultimate arts and culture experience.
Viewers will explore the best of the
art world, with participating galleries
from across the United States, China,
Japan, Europe, and Latin America.
This international art fair begins
three days of contemporary works to
The Grand Del Mar resort in Coastal
North San Diego country. The event
will showcase over $4 million in
artwork by prominent national and
international galleries. This marks
the first time that such a large swath
will exhibit in San Diego. All of this
great art, combined with fun in the
sun, makes this mandatory for art
lovers.

ART Santa Fe’s boutique style

offers a perfect balance of breadth
and intimacy, allowing visitors to
speak to dealers and artists while
experiencing a full range of art in a
comprehensible context. In addition
to special single-artist installation
spaces, viewers will also witness a
new event ‘‘How Things Are Made’’
presented by Landfall Press.
(Top) Ed M oses, Skywalk #3, 1999, acrylic on canvas, 72’’ x 60’’. Courtesy of Robert Green Fine Arts.
(Above left) K athlees Wilke, Gift, 1/7, 2009, archival digital print on Fuji Pearl, 48’’ x 48’’.
18 A | C | A SUMMER 2009 (Above right) M ichele M ikesell, The Garden Room, 2009, oil and enamel on canvas, 42” x 48”
Both images courtesy of Decorazon G allery, Dallas, TX.

KLAUS MOJE
MUSEUM OF ARTS AND DESIGN
A major force in the international
studio glass movement, Klaus
Moje has pushed the expressive
and technical possibilities of glass
for more than five decades. In this
comprehensive, 30-year survey, the
Museum of Arts and Design traces
the progression of Moje’s work,
from his early carved crystal glass
pieces, to his intricately patterned
vessels of layered glass, to his recent
multi-panel fused works.
The exhibition includes a new
large-scale mural made specifically
for this exhibition as well as
never-before-shown works from
private collections. It illustrates
the dominant shapes and aesthetics
of the artist’s work and reflects his
unparalleled contributions to the
field of glass art.
Moje’s work is an exploration
of color—the kind of saturated,
luminescent abstract arrangements
of brilliant hues. He chose early in
his career to work with standardized
K laus M oje: (Left) Untitled, 2003-05, I mpact S eries, heet glass, stripped, kilnformed, and wheel- cut 3’’ x 21’’ in dia.
(R ight) Untitled, 1981, rods of glass, stripped, kilnformed, and wheel- cut 2’’ x 11’’ 1/8 in dia
[THROUGH SEPTEMBER 20]
set of reductive shapes—the circle,
the square—that invoke the historic
form of a functional shallow bowl.
In later years, he occasionally
expanded his repertoire to include
simple cylinders and boxes, and
most recently, flat panels. Within
this fairly rigid format, he has
experimented with dramatic color
and geometric and abstract pattern
to create a body of work that is
exceptional in its contrasts richness
and beauty.
A highlight of the exhibition
is a massive four-panel work, The
Portland Panels: Choreographed
Geometry, created especially for this
exhibition. Composed of more than
22,000 hand-cut strips of glass fused
together at the Bullseye Glass factory
studios in Portland and totaling 74
1/2 x 218 in. this work is a stunning
technical achievement. Over the
course of a year, Moje collaborated
with a team of glass technicians to
overcome problems with fusing
glass at this monumental scale.
This work is indicative of
the innovation and vitality that
Moje has brought to the medium of
glass throughout his career. While
many glass artists have focused on
glassblowing techniques, Moje has
centered his practice on glass fusion,
in which pieces of glass, often
rods, strips, or canes, are arranged
in a pattern and melted together
in a kiln, to create a solid piece of
UP FRONT
MUSEUMS
glass. Glass fusion has historically
been very difficult to achieve with
multiple hues, as different colors of
glass have different rates of heating
and cooling, and will crack if placed
side by side. Moje worked with the
Portland company Bullseye Glass
to create new formulas for glass
colors that were compatible. In this
collaboration between science and
art, Moje and Bullseye significantly
expanded the capabilities of glass as
an art medium.
In addition to including several
of his recent works, the exhibitiion
includes many of Moje’s very rare
early pieces. It also provides a
perspective on the artist’s changing
aesthetic, as he experimented with
new techniques and a greater palette
of colors became available to him.
Some of the works are the
result of specific events in the
artist’s life: the Horizon series came
immediately after his move from
Germany to Australia and reflects his
exposure to a dramatically different
landscape, while the Impact series
is a visceral reaction to the terrorist
attacks of September 11, 2001.
UP FRONT 19
UP FRONT
ART EVENTS
CONTEMPORARY CERAMICS IN ISRAEL
Mint Museum of Craft + Design
Through June 7th, visitors to the
Mint Museum of Craft + Design
in Charlotte, NC will have the
opportunity to view a special
display of Israeli ceramic art,
entitled From the Melting Pot into
the Fire: Contemporary Ceramics
in Israel. The Mint Museum is the
only venue in the United States to
host this exhibition, which features
works from many acclaimed Israeli
sculptors and potters including Efrat
Eyal, Lea Sheves and Ada Yoels.
Artist Yael Novak, co-
organizer of the exhibition,
said, “Israeli ceramic art today
illustrates a diversity and intricacy
that derives from a multitude of
cultural influences characteristic of
immigrant societies.” Because Israel
is a melting pot of cultures, modern
Israeli ceramic art is influenced by
the diversity of its people and is
created using both traditional and
contemporary processes to create
these masterpieces. Also influencing
modern trends in Israeli ceramics
are recent design school graduates,
who are involved in widespread new
design activity across the region.
Michelle Mickey, Curatorial
Assistant at the Mint Museum of Craft
+ Design says, “In From the Melting
Pot Into the Fire: Contemporary
Ceramics in Israel, object selection
and exhibition design were aimed at
creating an environment that allowed
the visitor to feel as if they were in
20 A | C | A SUMMER 2009
Israel. The raw texture and earthy
tones of the ceramic sculptures
coupled with Mediterranean blue
highlights throughout the exhibition
are reminiscent of the landscape of
this beautiful oceanside desert.”
The exhibition explores the
common theme of Israeli Cultural
Identity. The complex political
and economic climate which exists
in Israel often leads the artists
to express their frustrations and
struggles through this art form. Israeli
sculpture is frequently characterized
by the artists struggling with issues of
immigration, ethnicity and a sense of
place. These struggles are portrayed
through different sculpting methods
and the collections offers museum-
goers a variety of different colors,
textures and forms to examine.
Aside from viewing the
ceramics, visitors will also have
the chance to take part in one of the
activities offered, including artist
lectures and hands-on crafts. One
such class, The Butterfly Project, a
collaboration with the Levine Jewish
Community Center, is a space-
limited workshop where participants
each paint a small bisque-fired
butterfly. These butterflies are part of
a global initiative to paint 1.5 million
butterflies in order to commemorate
the 1.5 million children who
died during the Holocaust. These
butterflies will ultimately be added to
a community wall of remembrance
CHARLOTTE, NC
in Shalom Park, Charlotte, later in
2009.
From the Melting Pot Into
the Fire: Contemporary Ceramics
in Israel was co-coordinated by
Yael Novak of the CAAI (Ceramic
Artist Association of Israel) and
Annie Carlano of the Mint Museum.
The exhibition was not originally
intended to travel, but support from
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Israel, AIDA (Association of Israel’s
Decorative Arts), and the Founders’
Circle Ltd. (the national support
affiliate of the Mint Museum of Craft
+ Design) made this possible.
“Through this exhibition we
hope to share with the public some
of the most innovative ceramic work
being created in Israel today, as well
as address personal and communal
issues of place within an immigrant
society, a topic which resonates
deeply in a melting pot nation such
as the United States,” says Mickey.
- Jillianne Pierce
 DARLENE KUHNE
855 Inca St. Denver CO 80204
720 935 2596
www.darlenekuhneart.com

DENVER’S ART DISTRICT ON SANTA FE DISTRICT * GALLERY INQUIRIES WELCOME *

EXHIBITIONS

N E W YO R K

Jerry Meyer
Denise Bibro gallery [Through June 20]

Memory Boxes, Meyer’s second solo New Haven, CT; the Art Miami and
exhibition at the gallery features Red Dot Art Fairs, both in Miami,
a new series of multi-media light FL; as well as the Red Dot Fairs in
boxes, together with other illuminated New York City and London; the Eli
sculptural works. The work evokes a Whitney Museum, Hamden, CT; the
dramatic personal narrative—often Arts Council of Greater New Haven,
a reconstruction of the artist’s own New Haven, CT; the San Jose Rep
childhood memories—rife with Gallery, San Jose, CA; and the Sharon
humor, sentiment, and sometimes Arts Center in Petersborough, NH.
sadness.
Building his own plexiglas
boxes, to which he adds ancestral
ephemera, family photos and other
nostalgic objects, Meyer illuminates
them with found light sources as well
as various types of bulbs and colored
filters. His sophisticated sense of
engineering and lighting lend nuance
and elegance to these assemblage
compositions. The work bristles with
the theatricality of a stage set, yet
summons the sacredness of objects
displayed in reliquaries or shrines.
Deeply fascinated by psychology,
Meyer often conjures family
dynamics such as parent-child love
expressed through physical bonding,
or suggests that the recollection of
unconditional parental love may be
a potent antidote to the inevitability
of loss and separation. The work is
at once personal and universal—the
artist’s sentiments are right there on
the surface, offered to the viewer
with vulnerability and gentle wit.
Jerry Meyer’s work has been
included in exhibitions throughout
the United States, such as Artspace,

Jerry M eyer : (Top)16 Sunbeam T-9 Toasters Installation, Detail, 2009, mixed media, 84’’ x 75’’ x 6.75’’
24 A | C | A SUMMER 2009
(Above) The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, 2008, mixed media, 32’’ x 24’’ x 6.5’’

LIAO YIBAI
MIKE WEISS GALLERY
Imaginary Enemy, an exhibition
of new work by Liao Yibai, is the
first exhibition in New York for
the Chinese artist. Unlike other
Chinese contemporary artists,
Yibai’s sculpture uniquely explores
how the Chinese imagined the myth
and threat of America during and
immediately following the Cultural
Revolution.
Yibai was born and grew up
at the site of a bomb and chemical
weapons factory, where his father
designed cruise missiles to be used
against the United States. The artist
therefore grew up in an environment
of weapons, secrecy, and danger. The
key to understanding the Imaginary
Enemy series is through stories
arising from the artist’s personal
memories and dreams.
At first viewing, the stainless
steel sculptures prompt laughter.
They look disconcertingly strange
Liao Yibai: (Top) Kitty Hawk B, 2009, stainless steel, 53 lbs, 12’’ x 51’’ x 27’’
(M iddle) Top S ecret Hamburger (small), 2009, stainless steel, 14’’ x 23’’ x 23’’
(Above) PLA Whiskey, 2009, stainless steel, 35’’ x 12’’ x 12’’
[MAY 8 - AUG 15]
and unlike most other contemporary
art. Yet each one carries complex
layers of meaning and significance.
Top Secret Hamburger, for example,
recalls the artist’s first taste of an
American hamburger (considered
an icon of American capitalism)
and finding it rancid. Cash Fighting
represents the continuing economic
battles between the two countries,
while PLA Whiskey recalls the story
of a former Chinese soldier’s dream
of forbidden American alcohol.
Several of Yibai’s works combine
resembling the ones that blasted
EXHIBITIONS
N E W YO R K
Communist slogans from a truck
that drove through his town three
times a day.
Through his sculptures, Yibai
reminds us that ‘enemy’ is a relative
concept. Instead of threatening
war and competition, the works in
Imaginary Enemy encourage us to
see these as humorous misunder-
standings that must be corrected.
EXHIBITIONS 25
EXHIBITIONS

B R O O K LY N

Adriana Lopez Sanfeliu

Randall Scott gallery [Jul 16 - Aug 15]

Since April of 2002, Adriana Lopez

Sanfeliu has been documenting the
physical and mental boundaries of
young Puerto Rican women and their
families living on 103rd Street in
Spanish Harlem. Her series, Life on
the Block discusses how the women
of these families provide an inner
compass to explore the challenges of
life and their quest for empowerment
as well as their desire and inability
to brake a cycle of mere survival.
For Adriana, ‘‘American
society is a mosaic of cultures that
share a land, a flag and a language
as symbols of an identity. But
beneath the illusions of national income is based on public assistance values and circumstances, a pattern
unity in parts of America, ‘another and often supplemented by the of existence they jokingly call ‘‘the
country’ exists.’’ She is referring to underground economy of the street; ghetto life.’’
the 13% of the US population that the sale of drugs and other illegal This series is an intense look
is Hispanic American. ‘‘With that activities that commonly lead to at their roles as women in a machista
demographic,’’ she says, ‘‘one third detention, prison, and death. culture, as latinas in a white society,
are Puerto Rican families searching Fathers and brothers are often and as mothers of the upcoming
for a prosperous life.’’ absent from the family unit. Girls American generations.
reaffirm their existence through
maternity and drop out of high
school to become mothers at an
early age. These strong young
women of the block represent the
potential elements of change in this
society. Women are the pillars of
the community. These women often
Still, there is a hardness choose to be somebody in their block
that characterizes these streets, rather than nobody in a promising
and innocence dies young. This new horizon. To break that lifestyle
community has a high rate of is almost a betrayal to their roots and
unemployment-three times the their people. Many families in these
New York City average. The family communities live under the same

Adriana Lopez Sanfeliu: (Top) A my and Cope

26 A | C | A SUMMER 2009 (Above left) Mickey In His Room
(Above right) Missy ’s Sweet Sixteen

Summer Sculpture Show
Art 101
[June 19 - July 12]
Four artists who emphasize the linear
abilities of sculpture will present
their work at Art 101’s Summer
Sculpture Show. The wall sculptures
of Katherine Koos are jewel-like in
their decorative nature. The swirling
drawings in metal wire are studded
with a swarm of beads, creating
shadows as an extension of the
composition. Gicometti meets The
Terminator in Alexandra Limpert’s
reconstruction of the human form
through a steely scaffolding of
pipes, brackets and rods. Her cool
vision and attention to craft and
ingenuity examine the metaphysical
framework of the human form.
Fara’h Salehi presents her iconic
mosquito as universal feminine
creator. The knife blade lines of the
figure’s appendages split the air with
a kinetic quality that belies its static
form. In contrast to her exhibition
(Left) Alexandra Limpert, Third Generation, 2008, Steel, 66’’ x 20’’ x 26’’
(M iddle) Hee S ook K im, Twelve Gates, Encounter with Hildegard of Bingen, 2009, mixed media on panel, 96’’ x 48’’
(R ight) Lauriston Avery, Oriana, 2009, flashe on canvas, 36’’ x 36’’
colleagues, Ulrika Stromback turns
to materials of the natural world
adhering twigs with a polymer-like
resin, thereby creating structures
that reveal the imperfectness of
the organic matter, yet preserve
an orderly, geometric linearity
reminiscent of an orb-weaving
spider’s web.
Hee Sook Kim
Ch’i Contemporary
[May 7 - June 8]
In conjunction with Asian
Contemporary Arts Week NY
2009, Korean-born New York-
based artist Hee Sook Kim presents
twelve monumental paintings (each
panel measures 96” x 48”) entitled,
“Twelve Gates: Encounter with
Hildegard of Bingen” as well as
a video installation collaboration
with musician-composer-poet Chri-
stopher Sultis. Kim’s panels are a
celebratory collision of cultures past
and present, and from opposite ends
EXHIBITIONS
B R O O K LY N
of the globe. At once reminiscent of
ancientAsian wall scrolls and Western
illuminated manuscripts, the panels
incorporate iconographic references
to calligraphic cartridges, Dead Sea
Scrolls, botanical illustrations, a
figure that could be the “Vitruvian
Man” or a dancing Shiva. Like
snowboard graphics, Kim employs
citrus colors in block design current
in pop culture, giving the panels
a fresh, unabashedly beautiful
universality and timelessness.
Lauriston Avery
The Hogar Collection
[June 26 - July 31]
Lauriston Avery’s dark and
mysterious paintings evoke auras
and mystical landscapes that delve
into the realms of mythology.
Culling from inspirations like death
metal, the occult and our desire to
know a magical and sublime sense
of the unknown, his paintings push
the envelope of the overly drawn
out “dark” art of recent trends to
insightful, provocative and truly
innovative painterly vision.
EXHIBITIONS 27
EXHIBITIONS

LO S A N G E L E S

David Flores and Lisa Alisa

Le BASSE PROJECTS [Jul 18 - Aug 8]

A Distorted Lens, a two-

artist exhibition, features gallery
artists David Flores and Lisa Alisa.
While each artist works in a very
“Superflat” style, they each have
very different cultural influences.
In his first Los Angeles show
since 2006, Flores delivers all new
artwork that embodies his unique
interpretation of pop iconography.
In addition to his paintings he has

embellished dozens of vintage
fashion, music and news magazine
spreads with his vision of the world
around him. Flores’ stained-glass
window style creates a warped view
of the pop icons he simultaneously
idolizes and mocks. Lisa Alisa also
follows the superflat style laid out by
Japanese artist Takashi Murakami,
although her work tends to have
much more obvious bite. Generally
featuring thinly veiled self-portraits,
her paintings are what she refers to
as “new feminist” artwork. While
bloody and violent, the paintings are a
metaphor for both the brutality of life
and the desire for change within the
artist herself. There’s a thick vein of
dark, surreal humor running through
the images. The pair both paint in
the “superflat” style, but have clearly
found their own voices in making
their individual commentary on
society. Alisa is openly shouting her
feminist views while Flores’ work
is subtly, but undeniably masculine.
Together Alisa and Flores reflect
both sides of the sexual dynamic that
rages between men and women.

(Left) David Flores, Breathe, 2009, acrylic on vintage photograph, 8.5’’ x 11”
28 A | C | A SUMMER 2009
(R ight) Lisa Alisa, Pornostar, 2008, acrylic on canvas, 36’’ x 48’’
 EXHIBITIONS

P hiladelphia

Joel Philip Myers and Berny Brownstein

Wexler GALLERY [Jul 3 - Aug 29]

Joel Philip Myers, this year’s

recipient of the Millville Rose
Society Award from the Creative
Glass Center of America at
Wheaton Arts, will be high-
lighted in this historic exhibition.
It includes works from Myers’
personal collection from 1971 to
the present. Myers’ work is best
known for its expert craftsmanship
and exceptional sense of design.
In the early 1990’s, Myers took a
break from exhibiting his work in
order to take the time to ‘‘search
for new directions which would war and suffering, by the late 1990’s most commonplace of objects are
require extensive experimentation.’’ Myers had begun two new series enduring moments to the limitless
called Dialogue and Enticement, subject matter of nature.’’
which are ‘‘more optimistic and
cheerful, even amusing.’’ His most
recent body of work, the Color
Study Series, is an exploration and
celebration of the artist’s “long
love relationship with color.”
New and past works by painter
Berny Brownstein will be presented
at Wexler’s second floor, beginning
July 29. A native Philadelphian,
Brownstein is a recorder of decisive
moments, personal reflections,
This time of maturation marks and experiences gained through
a period where the artist, who years of travel and observation.
generally focused on themes such An artist who is “excited about
as the natural world, landscapes, the essence of all things; a figure,
rivers, and flowers, began to focus a landscape, the character of an
on ideas related to “the conditions individual”, Brownstein is inspired
of our humanity.’’ While the first by the possibilities of “form, color,
pieces from this series deal with texture, the transient play of light
darker human concepts such as pain, and shadow.” For him, “even the

(Top) Berny Brownstein, November in Lancaster Pennsylvania, 1999, oil on fabric, 42’’ x 72”
(Left) Joel Philip M yers, Facets of Norden 1, 1989, glass, 8.63’’ x 4.5’’ x 14.13’’ EXHIBITIONS 29
(R ight) Joel Philip M yers, D ansk S ommer, 1989, glass, 13.5’’ x 15.5’’ x 4’’ , Green Fish, 1990, glass, 25.5’’ x 9.25’’ X 4’’
EXHIBITIONS
PA R K C I T Y, U TA H
ROBIN DENEVAN
JULIE NESTER GALLERY
Robin Denevan’s work is an
exploration of the relationships
and dualities of atmosphere and
form. For this new show of 12-
15 works, ‘‘Quiet Moments’’, the
encaustic paintings focus on a pause
between extremes, a place where
the imagery is continuous and
rhythmic, a forest grove, a river’s
shore, a jungle canopy.
In researching his topic,
Denevan has traveled extensively
throughout Asia and Latin America
with charcoal, graphite and ink as his
primary media. The works’ intent is
to convey an emotional and visceral
impression of his experiences
abroad. His paintings are a journal
of the strange and evocative
landscapes he encounters while
traveling. Though often realistic
in nature, the styles shift with the
30 A | C | A SUMMER 2009
[JULY 31 - AUG 26]
changing landscapes and suggest these encaustic paintings, evoke a
departures for his abstract paintings. sensuous yet haunting marriage of
Denevan’s latest work was dark and quiet waters.
inspired by his recent trip to China’s
Yunnan Province. His paintings
are based on drawings he did of
the Yangtze River in an area that
will soon be dammed and flooded.
He did these studies during the dry
season when sandbars and islands
cut the river into many paths and
shapes. It was a unique opportunity
to see such a magnificent and
haunting landscape.
Denevan’s works reflect
the rich and textured beauty of
this region. Painted on canvas
with acrylic, bees wax and oil, the
paintings explore the subtleties
of light, reflection, and density
with layered surfaces and organic
forms. The luminous palate of
Robin Denevan: S age Yangtze, 2009, mixed media encaustic on canvas, 30‘‘ x 68’’
A FORMER CARTOGRAPHER
MAPS THE HUMAN FACE
William Stoehr left his career to
fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming
an artist. Previously, Stoehr was
president of National Geographic
Maps, the entity responsible for
all things cartographic for the
international magazine. Although
gratifying on many levels. Stoehr
yearned to explore a different sort
of terrain, the infinite territory of
canvas and paint.
Speaking with him from his
Boulder, Colorado, studio, one gets
the feeling Stoehr is in his element,
judging from the excitement with
which he speaks about his recent
works. This interview finds him
midway through his newest series. For
many modern artists and explorers
alike, this is the dreaded moment
of “what do I do next?”, a critical
junction between a momentous start
full of ideas and fervent work and the
gradual waning of drive and longing
for the next frontier. Surrounded
by canvases, many of which are on
the verge of the final brush-stroke,
Stoehr finds opportunity for new
discoveries in the paint already
applied and inspiration for the forms
not yet realized.
Stoehr’s aptitude in rendering
the human figure is astounding, not
withstanding the fact that he has
only been a “career artist” for four
years. The ability with which he
coaxes the form from within the
canvas has earned Stoehr accolades
32 A | C | A SUMMER 2009
BY KELLY STONE
from domestic and foreign galleries,
exhibiting recently at Space Gallery
in Denver, Colorado and Gallerie
Porto 34 in Saint Barth, French West
Indies.
The inception of Stoehr’s
newest collection originated from
a conversation between the artist
and a close friend, a fellow artist
and gallery owner. Eager for a
new adventure, Stoehr asked his
friend what he thought would be an
William Stoehr : (Top) Untitled (R heanna), acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 48‘‘ x 36’’
(Above) William Stoehr in his studio
interesting artistic avenue to explore,
contemplating a foray into the
unknown. Stoehr’s friend, familiar
with his earlier works, suggested
a closer examination of abstract
portraiture. With this suggestion
and having recently attended a
Marlene Dumas retrospective,
Stoehr began the first pieces of what
he would call the Burka Series.
Focusing on the elements of
portraiture that interest him most,
Stoehr directed his attention to
expressive qualities of the human
face with intense concentration on
the subjects’ eyes. Stoehr details the
model’s features with precision, each
planer variation expertly drafted with
dramatic shadows and highlights.
Stoehr’s models are ethnically
diverse providing a comprehensive
array of varying bone structures and
features. The selection of models
enhances the universality of the
collection as a whole.
The monochromatic palette
with which he initially renders the
visage freezes the form in a dramatic
likeness of the model while imbuing
the canvas with an almost sculptural
reflection. Although the face is
frozen in a sort of suspended reality,
the subjects’ eyes are vibrant and
engaging. Stoehr’s application of
dramatic sweeps of red across the
canvas accentuates and abstracts
certain details of his figure,
enhancing the tension and movement
of the subjects’ eyes. With varying
coverage of color, Stoehr amplifies
the figure’s intensity and presence.
For Stoehr, this melding
 WhileWhile some some of hisof canvases
his canvases are collective title Burka Series and the
are lightly
lightly touched
touched withcolor,
with color, others figures therein are not intended to be
integrate color intensely into the explicitly political. Individually, the
matrix of the composition. Stoehr images are powerful; as a group, the
juxtaposes translucent washes of tension is moving. The women look
color with opaque brush-strokes out from behind their mantle of color
varying the figure’s presence on the urging the viewer to stay a moment,
canvas. In some portraits the color engage, and process.
closely contours the facial features,
pleasantly accentuating the form. In
other portraits in this series, swaths
of color seemingly dissect the image, Stoehr did not have
abruptly cropping and intensely preconceived ideas as to how the
abstracting the figure pieces should read singularly or
At the time of this interview, as a series leaving the impetus of
of figurative and abstraction is a Stoehr is investigating new color urging the
the collection to beviewer
decided to by
staythea
functional union of his right-brained techniques of color application. moment, engage,
viewer. Stoehr and process.
hopes to provoke an
and left-brained approach to art. Having recently At read
the atime
biography on
of this Stoehrand illicit
experience did annotemotional have
While drawn to the pragmatism Francis
interview, Bacon,
Stoehr Stoehr is interested
is investigating preconceived
response but ideas
is aptastotoallow how the
of representational mark-making, in
newBacon’s
techniques useof color
of spray paint.
application. pieces should
viewer the read tosingularly
freedom explore his or
Stoehr is enthralled by the freedom Drawn to its immediacy,
Having recently limitless
read a biography on as
or aher
series
ownleaving the impetus
conclusions. Stoehrof
of intuitive abstract compositions. intensity,
Francis Bacon, andStoehrunpredictability,
is interested the collection
simply to shouldn’t
states, “I be decided be by the
trying
Stoehr describes the first time he Bacon
in Bacon’s used spray
use ofpaint and paint.
spray other viewer.
to guide.Stoehr hopes to in
I’m interested provoke
knowing an
approached a detailed canvas with unconventional
Drawn to its immediacy,coloring tools as a
limitless experience
but will let and
themillicit
figureanit emotional
out.” For
a red brush questioning, “Should distraction
intensity, from and intentional mark-
unpredictability, response
a man whobut is the
spent apt majority
to allowof the his
I put the paint in certain places… making
Bacon used stating,
spray“Half
paintmyandpainting
other viewer the freedom
career producing to explore
detailed maps and his
or let the painting go?” A moment activity is disrupting
unconventional whattools
coloring I canasdoa or her ownit conclusions.
guidebooks, seems fitting that Stoehrin
of conflicted desire to control was with ease.”from
distraction Withintentional
an unwaveringmark- simply states,Stoehr
“retirement” “I shouldn’t
opts tobeprovide
trying
met with his instinctive reaction sense
making of adventure and amy
stating, “Half tastepainting
for the to
theguide.
vehicleI’m
butinterested in knowing
not the destination.
to press the brush to the canvas; unknown, Stoehr picks
activity is disrupting what up I acan
spray
do but will let them figure it out.” For
Stoehr standing on the precipice, can
withand charges
ease.” Withforward.
an unwavering a man who spent the majority of his
decided to leap. With a distinct sense of Stoehr’s
adventureexploration
and a taste for has
the careerKelly
producing
Stonedetailed
is an artmaps and
historian
portion of the journey relying on thus
unknown,far produced twenty-five
Stoehr picks up a spray48” guidebooks,
and freelanceitwriter
seems fitting
living that in
in Denver,
intuitive happenstance, has Stoehr xcan36”
andcanvases. Each piece is left
charges forward. “retirement”
Colorado. Stoehr opts to provide
experienced any missteps? He untitled indicating his model’s name the vehicle but not the destination.
answers, yes, explaining a situation in parenthesis. Stoehr notes, the
with one of his first canvases, an over- collective title Burka Series and the Kelly Stone is an art historian
energized brush stroke produced a figures therein are not
Stoehr’s intendedhas
exploration to and freelance writer living in Denver,
foot-long gash across the surface of be
thusexplicitly political.
far produced Individually,
twenty-five 48” Colorado.
the painting. Aware but not overly the images
x 36” are powerful;
canvases. as a group,
Each piece is left
conscious, Stoehr continues to allow the tension
untitled is moving.
indicating The women
his model’s name William Stoehr’s work can be
the brush the ability to create at will. look out from behind
in parenthesis. theirnotes,
Stoehr mantlethe of found online at www.stoehr.us.

William Stoehr : (Left) Untitled (Thea), acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 48‘‘ x 36’’
(R ight) Untitled (Priscila), acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 48‘‘ x 36’’
FEATURE 33
BEYOND THE BIG MUSEUMS, WASHINGTON
OFFERS A VIBRANT AND DIVERSE ART SCENE
Being an artist in the Greater
Washington, DC, region means being
part of a perplexing paradox. On the
positive side, the regional art scene
in and around the nation’s capital is
one of the most vibrant and diverse
art scenes in the world. Led by the
Hirshhorn, the National Gallery of
Art, American University’s Katzen
Museum, the Corcoran Gallery, the
Phillips Collection, the National
Portrait Gallery and the various
other Smithsonian museums, the DC
region offers an exceptional number
of world-class museums, most of
which are free and have a significant
international presence.
The region not only boasts
of a large number of independently
owned commercial art galleries,
artists’ cooperatives, alternative art
venues and non-profit art spaces,
but also a significant number of
international art galleries and spaces
within or sponsored by many of
the foreign embassies which make
Washington their home.
On the negative side, the
Washington news media’s main
focus tends to be aimed towards
politics and everything associated
with the world of politicians. Over
the years the already scant coverage
given to local art galleries and artists
has been diminished considerably,
and the current arts coverage of the
capital’s two main newspapers can
only be included in the genre
34 A | C | A SUMMER 2009
of journalistic minimalism. For
example, the Washington Post
employs a freelancer to write
about 25 gallery reviews a year,
while I cannot recall the last time
that the Washington Times wrote a
significant gallery review.
In spite of all that, and perhaps
driven by the assorted energies one
of the most culturally diverse cities
in the world, the DC area art scene
is charged with energy, zeal and the
artistic power of the many thousands
of artists who live, work and create
art in the region.
From May 29 – July 5,
Artomatic, the nation’s largest
artist-organized arts extravaganza,
now in its 10th anniversary, takes
place in Washington, D.C.’s Capitol
Riverfront neighborhood. Artomatic
Leslie Holt: Hello Picasso (D ancers), 2008, oil on canvas, 6‘‘ x 4’’.
Courtesy of Curator ’s O ffice
BY LENNOX CAMPELLO
is a huge (usually around a thousand
artists, performers, musicians, etc.)
artist-run free for all where
everything is art and everyone can
hang their artwork. Artomatic is
where the lack of a curatorial hand
is bemoaned by traditional critics
(who always seem to miss or ignore
the enormous contribution that the
event delivers to the city) but loved
by everyone else.
In a nutshell, Artomatic takes
over an entire building (in this case
Half Street’s, located at 55 M Street,
S.E in DC), and converts the entire
space into hundreds of individual
and group art galleries, performance
stages, theatres, movies, and
restaurants. At Artomatic you will
find a mind-numbing assortment of
artists at all levels of their career
and covering every possible genre
and subject (and skill level) that one
can imagine. It is usually open 24
hours a day, and it is always free.
Washington museums generally tend
to think of themselves as national
or international museums, and with
the notable exception of the new
Katzen Museum and sometimes the
Corcoran, they seldom if ever pay
any attention to their own backyard.
Margaret Boozer is easily the
capital region’s most innovative
artist when it comes to getting your
fingers dirty in clay and the assorted
ingredients in the life of a ceramic
artist, and from June 27 through
August 16, the Katzen Museum will
give Boozer her first DC area
museum show in an exhibition titled
Mud Drawings.
Elsewhere, the District itself
was once loosely organized into
several pockets of galleries centered
around Georgetown, the Dupont
Circle area and the 14th Street
corridor. Some of these galleries,
such as the five galleries inside
Canal Square (M Street at 31st
Street, NW) host regular openings
on the Third Friday of each month,
while the dozen or so art galleries
around the Dupont Circle area host
their openings on the First Friday of
each month. Leigh Conner and Dr.
Jamie Smith are two of the District’s
hardest working dealers, and their
Conner Contemporary recently
moved from the Dupont Circle
area to a spacious new building
on Florida Avenue. From May 30
through July 15 they will be hosting
Kenny Hunter’s “Like Water in
Water” and Nathaniel Rogers’ “The
Last Viking.”
Another recent relocation has
been the Nevin Kelly Gallery, which
sometimes seems to operate under
the radar of Washington art critics
while delivering sold out shows more
often than many other DC galleries.
From June 16 through July 11, they
will have a cleverly named show
titled “Stimulus”, which is a group
exhibition designed to stimulate
the mind and the art economy by
offering selected works by local
artists at prices of $500 or less.
The building at 1515 14th
Joseph Barbaccia: Euphoria, 2008, polystyrene, sequins, stainless steel pins, 17‘‘ x 21’’ x 21’’
Street, NW is also home to several
important galleries such as Hemphill
Fine Arts, G Fine Arts, and from
June 30 – July 25, the tiny (and aptly
named) but important Curator’s
Office will host Leslie Holt’s
“Hello Masterpiece” exhibition,
where Hello Kitty gets her freak on
invading art historic masterpieces in
these small, witty paintings.
Unless you are a local, you’ll
never realize that you have crossed
the border from the District into
Maryland, and this transparency
is most evident in places such as
where Wisconsin Avenue leads into
Bethesda and also the Rhode Island
Avenue area of Prince George’s
County known as the Gateway Arts
District.
The Bethesda area is dotted
with some of the region’s most
attractive spaces, and galleries such
as Neptune Gallery, Fraser Gallery,
Heineman Myers Contemporary
Art, and the Washington School of
Photography lead an assorted group
of 13 art galleries and art venues
which align each second Friday
of the month for the Bethesda Art
Walk, which includes a free minibus
for those who would rather do their
gallery hopping without walking.
From June 4-27, do not miss the
solo at Neptune Gallery by sculptor
Joe Barbaccia, one of the region’s
most visible and active artists.
Barbaccia is a master of reinventing
common objects by recreating them
in new forms and shapes, sometimes
humorous, often charged with sexual
energy, and sometimes offering a
powerful social commentary.
The Gateway Arts District is
home to some of the region’s most
diverse art spaces as well to a large
number of artists’ studios and the
very influential Washington Glass
School. And from June 4 – July 18,
H&F Fine Arts will showcase the
unusual, riotous portraiture work of
Kristen Copham, a portrait painter
with a natural ability to capture and
expose the hidden personality of
her subjects. Don’t expect formal
portraits here, but expect to see all
that you can see about her subjects.
Cross any of the bridges into
Virginia and head for Old Town
Alexandria, home of the huge
Torpedo Factory complex, home
to three floors of working artists’
studios and several art galleries. Of
these, Target Gallery and The Art
League Gallery routinely deliver
superb group shows, while Multiple
Exposures Gallery is easily one of
the top photography galleries in the
region.
While bypassing the city’s
largest museums, one can find an
exciting art scene throughout this
very vibrant region.
FEATURE 35
 DONNA CHAMBERS DESIGNS
5 Prospect Ave. White Plains, NY 10607
Tel: 914 287 0303 Fax: 914 287 7305

www.donnachambersdesigns.com

@=B<5F8H89G=;BGHI8=C
CUSTOM & READY-MADE JEWELRY GALLERY
7IGHCAF958M!A589>9K9@FM
%)*:=FGH5J9BI9 95GHJ=@@5;9BM7%$$$-
H9@.-%++(,-$$$:5L.-%+)-%,',)
kkk"`]b\UfXhXYg][b"Wca

hand-made with recycled metals and ethically-sourced stones bridal jewelry collection
LINHARDT DESIGN STUDIO: CUSTOM & READY-MADE JEWELRY GALLERY 156 FIRST AVE, NYC NY 10009 TEL: 917 748 9000 www.linhardtdesign.com
 DARLENE KUHNE
855 Inca St. Denver CO 80204
720 935 2596
www.darlenekuhneart.com

DENVER’S ART DISTRICT ON SANTA FE DISTRICT * GALLERY INQUIRIES WELCOME *

WITOLD-K
THE MAN AND THE ARTIST
Growing up in a mental institution
in Poland during Nazi occupation
sounds more like an Elie Wiesel
book than a typical childhood. But
for Witold-K (Witold Kaczanowski),
it describes part of his inspiration
for painting identifiable loneliness.
It’s the beginnings of what drove
him to depict everything from
abstract figures sitting in the fetal
position to his curious black holes.
And it’s those works that have
brought so much pride to Denver.
Last summer, Sotheby’s in
Amsterdam invited Witold-K to have
a one-man show, From People to
Black Holes, featuring 163 paintings.
According to him, it’s the first time
Sotheby’s has invited an American
artist to exhibit solo on their premises.
“It’s something great for the city…
This is extraordinary,” he says,
almost as if it were the first time he
spoke of the accomplishment aloud.
“It’s a tribute to the city of Denver.”
Witold-K’s entire life plays out
like a well-told tale: one exciting,
heart-wrenching, perplexing story
after another, beginning with his own
birth. His mother had tuberculosis,
and when she became pregnant
with Witold-K in the early 1930s,
her family wanted her to have an
abortion so that she might save her
own life. She refused and lost her life
by giving him one. Because of this,
“It’s impossible for me not to love
women,” Witold-K says, turning
38 A | C | A SUMMER 2009
BY LAURA STANDLEY
this point of almost uncomfortable
sadness into charismatic humor.
His father was the director of
one of the largest Eastern European
mental institutions, tucked in the
woods near Warsaw. Witold-K
speaks of his time there before the
Nazis arrived. “Can you imagine?”
he says, fondly describing one of his
father’s patients who pretended to
be a locomotive for an entire year.
Those patients who had lost their
minds had patience for children like
no sane person ever could. In fact,
they provided the clay for his first
sculptures. He says he used to sneak
into the rooms of catatonic patients
and change their positions.At the least,
this is a ballsy way to express one’s
art. And at most, completely morbid.
Because of his mother’s
tuberculosis, Witold-K was a bit
weak and had holes in his lungs. He
was sent to a sanitarium for children
with TB. His fellow squatters died
so often that he never had the chance
to make friends. As a result, he
turned inward and began incessantly
drawing to express himself, coupling
his own loneliness with the cries
of despair he heard at the mental
institution. “True loneliness,” he
says, enunciating each syllable as he
says it. He describes the plight of an
insane individual who doesn’t even
know himself, let alone have the
ability to express himself to anyone
around him as “completely isolated...”
Add to this a dash of WWII, when
food was scarce and when, for
years, all he heard was endless
begging from his father’s patients
for anything at all to eat. During
the summers, they ate grass. “Art
and psychology were tremendously
mixed together,” for him, he says.
Before Witold-K’s father went
on to become the vice president of
the Polish Red Cross, they hid many
Jews from the Nazis in his facility.
Whereas a country boy in the States
might relay stories of cow-tipping,
Witold-K relays stories of stealing
food from nearby Nazi camps.
“We were like eleven-, thirteen-
year-old gangsters…We got shot
at like the monkeys in the trees…”
Again, he gives a jaw-dropping
statement a sort of normalcy.
He’s qualified to paint “not
necessarily [his] loneliness, but
what [he] observes, what [he] sees.”
He knows tragedy and suffering,
and yet, he never intended to paint
it for fame or money. He paints
for himself and happily accepts his
success. “Art became for me what
insulin is for a diabetic…I had to.”
Even after he went out on
his own around the age of twenty-
seven, his life still read like a story.
He smuggled dissident texts out of
Warsaw in 1964 and wasn’t allowed to
return. He tromped around Paris with
poet Jacques Prévert. Pablo Picasso
painted his portrait. Denver Mayor
Wellington Webb made May 15th
Witold-K Day in honor of the artist’s
65th birthday. For his 75th, he went
skydiving, and he was nominated
for the 2007 Mayor’s Award for
Excellence in the Arts. His accolades
and adventures seem to never end.
Last summer may have been
the highlight of his career thus far.
When he arrived in Amsterdam for
his exhibition, he was completely
shocked to see a three-story banner
displaying one of his paintings,
hanging from Sotheby’s entryway.
Although he has already seen so much
in his life, this surprised him. The
show reflected the extent of his work.
He has been an artist for six
decades, assigning his work into
eleven periods. To Witold-K, art
should inspire a question. “I am
haunted by questions. For me, true
art is just one of them. If a painting
is only an answer, it is not art; it is
just an illustration,” he said. Which
is probably why in 1956, his People
period began. And his people are
not the type of representations
that allow for personal reflection;
they are emotional and active.
Jena-Jacques Léveque of Arts &
Loisirs verbalized Witold-K’s work
eloquently: “Paintings of Witold-K
are inhabited by subjects reduced to
bare essentials, to a token sign. No
anatomical distinction, no expression
here to evoke a ‘human dimension,’
but a very intense suggestion of a
kind of insufferable heaviness which
reduces each character to its primary
state. Isn’t that, in the long run, the
last sigh of mankind and, at the
same time, its first babbling, as if the
world were starting all over again?”
Witold-K eventually arrived
at his Loneliness period, portraying
seated people holding their knees.
If they were moving, they might be
rocking back and forth in despair.
“On the day you understand your
loneliness, you will respond to
my painting,” he said of his work.
Likewise, “This work will mean
nothing to those who have not
experienced loss,” said a Warsaw
art critic, Monika Malkowska.
After visiting a Texan cathedral
exhibiting Marc Rothko’s work,
Witold-K responded to Rothko as
the first artist to paint silence. He
wanted to take it one step further.
Thus, the Green Period was born
into mesmerizing spheres of light
painted with the most intense
shade of emerald. “There is hope
still,” he says, describing the effect.
In his subsequent Black Holes
period, all hope is lost. His black
holes are an effort to go beyond the
silence that Rothko portrayed and
ask: What’s on the other side? It’s a
question he asks of everything and
one that plagues all of mankind:
What’s on the other side of
existence? He knew he “needed a
third dimension.” By collaborating
with Dr. Stirling A. Colgate (former
president and adjunct professor of
New Mexico Institute of Mining
and Technology), whom he met in
’73, he was able to achieve just that.
“My point of views is emotional and
his is purely scientific. Someone
might think ‘These guys can’t play
ping pong on the same table.’”
Yet, Witold-K built the models and
Colgate used explosives to literally
blow black holes into them, making
the philosophical concept suddenly
concrete.
As most of Witold-K’s art
inspires, Black Holes viewers begin
to wonder at the nothingness, the
hopelessness therein. It is Witold-K’s
hope that he can eventually realize
this project’s full potential through
a large scale architectural endeavor.
All that is missing is a “wealthy man
with imagination who will sponsor
the project.” It contains all of Witold-
K’s passions: architecture, sculpture,
philosophy…art.
Laura Standley is the Editor-
in-Chief of 303 Magazine.
FEATURE 39
ARTISTS

PEGGY KWONG-GORDON

ACHIEVING EQUILIBRIUM

Peggy Kwong-Gordon’s work is ted her work in Rhode Island, Mas-

inspired by Taoist principles of sachusetts, and in Northwest Ohio
compassion, moderation, and humi- at the Firelands Associations for Vi-
lity, which help one attain stability sual Arts, SPACES Gallery, and the
within the universe. Kwong-Gor- Sandusky Cultural Center.
don meditates artistically on this
philosophy, using abstraction’s
for-mal characteristics to better
understand herself and her surroun-
dings. In Equipoise, which means
equilibrium, graceful strokes of
color undulate, intersect, and
diverge in a white field. The overall
compositional balance of Equipoi-
se suggests how life’s many paths
coalesce to form the way (the Tao).
This show was presented at
1point618 in Cleveland, OH. Pre-
viously, Kwong-Gordon has exhibi-

Peggy Kwong-Gordon: (Left) Stillness In The D ancing 7

42 A | C | A SUMMER 2009
(R ight) Equipoise 2

RECENT GRADUATE HITS THE GROUND RUNNING
A solo show, residency fellowship,
and relocation to New York in less
than six months from graduation
is a rare winning streak for such a
young painter. For Julia Fernandez-
Pol, a recent graduate from Boston
University’s MFA program, it is
a testament to the overwhelming
dynamism of her paintings as well
as to the enthusiastic support of
Denver-based Carson/van Straaten
Gallery, which took her on following
a visit to her Master’s exhibition in
Boston.
In her website statement,
she cites ‘‘nature’’ as a force
not dissimilar to the artist in it’s
expressive possibilities and creative
drive. Her work is ‘‘driven by [an]
interest in creating a world’’. Her
paintings certainly recall organic
forms in their morphing, exploding,
bulbous, and unexpected specificity.
Though her images are based on
forms likely to be found in «nature»,
they are not themselves based on
anything observable in particular
but results of imaginative exercises.
As a body of work, they act as
a poetic metaphor of a scientific
attention. Not surprisingly her father
is a scientist, and when I talked
with her in her Brooklyn studio, she
noted the influence of a nose-to-
the-ground type perspective. In her
work, Fernandez-Pol has directed
a typically scientific attention of
the natural world into a movement
Julia Fernandez-Pol: After Shock, 2008, oil on canvas, 24’’ x 45’’
inwards, in which the result of
the observance is also the thing
observed.
The paintings themselves
are not only results of an imagined
observance; they are also documents
of an observance of - and in fact
direct control of - paint itself. Her
paintings have a strange and
wonderful blending of both formal
restraint and tactile chaos that effect
a tense balance. She uses all manner
of application technique including
syringing that evidence a laborious,
as well as playful, precision. The
paint, thickly applied often in petals,
almost begs to be touched or tasted
as it sometimes appears, especially
in the cheerier pastel moments, as
frosting.
This ‘petal-ing’ affect, in
conjunction with the other layering
textures and saturated palette, also
ARTISTS
JULIA FERNANDEZ-POL
reference textiles and fashion. This is
echoed in the sense of opulence and
excess that, while produced to achieve
a more visceral viewing experience,
can also at times seem decoratively
detached. The overall visual result
of the works, however, is certainly
one that maintains Fernandez-Pol’s
goal: to create an overwhelming
visual experience. These paintings
have a physical presence that is
often closer to sculpture than the
illusory picture plane traditionally
exploited in painting. As Denver
critic Kyle MacMillan has written,
her work can be located within
the «abstract expressionists such
as Jackson Pollock and Willem de
Kooning in the late 1940s and ‘50s».
Heavy, art-historical associa-
tions aside, Fernandez-Pol does allow
some fashion based visual inquiry.
She makes jewelry. She showed
me a few wondrously elaborate,
weighty cuffs and allowed me to
examine an intricate pair of white,
skeletal-like earrings she made (and
was wearing). Though the jewelry
seems a fun aside to the paintings,
she did allude to the possibility of
small sculptural objects based on
her drawings. Who knows where
this fresh drive and momentum will
continue to propel Julia Fernandez-
Pol. Stay tuned.
- Ann Bowman
ARTISTS 43
ARTISTS

SCHIMMEL GOLD

BEAUTY CREATED FROM THE EVERYDAY

The contemporary portrait is

embodied by SA Schimmel Gold’s
pop art mosaics. Her style can be
compared to work by Andy Warhol
and Peter Max, but her technique is
reflective of contemporary culture.
Her pieces start with an acrylic
painting followed by her diligent
application of mosaic tiles that have
been cut out from recycled paper.
Her resources include everything
from recycled postcards to art gallery
cards to old greeting cards. The
artist developed her style through
her studies of mosaic tiles in Turkey
and glass in Venice. The result is a
portrait that is modern in style and
contemporary in medium.
Each piece is approached who gaze out at the viewer in almost Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, she
with a similar technique and style of a seductive manner. The artist tends transforms the portrait from an
applying color and design with the to use unnatural colors for their skin antique face in Antique Venus
mosaic tiles. For example, in Green and hair, perhaps challenging the to a theatrical, mask-like face in
Genie a woman is depicted from the viewer to think about the definition Metallic Venus. Although these
shoulders up. She gazes out to the of beauty in contemporary American pieces are the same image, they also
viewer, and her left hand rests under culture. have very different tones, like the
her chin. Her skin is a natural pale She often creates a series of “Communication” pieces.
color, but her hair is various shades faces with different color palettes Schimmel Gold’s genius is her
of green. It flows around her face such as the “Communication” series use of everyday materials to create
in broken strands that result from in which the same face is represented a work of art that is more than eco-
the placement of the mosaic tiles. in different color palettes: a yellow friendly. Her exploration of the idea
Her eyes and lips are executed with face with orange hair, a pink face of beauty, her experimentation with
acrylic paint. with blue hair, and completely the face, and her use of mosaic tiles
Schimmel Gold’s work grayscale. from recycled mail together make
explores the idea of beauty as it is This variation in color palettes her work truly innovative.
represented in contemporary society with the same image forces the
through advertisements with images viewer to explore different effects of - Kate Chimenti
of celebrities and fashion models. the work. In her “Venus” portraits,
Most of her portraits are of women which are stemmed from

44 A | C | A SUMMER 2009 S chimmel Gold: Kimono, acrylic and mosaic tiles from recycled mail, 24’’ x 18’’
 ARTISTS

ARTHUR SCHUMAKER

CREATING MOVEMENT ON THE CANVAS

The modern works of Arthur and achieve visual movement. If

Schumaker have a bold graphic look
influenced by the Modern Graphic
Abstract movement. His works
consist of bold colors and striking
edges with hard or soft curves using
overlapping shape and color to
create visual movement and illusion
of depth.
a piece of abstract art is to have
significance for anyone other than
the artist, it needs to have something
that’ll retain the viewer’s attention,
draw them in, keep them looking,
and generate an emotional response.
Schumaker’s works does this.
Arthur Schumaker spent some
of his early life in Puerto Rico, which
is reflected, in his contemporary
works. Puerto Rico had a lasting
impact on him personally and
professionally. It was a time of
mountain hikes, long white sand
beaches and diving in crystal
clear waters. The influence of For more information, visit
this brilliantly colored tropical www.aschumaker.com or
environment is reflected in his arthur-schumaker.fineartamerica.
paintings. com

In Schumaker’s works there is

a definite meaning to how color and
form react to each other and how
the mind responds. The use of fine
gold lines and multi-color shapes
on several works create a visual
response. Schumaker’s intention
is to challenge the viewer to look
at each work in different ways.
“Now look at the shapes. Are they
floating above the background or are
the shapes holes in the foreground
layer?” These are the questions that
Schumaker wants viewers to ask
themselves.
Schumaker uses the acrylic
medium to sculpt layers of paint

Arthur S chumaker : (Left) D ance, acrylic, 30’’ x 30’’

(R ight) Tropical S chool, acrylic, 40’’ x 30’’ ARTISTS 45
(Bottom) Birds in Flight, acrylic, 30’’ x 40’’
 F. Lennox Campello

Isla en Caja
(Boxed Island) from The Cuba Series
University of Washington School of Art • Watercolor & Ink on Paper • Circa 1981
Projects Gallery • Philadelphia, PA (www.projectsgallery.com)
Mayer Fine Art • Norfolk, VA (www.mayerfineartgallery.com)
BE THERE

AN INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR

A R T S A N T A F E 2 0 0 9 / J U LY 2 3 - 2 6
EL MUSEO IN THE RAILYARD ART DISTRICT / 1615 PASEO DE PERALTA
O P E N I N G N I G H T G A L A / T H U R S D A Y , J U L Y 2 3 , 5 - 8 P. M . / $ 7 5
JULY 24, 11- 7 PM; JULY 25, 11-6 PM; JULY 26, 11- 6 PM / TEL 505.988.8883 / WWW.ARTSANTAFE.COM

ALL TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE LENSIC BOX OFFICE 505.988.1234

PICTURED LEFT TO RIGHT, TOP ROW: Patrick Berran, Thomas Robertello Gallery, Chicago, IL; Elan Vital, 418 Gallery, Bucharest, Romania; Randall Reid, William Campbell
Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, TX; Fabián Detrés, West Gallery, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico SECOND ROW: Robert Turner, Robert Turner Photography, Del Mar, CA; Judy
Chicago, Landfall Press, Santa Fe, NM; Friederike Oeser, Galerie Walter Bischoff, Berlin, Germany THIRD ROW: Robert Kelly, Linda Durham Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM;
Scott Gruss, Ten472 Contemporary Art, Grass Valley, CA; Miguel Valenzuela, Arte Berri, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Mary Ehrin, Rule Gallery, Denver, CO
FOURTH ROW: Maysey Craddock, David Lusk Gallery, Memphis, TN; Peter Weber, Galerie Renate Bender, Munich, Germany; Yoshiharu Yukawa, EDEL, Osaka, Japan
 Contemporary Painting , Sculpture & Photography

“Arcadia”, mixed media on canvas on panel, 72” x 61”, 2009

ERIK GONZALES
1280 Iron Hors e Drive Park Cit y, UT 4 3 5 . 6 4 9 .7 8 5 5 w w w. J u l i e N e s t e r G a l l e r y. co m