the new client

Contemporary Art Space in Connecticut with Innovative Vision for Artists, Exhibitions

Something about Stamford, Connecticut, invites repeating Gertrude Stein’s comment that “There’s no there there.” But Stein was looking for a childhood home that had vanished, and not expecting to invent a cliché for anyplace that was without the trace of a past.

What is to be made of this invented landscape, fundamentally disconnected from the world around it (as in Trisha Baga’s photograph 10.22.11 where the notion of being misplaced is made definitive, rather than exceptional)? Nothing quite fits here. Buildings are disembodied by design, with the reflecting glass of office towers that never show themselves, but only what surrounds them.

Left: Trisha Baga, 10.22.11. (2011). Photo: Courtesy the artist. artes fine arts magazineMore

Artists & Environmental Change: The Elusive Power of Contemporary Art

Robert Smithson Spiral Jetty great salt lake artes fine arts magazine — Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty (Great Salt Lake), 1970. Photo: George Steinmetz (2002)

The Utopian desire of 1970s ‘Land’ artists, who broke away from the stranglehold of the art market by producing earthworks far removed from cities, has given way to new projects that demonstrate a global ecological awareness through cross-disciplinary investigations concerning environmental sustainability. artes fine arts magazineMore

Analyzing the ‘Strange Art of Today’…Vintage 1948, New York City

September 12, 2011

Pablo picasso moma artes fine arts magazine — Pablo Picasso, Girl before a Mirror (1932). Collection MOMA

In late summer of 1948, a strange gathering took place on the top floor of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Distinguished men (all men) from the fields of arts, letters, academia and the publishing world were invited by LIFE Magazine to discuss and debate the then-current state of the “modern painting” movement. The Round Table—part of a magazine-sponsored series on the post-war American lifestyle—consisted of such notables as Brave New World author, Aldous Huxley; Clement Greenberg, avant-garde critic; Francis Henry Taylor, director of the Met; Sir Leigh Ashton, director of London’s Victoria & Albert; Meyer Shapiro, professor of fine arts at Columbia University; Alfred Frankfurter, editor and publisher of Art News; Charles Sawyer, of Yale’s art department and James Thrall Soby, chairman MOMA’s painting and sculpture department, among others.More

LTMH Gallery, New York, Focuses on Emerging Artists from Middle East

LTMH Gallery artes fine arts magazine — Shahram Karimi, Suitcase (2007). Photo: Courtesy LTMH Gallery, NY.

Speaking at the 2011 International Association of Art Critics (AICA) Awards, Iranian artist Shirin Neshat addressed the dilemma of Iranian artists today: imprisonment if they remain at home and permanent exile if they leave.

If there is a persistent lament uniting the multimedia works of Iranian artist Shahram Karimi, it is the dislocation from his roots. The artist was jailed for two years in his native country before his 1987 emigration to India and Nepal, and finally to Germany. He taught at the University of Cologne where the government gave him the studio that became his base to establish his international reputation. fine arts magazineMore

Art Economist, Michael Moses Looks Objectively at Wealth Management for Art Collectors, with Historically-Based Auction Analysis

A brisk mid-winter walk through the streets of lower Manhattan eventually led me under the iconic Romanesque arch that stands at the center of Washington Square. To my left, a uniformly-pristine row of Federalist-era, brick-and-columned town houses, standing like monuments to another, more gentile time. Over the years, NYU’s bustling urban academic community has emerged nearby. I first met Professor Moses in a small office, stacked high with art auction catalogues, at the University’s Stern School of Business, close to the epicenter of campus.

Opening Image (left): All works pictured subject to Mei-Moses ® index analysis: J.M.W. Turner, Giudecca la Donna Della Salute and San Giorgio (1830-41). Category: Old Masters/19^th Century; Sales History (1897) $35,000; (2006) $35.8M. Annual Return on Investment (ROI) for 109 yrs, +6%.

Overview

My journey began with an invitation to travel to the city to learn more about the Mei-Moses® index, a cumulative, 13-year data set that has emerged as a reliable predictor for art portfolio development and investment planning strategies. Their objective in this project is to help prospective art buyers to move out of the purely emotional realm of ‘buy what you love’ into more objective criteria. Moses explains to me that, “the emotions that guide a purchase should not be discounted or dismissed, but to be aware that there is additional data available, before making a purchase at auction, that the potential buyer may want to factor in.” He point out that his Index is aimed at the following: fine arts magazineMore

Spacious New Jersey Art Gallery Features Contemporary Art, Emerging Artists

Rupert ravens contemporary artes fine arts magazine — AK Airways, Cuddlefish (2009), vinyl, lights

Jasper Johns said, “Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it. Do something else to it.” He encourages each artist to embrace the act of creating something that enthralls, the moment it is perceived. Enhance the work by pushing its boundaries to a new level, he seems to be saying. Expand awareness by defining where exactly that sphere lies. The art on display at Outsight Inn in Rupert Ravens Contemporary embraces Johns’ concept, flexing our preconceived assumptions. In this high-tech world, there are many ways we can rely on technology to take us to these stratospheric heights; but art, effectively executed, can achieve similar goals, enhancing our comprehension of the world around us. fine arts magazineMore

Mary Hrbacek at the CREON Gallery in New York City

artes fine arts magazine — Mary Hrbacek, Entwined (2007), 40x44"

“We all travel the Milky Way together, trees and men… trees are travelers, in the ordinary sense. They make journeys, not very extensive ones, it is true: but our own little comes and goes are only little more than tree-wavings – many of them not so much.” –John Muir, Scribner’s Monthly, November, 1878.

“I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech-tree, or a yellow birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines.” –Henry David Thoreau

For the past decade or so, perhaps triggered by the tripling of anxiety-producing catastrophes around the world, trees of all kinds, sometimes even small forests, both realistic and obviously faux, have been making their appearance in the work of sculptors, painters, and video and installation artists. It seems more and more artists, in what appears to be an increasing back-to-nature ‘trendette’, are using trees in their work as a metaphor for examining the nature of mankind, as well as the fate of the world. fine arts magazineMore

Waimea, Hawaii’s Wishard Gallery Offers a Tempting Glimpse of Paradise

If the aim of art is to lift our spirits to live softer, gentler lives connected to the natural world, Harry Wishard’s oil paintings hit the bull’s eye. His paintings capture the 18th and 19th century beauty of Hawaii before modern civilization left its imprint. As viewers transported to this earlier time we can’t help but question if modernization helped or hindered island life.

A recent visitor to the gallery commented, “A part of Harry Wishard lived several hundred years ago.” Her observation was insightful. Wishard’s representational paintings don’t simply give us a historical glimpse of old Hawaii. They transport us into that world. There is a keen intimacy between the painter and his subject that is startlingly apparent. As viewers we are ushered into this almost sacred realm where Hawaiian heritage connects with the land or aina.

(Above) Harry Wishard, Pohaku Opio (Hanalei), 2010, 20×30″ available as Giclee on canvas fine arts magazineMore

Indian Design Tradition Finds Expression in a Modern World

Varsha Fashion (29) 100 dpi — Traditional & Contemporary side-by-side at recent fashion event, with student-designer,Varshaben Uttambhai (left)

Editor’s Note: The western-most district of Kutch, in the state of Gujarat is one of the most ecologically and ethnically diverse districts in India. Close to the Pakistan border and subject to a massive earthquake in 2001, the people have a reputation for strength and resilience. Kutch is a celebrated for its art, crafts, music, dance, people and nature. A plethora of brilliant hues, profusion of design, superfluity of culture, a cornucopia of music and dance— together in the arid lands of Kutch—creates a mosaic of culture and design tradition which reflects the identity and spirit of the region.

At the forefront of present-day Indian culture is the convergence of the traditional and the modern. This phenomenon affects issues from politics to religion to the arts as people strive to move forward economically and professionally while maintaining their heritage, identity, and individuality. A pursuit exists for a balance between what was and what is, especially for those with a direct link to tradition. In Kutch, where the legacy of intricate embroidery stretches back centuries and is still visible in the everyday dress of its residents, the past stands arm in arm with the present. fine arts magazineMore

Critic, Ed Rubin, Rides the Crest of the Latin American Art Wave

pinta latin american art artes fine arts magazine — Jessica Lagunas. Para besarte mejor (The Better to Kiss You With), 2003. From video, stills by Roni Mocán

It was only a few years ago—2007 to be exact—that ‘The Pinta People’, took a big gamble and surprised the art world, by mounting the world’s first international Latin American Modern & Contemporary Art Show at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City. With 35 international galleries and countless Hispanic artists from the United States, Spain, Mexico, Central and South America, showing their works, the fair was an immediate hit. So much so, as a matter of fact, that Pinta felt secure enough to not only turn it into a yearly event, but also to eventually establish yet another annual Latin American art fair, during the month of June, in the city of London. fine arts magazine More