Judy Prisoc: Contemporary Realism

Winterowd Fine Art announces a new exhibition of contemporary realism paintings by Judy Prisoc. opening December 5, 2008 from 5-7pm.  The exhibition is available for viewing December 5-18, 2008.

As a painter of realism, Judy Prisoc has created masterful paintings of people, places & things. Her newest series of candles, originally inspired by a painting by artist Gerhard Richter, has evolved into a rich and ironic study of light and illumination.  She shows off the mastery of her medium through a shrewd actualization of flame, light and even smoke.  The artist states, “It took me a long time to learn how to paint smoke. This candle series has challenged my abilities to paint light and air.” 

Candles suggest romance, mystery, and hope, and Prisoc manages to keep these emotive concepts within the work. The artist enjoys playing with the chiaroscuro of light and shadow, with the actual source of light in her paintings being somewhat elusive and intangible. The paintings feel alive and ready to reach out and touch: The palpable comfort of the flame emanating and evolving, as the mutable softness of the wax silently cools.

For Prisoc, the candle suggests life's most tenuous nature, and flickering candlelight constantly reminds of nature's illusory flux.  These new paintings reveal the fundamental mystique of light represented as a presence and an absence within the confines of the canvas, and ultimately provoke and engage in collaboration with the available light from the surroundings of each piece, as well as the viewer, in order to bring it to life.

Fritz Scholder exhibition at Winterowd Fine Art

WINTEROWD FINE ART announces an exhibition of work by the late Fritz Scholder. opening Friday, November 7, 2008 from 5-7pm.  This exhibition is available for viewing from November 7 through November 20th, 2008. 

Fritz Scholder’s influence on painters of Santa Fe is apparent.  He brought expressionism to our world and broke the mold of how we view Native Art.  His bold approach to painting was revered and hightly sought after.  He has been the subject of books, documenataries, and museums loved his vision.  The Smithsonian: National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) will host an exhibition of his work beginning October 30^th 2008 and will run through September of 2009 in both DC & New York branches.   With the announcement of this exhibition Mr. Scholder’s legacy will certainly gain a higher level of national recognition beyond the southwest.

Scholder painted from the gut with strength and power.  He painted honestly.  His passion is apparent in all forms of media:  painting, drawing, printing and sculputre.  This artist showed us  a rare insight into the psychi of  his soul through creating work that had spritual connection and relevance.  His art was a celebration of life .  In the late 80’s Mr. Scholder’s trip to Egypt left a permenate impression.  His desire to learn and explore ideas of afterlife began an obsession within this painters’s work.  Pyramids, sarcophogus, doorways to the afterworld appeared in his art.  His spiritual connection and exploration took center stage within his work.  The honesty of this shift within hiswork stirs the soul and challenges the viewer.  This is why we all find Fritz Scholder’s work some of the most exciting Native painting created to date.

Fritz Scholder Smithsonian exhibitions: DC & NYC

With the announcement of Smithsonian: National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) exhibitions in DC & NYC for Fritz Scholder (1937-2005) this artists significance continues to grow. Both shows exhibit the power of the artists work. The title of this exhibition and exploration of the artists work is appropriately titled:   Fritz Scholder: Indian/Not Indian.  The DC location primarily focused on the Indian imagery, with a few shaman and flowers sprinkled in there. The NYC location at the George Gustav Heye Center is focused on the shamans. There is a wonderful film footage created for viewing as well as an amazing catalogue created just for these exhibitions.  The opening ceremonies were well attended by the who's who of the Fritz Scholder fan club: collectors, curators, government officals and enthusiasts.   Karla Winterowd of Winterowd Fine Art was there with the members of the Fritz Scholder Estate.  We would most certainly recommend our collectors visit these masterful exhibitions.  In addition, there is a wonderful exhibition of Scholder's work up here in Santa Fe at the Institute of American Indian Art Museum (IAIA Museum).   If in Santa Fe, this exhibition is a must see.  Joseph Sanchez, artist and dear friend of the late Mr. Scholder, curated the exhibition.  It is a personal view of the work and explores many realms untapped by most museums.  

A listing of exhibitions:

Fritz Scholder:  Indian/Not Indian

Smithsonian Institute: National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC

November 1, 2008 through August 16, 2009

                       and

Smithsonian Institute: George Gustav Heye Center, New York, NY

November 1, 2008 through May 17, 2009

Fritz Scholder: An Intimate Look

Institute of American Indian Arts Museum (IAIA Museum)

July 19, 2008 through  June 7, 2009

A little history on the artist: 

Fritz Scholder changed the way we view contemporary native painting. The artist began creating at a young age and as a young adult studied under Wayne Thiebaud in San Francisco. He was hired as the one of the first painting instructors at the Institute of American Indian Art (IAIA). Soon after moving to Santa Fe in the late 60's, the artist began exhibiting his work and his popularity soared. He began painting Indian portraiture in a new way. Fritz Scholder was very influenced by the painters like Francis Bacon, and Francisco Goya. He painted with emotion in a non-idylic way. His quick approach to painting became a signature of his work as much as his rendering of subject matter.

James Marshall: Ceramic Sculpture exhibition

WINTEROWD FINE ART announces an exhibition of new sculpture by James Marshall on Friday, October 17, 2008 from 5-7 pm. The exhibition is available for viewing October 17 through October 31, 2008.

James Marshall breaks the mold with arresting forms and dynamic color amalgamations that challenge conventional concepts of dimensionality: Volumes become freestanding planes. Solids become molten flowing mass. Contour defines the surrounding space beyond the object itself. The ambiguities of the shapes tease the viewers’ sense of recognition, while engaging the right brain in a mischievous plasticity of form. The sophisticated boldness of these unique ceramic sculptures prevails as the essential expression: They seem to emerge from the surface upon which they rest, and suggest a stealth albeit sentinel presence. As Marshall explains, “What motivates me is the question: When does an ordinary object move into other dimensions? It is this unidentified dimension of a form that intrigues me the most. This leaves the work open to multiple interpretations.”

A well-known and celebrated Santa Fe artist, Marshall has worked in clay for over 30 years and has established himself as an innovator in the world of sculpture. In his latest body of work, the artist reinvents his signature glazing techniques, which appear monochromatic from a distance and then reveal great chromatic depth and variation with proximity. The forms maintain the subtle whimsical aesthetic that sets him apart from other sculptors.

See other featured artists represented by Winterowd Fine Art.

Sarah Bienvenu: Contemporary Watercolors exhibition

WINTEROWD FINE ART announces “Relation to Nature”, an exhibition of stunning watercolor paintings by Sarah Bienvenu on Friday, June 27, 2008 from 5-7 pm. The exhibition is available for viewing June 27 through July 10, 2008.

Sarah Bienvenu has been painting the New Mexico landscape for over 25 years. She is one of the tried and true artists who has been creating and exhibiting in Santa Fe for so long because she is passionate about the landscape. The New Mexico landscape is unique; it has captivated many artists in its simplicity and complexity. When looking at her watercolors people often talk about artists like Georgia O’Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, Andrew Dasberg and others early master painters of the New Mexico landscape. In her remarkably unique approach to painting, Bienvenu expresses a particular place and moment in time with a modernist sensibility. The shapes, lines and colors that are presented by mountains, trees, sky & river are the building blocks of her compositions and the muse of her work. Through this, Bienvenu sees endless compositional possibilities. “I look to the land to tell me how best to paint it, using the natural abstract shapes I see.” Sarah finds beauty in nature’s ability to reveal accidental compositions through patterns and asymmetry. She is capturing the essence of the landscape not only through shape, but also texture. The use of opaque, translucent and rhythmic gestures all add to the complexity of her abstracted arrangements. These new watercolors are masterful and powerful.

In Sarah Bienvenu’s paintings the clouds, sky, trees, lakes and rolling hills are alternately majestic, poetic and delightful. They seem to exemplify Bienvenu’s sentiments about the beauty and wonder of the places she paints, and to convey the sacred meaning found in nature. Often the feeling conveyed by the artist seems to be one of surprise at having discovered another treasure of the New Mexico landscape behind a stand of trees or in a clearing hidden far from the path much traveled.

As Bienvenu explains, “Sometimes we just want to look at the world around us and see it as it is, in its simple form, not extrapolating or reducing to essentials, just the lovely relationships between what exists; to appreciate the ever-changing nature of nature.”

See other featured artists represented by Winterowd Fine Art.

Affordable Art Fair (AAF) NYC June 2008

Winterowd Fine Art pleased to announce our participation in the Affordable Art Fair hosted in NYC at the Metropolitan Pavilion, June 12-15, 2008.  This will be our 5th year to attend the show.  Each year we look forward to visiting with our East coast collectors and art enthusiasts and exhibiting our gallery artists.  This year we will feature two new sculptors:  Destiny Allison, metal sculpture  and  Alex Watts, figurative bronze sculpture.  We will also feature ceramic sculpture by James Marshall, please note James' sculptures will also be featured at our Santa Fe gallery in October for his one man show (something to look forward to).  Painters to be found in our booth at the Affordable Art Fair include our gallery favorites:  Charlie Burk, James Gasowski,  Jamie Kirkland, Ines Kramer, Don Quade, Judy Prisoc, & JD Wellborn.

We know it will be an amazing event.  We look forward to visiting New York City and sharing our artists with you.  Please call or email us if anyone needs tickets to the event.  We may be able to assist you.

Tom Kirby: Abstract Minimalist exhibition

WINTEROWD FINE ART announces an exhibition of luminescent new paintings by Tom Kirby titled “LIGHT PASSAGE.” opening on Friday, May 9th, 2008 from 5-7 pm. The exhibition is available for viewing May 8 through May 22, 2008.

Tom Kirby’s atmospheric, transcendental paintings ring true. Kirby captures our delicate moments of clarity. The works are a rich balance of luminescent shimmer and earthy pull. Iconic shapes move steadily upwards, split by fiery reds, cooled and solidified by glacier greens. Like a circle, there are always two sides to the paintings of Tom Kirby: the inside and the outside.

From the outside the viewer experiences the telltale signature of the artist’s process: the cracked and distressed surfaces that evoke a sense of the passage of time, a visceral historical record like the walls of the Alhambra. And yet, there is something else occurring: a powerful resonant silence that seems to amplify with time and shifting light. Upon further scrutiny, perhaps over a period of minutes or even years, this peculiar resonance reveals itself as multiple layers of color that emanate from within the painting, casually unveiled by the simple catalytic interplay of an incidental source of light.

As Tom Kirby explains, “I seek to convey the impression that the moment when light falls upon the surface of the painting is also the moment when the painting is complete– a spontaneous manifestation–as if by an act of nature.” And, as so many collectors of Kirby’s work will relate, it is this particular phenomenon of light in time and place that not only manifests a range of emotive characteristics inherent in the painting itself, but which also mirrors the stirrings of our very souls.

See other featured artists represented by Winterowd Fine Art.