Tag Archives: contemporary art

Kaveri Raina at Hammond Harkins Galleries, Columbus, Ohio

November 16, 2016 By in Exhibitions Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

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Prefer the Past,  Acrylic, burlap, 70 x 40 inches

Alchemy is occurring at Hammond Harkins Galleries in Columbus, Ohio where Kaveri Raina has opened a portal to another world in her magical first solo at the gallery.

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Prefer the Past (detail) 

Kaveri, a native of New Delhi, spent part of her childhood in India before relocating to the United States in 2000, and the works on display at Hammond Harkins reflect that dual sense of place. But it would be a disservice to Ms. Raina to say the canvases merely straddle two worlds; They create new ones. By fusing her connections with India, it’s traditions, colors, textures and mythology with a contemporary approach to painting Ms. Raina re-interprets centuries of tradition with fresh eyes, synthesizing a bridge between past and future. The paintings burlap supports, referencing the vessels that transported the rice and staples of her youth and the humble textiles of the marginalized become transportive vessels of another sort under Kaveri’s skillful hand. Painting from both the back and front of the support and using the burlap’s rugged, tactile transparency, Ms. Kaveri evokes the push and pull of past and present, the ephemeral and the visceral, the seen and unseen, the forgotten and the remembered. Her use of overlapping mythical forms, staining of surface and lush layered color further envelope the viewer in a landscape of dreams and memory, awakening the senses and catapulting the viewer from the temporal realm into the sensual beyond.

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Gallery view from entrance

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Walking Around, Acrylic, oil pastel, burlap, 60 x 48 Inches

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From left: Shy Around and Prefer the Past

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Shy Around,  Acrylic, burlap, 60 x 48 Inches

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From Right: Will I Be Missed (Future), Overthrow Slightly and Stray Delight

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Will I Be Missed (Future), Acrylic, dye, burlap, 70 x 40 Inches

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Overthrow Slightly, Acrylic, dye, burlap, 70 x 40 Inches

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Stray Delight, Acrylic, burlap, 70 x 40 inches

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From right: Forgotten Pleasures, Shy In, Hanuman Mukut and Will I Be Missed

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Forgotten Pleasures, Acrylic, dye, burlap , 70 x 40 inches

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Forgotten Pleasures (Detail)

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Shy In, Acrylic, burlap, 60 x 48 Inches

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Hanuman Mukut

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Will I Be Missed, Acrylic, dye, burlap, 70 x 40 inches

For more information about Hammond Harkins Galleries and Kaveri Raina please check out their websites at:

http://www.hammondharkins.com

http://www.kaveriraina.com

Harmony Hammond at Alexander Gray Associates

July 26, 2016 By in Exhibitions Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

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Bandaged Grid #1, 2015, Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas 44.25″ x 76.5″ x 5″

I’ve never thought of canvas like skin but these works by Harmony Hammond in her recent solo at Alexander Gray Associates have a corporeal aspect. They are distinctly mortal. From the moment one enters the gallery and turns left to see Bandaged Grid #1. One feels the presence of body and all of the serene messiness that comes with being human. These works are peeled, torn, painted, pierced and layered. Yet nothing is obvious. One must lean in to really listen to them and see them as they are. These pieces felt like the doors between the living and the dead in Egyptian Mastabas. One foot distinctly in the physical world at once fleshy, mortal and concrete, and yet simultaneously of the mystical realm.

For more information about Harmony Hammond please check out the Alexander Gray Associates website at:

http://www.alexandergray.com/artists/harmony-hammond/

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Bandaged Grid #1 (Detail)

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Bandaged Grid #1 (Detail)

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Ledger Drawings, 2015, One of Suite of Five Ink on Paper, 11.75″ x 9.5″

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Ledger Drawings (Detail)

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From left: Naples Grid and Things Various

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Naples Grid, 2015, Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas, 80.25″ x 54.5″ x 5

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Things Various, 2015, Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas, 80.25″ x 54.25″ x 5

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White Rims #7, 2015, Monotype on Paper with Metal Grommets, 47″ x 33.5″

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White Rims #7 (Detail)

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White Rims #4, 2015, Monotype on Paper with Metal Grommets, 47″ x 33.5″

Richard Serra at Gagosian Gallery West 24th Street

July 25, 2016 By in Exhibitions Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

This is the third major showing I have seen of Richard Serra’s sculptural work. I was lucky enough to see “The Matter of Time” at the Guggenheim in Bilbao and “Monumenta 2008” at the Grand Palais in Paris many years ago. Each time I experience Serra’s massive steel totems and flowing waves of steel I am moved by the works monumental structure and the way the planes of their shapes and the sheer power of their forms effect the viewer.  There is something gravitational about the scale and the heft of these objects. They have the weight of presence. Yet if they were purely an exercise in scale they might simply feel like empty monoliths, but these colossi have a weathered textural presence that speaks to history and the weight of influence that time takes with objects. These objects have soul. One at once feels the gravity of of one’s place in time and the inevitable passage of all things in their weathered surfaces.

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Every Which Way, 2015, Weatherproof Steel, Sixteen slabs, Total 11′ x 53′ 6″ x 21′

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Silence (for John Cage), 2015, Forged steel, One slab 16″ x 29′ 6″ x 9′ 2″

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Through, 2015, Forged steel, Three slabs each 9′ 2″ x 29′ 6″ x 16″

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Hilary Harnischfeger, last Fall at Rachel Uffner Gallery

July 23, 2016 By in Exhibitions Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Hilary Harnischfeger’s show at Rachel Uffner Gallery last fall was terrific. This was my first introduction to Hilary’s work and I have been thinking about these pieces ever since. This post somehow slipped through my fingers till now, but the work stayed with me.

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Bovina, 2015, ceramic, hydrostone, pigment, crushed glass, druzy quartz, steel, 22″ x 19″ x 16″

I’ve captioned the works below as best I could, but for more information about Hilary Harnischfeger, her work and Rachel Uffner Gallery please consult:

http://www.racheluffnergallery.com/artists/hilary-harnischfeger

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Bovina, Detail

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#27, 2015, ceramic, hydrostone, pigment, paper, crushed glass, druzy quartz, steel, 22″ x 19″ x 16″

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#27 Detail

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Chandigarh, 2015, ceramic, paper, hydrostone, pigment, oil stick, herkimer diamond, wood, 23″ x 18″ x 10″

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Harlequin, 2015, ceramic, paper, hydrostone, pigment, paper, apophyllite, wood, 16″ x 17″ x 4″

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Philip Guston: Painter 1957 – 1967 at Hauser & Wirth

July 21, 2016 By in Exhibitions Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

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Philip Guston: Painter 1957 – 1967 at Hauser & Wirth, New York covers the pivotal decade in Guston’s career during which the artist broke from abstraction, which made him famous in the 1950’s, and began a return to figuration.. The exhibition, a collection of 36 paintings and 56 drawings, is an absorbing exploration of the journey of process and experimentation that transformed the artist’s oeuvre.

For more information about the exhibition and Philip Guston please check out the Hauser & Wirth website at:

http://www.hauserwirth.com/exhibitions/2722/philip-guston-painter-1957-y-1967/view/

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From left: Traveller III, 1959 – 1960 & Painter, 1959, both Oil on Canvas

Painter courtesy of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta

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From left: Turn, 1959, Oil on Panel & Turnabout, 1959, Oil on paper mounted on Panel

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Turn, 1959, Oil on Panel, 22 5/8″ x 28 1/2″ Private Collection

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Turnabout, 1959, Oil on Panel, 22 1/8″ x 30 1/8″ Private Collection

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Untitled, c. 1959. Oil on paper mounted on panel, 18 1/8″ x 24 1/8″, Private Collection

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Untitled, 1958, Oil on Canvas, 64 1/8 x 75 1/4″, Private Collection

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Accord I, 1962, Oil on Canvas, 68 1/8 x 78 1/8″, Private Collection

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From Left: Vessel, 1960 and Slope II, 1961, both works Oil on panel

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Vessel, 1960, Oil on panel, 30 1/8″ x 21 7/8″, Private Collection

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Slope II, 1961, Oil on paper mounted on canvas, 40 1/2″ x 30 3/4″, Private Collection

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From left: Portrait I, 1965, Stranger, 1964 and Reverse, 1965 . All works Oil on Canvas

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Looking, 1964, Oil on Canvas, 67 7/8″ x 80 1/8″, Private Collection

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Painter III, 1963, Oil on Canvas, 66″ x 79″, Private Collection, London

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Untitled, 1967 – 1969, 48 Drawings, Charcoal and Ink on Paper, Variable Dimensions, Private Collection

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From left: Inhabiter, 1965, May Sixty-Five, 1965 and Afternoon, 1964

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May Sixty-Five, 1965, Oil on Canvas, 70″ x 80″, Lewis Family Collection

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Afternoon, 1964, Oil on Canvas, 74″ x 80 1/4″, Private Collection

Electric Lady Land at REBEL art space

May 24, 2016 By in Exhibitions Tags: , , , , , 1 Comment

Electric Lady Land at REBEL art space in the Back Street Arts District in Palm Springs is a survey of 14 LA based female artists curated by Susan Carter Hall. The show is part of REBEL art space’s goal to introduce local art collectors to a wide range of new and established talent, and this curatorial cross pollination at REBEL is a growing trend locally to bring LA based artists to the Coachella valley to show their work. One of the first curators to do this was Mike McLain, an LA and Coachella based artist, who began a geographic creative cross pollination project at the Coachella Valley Art Center called LAnCV. But Electric Lady Land strikes its own path by focusing solely on female artists from the LA area.

For more information about REBEL art space please check out their website at

http://www.rebelps.com

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Dianna Cohen, rainbow us, Plastic bags and thread, 2010

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Dianna Cohen (detail))

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Suné Woods, In Flight(3), Mixed media collage, 2016

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Stephanie Vovas, Rachel in Los Angeles, Archival pigment print, 2015

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Tanya Batura, Monochrome J, Clay & acrylic, 2010

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Essi Zimm, I am the King of  the Cats, Mixed media collage and oil on panel board, 2016

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Essi Zimm (detail)

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Laurie Yehia, 18 AT BAY, Switch plates and oil paint on wood panel, 2016

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Maja Ruznic, The Forgiver Has Forgiven But Emotional Memory Lingers

Oil on Canvas, 2016

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Maja Ruznic, (detail)

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Susan Carter Hall, In Loving Memory, Oil on Canvas, 2015

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Susan Carter Hall (detail)

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Erin Morrison, Red Palm, Ink and wax on gypsum cement, 2016

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Erin Morrison (detail)

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Kim Kei, Was it You, Was it Me, Ink and oil on paper, 2015

Length x Width x Depth at Conrad Wilde Gallery

April 24, 2016 By in Exhibitions Tags: , , , , , , , 10 Comments

For the last eleven years Conrad Wilde Gallery in Tucson, Arizona has hosted an annual exhibition devoted to works created from encaustic. This years Encaustic Invitational, Length x Width x Depth was terrific. Miles Conrad always does a great job of finding artists with unique voices, telling unique visual stories and he chooses works that are often surprising and engagingly tactile. And this years Invitational was no exception.

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For more information about Conrad Wilde Gallery please consult their website at http://www.conradwildegallery.org

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Sue Stover, Musings, 6 Pieces, Titles Various, 2015

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Winston Lee Mascarenhas, Cardboard Study 8, Encaustic on Cardboard, 10″ x 10″ x 3″, 2014

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Kathleen Cosgrove, Spiral with Antlers, Encaustic, Mixed Media, 9″ x 4″ x 4″,  2015

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Katie Gutierrez, Heliopora 1, Encaustic Sculpture, 19″ x 7″ x 20″, 2016

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Katie Gutierrez, Heliopora 3

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Alison Golder, Best Cocao, Wood, Metal & Encaustic, 15″ x 9″ x 5″, 2014

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Sue Katz, Moth Construct, Encaustic, Mixed Media, 35.5″ x 26″ x 3″, 2016

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Alison Golder, Processed and Pasteurized, Wood, Metal & Encaustic, 13″ x 5″ x 3″, 2014

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Alicia Forestall Boehm, The Power of Place , Encaustic, Fiber, Wire & Twine, 14″ x 9″ x 2″, 2014

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From Left to Right: Alicia Forestall Boehm, Jane Allen Nodine & Deborah Kapoor

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Jane Allen Nodine (Detail), Collected Oscula, Ablated Offerings & Selected Offerings,  Encaustic on Paper & Encaustic and Fiber, Works: 50″ x 4″ x 1″, 54″ x 4″ x 3″  , 48″ x 2″ x 2″, 2015

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Deborah Kapoor, Grief Diary, Paper, Cording, Encaustic & Fabric, 12″ x 12″ x 1″, 2015

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Beata Wehr, Letters From The Desert, Encaustic, Paper & Found Objects, 13″ x 17″, 2014

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Dietlind Vander Schaaf & Jennie Frederick

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Dietlind Vander Schaaf, Between, Encaustic, Oil and Graphite on Panel, 12″ x 12″ x 2″, 2016

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Jennie Frederick, Beached, Kozo Fiber, Encaustic & Zip Ties, 48″ x 11″ x 8″, 2014

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Deborah Winiarski and Milisa Galazzi

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Milisa Galazzi, String Theory – WD Four, Paper, Thread & Encaustic, 48″ x 24″ x 9″, 2015

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Deborah Winiarski, Lines Written III, Encaustic and Fiber on Panel, 37″ x 32″ 4″, 2015

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Kay Hartung, Orbs 1 – 6, Encaustic Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable, 2013 – 2015

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Kay Hartung, Orbs (Detail)

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Helen Dannelly, Untitled, Encaustic on Paper, 6″ x 6″ x 8″, 2013

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Laura Moriarty, Cleaved, Pigmented Beeswax, 24″ x 8″ x 4″, 2014

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Howard Hersh, Pulse, Encaustic on Panel, 21″ x 13″ x 3″, 2012

Barbara Ellmann: An Open Book 2 at the Marks Art Center

April 20, 2016 By in Exhibitions Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

I had the great pleasure of seeing Barbara Ellmann’s dynamic exhibition, An Open Book 2, at the Walter N. Marks Center for the Arts in Palm Desert, California last month. The exhibition, which ran from February 4 to March 11, was partially funded by the McCallum Theatre Institute’s Aesthetic Education Program, produced in conjunction with the Marks Art Center at the College of the Desert and was beautifully curated by Sophia Marisa Lucas. The Marks always presents terrifically exciting, innovative shows and I am continually impressed by the quality of their curatorial focus. An Open Book 2 was no exception.

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For more information about the Marks Art Center and Barbara Ellmann:

http://www.collegeofthedesert.edu/community/gallery/Pages/default.aspx

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Nick Theobald: With Honey From The Rock at Richard Taittinger Gallery

November 23, 2015 By in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

There is a particular sensation that comes with rain. Time slows and one’s tactile appreciation of touch, sound and smell is heightened. One luxuriates in that sensation as the perception of time slows with the elongated drumming pause that accompanies the steady fall of liquid from the sky. I felt that sense of suspension while viewing Nick Theobald’s almost reverential solo at Richard Taittinger Gallery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The works present in the gallery slow one’s sense of time and bathe the viewer in their tranquil, organic materiality like rain.

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More information about Nick Theobald and Richard Taittinger Gallery can be found on their websites below. With Honey From The Rock runs through December 12th. Richard Taittinger Gallery , 154 Ludlow Street, New York, NY.

Home

http://nick-theobald.com

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William Perehudoff at Berry Campbell Gallery

November 23, 2015 By in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , 1 Comment

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I really enjoyed being introduced to William Perehudoff’s beautiful works on display at Berry Campbell Gallery in Chelsea. Perehudoff, a Canadian artist who died in 2013, was one of Canada’s foremost abstract colorfield painters. You can find more information on Perehudoff’s work on the Berry Campbell website and there’s also an interesting interview with the artist on youtube.

http://www.berrycampbell.com/artist/William_Perehudoff%20(Estate)/works/#!1090

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