Hot Off the Easel is a monthly blog feature designed to showcase a cross-section of vital and varied contemporary paintings. - John Seed
David Choong Lee, Pareidolia #16, 2015, Latex, acrylic & aerosol on canvas, 18 x 24 in.
"Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a stimulus (an image or sound) wherein the mind perceives a familiar pattern where none actually exists."
- David Choong Lee
The Pareidolia series is currently on view at FIFTY24SF Gallery in San Francisco
Viktor Safonkin, Rainbow, 2015, Oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm.
"We are running to meet the goddess Iris, whose symbol shines from the horizon to the horizon, to be closer to the dream: stilts will help to be closer to clouds, far away from the rational and prosaic world. We must rejoice every day, rejoice to the dream even as the nightmare phantom slides over meadows!" - Viktor Safonkin
Rainbow (detail)
Viktor Safonkin is represented in the U.S. by Copro Gallery and will have works on view at Scope/Miami Beach, December 1-6, 2015.
Margaret Bowland, Tangled up in Blue, 2015, Oil on linen, 70 x 98 in.
"The painting is about innocence and love; the man on the right is the boy’s father, and he has taken on the burden or entanglement with this world in order that his son can grow up innocent, escaping as long as he can what is to come." - Margaret Bowland
Tangled Up in Blue will be included in the exhibition Margaret Bowland: Power at Driscoll Babcock Galleries, October 29 - December 12, 2015.
Conor Walton, Lego Mondrian, Oil on linen, 10 x 14 in.
"Lego Mondrian plays along one of the fault lines of our culture, using the juxtaposition of two objects to create a symbolic contest between the values represented by traditional naturalistic painting and those represented by high modernist abstraction." - Conor Walton
Lego Mondrian will be included in the exhibition Conor Walton: The Enemies of Progress at CK Contemporary, opening on November 7th, 6 to 9 PM. View exhibition catalog online
Guy Diehl, Still Life with Diebenkorn #2, acrylic on canvas, 27 x 29 in.
"The calipers and glass bottles playfully mimic the geometric patterns within the referenced work: a compression is created between the grouping of objects and the surrounding spatial void within the format. This allows the composition to convey an equilibrium of what I see as complementary opposites within the painting."
- Guy Diehl
Still Life with Diebenkorn #2 will be included in the exhibition Guy Diehl: A Dialogue with Tradition II, opening November 5th, 5:30 to 7:30 PM at Dolby Chadwick Gallery.
Sadie Valeri, Roses on Green Velvet, 2015, Oil on canvas, 9 x 12 in.
"I worked on this painting over the course of five weeks, so each week I replaced the roses with fresh blooms. It was a challenge of memory and imagination to stay true to the original roses, using their replacements for inspiration." - Sadie Valerie
www.sadievalerie.com
Martin Wittfooth, Dawn, 2015, Oil on canvas, 54 x 120 in.
"Dawn is a meditation on the notion of 'waking up,' of becoming more spiritually connected, more aware, more conscious, in an era that is in dire need of this transformation."
- Martin Wittfooth
Dawn is included in the exhibition Martin Wittfooth: Offering at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery, through November 14th.
Eric Aho, Barrow, 2015. Oil on linen, 80 x 80 in.
"Barrow, 2015 emerges from a recent trip to eastern France where I retraced the footsteps of my father's WWII battle itinerary; the overlaid and buried histories of this landscape are both revealed and redacted by this 'barrow' of paint." - Eric Aho
Barrow is included in the exhibition Eric Aho: Wilderness Studio, on view at DC Moore Gallery through November 14th.
Brad Kunkle, Eclipse, 2015, Oil and silver leaf on wood, 16 x 16 in.
"What I have to say about it is... a quote by Buddha: Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth." - Brad Kunkle
Brad Kunkle is Artist in Residence at the Cal Lutheran Kwan Fong Gallery through November 7th. His work will be on view during the Representational Art Conference (TRAC 2015), November 1-4.
Vonn Sumner, Lid-Head, 2015, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in.
"I wanted this painting to contain as much silence and atmosphere as possible, while retaining a sense of humor and painterly pleasure." - Vonn Sumner
Lid-Head will be on view in the exhibition Vonn Sumner: I is An Other at the Cypress College Art Gallery/Project Space through November 25th.
Brenda Goodman, MoMA... Please, 2014-15, Oil on Wood, 72 x 64 in.
"When the figure with the white head emerged from the surface it looked very focused and determined. The title MoMA....Please popped into my consciousness and i thought it was very funny with a little wish-fulfillment thrown in!" - Brenda Goodman
MoMA...Please will be on view in the exhibition Brenda Goodman: Selected Works 1961-2015 at the CCS Center Galleries, November 14 - December 19.
Lee Price, Self-Portrait in Tub with Flowers, 2015, Oil on linen, 65 x 29 in.
"Most of the women in my paintings find themselves seeking solace from the wrong sources; here that solace is attained." - Lee Price
Detail
Self-Portrait in Tub with Flowers will be on view at Evoke Contemporary in late November, 2015.
Peri Schwartz, Studio XXXVIII, 2015, oil on canvas, 50 x 40 in.
"I'm excited about incorporating curves into my studio interiors." - Peri Schwartz
Studio XXXVIII can be seen at Gallery NAGA in Boston. Other works by Peri Schwartz are on view at the University of Mississippi Museum through January 3, 2016.
Paul Sattler, Remedy, 2015, Oil on canvas, 66 x 66 in.
"Remedy is the most recent personalized variation of an image that I discovered when living in London for a few months with my family. The engraving--Doctor Panurgus (curing the folly of his patients by purgative medicines and chemical cures)--is a line engraving by Martin Droeshout, ca. 1620." - Paul Sattler
Remedy: About a Decade of Painting, is on view at Marist College Art Gallery, November 12 - December 17.
Tangled Up in Blue will be included in the exhibition Margaret Bowland: Power at Driscoll Babcock Galleries, October 29 - December 12, 2015.
Lego Mondrian will be included in the exhibition Conor Walton: The Enemies of Progress at CK Contemporary, opening on November 7th, 6 to 9 PM. View exhibition catalog online
Still Life with Diebenkorn #2 will be included in the exhibition Guy Diehl: A Dialogue with Tradition II, opening November 5th, 5:30 to 7:30 PM at Dolby Chadwick Gallery.
www.sadievalerie.com
Dawn is included in the exhibition Martin Wittfooth: Offering at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery, through November 14th.
Barrow is included in the exhibition Eric Aho: Wilderness Studio, on view at DC Moore Gallery through November 14th.
Lid-Head will be on view in the exhibition Vonn Sumner: I is An Other at the Cypress College Art Gallery/Project Space through November 25th.
MoMA...Please will be on view in the exhibition Brenda Goodman: Selected Works 1961-2015 at the CCS Center Galleries, November 14 - December 19.
Studio XXXVIII can be seen at Gallery NAGA in Boston. Other works by Peri Schwartz are on view at the University of Mississippi Museum through January 3, 2016.
Remedy: About a Decade of Painting, is on view at Marist College Art Gallery, November 12 - December 17.