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What a tremendous showing for this year's 2008 "10th Annual Faces International Juried Online Art Exhibition". There are so many wonderful and engaging works with the subject of faces. Here are a few comments:
KATRIN ALVAREZ of Koln, Germany - NRW uses oil on canvas with mixed media in her imagery depicting the facial expressions of four distinct individuals. In “Anja’s Thoughts” the realistic and beautiful personal character recognized in the face positioned on the left with biomorphic formations is suggestive of a kind of bioluminescence. In “Hanna” there’s a brightness in the outlook with the facial expression of youth with beautiful blue eyes, brilliant red hair with the complementary green background. Perhaps the most dramatic is her work entitled “Regression” in which the strong hands frame a face that shows a mouth shut off by a non-communicative seal patch over it. Additionally the red hair has a kind of liquid droplets flowing down and the hard treatment of the upper body treatment gives a sense of strict containment or a holding back. And in “Richard Yates” the sienna color of the piercing eyes and the raw umberish color together with the bluish eyes of the sea creature adds to the mystery that envelopes these four artworks.
SHEILA ARCHER of Brooklyn, New York sets the pictorial stage with the drama in “After The Fall” in which the facial expression in the eyes looking out within a red hot fire-like treatment consuming the face whose stare is rather disturbing. Another dramatic piece is “Stifled” in which the digital manipulation creates a defacement over the mouth area suggesting by this disfeaturing in a violet chroma that something is being withheld.
DON ARDAY of Webster, New York gives the show an interesting treatment with geometric abstraction in four visually precise works: “Face Semi-Resolved 4”, “Face Semi-Resolved 5” and “Face Unresolved 1” and “Face Unresolved 2”. The first works successfully in terms of the visual strength of red and gold, while the others are justified by the intentionality that they are not meant to be quite resolved, owing to the idea of the process of becoming or identifying who one is to be.
CARLA BERGER of Brooklyn, New York has a collaged approach in representing intriguing facial characteristics. “Untitled 2” is one such work as well as “Untitled 3”, “Untitled 4” and “Untitled 5”, all of which are quite striking texturally as well as the realistic and abstract conterplay.
IONE CITRIN of Los Angeles, California has some interesting pieces, especially those with mixed imagery. In particular is her acrylic piece “Masquerade” showing in symmetrical fashion the smoothly painted female face surrounded with delightful decoration.
DESEPE de VARGAS of Fort Washington, Maryland has a truly awesome silver gelatin print entitled “Maimah” in which the the black braided hair in varying lengths radiate out from the face on a flat white surface making for a wonderfully rich display of figure-ground brilliance.
PATRICIA DICKUN of Apollo, Pennsylvania creates a strong message about the heritage of America in her pastel piece “Before You Came” reminiscing about the truth of the American Indian who really rightfully owns these United States. Another interesting portrait work is her work “Dave” showing a kind of concern with the wrinkled brow and the eyeglasses lowered on the nose.
SHARON L. DOWIS of Wausau, Wisconsin has captured perhaps one of the most interesting representations of a cat in the square formatted photograph of “Mr. Beau J.” showing the clever cropping and the fine details of the fur. The cat’s face at the upper left and the flow of the fur and tail make for a rich piece in an unusual composition.
PAMELA L. FIEDLER of Martin, Tennessee takes on powerful imagery in dealing with the horror and atrocities of the Holocaust in five wrenching graphic designs that go beyond the images expressing the high degree of acute emotional distress and violence of this sad history. “Holocaust: Baracke: X (Dachau)”, "Holocaust: Hitler and the Production of Death". "Holocaust: In Germany", "Holocaust: Life in Shadows" and "Holocaust: Remember the Past" are so powerful they speak for themselves!
ELAINE FISHER of North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, in her digital photograph “Mourner” gives a highly dramatic rendition of the process of mourning in an almost tenebristic manner with the hands over the eyes and on the forehead and emphasizing the moment with the force of a diagonal tear across the image as if to represent a brokenness or taken away feeling; of someone or something lost.
DANIEL FLECKLES of Glen Gardner, New Jersey shows some of the most spontaneous works in this show even though they are presented here as digital ink jet prints. The characterizations are quite rich in capturing the essence of the persona consequently showing the artistic textural and line qualities. Perhaps most intriguing of this group is “Aunt Peninah”, “Fröbel” and “Lito” in which the layering creates a deeper dimensionality of presence.
LINDA RUDIN FRIZZELL of Shelton, Washington speaks brilliantly with bold colored fabric showing richly patterned faces in her piece “Family” with all the diversity of facial expression in one view. Her triptych “Mary, Curly & Flo” playing off the names of the the “Three Stooges” comedy team, continues with the fun, clown like presentations of a happy-go-lucky trio.
TANYA GADBAW of Potsdam, New York graces the show with a highly developed sensitivity in understanding the medium of oil together with a great appreciation of her family members. “3rd Generation Fading” and her “Disappearing Generation Series” show a kind of tenderness with each individual in their fragility and sense of time in this life; “Disappearing Generation No. 1” with the rather bruised arm and hands on head; “Disappearing Generation No. 2” with the folded hands and the staring eyes; and “Disappearing Generation No. 6” with the detailing in the facial features, brushwork in the gray hair and having the figure looking to the left from off center. Also her “Self Portrait” speaks of a kind of great awareness of thought with wide open eyes. The hand in front of the face either suggests holding back or a kind of shyness.
EUGENIA ALGAZE GARCIA of Fulshear, Texas has a couple approaches in the use of the figure. Particularly unique are her uses of trees with the figure, especially “Protect & Defend” reiterating the mother and child theme except that this is special since it is a father and child theme.
JOHN GILLULY of Independence, Missouri is known for his acrylic painting in the impressionistic style. His small marks in his work “Zak” help to model the smallness of the child with an interesting perspective showing the child looking up from the floor.
HADZI DUSAN GLUSAC of Belgrade, Serbia deals in part with Christian themes. Her representation of “St. John The Baptist” in it’s warm and textural treatment help to convey the dedicated life of eating locusts and living in the desert.
JENI GRAY of Lilliwaup, Washington brings various approaches to the subject of faces. Especially striking is “Duncan” with the long hair, manly chest and a rather refined and delicate hat - all rather engaging to say the least.
SLAVA GROSHEV of Archangel International based in Ireland presents a tender portrayal of a beautiful young lady on a tree swing admiring wildflowers. The professional handling of oil painting is remarkably and convincingly realistic which is outstanding in the painting appropriately entitled "Wildflowers".
MEREDITH HEDGES of Staten Island, New York has a couple striking depictions using doll-like heads, but what’s most compelling is that these are done in graphite. “Save My Soul” speaks volumes in its simplicity floating within a light field.
ADAM N. HESS of Baton Rouge, Louisiana shows various parts of the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans where the hurricane Katrina devastated the area. His sense of the interplay of black and white in his silver gelatin print work is quite strong. The “Chelsea” and “Hilda” photographs reveal the labor intensive demands dealing with the destruction. The “Devon” work is well arranged with the white working outfit and gloves standing in front of the decorative black ironwork. And the “Roger” piece done a year later in 2007 is nice with the figure positioned centrally within a vast horizontal plane of the landscape.
LAUREN ALYSSA HOWARD of Tampa, Florida sensitively portrays various individual characters and their main attributes, for example “Caregiver” in warm color shows a woman with very curly hair contrasted with holding out the plain white plates. Of particular note is her pastel work of a man holding a saw with the hands showing the veins and this together with the expression on the face, the beard and the flannel shirt and even the fading out of the right part of the body all make for a very strong image in “Provider”.
DIANE JOHNSON of Mission Viejo, California has a richness in her use of graphite drawing. Messages seem very important here showing youth dressed in a coat and tie called “Modesty”. And the other unusual composition of a young man in “Sideways” is quite interesting in positioning within the framework.
SARAH A. JONES of San Antonio, Texas is a twin and in her piece entitled “Portrait of the Artist and Twin Sister, Age 3, with Perfect Bilateral Symmetry” brings to mind the extraordinariness of twins in our humanity. This is a marvelous revelation adapted using digital manipulation with words and comments about their relationship. Another wonderful vision she gives in “Untitled (Bill)” in which the sense of abstraction is initially apparent before the image is recognized.
AMBERLEIGH KIRTON of Ellenboro, North Carolina gives a glimpse of what seems to be a family album of pictures. Perhaps the most special is the use of a kind of infinity symbol arrangement of the reclining man figure called “Sand Sculpture”.
LORENZO KRISTOV of Davis, California has a keen eye for abstraction in his boxcar series. They are all quite fascinating in the suggestions of facial features. Especially attractive is “Boxcar 71208” and “Boxcar 80062”.
JASMINE KUKIC of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada has quite the imagination is developing artwork with a touch of fantasy. “Beyond Resignation” shows a womanly figure whose head is covered with a kind of salt and peppery patterned head piece in front of a larger scaled rather amorphous indication of two eyes; and this with measuring tapes, butterflies, and other added attractions owing to the mysterious surreality that is quite engaging nevertheless. Another richly collaged work is “Blushing” showing the redness in the face with snakes in the nose area, a spiraling staircase representing one of the eyes, fabric, a broken/opened egg and a framed duck with a finger pointing at it. This is rich indeed. Also the work “Perpetum” with it’s mechanistic configuration and the geometric/organic contrasts rounds out her three very compelling artworks.
PATSY LINDAMOOD of Gainesville, Florida has conquered the use of colored pencil incorporating wax pastel. Both “Bon Voyage” and “Flair for Fashion - Dru @ 4” show a tenderness of approach with the media as well as capturing the tenderness of the subject matter.
SUZANNE MARIE LUTTRULL of San Diego, California has a fresh painterly quality in her works in oil. Compositionally worthy is the work called “The Flight” in which the brunette with her hair in a pony tail contrasted with the white hooded jacket cantilevers into a field of roughly textured golden yellow. Another nice piece is “Time for a Change” with the male figure painted with expressive brushwork with the strong textured blue and green background.
DANIEL LYNCH has a very strong piece in charcoal giving the subject “Magnificent Blackman” a dynamic character in a tenebristic mode. The near symmetry and the play of light is quite magnificent as well.
JILL MARINO of Waukesha, Wisconsin delicately presents portraiture in a warm and soft manner as seen especially in “Michael” showing a very nice gentleness that almost seems to capture the spirit of the person as foremost.
CRYSTAL MARSHALL of Baltimore, Maryland has two self portrait works in acrylic on canvas that are awesome plays of tonality and color. “Self Portrait I” extending 72 inches horizontally dramatically presents light and shadow and warm colored tones in an intense way with the tilted positioning of the head looking upward. “Self Portrait II” is engaging in that not only is the scale impressive but also the dynamic duo of a light green and violet palette. These two paintings are quite an accomplishment.
CHARLES MOREY of Studio City, California brings a kind of humor to the show in his photograph “Muttly Crew” with the conglomeration of imagery with a number of dogs standing round about. On the other extreme, the photograph “Victim” provokes a serious note of violence. Adding to his repertoire is the glowing and subtle pinkness in the depiction of a handsome young lady in “Who Are You?”. The blurred foreground vertical bars adds a kind of space to the mystery.
ANITA M. MOSS of Mora, New Mexico has three face paintings of children, each of which shows her painting abilities together with presenting them in descriptive ways. “Just Thinking” realistically deals with the notion that children do think about things. This one is nice in the complementary color scheme. “I See Summer” with the diagonal arrangement works well and “Uummmm” gives a kind of special attitude especially rendered in the mouth.
MARY-ANNE MURPHY of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada stars in this show with her highly skilled drawings in graphite and charcoal. “Edythe - Study II” shows the relaxed position of the woman with fine lines showing the upsweep of the hairdo coupled with the softer skin character. In “Jack” she even captures the bits of light coming through the hat and the fine nuances in the unshaven chin. And in “Jerry - Study III” we have the metal frame bifocal glasses decorating the rich character of his face topped off with a fine rendering of the plaid shirt. Lastly the work “Resemblance” with more props, deals with space and focus, reality and a photographic representation.
ALIMA NEWTON of Plantation, Florida uses more muted colors in the face contrasted with brighter cool colors in a rather stylized version of a woman in “What She Went Through”. The positioning of the head in the upper right gives the person a kind of respect and nobility as she looks on. The strength of the face with the delicacy of the necklace are nicely contrasted.
NICOLENA NINA of Lake Mohawk, Sussex County, New Jersey playfully shows a fanciful group in her acrylic painting entitled “The Musicians” which with it’s swaying hair and flowing arms gives a nice rhythmic fluidity.
RON EA POWELL (REAP) of Irvington, New Jersey uses oil differently than usual in that it’s mostly black and white. In his work “Faith” the tall vertical panel helps to convey a kind of glimpse into the presentation of the idea.
MIKE RAYBURN of Morehead, Kentucky has several interesting photographs, one of which is “A Rose in Her Hat” depicting a gentle experienced lady. This works compositionally as well with the light at the top balanced with the dark at the bottom. The two center composition of “Dos Hombres” depicts an honesty of expression of two men close up.
JASON RENNIE of San Francisco, California creates a dramatic setting in his oil on canvas piece “G. Life Pain” with the singular thin man with the narrow face tilted upward and the hands hanging down. The subtle lighting effects on the body and the well lit face that almost glows beyond any pain felt, is quite touching. "G. From Life" shows the side profile of a man with a rich painterly quality overall."
TONY RIO of Normal, Illinois uses oil and plaster on wood coming up with original interpretations. His piece “Head Above Water” is one of his strongest works in the organic feel and loosely depicted facial characteristics. “Toy Soldier” is also quite unique in a more dramatic tonality.
NICKY Y. SCHLEIDER of Baltimore, Maryland is one of the gallery’s favorite regularly chosen artists in terms of her directness of approach. Of the four paintings in this year’s show, “The Great Debate” speaks well of her style. Perhaps the rich tonal contrast and rich textural treatment add strength to this one, however all of her paintings represented are excellent.
MICHELLE STONE of Evanston, Illinois is a remarkable artist with the subject of faces. Using acrylic plaster she comes up with these striking wall relief sculptures of heads that are absolutely astounding in a kind of gruesome way. “Had Eye Up”, “Still A Face” and “Two Suffering Heads” are unforgettable. She has taken this media and concept to an ultimate level of high creativity.
SHAGHAYEGH M. TANGESTANI of Tehran, Iran expressively tackles with the concept of good and evil in his charcoal works. The smoothness and graininess developed in “The Angel” shows this vitality of spontaneity. Also quite rich and rather moving is his use of tar and oil showing “The Escape”. This admixture of media gives an exciting surface treatment.
DANIELLE THILLET of Brooklyn, New York stands out by her use of doll heads. Her work “5 Doll Heads” tends to work rather well due to her developed handling of watercolor and gouache. The brightly colored and big eyes in “Doll Head in Miniature Tea Cup” is on the unexpected side. The flowing hair and the repeated flow under the saucer works well.
PATRICIA BROCK THOMPSON of Phoenix, Arizona deals with a situation in life in a startling and informative way. Using ceramic she shows “Faces 004 - After His Stroke” with the dramatically contrasting dark and light glazing. And in “Faces 005 - Now Mute” the color is mute and the faces seems broken. These two pieces are very important works of art.
BROOKE WALKER-KNOBLICH of Gold River, California has a soften approach in her use of charcoal on paper. Several of her works are remarkable in a number of ways. “My Derek #2” is nicely developed, enhanced by the view from above and the play of angles. “Pure Pleasure” in oil captures the play of light in a tenebristic mode realistically showing a calm and relaxing moment. The softness presented in “Self Portrait by Candlelight” is handled well with a wonderfully controlled sfumato. And with the same softness of approach she demonstrates a happy occasion between three young people.
ROBERT P. WEISS of Brooklyn, New York displays a number of delicate, yet richly textured drawings and paintings. “Green Sky” in it’s loosely rendered, yet spontaneous approach adds to the show in the pink and green combo. Another rather intense portrayal is his scratch board piece “OH My!
And JEFFREY J. ZELTNER JR. of Bozeman, Montana works graphite in expressive and controlled ways, especially in his drawing “Too Much Television” which is an interesting take on the concept, showing the unusual effects emitting from the head and the open mouth adds to the scene.
All participating artists are to be commended on a very fine international exhibition! |
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Sincerely,
Larry Bradshaw
Curator, Professor of Art |
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