STUDIO-ONLINE

Swell, acrylic, 6×6feet ©2008

ECHOES, a solo exhibition of paintings by Diana Schmertz will be on display during April at the K.B. Gallery. Within her large acrylic paintings Schmertz explores the human psyche through touch.

Using large bold marks, Schmertz creates the sensation of light falling across flesh of the body. The physical contact between the flesh of these bodies reveals the psychological relationship embodied beneath the surface of their skin. The application of paint is sensual, expressing an intimacy rooted in the connectedness of all things.

While Schmertz’s works are figurative and representational, the compositions create an abstracted image. There is confusion within the compositions, making one question where one person ends and the other begins. This confusion breaks down the mental fixation of singular entities and reinforces the notion of the interdependence of beings.

Schmertz was born and raised in New York City. After completing her BFA from Purchase College at age 19, she was accepted into De Ateliers 63 residency program and awarded a two-year grant to live and paint in Amsterdam, Holland. Since, has traveled extensively, completed two Masters in Science, and has exhibited frequently throughout America, including San Francisco, New York City, and Philadelphia. Most recently she received a Manhattan Community Arts Fund grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and a grant from the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance.

K.B. Gallery:
875 West 181st Street & Riverside Drive.
New York, New York 10033
Phone: 212 543 2393

Sculpture, Video Installation and Painted Photography
By Rachel Harrison (maybe the best of the show)

If you want to see the state of American Art don’t visit this show, make time to visit studios when there are open studios, which is something these curators never appear to do. Almost nothing is this show can be classified as art, frankly I saw more artistic expression on “Project Runway” than inside the Whitney Museum or the Armory. As for the additional exhibits in the Armory, the actual rooms are more impressive than the things displayed within.

This Biennial is more to do with who you know than to do with art. Apart from a few artists, most of the stuff found here is not done by artists, but by participating want-to-be artists, who failed miserably in showing any kind of artistic expression.

The installations, the sound effects, the videos can be summarized as “What are they thinking, are they thinking at all?”

If this show reflects American Art, then I put my money on Contemporary Chinese or Japanese Art. But as this show does not represent the new and inspiring work by contemporary American artists, I hope the Whitney hires better curators for their next Biennial.

From March 6 to 23, installations and performances will be presented at the Armory, 67th St. and Park Avenue.

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street
New York, NY 10021
Website: www.whitney.org

By M.A.B.

Man and Woman, 2006, Silkscreen, drawing ink, watercolour.

Something Unexpected Gallery presents Secret Worlds, a solo exhibition of recent works by the Lithuanian artist Jurgita Gerlikaite.

Jurgita Gerlikaite eagerly took over the endless possibilities of the digital techniques. They let her continue and develop the experiments she has been performing through the years within more traditional graphic genre as woodcut and photogravure. All these experiments are related to the human world of imagination, also the visual and cognitive challenge of it. By the refined aesthetic means of the art piece we are attracted or, better to say, seduced into the world, where beside the fantastic surface basic human experiences of good and evil hides. Last but not least, the artist tackles such conceptions and terms as sin, evil, light, darkness, decline, resurrection, which we are forced to be related to, not only on the aesthetic, but also on the existential plan.

It is claimed that the new digital techniques either are too simple and shallow. Jurgita Gerlikaite’s compositions prove the opposite. In her hands the digital process transforms from means for playful experiment into a place for existential and metaphysical contemplations not losing a thing of the absolutely visual excitation. By this double grasp of aesthetic excitation and cognitive depth Jurgita Gerlikaite’s graphical art pieces are extremely exciting and competent. (Tom Jørgensen, Bachelor in Art History, art writer and author).

Jurgita Gerlikaite received BA in Art History and Theory in Vilnius Art Academy (Lithuania), studied printmaking and intaglio in Icelandic College of Arts & Crafts (Reykjavik, Iceland), Digital Imaging and Photopolymer film in The Printmakers’ Experimentarium with Henrik Bøegh in Copenhagen (Denmark). Now she is studying for her MA degree in UNESCO Cultural Management and Cultural Policy in Vilnius Art Academy.

Artist’s Reception with music and refreshments:
Saturday, March 15, 6 – 8 PM
Sunday, March 16, 2 – 4 PM

Something Unexpected Art Gallery
152 Main street,
Nyack, NY 10960
Phone: 845 358 1196
Website: www.something-unexpected.com

Alain Martinez is a young Cuban artist living and working in Bejucal, a small town in Havana province. His works have been shown in exhibitions in Chile, Germany and Spain. Recently, he took part in an exhibition in Havana in support of ‘World Aids Day’: CuidArte: Erotic Art, where his work was shown alongside that of other well-known Cuban artists, including Adigio Benitez, Roberto Fabelo, Nelson Dominguez, Choco, and Arturo Montoto.

Alain’s art is firmly rooted in the artistic traditions of Latin America – of Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela. He absorbed European expressionism and recreated it in the context of local tradition. In doing so, he followed the path of Latin America’s leading painters, including the great Cuban artist Wilfredo Lam.

In the early decades of the 20th century, expressionism was adopted with enthusiasm by nationalist-minded artists who quickly realised that it could be fused with local ‘Indian’ culture to create a new Latin American art-form. The 1920s and 1930s, in particular, saw the flowering of this indigenismo. Soon, Latin expressionism – often leaning towards surrealism – became the leading art form throughout the continent.

Alain Martinez continues to work within this tradition.

During the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the people of Cuba experienced severe hardships – economic and social – which were reflected in the work of Cuban artists. Many of them, including some of the most prominent, left the country and achieved success abroad. A new generation came to the fore as the economy recovered, but their art had changed, influenced by international trends such as conceptualism. Alain, however, working in Bejucal, pursued his own path.

Alain’s paintings exude a passion unusual even for Cuban art. At first you see the flamboyant colour, the festive dance. Then the darker mood emerges, the despair, the furtive sexual longings. Key to these paintings is the mask motif, the disguise. It tells you that nothing here is what it seems. A critic writing in El Habanero of Martinez’s solo exhibition in Cuba last October, remarked on his “figurative expressionism” and his “extraordinary dramatic force”.

Many of his pictures suggest a narrative, but he insists that he doesn’t tell stories. “My paintings are moments, ephemeral situations that were significant for me. But I’d rather not tell a story – maybe just insinuate it. I’m pleased if some of my memories are framed and hanging from the wall, subject to whatever interpretations they might suggest.”

This exhibition is the first showing of Martinez’s work in the UK. The artist will be coming to London from Cuba.

The Chanbers Gallery
23 Long Lane,
London EC1A 9HL
Telephome: 0207 778 1600
Website: www.thechambersgallery.co.uk

Andrew McAttee will be launching his much anticipated riotous new work in his solo show Anti-Gravity at the FORSTER Gallery.

The highly collectable artist’s work delicately balances dreamy otherworldly landscapes with his trademark psychedelic palette in vast pop art canvases that will dominate the east London gallery. The vivid and dazzling explosions of colour and light inherent in the works reflect his desire to project pure optimism – as an alternative to the gritty realism of modern life. McAttee’s comic-strip pop art landscapes burst forth with abstract shapes and intense colours, demonstrating street art sensibilities like blended colour and line, imbuing his work with a distinctive graffiti aesthetic.

McAttee has commented: “My aim is to provide the viewer with a colourful riot of gravity-less forms set in highly-layered, seemingly endless space with a sense of ambiguity, humour and celebration.

“Anti-Gravity is to draw attention to the weightless nature of a lot of modern art from Andy Warhol’s Silver Balloons or Damien Hirst’s Spot Paintings. I also wanted to suggest the opposing of a negative force while highlighting the celestial aspects of my work and in doing so, to say something about not being held down.”

Having made his mark as prominent graffiti street artist STET, McAttee has been fusing his spray can talent and urban style with fine art training since completing his degree from Central St Martins in 1995 – making the transition from street to gallery with his first solo show taking place in 2003.

His work draws on a wide range of sources including other graffiti art, comic book graphics, pop art and abstract expressionism.

Recent commissions have seen McAttee work with brands ranging from Benson & Hedges, Nike, Heavenly Records (for the Little Ones, touring with Kaiser Chiefs) and fashion designer Antonio Berardi, amongst others. Press includes a review in Time Out, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, and the Intergalactic Times.

An extended catalogue is being published which includes an in-depth interview with Dazed and Confused Art Editor Francesca Gavin and a critical text written by Ben Cranfield, art historian.

Andrew McAttee studied Fine Art at Central Saint Martin’s, London, graduating in 1995. Since graduating in 1995 he has had numerous exhibitions including solo shows Yeah, Yeah, Yeah 2007 (FORSTER), Off the Wall 2003 (thecentralhouse) and Suck it and See 1997 (Elms Lesters). FORSTER has exhibited McAttee’s work internationally including in Basel, New York and Miami.

FORSTER Gallery
1 Chapel Place
Rivington Street
London EC2A 3DQ
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7739 7572
Website: www.forstergallery.com/

Alice Stepanek and Steven Maslin have been working together for over twenty years, painting studies and comments on the subject of Nature. This new body of paintings is primarily concerned with the environment and issues related to global warming.Stepanek and Maslin’s most recent work addresses the subject of humankind’s paradoxical relationship to its natural environment. In the moment when climate change denial has finally crumbled, the paintings have gained a great poignancy. Since the 1980’s scientific research has left no doubt about the consequences of human carbon dioxide output upon the environment. Stepanek and Maslin have followed this research with keen interest and it has found expression in their images in a variety of forms.

Last year the horizon line returned to Stepanek and Maslin’s work. A passing glimpse might register the paintings as conventional landscapes, but when the viewer lingers a moment longer they are quickly caught up in a mass of visual subterfuge. This is not a horizon line stretching serenely from one edge of the canvas to another, confirming the human’s place in the world. Instead the viewer is confronted with segmented landscapes, divided by bold verticals of tree trunks, which invade the foreground and split the canvas into a series of “frames”, each containing disparate scenes of nature. At times the segments are nominally linked, at others they disregard visual sense and convention, the horizon jumping from one level to another as the length of the painting is traversed.

The nature portrayed is still beautiful in its individual elements, nothing is ugly or shocking. The images are not “catastrophic” (a term now used with pornographic abandon when referring to climate). Yet the paintings are disturbing because of their quirkiness and restlessness, the viewer is left trying to piece together some sense, attempting to retrieve harmony and order.

Common with their work of the 1990’s and beyond, the paintings remain an uninhabitated stage. Indeed it is from the absence of humanity that they derive part of their tension. It is the viewer who must create the story; the artists have simply provided the set. There are different paths and ways within the new works, which enable a variety of scenarios and outcomes. The observer is left to decide on the direction, to face the choice of which path to follow and risk taking the wrong track.

The compositions appear photographic or computer manipulated, “cut and paste” comes to mind, but while the paintings are constructed from an array of images, which Stepanek and Maslin have photographed themselves, the computer doesn’t play a role. The paintings are composed on the canvas, built up from individual elements to create a complete image. Each element finds its place in an ongoing process of decision making between the artists in front of the canvas. They reiterate that the reworking of images is an artistic process with hundreds of years of history, not the result of the recent development of computer software.

The artists create a painted space where it is difficult to judge in which moment, or state, we stand. It is neither the ideal paradise nor the post-human order. Using simple compositional devices they create a familiar yet chaotic world, a vision simultaneously utopic and dystopic, manouevering between culture and nature, asking to what degree these opposites are mutually dependent.

We live in a world in which natural beauty is idealised and revered, and concurrently neglected and extinguished. The consequence of our actions, of our indifference, is becoming forever more foreseeable and unpredictable. Stepanek and Maslin’s paintings are a reminder of all that we should strive to keep when we find ourselves in a process of rapid loss.

Purdy Hicks Gallery
65 Hopton Street
London
SE1 9GZ
Telephone: 44 207 401 9229
Website: www.purdyhicks.com

Jolly and sinister in just about equal measure, Marisol Malatesta’s artwork can often resemble the traditional Peruvian Ekeko dolls which were an inspiration for I’m Not Pregnant. Not only are Malatesta’s drawings and paintings characterized by an unpolished vibrancy typical of the South American dolls, with their wide-mouthed cartoonishness, but also many of the works bear a tangible connection with Peruvian folklore and antiquity. Indeed, the geometric designs present in several sketches directly invoke the ziggurats and ancient monuments of the Inca Empire.

Malatesta’s work references the disciplines of architecture and archaeology in its incorporation of the monumental and the mythic, but also examines the discourses of colonialism and phallocentrism which underpin them. Perhaps the simplest but also the most apposite description of the work comes from the artists herself – “cheerful characters in weird scenarios”.

Having inspired this show, it is only fitting that an Ekeko doll should form its key component. The main exhibition space is focused towards a new sculpture of a self-portrait Ekeko doll, NAME OF PIECE (Malatesta’s first significant work in this medium). The sculpture is surrounded by a number of sketches and paintings which are exhibited together here for the first time.

The smaller anteroom presents Malatesta’s smaller sketches and drawings, and is inspired by archival black rooms in museums. These pieces highlight the artist’s exploration of archaeology and invite the viewer to engage with her work as part of this ongoing dialogue.

Born in Peru, Marisol Malatesta completed her fine art MA at Byam Shaw in 2003. She has exhibited in shows around the UK, including Did You Feed the Duck? at Former Nylon Gallery in 2003 and Tertulia at the University of the Arts Gallery in 2005, and in Peru (Spinning Stories Project at the Forum Gallery in Lima). Malatesta was recently selected for the Jerwood Contemporary Painters Prize 2007, exhibiting in the Jerwood Space (London), The BayArt Gallery (Cardiff) and the Lowry (Manchester). She lives and works in London.

Meals & SUVs
First floor
295- 297 Haggerston Road,
Dalston,
London,
E8 4EN
Telephone: 07817406098
Website: www.mealsandsuvs.co.uk

“ If I couldn’t draw, I don’t know what I’d do.
Drawing is my life.”

Andy has spent the past 25 years working in Advertising and Design. He has won many coveted awards for his work which includes some memorable campaigns for Nat West with the ‘Piggies’ and the fruit drink, ‘UmBongo!.’

During his working life he has also delved into the world of film, directing commercials, party political broadcasts for the launch of the Green Party and the odd pop video, he was also commissioned to write a children’s film.
However Andy sees himself predominately as a conceptual thinker, a scribbler of ideas and currently works for some of the UK’s top brands, with his creative team at “Us”, creating and designing new products and business ideas.

His working life in the creative field has always been mirrored by his passion for painting and drawing. He say’s it’s what keeps him sane. He has exhibited locally to his home in North London and more recently at the Tapestry Gallery in Soho along with artistic friends. This display of his work at The Coningsby Gallery is the first exhibition he has done on his own.

The work on display features a collection of paintings entitled ‘Elements of the Universe’, inspired by climatic changes to our planet and the poetic justice of nature. They are based on the imbalance we have caused in our world, derived through our lack of care, which creates the difference between beauty and destruction.

The apt titles are there to make us all think twice.

Alongside this are Andy’s nudes and still life works in charcoal, a medium he enjoys because of it’s raw nature. He say’s, “With charcoal you can’t hide, it is totally unforgiving, it either works or it doesn’t, there’s no going back.”

The Coningsby Gallery
30, Tottenham Street,
London. W1T 4RJ.
Telephone: ++44 (0)20 7636 1064
Website: www.coningsbygallery.com

FIRST LAUNCH OF AN INTERNATIONAL WOMAN’S ART GROUP

20 Women Artists with roots and origins in 16 countries are joining together to present a wide range of work, including two and three-dimensional works in a range of media, which reflects their unique and individual cultural diversities.

From this cultural exchange, we hope to create new forms of expression, which will enable us to develop and nourish the multicultural society, which exists in Britain today.

We hope the similarities and differences, found in our various belief systems and cultural traditions, which influence our feeling of identity and the forms we produce, can by this collaboration, develop a better understanding of universal values within the Visual Arts.

Countries represented include: Sweden, Denmark, Trinidad, Spain, South Africa, India, Canada, China, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Poland, Brazil, America.

International Woman’s Day:11am – 4pm
Saturday 8 March- Sunday 9 March 2008

The Gallery
Morley College,
61 Westminster Bridge Road,
London, SE1 7HT
Phone: 0207 450 1826
Website: www.morelycollege.ac.uk www.creationsofeve.net

Something Unexpected contemporary art gallery presents the exhibition Art-To-Wear by young European artists who are actively creating the individual, conceptual, methodical and experimental jewelery. Their works of art are exceptionally original, subtle in their form, from classical to modern.

The gallery will feature a number young, but internationally recognized jewelery and textile artists: Baltos Kandys (White Moths), Ugne Blazyte, Ruta Budvytyte, Egle Cejauskaite, Laura Dailideniene, Rasa Juskeviciene, Jurgita Erminaite, Karina Kazlauskaite, Ugne Kuprijonaite – Stasiunaite and Vita Pukstaite.

The value of a jewelery piece depends on the originality of the concept and intensity of its influence and these are the criteria art pieces are judged by. The conceptual jewelery is distinguished by the novelty of the concept in terms of material, trade, miniature format and closeness to a body.

Something Unexpected Contemporary Art Gallery
152 Main Street,
Nyack, New York, 10960
Telephone: 845 358 1196
Website: www.something-unexpected.com