Daily Art Fixx

visual arts blog, painting, drawing, sculpture, illustration and more!

Esther Barend: Follow Your Dreams, 2019

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BAREND_FollowYourDreams150x120DAF favourite Esther Barend, has a solo exhibition called “Follow Your Dreams” currently showing at Artclub Gallery in Paris, France.

“Barend has an unstoppable need to paint. The paintings in her abstract series are mostly autobiographical in nature, inspired by her rich and complex inner world, her current emotions and contemporary events. The portraits in her figurative series are open-minded reflections of perfect imperfections.”

Artist Bio
Esther Barend was born in an artistic family in the Netherlands. After finishing her studies,  established herself as a designer of jewellery in Eindhoven (The Netherlands). Several years later she started classes at the Academy of Fine Arts. After 3 years she felt she had to go her own way. She started experimenting day in, day out and developed her own distinctive style through the years. After living in Paris, Amsterdam and Antwerp, she nowadays works and lives in the Valencia-region (Spain) and her paintings can be found in private and corporate collections from the USA, all over Europe, The Middle-East, China, Japan to Australia.  (courtesy of artist’s website)

To see more of Esther Barend’s work, visit estherbarend.eu.

The Art Market: Galleries

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Galleries is the second installation of the fantastic artsy.net series, The Art Market, Explained. This four minute, information-packed video covers the relationship between art galleries and artists, the global expansion of galleries Gagosian and White Cube, and how the internet is affecting the way galleries do business.

The Art Market (in Four Parts): Galleries from Artsy on Vimeo.

This series is directed by Oscar Boyson and produced in collaboration with UBS.

DALeast: Powder of Light @ Jonathan Levine Gallery

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DALeast (featured) was born in 1984 in China and is currently based in Cape Town, South Africa. He studied sculpture at the Institute of Fine Arts and began making art in public spaces in 2004. His murals can be found in cities around the world.

His latest exhibition “Powder of Light currently on at Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York, combines acrylic, ink and spray paint on a background texture of tea-stained canvas. DALeast paints animal figures in his signature style using a swirling vortex of organic black lines with white highlights. He creates a ribbon-like effect to form sinuous creatures that vibrate with kinetic energy. Horses, eagles, camels and rams leap off the picture plane, their shadows trailing behind them. Some appear to unravel while others merge together or attack one other. The artist draws inspiration from dichotomies such as the material and spiritual world, human emotion and animal nature.”

Powder of Light runs through December 29, 2012. To see more, visit Jonathan Levine Gallery, or DALEast.com.

We Are Who We Pretend To Be @ WWA Gallery

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A selection of works from WWA Gallery’s new exhibition We Are Who We Pretend To Be opening today in Culver City, CA. Titled after Kurt Vonnegut’s cautionary quote, the exhibition features ten diverse painters and mixed media artists manipulating and questioning notions of identity and reality. Artists include Justin Bloomer,  Nicole Bruckman,  Vincent Cacciotti,  David Chung,  Evan Cummiskey,  Joachim Knill,  Bethany Marchman,  Lou Pimentel,  Allison Reimold, and  Jophen Stein.

We Are Who We Pretend To Be runs through December 1, 2012.

For more information, visit WWA Gallery online.

Joe Sorren: When The Rain Comes @ La Luz de Jesus Gallery

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My-Aim-is-True-Joe-SorrenNew work from American painter Joe Sorren in his new exhibition “When the Rain Comes” at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles.

“Joe Sorren injects a surreal mood through soft, eerie imagery, thick brushstrokes, and animalistic figures caught in motion.  Created with oil on panel, Sorren’s newest body of work, When the Rain Comes is a story about darkness and light.

“Sometimes, when things are darker in life, you can find yourself in front of doors you didn’t know where there before. This is a show about walking though those doorways and the light that can be found in the sincere letting-go-ness of things” states Sorren.

Sorren’s artwork has appeared in various publications, including The New Yorker, Time and Rolling Stone. Warner Bros. and Atlantic Records have also used his art. A mural of his adorns an outdoor wall at Heritage Square in Flagstaff, Arizona. The 40 feet by 30 feet painting took 11 months to complete. Sorren lives in Flagstaff, Arizona and loves to run and jump.” (from La Luz de Jesus Gallery)

“When the Rain Comes” runs through April 29, 2012. To see more of Sorren’s work, visit JoeSorren.com.

The Artist Project: Toronto – March 1- 4, 2012

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Check out this selection of photos from opening night at The Artist Project Toronto which opened last night at the Queen Elizabeth Building, Exhibition Place.  The Artist Project is celebrating its 5th year and features original works from over 200 carefully juried, independent contemporary artists. For show and ticket information, visit TheArtistProject.com. Click on the link below each work to visit the artist’s website.

Herakut: After the Laughter @ LeBasse Projects Chinatown

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There-for-you-HerakutGerman art duo Herakut have a new exhibition with LeBasse Projects in Los Angeles.  The show, entitled “After the Laughter”, features a new series of sculptures, photography and wall installations by the artists. In conjunction with the opening, Herakut will also be releasing their second book also titled After the Laughter.  After a period of producing a series of work on canvas and exhibiting in ‘white wall’ style exhibitions, Herakut returns to an approach like their early years in presenting a fully immersive installation. The exhibition will showcase new original paintings, drawings, photography and a series of sculptures.

“After the Laughter runs through March 17, 2012. Too see more, visit Herakut.de or  LeBasse Projects.

Osgemeos: Fermata @ Museu Vale – Brazil

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The latest exhibition “Fermata” from world renowned Brazil based urban artists (and twin brothers) Otávio and Gustavo Pandolfo (aka Osgemeos). Fermata, showing at Museu Vale in Brazil, runs through February 12, 2012.

“Revealing uncommon possibilities and dealing with what is current and not distant, OSGEMEOS make us aware that we are part of something in common: the city and the construction of its subjectivity. They remind us of the importance of citizenship and collectivity in a colorful, magical world of dreams and fantasies – which is blended with reality, kindling desires and wishes, encouraging children, youths and adults alike to realize their dreams.” (from Museu Vale)

To see more from this exhibition, check out OsGemeos.com.br.

Augustine Kofie: Circulatory System @ White Walls Gallery

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Augustine Kofie’ is a self-taught artist living and working in Los Angeles. While he is now internationally known for his technical skill and inimitable style, he was first known as ‘Kofie One’ and was heavily active in the West Los Angeles graffiti scene during the 90’s. Kofie’s work is continually evolving, creating a unique approach to geometrical abstraction influenced by an interest in architecture, typography, and a vintage aesthetic.

Kofie’s latest exhibition Circulatory System features a clean delineation of geometric forms and divisions of space with a technical precision that resembles architectural drafting.  “Circulatory System is a play on words to describe a particular painting and collage direction in my works. To me the classic circle form brings a balance to my heavily structural design directions or systems in this case. The circle form gives the works a type of framework, a sort of control that they need every so often in order to counter the movement of layers. This encompassing effect can play as a magnifying glass to this work, a capture within a capture, an orbit of counterbalanced line work and shapes clashing in harmony. There is also the concept of Circulatory referring to the re-circulation of both found imagery and ephemera into the system, both vintage as well as recent. The dissemination of these discarded segments of the past reexamined through integration via these new works.” (from White Walls Gallery)

To see more from this exhibition, visit White Walls Gallery and check out Kofie’s website KeepDrafting.com.

Travis Louis: Curious Pets @ Merry Karnowsky Gallery

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DAF favourite Travis Louie has a new show on at Merry Karnowsky Gallery in Los Angeles.

Inspiration for “Curious Pets” came after Travis came across a book about the “proper care of tarantuals” at a pet store.  “It was pretty straightforward stuff about enclosures, temperature regulation, the types of tarantulas, etc, . . . and then I saw the author photo in the back of the book (and it was a dandy!) It wasn’t so much that the author looked like some stereotypical nerd, or that he was dressed like he was attending his senior prom and it was 1976  that caught my attention (powder blue tuxedo and greasy hair in full effect). It was the first prize ribbon attached to his tarantula’s tank that made me think, “they had pet shows for arachnids?” “How weird is that?” I’ve seen dog shows on television, like the Westminster Dog Show held at Madison Square Garden in New York every year, . . . but the image of some handler parading a tarantula on a leash and the subsequent examination of said tarantula on some platform by an elegantly dressed “expert” on the various breeds and tarantula groups made me laugh.  I immediately started working on this series of paintings featuring characters with unusual pets and their unusual circumstances.”

Trained as a photographic re-toucher, Louie’s technique is one of “utter refinement and explicit detailing. Layers of beautifully and meticulously applied acrylic form the mystic, dreamy quality of the work. Influences from his childhood range from sci-fi magazines to odd reclusive neighbors in his hometown of New York, visually quoting films both old (1920’s) and as new as Pan’s Labyrinth. His obscure characters are always surrounded by an uncertain kind of electricity and uncertainty.”

Curious Pets runs through December 10, 2011.  For more information, visit  Merry Karnowsky Gallery or check out TravisLouie.com or his blog TravisLouie.blogspot.com.