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Tag: abstract art

Aglow. Kate Davis Caldwell.

Every morning lately, somewhere between 9:00 and 10:00am, my eyes are drawn away from the laptop screen and through the windows outside. You see, at this time of day, the morning light becomes its most intense and everything outside seems lit from within! I am powerless to resist. The paintings in the Flux series by Los Angeles artist Kate Davis Caldwell seem to capture that intensity of light, in which everything glows warmer.

That concentration of light creates these beautiful pockets of brightness and deep, dark shadows. But the best part is how much more intensely every color shines. You might think that such forceful light may cause a washout of color, but instead the saturation is amped up to the extreme! The wash of color and light provides warmth on a winter’s day, like the sanctuary of a stained glass cathedral.

To see more of Kate Davis Caldwell‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

January 30, 2015
Coexistence. Jaime Rovenstine

I’m always amazed by how such a variety of species exist peacefully together in the wild. Why do we find it so difficult to do the same? People seem to revel in their differences, eager to point out the one who diverges from the pack, instead of being content to accept the deviation. In her work, Kansas City artist Jaime Rovenstine addresses a case of coexistence– that of chaos and order.

As she layers the elements of each painting, chaos gives way to order, and vice versa. Neither demands dominance over the other, they tranquilly reside, one next to the other. Actually, they seem to almost revel in sharing the same space. Lines dripping gracefully, even joyously against geometric forms and grids, the shapes not seeming to mind a bit. Maybe we can learn a thing or two from them.

To see more of Jaime Rovenstine‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

January 29, 2015
Remnants. Marie Thiebault.

One of my favorite things about winter is the bareness of the branches. That may seem strange, I’m sure most people prefer trees full of lively green or technicolor orange. But I love the transparency that the stripped limbs bring. We can see much farther into the forest, the shapes of the individual branches become more apparent. These paintings by Los Angeles artist Marie Thiebault reminded me of the tangles of spartan boughs outside my window.

Although much of Thiebault’s work may be inspired by places of abandonment and destruction, I see a parallel between those and the winter season. Not in a negative way, of course, winter is my favorite! But in how those types of places often cause a hushed reverence, such as the quiet of a snowfall. Shadows grow long and deep and the noise of life is muffled.

To see more of Marie Thiebault‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

January 28, 2015
Messiness. Alyssa di Edwardo.

Confession time: I’m a bit of a neat freak. I make the bed every day. I always have a place for everything. In college, I was the only one in the painting studio meticulously cleaning off her palette after each session ( which wouldn’t have been necessary had we been able to leave all of our stuff in the studio, but I digress ). Being married has helped with my neatness obsession a bit, I admit to occasionally putting Mr. F’s stuff away but find myself able to cope with the imperfectness of living with someone not quite so obsessive. Maybe because he treats my quirky neatnikness with humor and grace.

Is it strange that I admire folks who can live with, even relish in the messy? I think it is what has drawn me to the work of West Palm Beach artist Alyssa di Edwardo.

As I’ve been back painting regularly now for over a year, I’ve found myself confronting my fear of the mess. Even in my work, I relish those moments where the canvas or panel is as beautiful as I’d imagined it could be.. but then there creeps in a need to push a bit further. Beyond the beauty of a controlled surface is a need for a type of exploration and experimentation that will only happen when I allow things to get a little messy. When I let go of what seems good enough but not exciting and my need to control the outcome. I’m working at finding a balance between the not denying the necessary calm and embracing the mess that needs to surface.

To see more of Alyssa di Edwardo’s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

January 22, 2015
Dimensions. Hilary Harnischfeger.

It can be easy to get stuck pigeon-holing people into the roles in which we know them best. Mother, father, sister, brother, doctor, lawyer, artist. But we aren’t flat and one-dimensional. We are made up of many sides, many layers– some complementary to each other, others contradictory. When we think of abstraction, for me at least, my mind automatically runs to painting. But, as the work of Hilary Harnishfeger shows, abstraction can move past the dimensional limits of a painting on canvas.

Harnischfeger’s work feels to me like what happens when we peel open the layers of a person we’ve never attempted to understand outside the box we’ve placed them in. All of sudden, we begin to see a world opened up– dreams and interests we could have never imagined because we never took the time to ask. It’s so easy to take that flatness for granted, to not bother to think beyond it. And on the other side, it can be difficult to let those dimensions be seen. It’s less risky to just settle into and reveal ourselves in only that one role. What if, when we turn ourselves around, we find it was all just a facade?

To see more of Hilary Harnischfeger‘s work, please visit the website of Rachel Uffner Gallery.

All images via the Rachel Uffner Gallery website.

January 21, 2015
Wild. Allison Gildersleeve.

As a somewhat fledgling painter exploring the nature of environments myself, I’m always intrigued by how other artists interpret the scenes we experience. In her paintings, New York artist Allison Gildersleeve paints the simultaneous experiences of small, hemmed-in parcels of wilderness.

When I paint these woods, I want it to feel as if all the stories that took place there are unfolding simultaneously.

The artist takes reference from the same scene as experienced multiple times over the seasons, layering each impression over the next. The resulting cacophony is like a beautiful mapping of the emotional weight of each place. For every person who walked through, every child who played tag, there is a bit of themselves and their memory left behind long after they’ve trod that ground.

To see more of Allison Gildersleeve‘s work, please visit her website. if you happen to be in New Hampshire, you can catch her solo show at Cynthia-Reeves Gallery in Walpole until January 20th.

All images are via the artist’s website and the Cynthia-Reeves Gallery website. Artist found via Christina Foard.

January 15, 2015
Learning Process. Benjamin Adelmann.

Many artists work in series format. For some, the subject of the series is determined by the subject of the work– oceanscape, abstract, pop culture, etc. But for Los Angeles artist Benjamin Adelmann, a series of work is often dictated by the process through which the artist arrives at his final destination.

Whether through beginning in a completely abstract composition or with a previously composed work manipulated through editing software and repainted as manipulation, Adelmann’s work feels more about what happens on the journey than what is waiting upon arrival. It’s a lesson I’m striving to embrace myself these days– that act of getting lost in the process and learning my way through it. That relinquishing of what I have in mind for a final outcome and just following where the path may lead.

To see more of Benjamin Adelmann’s work, please visit his website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

January 13, 2015
Dynamic Quiet. Leslie Kenneth Price.

As I type this post, I feel keenly aware of the quiet around me. The hum of the refrigerator and the occasional noise from the street above are the only sounds meeting my ears. How often do we allow this type of quiet in our days? The elimination of modern noise is one thing that we love about hiking and backpacking. While living in Seattle, it was especially noticeable when we got out of the cacophony of the city and up into the tranquility of the mountains. In his work, Northern California artist Leslie Kenneth Price takes his inspiration from the natural world and serves up work that draws us into the teeming life happening in the quiet that surrounds our noise.

I happened upon the Price’s work when visiting Sewell Gallery back in April and loved it, keeping it in the back of my mind ever since. A peek at his website recently found me falling deeply in love with this new series of paintings, Verano. His use of color, movement, and texture alone are enough to draw me in, but in listening to the artist talk of the influence of nature on his work truly resonated with my own experience and spirit.

I found myself nodding along and thinking, yes,that’s exactly how I feel! over and over again. A true artistic soulmate.

To see more of the work of Leslie Kenneth Price, please visit his website.

All images & video are via the artist’s website.

January 7, 2015
Constructions. Ryan Sarah Murphy.

Like any other couple, Mr. F and I talk a lot about our future. One frequent topic of discussion these days is our future home. To build or not to build. What does our ideal home look like? Maybe I’ll just convince Mr. F to base our design on one of these collages by New York artist Ryan Sarah Murphy.

Using found cardboard on book pages, Murphy fashions these abstract collage constructions that seem one part architectural rendering, one part abstract painting. The torn edges lending a landscape quality, making them like grounded fantasies. I’ll take the second from the top, please!

Find more of Ryan Sarah Murphy‘s work on her website and get a peek inside her process by following her on Instagram.

All images are via the artist’s website.

January 6, 2015
November Featured Artist. Marsha Boston.

November might just be my favorite month.. shhh, don’t tell October! So it’s only fitting to give you one of my favorite artists as the Featured Artist for the month of November! California artist Marsha Boston is a painter after my own heart, exploring the wonders of plant life and how we might live in harmony with our botanical neighbors.

A while back, Mr. F and I listened to a fascinating BBC story on the concept of “rewilding“. Listening to these experts talk about the positive changes that occur when once developed land is allowed to return to its wild state definitely led to some interesting conversation and thoughts about how we impact our environment now and how we might in the future. Mr. F observed what an incredible amount of hubris it takes on the part of man to think he can do better than nature. Marsha’s work is often focused on how we define our relationship to nature. Are we here to serve or be served?

To see more of Marsha Boston‘s work, please visit her website. Her beautiful paintings will grace the Artsy Forager Facebook cover and I’ll be sharing more of Marsha’s work on other Artsy Forager social media all month long. Make sure you’re following along!

All images are via the artist’s website.

November 3, 2014

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