Indholdsfortegnelse for February 2022 i Art & Antiques

Desert Bloom INTERSECT PALM Springs will light up the desert with an exciting in-person mix of contemporary art and design from February 10–13 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The event, which focuses on regional artists and themes, features three special exhibitions in addition to the dealers’ booths. The first is “Good Vibrations,” curated by arts writers Shana Nys Dambrot and Hunter Drohoj-owska-Philp. The works in this show will highlight geometric abstraction in the Southern California scene, particularly the use of color to create emotion and meaning. Among the artists are Lorser Feitelson, Karl Benjamin, John Miller, Peter Lodato, Jim Isermann, Patrick Wilson, Dani Tull, Yunhee Min, Knowledge Bennett, and Jen Stark. Regional artists whose work comments on desert life and the effect of migration on the community and the…

OVER PRESIDENTS’ Day weekend, February 17–22, the 19th annual Palm Beach Show will return to the Palm Beach County Convention Center. Dealers from around the world will converge on the South Florida town to offer fine art, antiques, silver, textiles, jewelry, porcelain, and Asian art spanning centuries. The fair, one of the most sophisticated of its kind, will include safety and social distancing procedures and a digital component. Like last year, there will be a Contemporary Focus section, as well as immersive exhibitions, lectures, and access to sculpture gardens. Highlights of the show include a vernis Martin carved and gilded wood folding screen (circa 1875) with a rococo triptych of classical maidens, children, cherubs, and flowers on a gold background, offered by Butchoff Antiques of London. M.S. Rau of New…

WHEN YOU HEAR “works on paper,” you think of something flat—a drawing, a print, a watercolor. Artist Jim Gaylord, however, envisions something much thicker, more solid, almost sculptural. He takes watercolor paper and instead of painting or drawing on it, he cuts, folds and presses it into shapes that are mounted within a frame. He uses an X-acto knife not only to cut out the shapes but also to incise patterns of fine lines into the paper elements of his compositions (he also uses a bookbinding tool called a bonefolder). The overall effect of these works is like a low-relief shadow-box hung on the wall, or a vertical diorama. Largely or totally monochrome, often white-on-white, these works of Gaylord’s have a compellingly timeless quality, evoking Constructivism and other versions of…

THE CALL TO courage and self-awareness is often catalyzed in our experiences with profound works of art as well as in acts of social change. In Faith Ringgold’s 1965 Self-Portrait, these two capacities are ignited. Delineating a gesture of self-contained force with elegant linework and radiant color, Ringgold creates layers of meaning within this work, which is now a cen-terpiece of the exhibition “Faith Ringgold: American People,” at The New Museum in New York (February 17–July 5). Ringgold was 35 and working from a modest studio in the Harlem apartment when the portrait was created. Raising two young daughters while striving to make a place for herself in an exclusionary art world, she was deeply engaged with her sources of inspiration— from Zulu war shields to Picasso’s post-Cubist works and…

In a last burst of glory before the French Revolution put a stop to aristocratic patronage, French furniture designers created a style of restrained elegance, inspired by ancient Greece and Rome, that is known today by the name of the monarch who presided over that era, Louis XVI, although the king himself showed little interest in the arts of design. In a sense there is irony in the fact that this design period ended in 1789, because in many ways it was a reaction against the excesses of taste during the Baroque period. While the canons of the ancient world had been an important ingredient in French design since the reign of Louis XIV (1643–1715), Louis XVI-style designers took cues from Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the liberal philosopher who advocated radical simplicity…

FROM FEBRUARY 18–20, the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition (SEWE) will make Charleston, S.C., come alive with its 40th annual celebration of wildlife and sporting art. The foremost event of its kind, SEWE 2022 will bring over 40,000 attendees to enjoy works of art as well as activities that highlight the importance of conserving nature for generations to come. The art on view includes painting, sculpture, and wood carvings by a range of artists, from those who have been esteemed for years to those who are fresh to the field. This year’s featured artist is Julia Rogers, from the eastern shore of Maryland, who paints portraits and plein air landscapes. Her Golden Light features three swans, one with its wings extended and bathed in streaming sunlight. All three birds curve their necks…

ON FEBRUARY 25, 26, and 27, Thomaston Place Auction Galleries of Thomaston, Maine, will hold a three-day sale. Titled “Enchantment,” the selection of 1,300 items will include a range of art, furniture, sculpture, and Asian pieces. The first day’s lots will be Americana and folk art, followed by fine art and antiques on the second day and 20thcentury decorative arts and jewelry on the third. Highlights of the auction include a round Chinese rosewood pedestal table inlaid with ivory and boxwood (est. $10,000–$15,000) that was exhibited at the 1939–40 World’s Fair in New York. The pedestal is decorated with ornate wooden carvings. Another item among the Americana is a 19th-century weathervane depicting a galloping horse, attributed to Harris of Boston (est. $2,000–$3,000). The horse is modeled on the racing trotter…

ON FEBRUARY 4–5, Brunk Auctions of Asheville, N.C., will present its first Premier and Emporium auction of 2022. The sale will include fine art, glass, silver, coins, maps, and furniture by artists and designers including Louis Majorelle, Jules Leleu, Alexander Noll, Eugene Gaillard, Loetz, Tiffany, Galle, Dirk van Erp, Emile Muller, Daum, Edgar Brandt, Lalique, and Baccarat. Among the highlights is Otto Sommer’s The Bear Fight (1864), which captures a duel between a man and a bear atop a rocky outcrop in a raging river. Other works on the block are Édouard Vuillard’s 1908 Bateau à l’ancre (Boat at Anchor), which depicts the gradations of color and light around a still boat. A standout among the silver objects in the sale is an Octopus Bowl by Buccellati, featuring an octopus…

Jody Klotz Fine Art in Abilene, Texas, is presenting “Avery | A Family Legacy,” an exhibition dedicated to the art of modernist pioneer Milton Avery, his wife Sally Michel Avery, and their daughter March Avery. It was planned to coincide with a major Milton Avery retrospective at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth that was co-organized with the Royal Academy of Arts in London and the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Conn. The Forth Worth show was up through January 30, but the Jody Klotz show, which opened in early December, will be on view through March 4. Milton Avery is well known for his innovative use of color and radically simplified style of figurative painting, but his achievements were not made alone. Sally Michel Avery, whom he met in…

IN THE MIDST of winter, Anthony James’ light sculptures are balm to the soul—and manna for the mind. His three-dimensional geometric sculptures, lit from within by LED tubes, are on view during February at the 6,000-square-foot gallery and sculpture garden of Melissa Morgan Fine Arts in Palm Desert, Calif., and will also be featured at the Intersect Palm Springs fair. Born in Britain and now based in Los Angeles, James focuses on the creative interplay of light and space. In minimalist fashion, his art explores the contrast between matter and emptiness. His Wall Portal, for instance, composed of steel, LED tubes, and glass, presents the viewer with darkness in the center, surrounded by parallel geometric tubes of light. While the light makes a statement, the darkness also has an effect…

SOME ARTISTS paint their back yard; John Torreano takes the entire cosmos for his subject. For over three decades he has been making huge multimedia paintings that are based on photographs of outer space, especially those taken by the world-famous Hubble Space Telescope. In Torreano’s vision, these astronomical documents become gorgeous works of abstract art. The paintings are monumentally sized, made up of multiple panels, and their effect is to dwarf and surround the viewer, much as the vastness of space itself overwhelms this small planet. Torreano’s space is anything but dark and empty, though. It is a plenum of light—glowing clouds of cosmic gases, supernovae, and glittering galaxies. The basic medium is acrylic paint on plywood panel, but the artist heightens the effect by adding colored wooden balls and…

In automotive parlance, a supercar is a fast, high-performance, and luxurious two-seater sports car. The term came into use in the 1960s, with the Lamborghini Miura being considered as the first supercar. The Porsche Carrera GT, which debuted in 2003 at the Geneva Motor Show, is often referred to as the last analogue supercar. With an advanced carbon-fiber monocoque chassis and subframe, pushrod-activated suspension, carbon ceramic ventilated disc brakes, and a normally aspirated 5.7-liter V-10 engine, the GT is equally at home on road or racetrack. Porsche built 1,270 of these cars before production was halted in 2006. Under Porsche’s paint-to-sample program, customers can choose any paint color they want. Fifty-eight Carrera GTs were ordered in paint-to-sample colors, of which 19 were built for the U.S. The one shown here,…

AFTER ITS success as an online fair last year, the 36th San Francisco Tribal & Textile Art Show and the 38th American Indian Art Show/San Francisco will remain online this year and will be presented jointly from February 18–28. “With an abundance of caution, we’ve decided to offer the shows only virtually again this year,” said Kim Martindale, co-producer of the show. “We’ve upgraded the virtual platform so the user experience will be even better than last year’s very successful first virtual show.” The fair plans to return in person in 2023. The Tribal & Textile Art Show is a top international showcase for works from Africa, Oceania, Asia, Australia, and the Americas and includes objects from more than 50 galleries from around the world. The Indian Art Show, the…

CHESTER ARNOLD’S art, which focuses on the human presence in scenes that show the power of nature, has never been more timely. Through February 26, the Elizabeth Leach Gallery of Portland, Ore., will present the exhibition, “Chester Arnold: Survivors,” featuring the Bay Area artist’s oil paintings, which depict stormy seas rendered in realistic detail. His Mayday, for example, shows a ship tossed by towering waves, while in Archipelago, two small figures are stranded on a mountainous island in the midst of a vast surrounding sea. While it is unclear what the fate of the humans in Arnold’s paintings is, his intent is to convey a sense of hope that comes from the human capacity to endure. Arnold’s work has previously been shown in solo exhibitions at the Salt Lake Art…

THE SUMMIT of Mount Everest has lured generations of climbers, and the reason for their willingness to risk their lives in the attempt has never been expressed more succinctly than by the English alpinist George Mallory, talking to a New York Times reporter in 1923: “Because it’s there.” Mallory died somewhere on the Tibetan titan, but he helped open the way for many more, whose exploits are chronicled in the exhibition “Everest: Ascent to Glory” at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, Calif. (February 12–August 28). Organized in partnership with the Royal Geographical Society in England, the exhibition of 60 photographs and 20 objects is guest curated by ethnographer, explorer, writer, and filmmaker Wade Davis (famous for his zombie classic The Serpent and the Rainbow). Among the works on view…

WORDS FUNCTION both as units of language and as visual elements in painter Joan Giordano’s exhibition “Painting the Printed Word” at the June Kelly Gallery in New York (through February 26). The New York-based artist showcases her expertise with painting, printmaking, and Japanese papermaking in mixed-media pieces that comment on how newspapers create truth. “There are so many ways to read and write the news, to evaluate truth,” says Giordano. In Giordano’s works, newspapers are used as literal documents to impart meaning through their words, but they are also used as structural elements in the paintings. Giordano also uses found paper, corrugated board, graphite, paint, and encaustic to provide a variety of textures. In Gringolandia (2021), a mixed-media piece constructed of archival newspapers and corrugated cardboard, images of Frida Kahlo…

IN HIS 1940 book The Survival of the Pagan Gods, the French historian Jean Seznec showed how the gods of ancient Greece and Rome were not forgotten with the rise of Christianity but lived on in the popular mind, albeit no longer as deities but as allegorical figures or simply the protagonists of enjoyable stories. The scholars and scribblers of the Middle Ages preserved, along with much else about Classical antiquity, myths that had been told by Homer, Virgil, and Ovid, in the process giving them new, “moralized” meanings more in keeping with the Christian faith. The visual appearance of the gods, however, seems to have been largely forgotten; the medieval artists who illustrated the myths gave the gods guises that were awkward, comical, and often completely different from the…

Jack Wright’s studio in the hills of northern California’s Marin County had a such a beautiful view that he had to slather a window with white paint to block the distraction. That’s because Wright was painting not the outer but the inner world, a visionary space suffused with a light that shone from the depths of the unconscious mind. Wright had lucid dreams—an unusual state in which one becomes aware of dreaming without waking up—in which, he said, “color is more brilliant, and vision much more acute.” Wright’s dream imagery, which he used in his work, wasn’t the phantasmagoria of Surrealism but raw material for intricate, meditative abstract painting. In a six-decade-long career, he developed a method of painting in dots and small lines in a way that conveys a…