DOCSLIB.ORG

Janet Fish: Paintings and Drawings Since 1975 University of Richmond Museums

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Janet Fish: Paintings and Drawings Since 1975 University of Richmond Museums University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Exhibition Brochures University Museums 1987 Janet Fish: Paintings and Drawings Since 1975 University of Richmond Museums Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.richmond.edu/exhibition-brochures Part of the Fine Arts Commons, and the Painting Commons Recommended Citation University of Richmond Museums. Janet Fish: Paintings and Drawings Since 1975, September 10 to October 03, 1987, Marsh Art Gallery, University of Richmond Museums. Richmond, Virginia: University of Richmond Museums, 1987. Exhibition Brochure. This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the University Museums at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Exhibition Brochures by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. JANET FISH LENDERS TO THE EXHIBITION Janet Fish Robert Miller Gallery, New York Don and Jennifer Carter Dolores and Stanley Feldman PaineWebber Group, lnc. Lois Farfel Stark The Marsh Gallery exhibition is made possible by the generosity of Joel Harnett, RC '45, and the Cultural Affairs Committee, University of Richmond. © 1987 University of Richmond COVER: Geography. 1984 JANET FISH Paintings and Drawings Since 1975 September 10-0ctober 3, 1987 Exhibition organized by Susanne Arnold with an essay by Robert C. Morgan Marsh Gallery Modlin Fine Arts Center University of Richmond Rrd Cups a11d Tulips, 198 1 2 concerns and to the arts. The 1979 recipient of the Her paintings of the early '70s, in which she ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Gotham Human Relations Award for civic leader­ combined realistic subjects with an abstract ship, Harnett is a poet and, with his wife Lila, a handling of paint, established her career. Yet, as The greatest pleasure of working on this exhibition collector of fine art. this exhibition reveals, over the last twelve years has come from getting to know artist Janet Fish. Harnett's belief that art should be a part of the she has taken progressively more risks with color She has responded with enthusiasm and full essential spirit of the University led him four years and composition as well as with the integration of cooperation and made our trip to New York for her ago to endow the opening exhibition of each Marsh the figure. For example, Fourth ofJuly (1985), interview a success. We appreciate the studio time Gallery season. He envisioned bringing to this unleashes all the possibilities of color and intricacy she has graciously given up to help with exhibition campus major American artists whose work and that are restrained and unexplored in her studies of arrangements. whose presence would stimulate, provoke, enrich glasses in the '70s. Additionally, the deep illusionis­ We gratefully acknowledge the time, effort and and inform students, faculty and the community at tic space and narrative allusion in Waiting for Will resources of the Robert Miller Gallery, and we large. Harnett's vision has been in trumental in (1986) severs Fish's tie with Modernism. appreciate the many hours Nathan Kernan spent enhancing the educational impact of the gallery Although Fish's paintings may be loosely placed on this show's behalf. and of the Art Department both on campus and off. within the category of Realism-the cool, objective The paintings in this exhibition are on loan from Thus, we extend our deepest and most sincere representation of the material world-they resist both public and private collections. We are in­ thanks to Joel Harnett, without whose continued such tidy indexing. The tour de force of Fish's work debted to the lenders; without their support this vision and generosity this annual event cou ld not is her personal response to her subjects. Her exhibition would not be a major statement. have taken place. sensory perceptions thus yield a beauty and joie de We are grateful to Robert Morgan and Lisa vivre that ultimately dominate the paintings. Pesko for their valuable contributions. Special thanks go to Richard Papale of Burton, Susanne Arnold Skira & Co. Ltd., for the generous loan of cata­ Director logue material, and to Jae Drewett, whose printing Marsh Gallery expertise and friendship have been invaluable. INTRODUCTION For the sponsorship of Janet Fish's visit and The Marsh Gallery takes pride in opening its Gerrit Henry's lecture we are indebted to the 1987-88 season with the first Virginia exhibition of University's Cultural Affairs Committee and the paintings and drawings by Janet Fish, acknow­ J. Thomas Lecture Fund. ledged master of the contemporary still life Special thanks also go to Dr. Charles Johnson according to art critic Gerrit Henry. and Dr. Sheldon Wettack for their continued While this exhibition is intended to emphasize interest and support of this project, and to Dorothy her current work it is also slightly retrospective, Wagener, for her assistance in the catalogue including work dating from 1975 to 1987, so that production. To Lorraine Brevig, Kevin Ball and the viewer will understand the progression as well Eileen Walker, a personal thanks for their invalu­ as the increasing depth of the artist's oeuvre. able assistance. In the midst of a "postmodern" era, hype and novelty sell art. Even so, Janet Fish's work stands As we acknowledge the unique vision of artist apart from these sensibilities by its quiet integrity Janet Fish it is important that we also acknowledge and technical brilliance. Undaunted by the dogma the person whose vision brought her here: Joel W. of pure abstraction which reigned in her formative Harnett. Harnett graduated Phi Beta Kappa from years, Janet Fish connected with images in the real the University of Richmond in 1945. Multi­ world. Rooted in the Modernist formal tradition dimensional, he is not only a successful business­ and the Dutch still life genre tradition, her work man-President and Chairman of the Board of adheres to the world of concrete contemporary Media Horizons Inc., the world's largest publisher experience. Fish's simple, familiar subjects are in the field of visual communications-he is also rendered with formal complexity, richness of detail deeply committed to civic and humanitarian and the vibrant, tropical palette of her childhood. L _ ______________________________ _ paints away from the school and went and sat in Q Who gave you your first show? this graveyard and started painting very brushy INTERVIEW A The first was in a cooperative gallery that soon landscapes. I felt much more connected to that. folded because we all fought. Then I joined WITH JANET FISH And I started to look at the California Imagists, another co-op called "55 Mercer Street," and I such as David Park. This was a kind of rea]jst BY LISA PESKO, WC '87 had a show there. Later, Jill Kornblee came painting that came out of abstraction. Then I down and saw some of my paintings during my Q just stopped listening to everybody and every­ What made you want to become an artist? Did show at Mercer Street and l began to show at body stopped talking to me. During my final you gel support from anyone or did you just do it? Kornblee Gallery. That was my first commercial year in art school I was getting very little gallery. A An artist wasn't a surprising or unusual thing to feedback. The critics were coming in and talking want to be, because there were many artists in to. me ~bo~t anything rather than trying to deal Q Was it run !Jy a woman? my family. My grandfather, Clark Vorhees, was with this girt who's painting flowers. Because an Impressionist landscape painter, my uncle when I came back and couldn't paint landscapes A Yes, and she carried more women in that gallery was a sculptor and my mother is a sculptor. As l ?et up .still lifes to create a landscape space. So than any other gallery in New York. It was a child, I .would always say that I was going to I Just pamted, and tried to find out what I unusual. There are very few galleries that have be an artist, whatever that meant. Then I thought painting was. more than two women in them, even now. wanted to go to art school, but my family Once I left school, I moved to New York. I wanted me to go to college. So I chose Smith Q Do you think your recognition during the '70s didn't know anyone; I just stuck to my work. I has helped other women artists? which had the most varied art department of' ~egan to paint potatoes and lemons ~d things any of the schools to which I applied. I started like that as an exercise to learn volumes. That A The more women who are recognized the more out wanting to be a sculptor until I got to Yale got m~ LJ:terested in another way of organizing possible it is for other women to be seen. I had and didn't like the sculpture department. At the pamtmg. And one thing led to another. a fortunate career that way. Also, my work has Yale, under Joseph Albers, they were doing all not been tied so much to what was in fasruon. this pure Bauhaus stuff, and that was not what I Q Can you explain that further? Still life as "genre" painting was always looked wanted to do. So I studjed painting. A Well, what I hadn't been taught at Yale was how down on. A number of women paint stilt life and are very good at it. I believe that because Q What directed you toward realism? Wasn't to ~aint rea]jstically, so when I started painting Abstract Expressionism the thing to be doing? an unage I came at it fresh, because no one had women have been ignored it has, in some ways, told me how to look at it.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Janet Fish: Master of Light and Shadow Now Through July 27, 2014 Welcome
    Huntsville Museum of Art Summer 2014 artViews Janet Fish: Master of Light and Shadow Now through July 27, 2014 welcome Dear Museum Members, Museum Board of Directors Chairman: John Wynn t’s been said that each of us, at one time or another, Vice Chairman: Richard Crunkleton Iexperiences a “six degrees of separation” moment. In Secretary: Walter (Tod) Dodgen some cases it’s fewer than six degrees, and it can happen Treasurer: Charlie Bonner more than once. Dorothy Davidson Betsy Lowe As our summer season kicks into high gear with the Sarah Gessler David Nast Joyce Griffin Virgina Rice opening of two milestone exhibitions, Janet Fish: Master Patsy Haws Herman Stubbs of Light and Shadow and Al Hirschfeld: A Celebration Carole Jones of Hollywood and Broadway, I’m reminded that my encounters with both artists and their works are tied Foundation Board President: Bobby Bradley to two individuals that I’m proud to call my friends – Buddy Teich and the late Vice President: Dee Kowallik Elaine Kend. Our lives have crossed paths many times over the years, and nearly Secretary: Parke Keith each time it has led to something Heather Baker Blake Mitchell momentous. Dane Block Bronwen Murray I first became acquainted with Kerry Doran Melanie Murray Micah Fisher Shannon Raleigh Janet Fish and her visually energized Patrick Fleming Keyke Reed still life paintings when I curated Greg Gum Dianne Reynolds a show of hers at the Southern Tharon Honeycutt Mark Spencer Vermont Arts Center in the Rosemary Lee Dana Town Susan Linn Lori Webber summer of 1989. I have since had Michele Lucas Charlotte Wessel the good fortune to work with Janet Dabsey Maxwell on numerous occasions, and it is an Women’s Guild Officers honor for me to introduce one of President: Suzanne Barnes America’s most noted living artists President-elect: Sasha Sealy to the residents of Alabama.
    [Show full text]
  • Oral History Interview with Chuck Close, 1987 May 14-September 30
    Oral history interview with Chuck Close, 1987 May 14-September 30 Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service. Contact Information Reference Department Archives of American Art Smithsonian Institution Washington. D.C. 20560 www.aaa.si.edu/askus Transcript Preface The following oral history transcript is the result of a tape-recorded interview with Chuck Close on May 14, 1987. The interview took place at the artist's studio on 75 Spring Street, New York City, and was conducted by Judd Tully for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Interview JUDD TULLY: According to published information, you were born in the state of Washington in 1940. What was your actual birthdate and tell me a little bit about Monroe, Washington? CHUCK CLOSE: July 5, 1940. Monroe, Washington, was a smelly little town halfway up the Cascade Mountains, northeast of Seattle. I didn't live there very long, actually. I was born at home -- not in a hospital -- of humble beginnings. Actually, I want to go back and photograph the house, because if I were a politician it would be great to have a picture of the shack that I was born in. [They laugh.] MR. TULLY: Was it really a shack? MR. CLOSE: Well, it wasn't a real shack, but it was a very modest little cottage. "Cottage" is giving it all the benefit of the doubt. It was definitely on the wrong side of the tracks -- about thirty five feet from the tracks.
    [Show full text]
  • ACP 2015.Pdf
    Our collection offers High-quality, limited-edition, numbered and signed, works on paper by contemporary American artists commissioned by the Art Collectors Program. Works include screen prints, lithographs, aquatints, linocuts, aquatints, engravings, and etchings . Please call 202-633-3030 or 202-633-6860 with any questions or to purchase artwork. Museum Moment, 2009 by Sam Gilliam 32 x 40 inches Member price $1500 Nonmember price $1800 Code: ART116 Museum Moment, 2009 by Sam Gilliam Considered one of the foremost abstract artists in the United States, Gilliam says Museum Moment, is “a celebration of art” inspired by the first commission he created for the Smithsonian in 1987. Combined shapes create an explosive power with lush color and a heavily textured overlay. It is a tense balance of intellectual structure and paint. Along with Gilliam, Master printer Lou Stovall, of Workshop Inc., produced the edition. Stovall’s assistant, Rachael Mahr, describes the painter/printer partnership: “What you find in Museum Moment is not only a collaboration between painter, Sam Gilliam and printmaker, Lou Stovall, but a perfect harmony of two rich artistic traditions that compliment and challenge each other and have here brought together a world of color and form into a balance of freedom and control, dynamism and meticulous execution.” Gilliam received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Norman Walt Harris Prize from the Art Institute of Chicago. His works are in museum permanent collections around the country including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Denver Museum of Art, Chrysler Museum of Art, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
    [Show full text]
  • Janet Fish –“Black Vase with Daffodils” Print
    Art Masterpiece Lesson- 2nd Grade Janet Fish –“Black Vase with Daffodils” Print Concepts and Key Words: Still life, Lines, Textures, Colors Activity: Mono-print of Flowers Materials Needed: White paper Tempura paint Styrofoam plates Paint brushes Water containers Newspaper This is similar to the image for the lesson Paint shirts? About the Artist… Janet Fish has established herself as one of America’s foremost painters of Realism during the last thirty years. Her still life paintings have a distinctive style that show her incredible understanding of color and light as it moves through a variety of settings. Her paintings are not intentionally symbolic or narrative, but are created from her living spaces in New York and Vermont. Janet Fish was born and educated in Boston. She has worked as an independent artist since she graduated from Yale University. Talk About…. Black Vase with Daffodils is a still life oil painting created in a style called realism. What do you think realism is? A photograph was used to help the artist remember the color, light quality and arrangement of this space. This particular setting is from the artist’s studio home in New England. What colors did she use? Do you see different textures? What are they? How did the artist use lines to create the painting? Activity-Step by Step: 1. Monoprinting is a process of transferring to paper an image made in ink or paint on a smooth surface. (Practice at home before attempting to teach the class) 2. Begin by having the students painting the flower on the backside of the Styrofoam plate.
    [Show full text]
  • Chuck Close Art Kaleidoscope Foundation
    CHUCK CLOSE ART KALEIDOSCOPE FOUNDATION/Color/???/116 Mins./Not Rated Featuring: Chuck Close, Brice Marden, Robert Storr, Dorothea Rockburne, Lucas Samaras, Robert Rauschenberg, Philip Glass, Arne Glimcher, Kiki Smith, Elizabeth Murray, Alex Katz, Janet Fish, Kirk Varnedoe. Credits: Produced and directed by Marion Cajori. Directors of photography: Mead Hunt, Ken Kobland, David Leitner. Edited by Cajori, Kobland. Music by Philip Glass, performed b Bruce Levingston. An Art Kaleidoscope Foundation production. Through the famous portrait artist’s subjects, filmmaker Marion Cajori crafts a clever biographical documentary of Chuck Close. Marion Cajori died before completing Chuck Close, her documentary portrait of an artist known for his unique portraits and self-portraits. In what could only have been a conscious nod to her subject, Cajori’s cinematic construct cleverly imitates Close’s signature hieroglyphic boxes, which he paints and superimposes upon a photograph. Abstract artist Brice Marden says in the documentary that with Close’s portraits “you add up all the details and you get the soul,” and the same can be said for Cajori’s film—through a series of vignettes, interviews with Close’s friends and family, the filmmaker reveals the soul of the portraitist. Cajori pursues Close and his work in the same way that someone might approach one of his portraits, which are large canvases of his subject’s heads. She leans in to show Close bringing the brush to the paint, and Close painting an uneven line or a protozoa-like shape on the canvas. Then she steps back to show completed portraits, and the actual faces of Close’s subjects, and sometimes a long shot in the studio where Close, in a wheelchair, is the focal point of the shot.
    [Show full text]
  • Chuck Close : [Brochure] February 26 Through May 26, 1998, the Museum of Modern Art, New York [Robert Storr]
    Chuck Close : [brochure] February 26 through May 26, 1998, the Museum of Modern Art, New York [Robert Storr] Author Storr, Robert Date 1998 Publisher The Museum of Modern Art Exhibition URL www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/202 The Museum of Modern Art's exhibition history— from our founding in 1929 to the present—is available online. It includes exhibition catalogues, primary documents, installation views, and an index of participating artists. MoMA © 2017 The Museum of Modern Art 1 ;T ; 0^ There is method to Chuck Close's madness. Or, more accurately, his method is a kind of madness. Just imagine spending every working day of the year, nine-to-five, filling a blank gridded surface with unerringly placed marks that in their final count number in the thousands or tens of thousands, if not, as is the case with some of his largest and most photographically detailed paintings, in the millions. Such has been Close's preoccu pying task since he burst upon the scene more than thirty years ago with his monumental mugshot pictures. Appropriately enough, the first of these paintings was a 1967-68 self- portrait, in which its creator intro duced himself to the general public in the guise of a scruffy, cigarette smok ing and decidedly in-your-face denizen of the burgeoning downtown Manhattan art scene. Since then, Above: Big Self-Portrait. 1967-68.Acrylic on canvas, iojVi x 83V2"(273.1 x 212.1 cm). Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Art Center Acquisition Fund, 1969 Left: Studyfor Self-Portrait. Photographed 1967;dated 1968. Photograph, pen and ink, pencil, masking tape, acrylic, wash and blue plastic strips on cardboard, 18%x 13%"(47.3 x 34 cm).
    [Show full text]
  • 5441 Ca Object Representations
    (1) Robin Winters and Christy Rupp at the (2) Arleen Schloss at the opening reception for (3) Anton van Dalen, Two-Headed Monster (4) Dave Sander and Ethan Swan at the opening reception for “Come Closer: Art Around “Come Closer: Art Around the Bowery, 1969– Destroys Community, 1981. Aerosol paint on opening reception for “Come Closer: Art the Bowery, 1969–1989,” New Museum, 1989,” New Museum, New York, September 19, paper, 29 x 23 in (73.7 x 58.4 cm). Installation Around the Bowery, 1969–1989,” New New York, September 19, 2012. Photo: Jesse 2012. Photo: Jesse Untracht-Oakner view: “Come Closer: Art Around the Bowery, Museum, New York, September 19, 2012. Untracht-Oakner 1969–1989,” New Museum, New York, 2012. Photo: Jesse Untracht-Oakner Courtesy the artist. Photo: Jesse Untracht-Oakner Published by When we announced that the New To date, the Bowery Artist Tribute has We are indebted to Hermine and Museum would construct a freestanding conducted over seventy interviews David B. Heller for funding the research, building on a parking lot at 235 Bowery, with artists, curators, and authors who development, and presentation of this one of our first concerns was finding a helped build the creative community archive, and for providing endowment newmuseum.org way to acknowledge the rich history of of the Bowery for the past seventy funds for its future. We are also grateful creative activity in our new neighbor- years. We’ve encountered artists who to a number of individuals who have Editor: Ethan Swan Designer: Chelsea Amato hood. We thought about 222 Bowery, were grateful for the opportunity to tell been instrumental in the research and Copy Editors: Frances Malcolm and Olivia Casa Printed by: Linco William Burroughs’s “Bunker” that shel- their Bowery stories for the first time, coordination of these efforts over the tered Lynda Benglis, John Giorno, Mark and others who weren’t convinced past nine years: Ethan Swan, Eungie Cover: Sylvia Plimack Mangold on the roof of her Grand Rothko, and a dozen more.
    [Show full text]
  • Denton, Texas December 1982
    AN INVESTIGATIVE STUDY OF PAINTINGS CONTAINING TRANSPARENT~LASSWARE A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE . TEXAS WOMAN'S UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS By BETTY BEAVER CAN~NELL, B.~.A. IN ART DENTON, TEXAS DECEMBER 1982 {hfSI~ ,r,qq2 ('. J_ TABLE OF CONTENTS> Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . iv. Chapter I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 6 III. HISTORICAL REVIEW OF STILL LIFE'PAINTING 18 IV. ROMAN PERIOD . 22 v. ITALIAN CARAVAGGIO. 2 8 VI. SPANISH VELAZQUEZ . ., . ·.• . 35 VII. DUTCH -- HEDA, CLAESZ AND REMBRANDT .. 44. VI I I . FRENCH -- STOSKOPFF, CHARD IN AND.~ MANE~ ;. 58 · IX. AMERICAN -- FISH AND ESTES . 71 X. STATEMENT BY THE AUTHOR . 95 XI. SUMMARY. ":. .) . ~· 98 REFERENCE LIST. 101 iii. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ~ J ";· Figure . Page 1. ROMAN. "PEACHES AND GLASS JAR" • • 27 2. ROMAN. DETAIL OF. STILL LIFE WITH fRUIT • 27 ~ t J: '' ~ '. 3. CARAVAGGIO. "THE SUPPER AT EMMAUS" • • 33 4. CARAVAGGIO. STILL LIFE 33 5. CARAVAGGIO. DETAIJ,J OF "BOY BITTEN BY A LIZARD" •., 34 . ~ 6. •· .. .. • \; 34 CARAVAGGIO. "BACCHUS" ·," . ~ .. ) . \ 7. VELAZQUEZ. "THE WATER SELLER OF SEVILLE" 4 2 ..' 8. VELAZQUEZ. DETAIL OF "WATER SELLER OF SEVILLE" • 42 9. VELAZQUEZ. DETAIL OF "OLD WOftTAN COOKING EGGS" . • 4 3 10. PIETER CLAESZ. STILL LIFE WITH SHORT ROEMER 55 AND PASSGLAS 11. PIETER CLAESZ. STILL LIFE WITH SHORT ROEMER 55 AND FLAGON 12. WILLEM CLAESZ HEDA. STILL LIFE WITH ELONGATED .• 56 ROEMER 13. WILLEM CLAESZ HEDA. STILL LIFE WITH ELONGATED· • 56 ROEMER AND FLUTE GLASS 14. REMBRANDT. "SELF PORTRAIT WITH SASKIA" • • 57 15.
    [Show full text]
  • Marks Made: Prints by American Women Artists from 1960 to the Present October 17, 2015 – January 10, 2016
    Marks Made: Prints by American Women Artists from 1960 to the Present October 17, 2015 – January 10, 2016 Anni Albers (American, born Germany 1899-1994) Line Involvement III, 1964 Color lithograph on paper 14 13/16 x 19 7/8 in. Gift of Thom O'Connor in honor of his wife Linda O'Connor Printed by Tamarind Institute 2013.16.4 Anni Albers (American, born Germany 1899-1994) Line Involvement V, 1964 Color lithograph on paper 14 13/16 x 19 7/8 in. Gift of Thom O'Connor in honor of his wife Linda O'Connor Printed by Tamarind Institute 2013.16.3 Jennifer Bartlett (American, b. 1941) The Elements: Air, 1992 Etching, softground, and aquatint on paper 30 3/4 x 31" (image) Gift of Martha and Jim Sweeny Printed by Creative Works Editions, Osaka, Japan 2010.016.001 Jennifer Bartlett (American, b. 1941) The Elements: Earth, 1992 Etching and aquatint on paper 30 3/4 x 31" (image). Gift of Martha and Jim Sweeny Printed by Creative Works Editions, Osaka, Japan 2010.016.002 Jennifer Bartlett (American, b. 1941) The Elements: Fire, 1992 Etching and aquatint on paper 30 3/4 x 31" (image) Gift of Martha and Jim Sweeny Printed by Creative Works Editions, Osaka, Japan 2010.016.003 Jennifer Bartlett (American, b. 1941) The Elements: Water, 1992 Etching and aquatint on paper 30 3/4 x 31" (image) Gift of Martha and Jim Sweeny Printed by Creative Works Editions, Osaka, Japan 2010.016.004 Lynda Benglis (American b. 1941) Title unknown, 1980 Monoprint on paper 31 x 24 ½ in.
    [Show full text]
  • Janet Fish February 14 - March 17, 2007 Opening Reception: Saturday, February 17 from 3:00 to 5:00 Pm
    DC Moore Gallery Press Contact: Sandra Paci 212-247-2111 Janet Fish February 14 - March 17, 2007 Opening Reception: Saturday, February 17 from 3:00 to 5:00 pm Janet Fish’s new paintings invigorate the still life form through a celebration of the beauty of everyday objects. Precisely arranged and executed in energetic strokes of intensely colored paint, Fish’s work delights the eye and challenges the mind. A color catalogue is available with an essay by curator and critic Trevor Fairbrother. "Fish has a boundless curiosity about light," Fairbrother writes in the catalogue essay. "The perception of its behavior lies at the heart of her work. She knows that light is a form of energy and, as such, it can never be still. When she is making a picture she is marveling at the rousing, life-giving actions of light." Many of Fish’s paintings function as a visual diary. Gifts from friends, or their admired and borrowed belongings, are featured in paintings such as Bob's Bowl / Red Berries. Since the 1980s Fish has spent an increasing amount of time each year in rural Vermont and the landscape of the state figures prominently in a number of her paintings. Flowers grown in Fish’s garden enliven most of the paintings, in either primary or supporting roles. Some of Fish’s smaller paintings almost seem to serve as “portraits” of the individual object or small groups of objects depicted. Fish begins by setting up a still life arrangement. Rather than selecting things for their symbolic meanings, she works intuitively, gathering objects that “seem right together” and allowing a theme to emerge from the assemblage itself.
    [Show full text]
  • Compositional Effects of Color
    Open Palettes vs. Limited Palettes • Hue schemes can be generally divided into Open palettes and Limited palettes. Open Palettes vs. Limited Palettes • Open palettes allow any hue to be present — whether naturalistic color or randomly selected hues or expressive- intuitively selected hues are used. • Limited Palettes confine the hues used to some pre- planned strategy. Structured hue schemes (e.g. analogous, complementary, triadic, etc.) are limited-hue-plans that confine colors to only a few hues based upon a structure that selects hues by their relative positions on a hue wheel. Open Palette- vs.- Limited Palette vs. Structured Palette • Limited Palette concept simply acknowledges that only a small selection of colors are used. Typically, but not always, involving a structured palette. • Structured Palette concept refers to the usual “color schemes” — that is, a “structure” of monochromatic, or of Complementary, or split complementary hue selections. The hues that are used in the palette are selected according to some scheme, plan or structure. • Open Palette is an un-structured palette. Hues may be selected from any region of the color wheel. No structure is intentionally planned or imposed. Colors are most often applied intuitively, rather than analytically. Open Palette • (p. 53) A color scheme that uses hues from all over the color wheel. • The risk: Potentially chaotic and disunified. • The potential: often rich & visually dynamic. • A strategy: When an open palette is daringly used, some other characteristics of the design must provide unity – to hold it all together. Often a simple value pattern is used. [see Matisse and the Fauves] Variety, Chaos, & Fragmentation – dissolving unity • Some designers choose to let go of any planned or structured color scheme.
    [Show full text]
  • NANCY GRAVES the Shining, Elusive Element
    NANCY GRAVES The Shining, Elusive Element October 14 –November 12, 2005 Essay by Judith E. Stein 5 Nancy Graves: The Shining, Elusive Element ancy Graves took art too seriously not to life ever made and come to rest in modernism.” Nhave fun with it. Art historian Joan Marter Art history was the deck of cards Nancy Graves linked the sculptor’s comedic sense to Alexander had hidden up her sleeve, and she dealt them into Calder’s “humorous response to the forms of her hand as needed. In addition to referencing nature.” Robert Hughes described her art as “fas - Cubism’s tilted planes, Looping ’s color-drizzled tidious, sweetly funny, and not too bothered with midsection brings to mind those wonderfully purity.” Hers was a layered and delightfully unappetizing displays that European artist Daniel impure sense of humor. Nancy Graves was that Spoerri immortalized by gluing down dishware consummate tight rope walker who not only per - and food leavings he then mounted on walls formed with great skill but could clown sixty feet beginning in the 1960s. up in the air. Today, a decade after her untimely death, her sassy balancing acts retain their power There are other reasons why this sculpture is to impress, dazzle and delight with the freshness amusing, even hilarious. Diverting figurative of her eye. ghosts haunt many of Graves’ assemblages. Once we discharge the duty of formal analysis, the stat - Looping (1985) is a case in point. What is funny uesque Looping becomes a spot-on portrayal of a about it? For starters there are the malleable wobbly dame supinating in high heels.
    [Show full text]