Rabbits & Humanimal

I am so very pleased to present our second Satellite Exhibition in the main lobby of the Portsmouth Museum of Art in conjunction with their new show:

'Humanimal' presents a range of works representing both humans and animals... and the "in-between". Artists explore the many different relationships that humans have with animals in the world and within the human psyche.

"What makes a human human? How much of the animal remains in the human mind and body? The show includes artists' portraits of our animal selves as well as
animals taking on human-like personas, fantasy depictions of human-animal
combinations, explores the relationship between humans and animals, touches the
question of the future of animal species and references the presentation of
human-animal metaphors in literature and poetry. Images, sculpture and video
works range in content from mythic re-interpretation to sharp-eyed views on
contemporary life."

We have selected seven paintings by Fleur Palau, from her ongoing series "Rabbit World"...

"The Rabbit series is a whimsical, yet sometimes moody reflection of the human psyche set in the natural world.

The full meaning of these paintings is of course open to speculation and does not concern me, though I recognize the symbolism and irony that is the vehicle in which to reveal some useful message about ourselves.

I would hope that in these rabbbit portraits we may recognize the better attributes of our own nature, that of love, friendship, loyalty, and that the renewed recognition of this will at once empower and inspire." - Fleur Palau

In addition, this exhibit includes a sneak preview of two of the paintings to be published in a new children's book by author Bruce McMillan ...

All of the works from this show are also available to view + purchase in our online shop!

*Join us at the PMA for the public reception, Thursday, July 29th, 5:30 - 7:30pm in conjunction with the new show ... Enjoy a 'Beast Boy' at the bar accompanied by appetizers, courtesy of the Black Trumpet. And look, but don't pet, the live humanimals!

Painting of the week...

"Always on a Roll" by Denise Duong, mixed media on canvas, 36 x 36 inches

this painting was part of the satellite exhibition at the Portsmouth Museum of Art and now it is back in the gallery! learn more

... inspired by my new bicycle (thanks George!) and also because we LOVE it!

"When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race." ~H.G. Wells

Painting of the week...

... inspired by the weekly forecast and also because we LOVE it!

"It Rained Today" by Linda Cordner, wax + oil on panel, 10 x 10 inches

and it just so happens to be available in our online shop!

"Into each life some rain must fall."- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

...remains of the day

This past friday we celebrated the opening of "Remains of the Day" a solo exhibition of new works by the lovely Robin Luciano Beaty. We had a beautiful evening and the gallery was packed with friends, family and encaustic enthusiasts:)

Robin is an award winning painter out of Newbury, Massachusetts. (2009 International Encaustic Painting Conference Award for Best in Show in the exhibition curated by Nicholas Capasso, chief curator of the Decordova Museum; winner of the "Spotlight on the Arts Award" for 'Outstanding Abstract Artist of 2009'). Robin concentrates primarily on the ancient wax based medium of Encaustic paint, a molten beeswax mixed with resin and dry pigments, which she incorporates mixed media, vintage materials, textiles and found objects.

Robin's newest work is significantly large in scale, mainly 3ft to 4ft square , a huge expansion in comparison to her previous series "Above and Beyond, made up of over 200 individual 6" x 6" paintings. This particular series differs in the fact that scale commands you to be physically encompassed in the atmospheric emotion translated so seductively in wax.

Confluence #9, encaustic, oil, aluminum and glass on braced birch, 48 x 48

Each painting in this series contains within it an obvious and ethereal seascape at first glance. Upon a second look, an extended sense of light bursts through bossy cumuli or slight shards of sunrise cut through a rebellious horizon. They remain ambiguous, yet curiously nostalgic, pushing the viewer to revisit images from their own recollections. Painted intuitively, and not from reference, these pieces translate an individual perspective of space, evoking an ebb and flow, the constant conjoining and separation of ocean and land, calm yet anxious, peaceful yet frightening, reserved yet dominant; interchanges so indicative to life they are discernibly "tidal".

Divergence #2, encaustic, oil and aluminum on braced birch, 36 x 36

Confluence #11, encaustic, oil, copper and yarn on braced birch, 36 x 36

Confluence #7, encaustic, oil, aluminum, glass, fabric and bark on braced
birch panel, 48 x 48

This convergence of opposites is unconventionally translated by the juxtaposition of Robin's chosen medium: thick ethereal wax on cold sheet metal, soft childhood yarns meandering through shards of broken glass, thick copper remnants layered with delicate antique lace.

Above and Beyond #320, encaustic and mixed-media on braced birch, 6 x 6

Though the sculptural elements of wax and organic lines, themes and contemporary concepts pervade this work, so does the artists own intimacy with them. Incorporating family heirloom crochet, bark fallen from the trees around her studio, pieces of her handmade sari wedding dress, nails found in the basement of her father’s workshop, vintage love letters salvaged from a relatives attic, this work elicits a deep sense of the past and future all while keeping them benignly impersonal.

Although familiar as "landscape" or "seascape", this work is confounded by becoming more of a memory than a representation, incorporating the salvaged elements of emotion and object or fundamentally, that which "Remains of the Day." This show runs thru August 2nd!