Contact: 305-978-7450
305-299-7988
In brief: Real Painting, DKR Gallery, 251 NW 23 Street, Miami (in the Wynwood Arts District), December 1 - December 28, 2005, Opening reception December 3, 2005 6 - 10 PM
Miami, November 26, 2005: "Real Painting," an exhibition featuring thirteen Miami artists who are seriously committed to the art of painting, will run from December 1 to December 28, 2005. An opening reception, to coincide with the Wynwood night of the Art Basel/Miami Beach week, will take place Saturday, December 3, 6 - 10 PM.
The artists in "Real Painting" run the gamut of painterly treatment. Some are students, some are veterans, but all have only one aim: to advance their art according to the highest standards.
The show exhibits works by Walter Darby Bannard, whose paintings hang in many important collections, including those of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Guggenheim Museum. Bannard, in an essay for the "Real Painting" catalogue, said, "These artists are imbued with the rich tradition of western painting and want nothing more than to carry it forward, innovating within the medium. They are different from one another, but they are bound together by their need to make art that is a pleasure to look at, and they all feel that the ancient tradition of painting, when sufficiently renewed and refreshed, can carry a spark of the human spirit with somewhat greater felicity than a soup can or a pickled shark."
In addition to Bannard, the exhibition features works by George Bethea, Lucas Blanco, Tutua Boshell, Will Carpenter, Paula Celman, Franklin Einspruch, Andy Gambrell, David Marsh, Jordan Massengale, Kathleen Staples, Kerry Ware, and Richard White.
These artists, proudly and with pleasure, make work that flies in the face of the prevailing ethos that art must address issues of one kind or another in order to merit importance. To them, the only issue worth addressing is quality. It is an old-school attitude that values the visual component of visual art above all else. Nevertheless, it is a perennially vital outlook that serves established artists well and is of growing importance to a select group of younger artists, many of whom are doing some of the best work in the city.
For more information, contact 305-978-7450 or 305-299-7988, or e-mail miamipainters[at]bellsouth.net.
Walter Darby Bannard is a graduate of Princeton University and began exhibiting in New York in 1963. He has had over 75 one-person shows, including 4 museum retrospectives, and has been in over 250 group shows, many of them museum surveys. He has written approximately 100 articles in professional journals, art magazines and other publications. Bannard has received the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, the National Foundation of the Arts Award, the National Endowment for the Arts Award and other grants and fellowships. He is a past chair of the National Endowment for the Arts International Panel on the Visual Arts and a former Contributing Editor of Artforum Magazine. His paintings are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, the Guggenheim Museum and most other major museums. He currently serves as professor and head of painting at the University of Miami. His website is www.bannard.com
Above: Radley Shoals, 49 x 49 1/2 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2005
George Bethea received his MFA from thre University of Miami in 1993 and became a full time lecturer and director of the New Gallery at UM before going to Spain as director of the Madrid Studio School of drawing and painting. Bethea has had solo exhibits and has been widely reviewed in New York, Avignon, France, and Miami and has been numerous group exhibits New York and Canada and many galleries and museums in South Florida. His website is www.georgebethea.net
Above: Dharani Dream, 36 x 48 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2005
Born of German and Porto Rican parents, Lucas Blanco grew up in rural Michigan and earned his Bachelors in Art and German from Western Michigan University. After studying art history with an emphasis on German Expressionism, as an exchange student in Berlin, Germany, he went on to earn his MFA from the University of Miami in 2005, where he is currently hired fulltime as a Lecturer in the Department of Art and Art History.
Above: Art Mallet and Minwax, 30 x 24 inches, oil on canvas, 2005
Tutua Boshell was born in Columbia, graduated from the David Manzur School of Art in Bogota and got her BFA at the University of Miami in 2002, where she is presently studying for her MFA degree. She has had several recent one-person exhibits in Bogota and Madrid, and has been in group exhibitions at the Boca Raton Museum of Art, The Lowe Museum and several museums in Columbia, Spain and Belgium.
Above: Laton, 30 x 30 inches, acrylic with volcanic sand, 2005
After undergraduate schooling at Wheaton College just outside Chicago, Will Carpenter moved to Ecuador and then Miami to pursue a career of painting. Now he is within a half a year of earning his M.F.A at the University of Miami.
Not limited by size, he makes paintings ranging from 8.5 by 5.5 feet to 8.5 by 5.5 inches. He is interested in the potential of oil paint, its beauty as an abstract mark in a representational function. He strives to create lively paint from deftly laid marks of strong yet controlled colors, conscious of both edge and subdivision of color.
A close study of his work shows that he is attracted to the subtropical foliage, light, and colors of the suburban neighborhoods that surround him. He contemporizes Biblical scenes, evoking an eerie mood by depicting raking light and stormy skies in otherwise common scenes. His interest in spiritual matters and narrative explains the Biblical quotes that serve as his titles. His website is www.willcarpenterart.com
Above: There you will find, 7 x 10 inches, oil on board, 2005
Paula Celman graduated from the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina and is currently studying for her MFA at the Miami International Art Institute. She is the recipient of several awards in Argentina and has had several one-person shows and group shows there as well as participation in "Lucid", curated by Jordan Massengale, "Space" at the Lombardi Warehouse, and numerous other group shows. Her website is www.paulacelman.com
Above: Sticky Blue, 18 x 18 inches, acrylic and oil on canvas, 2005
Franklin Einspruch is a painter and writer. He holds a BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in Painting from the University of Miami. He publishes Artblog.net, which has been cited by Terry Teachout of the New York Times as an important example of the reappearance of the practitioner-critic. Einspruch exhibits with Dorsch Gallery in Miami, Scott White Contemporary Art in San Diego, G2 Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Rice/Polak Gallery in Provincetown. He is the recipient of numerous awards, most recently, an Artist Enhancement Grant from the Florida State Division of Cultural Affairs to attend an artist residency at Stock 20 in Taiwan for four weeks later this year. His website is einspruch.com.
Above: Leafy Greens, 16 x 12 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2004
Andy Gambrell recieved his BA in Art History and Studio Art from Furman University, Greenville, SC in 2001. He moved to Miami in 2003 to pursue his MFA with Darby Bannard at UM. Presently, Gambrell makes blue-collar minimal constructions from roadside billboards. He is represented by the Dorsch Gallery in the Wynwood Art District.
Above: BBox, 78 x 132 x 3.5 inches, billboard construction, 2005
David Marsh
Above: Teared and Feathered Griffin, 68 x 50 inches, acrylic and enamel on canvas, 2005
Jordan Massengale was born in Ontario Canada and attended the University of Windsor were he studied conceptual art with Ian Baxter. After graduating with his B.F.A., he received a graduate teaching fellowship at the University of Miami Fl. were he studied with Walter Darby Bannard, Brian Curtis, and Robert Chambers. Jordan has contributed to Miami's art community by teaching at Community College and University Art Departments, and exhibiting his work in commercial galleries, non-for profit fundraisers, and group exhibitions, including 'Miami Hot' at the Gulf Coast Museum of Art, curated by Lowe Museum Assistant Director Denise Gerson. Jordan has also co- curated the following exhibitions in Miami: Frenzy, Space, and Esperanto, bringing together both degree seeking students and professional artists in thematic exhibitions. Jordan is a full time faculty member at Miami International University of Art and Design were he works with international undergraduate and graduate students. His website is www.jordanmass.net
Above: Fenced In, 40 x 24 inches, oil on canvas, 2004
Kathleen Staples Kathleen Staples received her BFA from Parson's School of Design in New York City and her MFA from the University of Miami. In 1994 she was awarded the Individual Artists Fellowship in Painting from the State of Florida. Her work has been in numerous exhibitions, most recently the "Abstraction in Miami" exhibition at Dorsch Gallery and "Abstraction Perception" at the Miami International University for Art and Design. She teaches painting at the University of Miami. Her website is www.kathleenstaples.com
Above: Trespass, 48 x 60 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2005
Kerry Ware was born in Southern California in 1963. He attended California State University at Fullerton receiving his B.F.A. in sculpture. Moving to Miami in 1993 Ware received his M.F.A. in painting from the University of Miami. Upon graduating he began showing his work at the Dorsch Gallery and has continued to be influenced by nature and music. He currently teaches art history, design, and painting at MIUAD.
Above: Reminiscent, 36 x 48 inches, oil and plaster with wooden pegs, 2005
Richard White studied ceramics, sculpture and painting at Rhode Island School of Design and was graduated from there with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in 1969. For the next fifteen years, he taught fine art and design both in the US and abroad and exhibited in group and one person shows. He traveled extensively in England and the South Pacific, teaching for three years in Papua New Guinea. He has recently retired from the corporate world to attend graduate school at the University of Miami for an Master of Fine Arts in Painting.
Above: Evolving, 20 x 24 inches, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 2005