Category: Art Collecting

Art collecting news and tips, contemporary art shows and more

6 Reasons to use high-quality art printing services for your art collection

Posted on November 5, 2024November 5, 2024 by veronica

art miami 2018, spoke art — Spoke Art gallery, the art fair in Miami.

Sometimes it’s unclear what the difference is between art print companies, especially if you compare them online. However, all of us can agree that high-quality printing can make or break the display of a piece. High-resolution, well-crafted prints bring art to life, capturing the vibrancy, details, and textures that a lower-quality print might miss. With advancements in printing technology, fine art printing has evolved into a specialized service. In this guide, we’ll explore the benefits of using high-quality art printing services and why it’s worth the investment for collectors and creators.

#1 Maintaining Originality and Detail

A major benefit of high-quality art printing services is the ability to reproduce broad and accurate color spectrum, contrast and details of the original, fine art. Standard printing processes may fail to capture super fine brushstrokes, texture, and shifts in tone that create a special feeling when we look at art. So art printing companies that use high-resolution giclée or specialized pigment-based inks can offer reasonable fidelity.

If you plan on using the art printing service yourself, you must have a high-resolution, digital file to print from that’s at least 300 dpi and saved as a png or raw file. jpegs are compressed images and the file compression may show up printing large posters.

#2 Using Archival-Grade Materials

Archival-grade materials are designed to last decades without fading, yellowing, or warping. This level of durability is essential for anyone looking to keep their art prints in pristine condition over the long term, especially when they are limited-edition or rare art prints. Companies like the Stackhouse printing use the highest-quality materials for colorful art reproductions that can last over 100 years without fading under museum conditions.

Always keep your art and prints away from a direct sunlight, artificial light, high humidity and changing room temperature conditions. Art and prints fade, crack and warp if they're not custom-framed with archival, non-glare plexiglass and backing.

Archival materials used for printing add an extra layer of protection, helping fine prints resist the effects of light and moisture, thereby preserving their beauty and market value. When you shop for a printer, ask what supplies they use because paper must be pH-neutral not to yellow over time.

Moonlight, 22x30in, closeup, colored pencil on art board, Veronica Winters

#3 Using Advanced Printing Techniques

Companies that create high-quality art prints use advanced printing techniques. Some of these methods include:

● Giclée Printing: A technique known for its exceptional quality, giclée printing uses pigment-based inks and high-resolution printers. This method is popular among artists and art collectors due to its ability to render incredibly detailed reproductions that mimic the look and feel of the original piece.
● UV-Protective Coatings: UV coatings shield prints from sunlight, which can fade colors over time. This added layer of protection is necessary for prints displayed in well-lit spaces or under direct lighting. Printing companies like the Stackhouse use these advanced methods for high-end art reproductions.

#4 Having Customization

Customization is a big advantage of working with a high-quality art printing service. Standard printing services often have limited choices in sizes, framing, and finish. A specialized art print shop can print pictures in a requested size. It’s invaluable for art collectors aiming to match a print to their collection’s theme or display needs, as well as for artists wanting to maintain complete control over the presentation of their work for a show.

If you plan to make a large order, ask for a test run of your pictures. I'm sure the shop could print a sample for you to appreciate their quality.

#5 Enhancing the Viewer’s Experience

Usually, we can distinguish between the art print and the original when we look at art in person. The emotional impact is lost in art reproductions. However, today advanced printing techniques are so good that high-quality prints can evoke similar emotions as the original piece. If you go to the Miami Art Context you can look at gigantic photographs that have beautiful detail, color, contrast, and sharpness. Sometimes art galleries display printed digital art that looks impressive because of high-definition in prints. The quality is so perfect that it looks like art, not a print.

javier bellomo coria_face_art miami 2017 — Javier Bellomo Coria, Face, Miami Art Fait, 2017

#6 Offering Long-Term Value and Investment Protection

Both limited-edition prints and rare art prints could become a valuable investment when these art prints are signed by a famous artist. Such prints may appreciate in value over time because the artist gains recognition. Therefore, it’s important to know if they were printed with high-quality inks, paper, and UV coating to ensure longevity and peace of mind, knowing that art prints will continue to hold their value and appeal.

Andy Warhol’s silkscreen print seen at the auction in Naples, FL

You must understand the difference between a giclee print and a hand-pulled lithograph or silkscreen. Both types of prints can be signed by a famous artist, but the first one is a computer-generated print, while lithographs, silkscreens and intaglios are hand-made prints pulled through the press. Done in multiples, these prints should have a much higher price point as opposed to a giclee print.

Next time you see a beautiful art print, ask its owner where it got printed. I keep a short list of businesses that offer different art services. For anyone serious about their collection or artistic portfolio, investing in a professional art printing service is a decision that pays off in the quality and satisfaction of each piece produced.

Check out open-edition prints in my shop.

To read more:

How to frame art on paper and canvas

How to frame art on paper and canvas

Posted on January 29, 2024July 20, 2024 by veronica

*Written in 2018, Updated

In this article I’d like to share the basics of framing art on paper and how you can do it yourself inexpensively. Professional framing is your best option because it takes quite a skill to frame art on paper well. It also involves some understanding of color and color temperature to pick the right frame and mat that add beauty to the artwork and not subtract from it. Professional framing is expensive, and if you have to mount an entire solo show you know how draining that is financially, especially if you just begin showing your drawings in a non-commercial space. If you are not an artist, but you have just purchased an original drawing and want to frame it yourself, you’ll find your answers in this article below.

When I began drawing I knew nothing about framing and I found it frustrating to frame a lot of art for a show. Even framing one piece seemed too difficult because I didn’t know what to look for in frames, why they differed in pricing and what was best for my budget. And while I learned the ropes that I’m sharing in the article below, I find that every art collector has his/her taste and unique style, and while the frame must match the art, not the house, the interior design still plays a role in the collector’s mind. That’s the reason why I prefer selling art without the frame. However, a good frame dresses up a painting big time. It gives the art a finished appearance, enriching the artwork visually. So the ideal situation is to frame the art with a beautiful wood frame that compliments the original painting in style and color.

Takashi Murakami at Miami ARt Context, photo: V.Winters

Watch on YouTube:

How to frame art on paper

There are two types of framing choices you have to frame art on paper or canvas.

Art on paper must have a mat, plexiglass, backing and frame. Art on canvas/ panel/ wood needs a frame only.

Framing supplies

Every drawing/print/photo should have:

Acid-free mat
Acid-free white backing (mounting board)
Non-glare glass or acrylic plexi-glass (plexi-glass comes in different formats)
Wood or metal frame
acid-free tape to attach the drawing to the backing (in the corners) + tape thhe mat and backing together

Mats: white vs. color

The majority of framed work on paper that includes photography has a white mat and a simple frame around it. If you go to a museum, you’ll see plenty of examples there. While you can pick a frame to your taste playing with the styles and colors, the color of the mat should be reserved. And if you are not sure about the color, stick to a white or off-white mat.

A common mistake is to frame drawings with a black mat. While it may work for a specific, very dark artwork, most of the time it doesn’t. When I’m not sure about the mat’s color, I take my drawing to Michael’s and start placing various, pre-cut mats over the drawing to see what color works best for my artwork.

If you are not sure about color and it’s your first time framing art, always pick an off-white mat as opposed to a color one because it won’t overpower your drawing or print. If you still want to play with color, consider framing art with a double mat. White or off-white never subtracts from your drawing, while color mats may overpower your artwork visually. I often see drawings framed with black mats, and most of them kill art. You end up looking at the mat, not the artwork. White mats come in different shades of white, and you need to pay attention to its color temperature. Either warm white or cool white is fine as long as you match this color temperature with the color temperature of white in your drawing.

how to frame drawings_veronica winters — These are custom-framed colored pencil drawings. The one in the center has a metal sectional frame, while the other two drawings have custom-cut real wood frames and custom-cut double mats. Notice that while the color of each mat picks up on the colors found within each drawing, the mats are not too dark or too ‘heavy’ in hue.

A Single or a double mat?

This colored pencil drawing has a double mat. Gold is the inner color and light grey is the outer color. This light grey mat mimics the colors seen in the glass. Gold metal frame and regular plexiglass complete budget framing. This drawing would look much better if it’s framed with a wide, real wood golden frame having the same mat.

If you want to do a double mat, have a color mat as your inner layer and the off-white mat as the outer layer. So you have a quarter inch color stripe around the artwork but the overall color remains neutral or off-white. The hue of your color mat should pick up on one of the colors present in the drawing. This is where professional framers are really good at. They have the talent to pick the right colors for your inner and outer mats and match that with a beautiful frame of the right hue and style.

Prints can be framed with frames without a mat to have contemporary feel.

Tip:

Technically, any mat creates a barrier between your art and glass. Beware that photographs stick to glass eventually if they don’t have that space between the glass and the photograph. If you decide to stick a picture into a ready-made frame without the mat, add corners that would maintain necessary space between the photo and glass.

Standard vs. custom cut mat

how to frame art on paper — Here you can see that the distances between the frame and the image are not the same. On the left, the image has an equal width/distance maintained around the image. On the right you see a picture that has varied width of the mat around the picture. It’s done to fit a non-standard mat opening into a standard-size frame. *The image was taken at the Ringling museum in Sarasota.

Standard mat has a 3-inch width on all sides of the drawing. It gives your drawing necessary space between the mat and the frame. This 3″ distance can be altered however. A lot of times expensive artworks have mats with a much wider width that add richness to art. Sometimes you see framed photographs that have mats with varied widths (right image) that allows for placing prints and photography into standard frames (minimizing costs of custom framing).

Backing & Tape

All materials must be acid-free, which include backing (mounting board/foam board/foam backing) and a double-sided tape. If it’s not the case, your drawing will yellow over time. The tape holds it all together but it also yellows the surfaces if it’s not acid-free.

Beware that the ready-made frames you find in craft stores and Walmart don’t sell frames with necessary acid-free backings. Therefore, they are not suitable for professional framing and your original art or print will yellow over time. It yellows a lot faster than you think!!

Mat Cutters

Logan 650 Framers Edge elite mat cutter model for professional framers

You are lucky if your drawing is completed on standard-size paper and you can buy all the supplies at any craft store to do the assembly. But what if your drawing has different proportions and is far from standard mat openings? Most of the time you have no choice but go to a framer, so he can cut the right mat for you. However, if you do a lot of drawing and plan on selling your work, it’s a good investment to buy a professional mat cutter and learn how to cut mats yourself.
Mat cutters give the greatest flexibility possible in mat cutting. You can cut mats to any size. You can also cut it to fit the overall dimensions to standard frame, making a nonstandard opening. Logan mat cutters are not cheap but they save you lots of money in the long run. You can buy large sheets of museum board in any color and cut them to size. It takes practice to learn how to measure and to cut mats, especially the mat openings, which have a beveled edge as opposed to a regular cut. Correct measuring and cutting of mat boards is a skill that demands practice and patience.

The quality of a mat is determined not only by its thickness, but also by the cleanness of the beveled corners. If a blade is not new or cutting is sloppy, the inner corner edges look uneven. I think it’s best to learn the basics of mat cutting at a framer’s shop, or perhaps to find a detailed video of the process shown online. I used to cut mats myself using the Logan mat cutter, and I found this process quite frustrating at times because you’ve got to be perfect every time doing it. After doing it myself for several years, I prefer going to a framer or buying pre-cut mats online.

Glass or acrylic plexi-glass?

You can frame drawings with regular glass but consider the overall size of your piece. Glass is very heavy. It can shatter cutting into art. It’s also very reflective! So it depends where you are going to hang your artwork to minimize the reflections.
Plexiglass is light and durable. Many galleries require framing with plexiglass as opposed to glass to minimize possible damage during the transportation to a show. However, regular plexiglass scratches and becomes useless once even a tiny scratch is there. The cost of plexi often exceeds the price tag of glass. Another thing to consider is reflections. Pick a non-glare glass vs. regular glass. So you can actually enjoy looking at art from any corner of the room. Or consider framing art with a non-glare UV-protective plexiglass. Tru Vue Optium Plexiglass is the best museum-quality conservation plexiglass available today at almost any framing store online but beware that it’s really expensive and can easily cost you more than the frame itself.

veronica winters colored pencil, how to frame art — This is a colored pencil drawing on a 1-inch, wood panel. It’s framed with a canvas depth wood frame (rabbit width is 1 inch to accommodate the wood’s depth), UV, non-glare plexiglass. The result is that it looks like a painting, not a colored pencil drawing.

Metal or wood frames? Consider the lifespan of your display

There are three types of frames. Plastic, metal and wood. The choice is largely determined by your pocket book, but I strongly suggest not to give in into buying plastic frames or some craft-store frames that may look decent at first glance. Such frames don’t hold up well: they scratch, break and fall apart too quickly. They also don’t provide adequate support for big art in hot and humid climate bending and loosing its original shape quickly. The frame’s surface may look like wood but it’s paper wrapped around the plywood. It comes off and scratches easily. The hanging wire and hardware are not there to support artwork larger than 11×14″. I always regret buying plastic frames because one scratch prompts eventual replacement.

Clio Newton, b.1989, Sarah, charcoal on paper 81x59in | Sometimes you can see contemporary drawings framed as posters because they don’t have the mat or space between the art and the frame. It works here because of the figure’s scale giving the impression of her walking off of the wall. It also mimics framing of art on canvas. The frame is made of either metal or wood. It can look very similar in white hue.

Metal Sectional Frames

Metal sectional frames is great alternative to plastic frames if you work on a budget. They last for years and don’t scratch that easy and don’t fall apart. Sectional frames come in a variety of colors and styles, assemble easily and hold up their shape for a very long time. The only drawback is that most frames have small width and therefore provide economy framing, unlike the real wood frames. At the same time, metal sectional frames can be great for some contemporary art and photography. Many have canvas depth to frame canvas art as well.

In my experience, if the artwork is larger than 16×20″ acrylic plexi-glass or glass may not hold up well within the metal sectional frame if the backing is not thick enough. Plexiglass tends to pop out of the frame in large drawings and large glass sheets are also too heavy for these frames.

The back of an assembled metal sectional frame.

Wood frames

Tanja Gant, Bacchus @ Sirona fine art, Art Palm Beach | This colored pencil drawing has simple off-white mat and a wood frame.

Real wood frames come in a variety of styles. They are the most beautiful, durable and stylish. Wood frames have varied width and finish and the professional framer can really make it or break it picking the right frame for your piece. Usually the wider the frame, the richer your artwork would look in it. However, the style of the frame is more important than its width because it needs to complement your drawing. Well framed art always looks amazingly beautiful.
I buy real wood sectional frames that are cut to my dimensions and then assemble them into finished frames. It’s not difficult, but requires some patience and care to do it right. I buy all the supplies in varied sizes at American frame (frame samples of which you see in the images above). Frame destination is another company located in Texas that cuts custom frames.
If the frame is standard size (8×10″, 16×20″, 18×24″ etc), you can buy these frames at any craft store. However, the variety and quality of ready-made frames is not great in comparison to those found online.

Shadow boxes and canvas floater frames

how to frame art on paper_how to frame photography_shadow box and float frame

Sometimes canvas floater frames or shadow boxes may work better than traditional framing. Glass suspends the artwork in the middle and creates open space between the art and the frame.

9×12″ colored pencil drawing on 3 layers of acetate-like film. This drawing looks interesting in a white shadow box frame because the colored pencil drawing has the room to breathe.

Peter Anton @ Art Miami 2017 | This simple shadowbox holds the pieces as one artwork.

I framed this colored pencil drawing using a real wood frame without the mat. It also has a UV, non-glare plexi and acid free backing. It depends on your personal preference if you like to have a mat around the art or not that usually adds to the art presentation.

Framing companies where you can customize any frame, mat, online:

American frame: https://www.americanframe.com/

Top quality, great customer service, limited free samples of plexi and frames.

Custom picture frames: https://www.custompictureframes.com/

Very good quality, great customer service

Frame destination: https://www.framedestination.com/

Sell acid-free backing and other framing supplies both in bulk and in custom order.

Reusable art bags for shipping art: https://artcadis.com/

Reusable art bags for shipping art: https://www.framedestination.com/photo-storage/gallery-pouch.html

Other packaging supplies in great variety and low price: https://www.uline.com/

The best museum-quality plexiglass: https://tru-vue.com/solution/optium-museum-acrylic/

Everything framing: https://www.clearbags.com/

Check out visionary art for sale

How to frame art on canvas & panel

Here is a basic guide how to frame art on canvas. Framing of oil/acrylic paintings is much easier because there are fewer moving parts involved. You’ve got to pick the right frame and assemble it, if it’s not a ready-made frame. Art on canvas, panel or wood doesn’t need glass for display. Oil and acrylic paintings look best without it. Also, remember that these paintings would need canvas-depth frames unless it’s a panel. Usually panels are thin, unless they are cradled.

jeff robb_lenticular photo_context rt miami 2017 — Jeff Robb, lenticular photo at CONTEXT Miami 2017 | Here the photo has canvas depth and requires a canvas-depth frame.

Types of frames for paintings

Once again you have three choices: plastic, metal and real wood frames. Go for the solid wood picture frames because they last the longest, look beautiful and you frame it once. Metal sectional frames is a good choice for beginner artists, some contemporary paintings, especially abstract art.
The style of the frame should add to your painting. Some paintings look beautiful in golden baroque frames, others in minimalist black frames. Canvas float frames give an interesting effect to some contemporary pieces (see below).

I find a very big difference in quality of wood sold at different framing stores online. If you see rather a cheap wood frames it means that they use soft, cheap wood that scratches and bumps corners very easily! I ended up re-framing such wood frames. It's better to frame art with metal sectional frames in such a case. Poplar wood and pine wood are very soft. Oak is very heavy and solid wood. Always ask a customer service rep what wood they use for framing!

lowe art museum_miami univ_workshop of andrea del sarto_madonna and child infant st john — Lowe art museum, Miami university, artists in workshop of Andrea del Sarto, “Madonna and child infant with St. John | Classical gold/blue frame highlights the colors and theme of the painting.

Art by Mary Jane Ansell @ Miami Art Context 2017 | White frame gives a lot of space around the painting and extends it beautifully.

Most people consider their interior space and style, picking frames. While it should harmonize with the rest of the space, always consider how a framed piece looks on its own. Pick the frame for the painting, not your sofa. If the artwork has some warm, golden tones, pick a golden frame. If the piece has silvery, blue-grey tones, silver frame would be good.

art palm beach 2018 — Isabelle Scheltjens @ Miami Art Context 2017 | The color of the frame picks up on black hues in the artwork.

If the painting is standard size, you can find a ready-made frame in a craft store or online, but remember that canvases are between 3/4 and 1″ deep, and not every generic frame would work for framing of stretched canvas.

Mike Dargas @ Art Miami 2017 | The side of this unframed painting shows the canvas depth you must consider when you pick the frame.

Canvas-depth frame

Image: American Frame

In this image taken from the AmericanFrame you can see that the frames have three dimensions: H height, W width and R rabbet. Rabbet should be at least 1″ if you have a painting on canvas. Some canvases require even wider rabbet height.

Canvas floater frames

brad kunkle at art miami 2017 — Brad Kunkle @ Miami Art Context 2017

Canvas floater frames “suspend” your painting inside the frame without the edge touching it. Most picture frames cover the edge of the artwork. Personal aesthetic plays a big part in picking the frame. In this image you see a white floater frame that extends the whiteness of the canvas. The entire canvas floats within the frame.

White float frame | King Woman show_| Art by van Roos

White floater frame gives minimal appearance to the art that allows for a complete focus on the painting, not the frame. | Art by van Roos at King Woman art show in New York, 2017

In this screenshot taken from AmericanFrame you can see the difference in frame styles. Canvas floater frame has a deep opening to nest the canvas painting inside. These are the bars in the back to which the painting attaches. The frames to the right cover the edge of the painting where canvas slides into a channel. Most wood, plastic, and metal frames cover the painting’s edge by 1/4″ or less.

veronica winters colored pencil drawing — White wood canvas float frame completes the look of this beautiful colored pencil drawing

Standard vs. non-standard frames

Standard frames are 8×10, 9×12, 11×14, 16×20, 18×24, 24×36 and so on. If your painting is done on non-standard stretcher bars that don’t correspond to standard sizes, you have to order wood frames online to be cut to your specifications, and then assemble them at home if these are very large frames. If artwork is not very large, the shop does it. An electric screwdriver comes in handy, and you also need some hanging wire and hardware you can buy in a kit online or even at Walmart. AmericanFrame includes the kit with the purchase of custom-cut frames.

In this screenshot from American Frame website you can see how much the frame costs depending on its length. The great thing about this service is that you can order any frame cut to your specifications. You can also order samples and corner samples.

Still life with the corals and Venetian mask, oil on canvas, 24×36″, framed with custom-cut sectional real wood frame

Tip

Sometimes you can order samples of available frames and put them next to your artwork to see if the style of the frame works well with the painting. A lot of times it’s difficult to say how a specific frame would look like unless you have a sample in your hands. Usually the wider the frame, the richer it looks. Although some abstract paintings would look the best framed with thin frames.

You can also buy standard frames at any craft or art supplies store.

veronica winters painting_how to frame art on canvas and panel

This is standard 5×7″ frame.

Framed oil paintings at art museums

Paul Delaroche-the execution of lady jane grey-national gallery London — Paul Delaroche, the execution of lady Jane Grey at the National Art Gallery, London

These are examples of framed masterpieces I took pictures of. All of them have gold frames but the style of each frame varies. The color of the frame picks up on prominent hues seen within each painting. If these paintings had silver/grey elements, they would benefit from a silver frame. Also, the complexity of the frame matches the exuberant details seen in the painting. For example, the second image of Magdalene has simplified shapes and color that’s supported by a plain gold frame. The exuberant golden jacket of the king seen in the last image matches with more elaborate frame.

Raphael. You can see a super elaborate round frame of the Raphael’s painting. You can see a lot more framed art from Florence here: https://veronicasart.com/the-15-best-art-museums-in-the-world-you-must-visit/

In this short video you can see how I assemble custom-cut real wood frame using the provided hardware.

Consider wall space & art display unity

contemporary art portrait painting veronica winters — Midnight Dream, 38″ oil on canvas, Veronica Winters

If you plan on having a show, exhibiting a large number of works, consider framing art with similar frames to have display unity. In my experience, I framed art at different times with varied frames and my paintings don’t always look consistent as a group. It makes it harder to present as a coherent body of work in a solo show. I have to get creative arranging art pieces to have a sense of unity.

If you have a single piece of art, consider the size of your wall space and the artwork’s size. I often see small art displayed on a large wall where one picture gets lost and just looks too timid or “eaten” by a large wall space. If you have a large wall and small art, consider grouping small pieces together on a wall to create a gallery. Below you’ll find several examples of art displays.

Here are some of the commissioned wall art pieces at homes of my clients.

Framed pictures display @ Beverly hills hotel, Los Angeles

To Frame or not to frame?

Some art doesn’t require framing. When canvas’s edge is wide and clean, it might not need a frame, especially if it’s a sculptural piece. It gives contemporary, minimalistic appearance you might like more.

Glass sculpture @ Heller gallery, Art Miami 2017

contemporary indian art santa fe — Indian art in Santa Fe

As you can see framing can be fun but takes time to figure out. Next time you are at an art show or a museum, pay attention to framing, take notes, and frame your pieces in accordance with your knowledge and taste. Good luck!

If you’d like to get more inspiration how to organize and display wall art at home, here is a great article “How to design the best gallery at home”.

russell young_marylin_art miami 2017 — Russell Young, Marylin @ Art Miami 2017

Complete video series:

Video #1 Part 1 – Learn what makes a painting great

Video #1 Part 2 – Learn what makes a painting great 2: composition, color, emotion

Video #2 Contemporary Art History

Video #3 How to take care of your art collection – coming soon!

Video #4 How to frame art – you are here!

Video # 5 Why you don’t need an interior designer to buy and display art in your home – coming soon!

Shop contemporary art here:

https://veronicasart.com/shop/

The art world’s enigma: highlights from Context Art Miami 2023

Posted on December 9, 2023December 21, 2023 by veronica

CONTEXT Art Miami takes place every December alongside the Art Miami in downtown Miami. This upscale, glitzy art fair is the 33rd Edition of Art Miami and 11th Edition of CONTEXT Art Miami. It features emerging and mid-career artists presented by more than 240 International art galleries. CONTEXT also showcases commissioned art made for the fair.

Due to some nudity in the art this full-version video is available to some audiences on YouTube: https://youtu.be/brV6c_UVo1g

Contemporary art sculpture at the Context Art Miami

Coderch and Malavia-ALIS VOLAT PROPRIIS-sculpture-art fair miami 2023 — Coderch and Malavia-ALIS VOLAT PROPRIIS-sculpture-CONTEXT art fair Miami 2023

Coderch and Malavia-Galene-sculpture-art fair miami — Coderch and Malavia-Galene-bronze sculpture-art fair Miami. Incredibly talented Spanish artists, Joan Coderch and Javier Malavia began creating art together in 2015. They create contemporary figurative realism sculpture together by modelling the pieces and casting them in bronze.
Joan Coderch was born in 1959 in Castellar del Vallés, Barcelona, and he graduated from Barcelona’s Faculty of Fine Art in 1984. Javier Malavia was born in 1970 in Oñati, Guipúzcoa, and he graduated from Valencia’s San Carlos Faculty of Fine Art in 1993. Once they met, they discovered their artistic similarities, which led to their undertaking this new project that follows in the footsteps of masters of figuration such as Maillol, Rodin, Marini and Bourdelle.

Coderch and Malavia-Kymo-bronze sculpture-miami 2023 — Coderch and Malavia-Kymo-bronze sculpture-CONTEXT ART Miami 2023

Carole Feuerman-context 2023-veronica winters art blog — Carole A. Feuerman (born 1945) is an American hyperrealist artist-sculptor. The artist is best known for her figurative art of swimmers and dancers. Feuerman is the only artist to make realistically painted outdoor sculptures and the only woman to sculpt in this style.

filippo tincolini-spacesman seat-marble, art contexxt miami — Filippo Tincolini, Spaceman seat, marble

Contemporary painting & wall art at the Context Art Miami

Gabriel Moreno Art-context art miami — Gabriel Moreno, Epistolary relationship Nº3, 150 x 180 cm, pencil, Bic blue pen, charcoal, on paper 320 gr. with finished in gold leaf. Context Art Miami 2023

Alvaro Petritoli, Art Movement Gallery, London, Context Art Miami. Ink on watercolour paper.

“Fireflies in the forest and stars in the night sky connect us with the wonders of childhood and fairytales. As creatures of mystery and magic, fireflies invite the viewer to follow their luminous trail in the delicate dance between light and dark. In relation to stars, they define a nocturnal atmosphere where microcosm turns into macrocosm and vice versa. As human beings we naturally found ourselves at the crossroad between these two dimensions. Apart from the sea and the sky, blue is the rarest color in nature. It is linked with eternity, supernatural beauty, religious transcendence, the beyond.

I paint forests from my imagination. They are not a representation of specific geographical locations. However these places exist as a manifestation of inner spaces.
In relation to stars, they define a nocturnal atmosphere where microcosm turns into macrocosm and vice versa. As human beings we naturally found ourselves at the crossroad between these two dimensions .
The forest as a threshold symbol into the unconscious was the conceptual starting point for these ink paintings. I’m drawn to this archetype loaded with symbolic connotations: a place of loneliness, healing, regression, entanglement, growth and self discovery.”

Shepard Fairey-exclamation 2019 silkscreen and collage — Shepard Fairey, exclamation, 2019, silkscreen and collage

Luciano Ventrone occasion oil on canvas- stefano forni gallery-context art miami — Luciano Ventrone, Occasion, oil on canvas. stefano forni gallery-context art Miami

Federico Uribe art-Adelson Galleries: Born in Bogota, Colombia, Federico Uribe lives and works in Miami. He studied art at the University of Los Andes in Bogota, and in 1988 left for New York to pursue a master’s degree in fine art under the supervision of Luis Camnitzer. In 1996, he abandoned his paintbrushes and began creating his sculptures out of everyday objects, whose beauty is often overlooked. Uribe constructs and weaves his sculptures in curious and unpredictable, repetitive and almost compulsive ways, yet still with reference to the history and tradition of classical art.

Uribe’s work has become prominent in the United States over the past decade, and has been collected by multiple museums, and featured in several museum exhibitions across the country. He has most recently created installations for the Hudson River Museum (NY), Mass MoCA (MA), the Montgomery Museum of Fine Art (AL), and the Montclair Art Museum (NJ). Federico Uribe currently has an exhibition at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (WI) on view through June 2024.

Contemporary 3-D art at the Context Art Miami

HOFA gallery-JULIAN VOSS-ANDREAE — HOFA gallery, JULIAN VOSS-ANDREAE, RECLINING WOMAN, 2022. Stainless steel (316L) Weight: 230 lbs (110 kg) 26 x 57 1/8 x 21 1/4 in

Julian Voss-Andreae, a German sculptor based in Portland (Oregon, USA) produces large-scale public and private commissions often blending figurative sculpture with scientific insights into the nature of reality. Voss-Andreae’s work has been featured in print and broadcast media worldwide and videos of his sculpture have gone viral with tens of millions of views. Prior to his art career, Julian Voss-Andreae studied quantum physics and philosophy at the Universities of Berlin, Edinburgh and Vienna and did his graduate research in the lab of 2022 Physics Nobel Prize laureate Anton Zeilinger, participating in a seminal experiment in foundational quantum physics. His expertise in diverse fields of science and a deep passion for the mysteries of the world have been a continual source of inspiration for his work.

BREAKFAST: Brooklyn, Est. 2009, Flashbacks, Blue Lines, Edition 1/8, 2023, Flip-discs, software, camera, computer, 38 x 38 in (96 x 96 cm)
“Flashbacks” is the latest series from the artist BREAKFAST, which explores the fusion of art and memory. This interactive artwork records a brief clip of each individual who interacts with it, subsequently replaying a selection of these clips from the artwork’s memory.
The piece is constructed using Flip-Discs, a medium BREAKFAST has been perfecting since 2012. Each disc is intricately flipped using electromagnets.

BREAKFAST is celebrated for their digitally-driven kinetic sculpture. At the core of their work is a dedication to crafting advanced artworks that harmoniously blend software and hardware. These creations not only provide interactive experiences that transcend physical boundaries but also convey the poignant narratives of our dynamically evolving world.

Patrick Hughes: (British, b. 1939) Patrick Hughes’ first solo show was in 1961 in Mayfair, London. The catalogue introduction was by the critic David Sylvester. He has since held one-person exhibitions in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and New York, and in France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Belgium and Switzerland, one hundred and fifty-four so far.
Patrick made his first reverse perspective, or reverspective, relief painting in 1964 and has refined his technique since. These artworks are constructed of wooden pyramids in perspective but the wrong way round, with the furthest point of the space represented being closest to the viewer. The result is optical illusion. As the viewer looks and moves near the painting it seems to change seamlessly, giving an illusion of movement in three-dimensions.
Patrick Hughes received an honorary degree of Doctor of Science from the University of London in 2014 for his contribution to the study of the psychology of perception. Hughes wrote a book titled “Paradoxymoron” that gives insight into his thought process and ideas. His 3D art is in many private and public collections including art museums internationally.

Miss Bugs, Algorithm sunny day, context art Miami 2023

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https://www.contextartmiami.com/galleries

The CONTEXT Art Miami Pavilion
One Herald Plaza @ NE 14th Street | Downtown Miami
On Biscayne Bay between the Venetian & MacArthur Causeways

The Omni garage parking is $40! 1645 Biscayne Blvd @ NE 15th Street, Miami, FL 33132 Mon – Sun: All day

How to start your own art collection: 3 powerful reasons to collect art today

Posted on September 9, 2023November 15, 2023 by veronica

underwater painting of woman veronica winters painting — Descend, oil painting on canvas, 36×48 inches, Veronica Winters

Thanks to the pandemic, art collecting has become a prominent topic in the past two years. The online art market is growing and young art collectors want to buy art with a click of a button instead of going through art shopping in snobby art galleries. Mature art collectors prefer gallery visits to make their decision about the art purchase. No two art collectors are alike.

There are several types of art collectors living today since there are many valid reasons to collect art. These reasons could include personal attachment, vanity or desire to impress others, passion to own art, social purpose, home decoration, emotional healing, feeling empty or incomplete without the wall art. Some art collectors make their purchase decisions based on their taste and budget. And there are those who collect art as an investment. Who are you? My guess is that many people who search for advice in art collecting actually search for ways to understand how to buy the best artists out there as an investment. So in this article you’ll find different strategies and reasons for art collecting.

1. Art collecting as decoration, attachment and altruism

If you want to buy art to support the living artists and help your community flourish, you do buy art based on your taste, focusing on what you like (which is generally suggested by all art consultants, gallery owners and online art market places). In the process you do learn to curate your taste, educating yourself about art history movements, styles of art, and contemporary art market. You collect art that inspires you or makes you think. You collect art that turns your empty wall space into another world you wish to inhabit. You don’t really need any art advisors or gallerists for decision-making in this regard. You make decisions based on your taste and joy of art collecting.

You may want to decorate your home and office and thus consider art size and color when purchasing art. You might have a lot of passion collecting art because paintings that you buy give you feeling of peace or remind you about a person, emotion or place. You may find yourself inspired and rejuvenated by looking at paintings in your living room or bedroom every day. (If you need tips how to arrange art for display based on your space, go here: https://veronicasart.com/6-tips-for-arranging-wall-art-in-your-home/

If you love the art and believe in an artist and collect him or her, your purchase satisfies your need and passion for art ownership. However, you can also consider the fact that another important collector may already have the artist you bought in his art collection that would be gifted to the museum at some point. Also some fairly unknown artists could sip into museums and corporate art collections over time.

2. Art collecting as an investment

If you want to buy art as pure investment, most artists are bad investment. Yes, you may be lucky. You buy a random artist you like and turn the painting over in an auction a few years later. But in most cases it doesn’t happen. If you want to collect art as an investment, your decision will be based not on the quality of art. It doesn’t matter how good or bad the painting is. You must purchase artists based on their fame. Obviously, a substantial financial gain is your main goal collecting art.

How to collect hot, emerging artists

If you want to collect art of emerging artists who don’t sell for millions just yet, you need to look at their network, not the art per se. Artists must be under 35 and be promoted and represented in the top galleries in New York as well as pushed by the non-profits and art museums of New York, mainly MOMA, Guggenheim, Whitney and Gagosian Gallery. Hence, the popularity of the artist largely depends on the network the artist is in. Where does this information come from? You can read the book by Magnus Resch “How to become a successful artist.” He publishes other books in this space and lectures in the ivy-league schools. He also produced his own online courses about art collecting. So if you plan to collect art as an investment or speculation, your read stops here. You find the Magnus’ website online, take his $1000 course and start collecting emerging artists as pure investment.

Who are those hot, established, famous artists?

Established or the blue-chip artists today include Picasso, Basquiat, Warhol. The price for their artwork keeps rising steadily, leaving everyone else in the dust. Post-war artists like Rothko sell well. Some 19-th century art, a few old masters and some contemporary artists are considered a good investment like Banksy,

Kaws
Hirst
Rashid Johnson
Andy Warhol
Jean-Michel Basquiat
George Condo
Picasso
Yayoi Kusama
Keith Haring
Ed Ruscha
David Hockney
Roy Lichtenstein
Damien Hirst
Edgar Plans
Jordy Kerwick
Harland Miller
Javier Calleja
Yoshimoto Nara
Szabolcs Bozo
Jordi Ribes
Hebru Brantley
Jonas Wood

The truth about the art market today is that although the top artists and their works keep rising in price, the overall art market is in a long-term decline according to the data collected by Resch. This means that everyone is trying to invest in those top famous, ‘hot’ artists while the rest of the art market is stuck in limbo. Small art galleries often go out of business quickly. Medium-size galleries cover their overhead costs with few of them churning considerable profit. As a result of this, “the winner takes it all” mentality applies to art business as well. And the winners are the top 4 art galleries – Houser & Wirth, Gagosian, Pace Gallery and David Zwirner art gallery.

Not everyone can afford buying his next blue chip artist because those artists sell for hundreds of thousand and even millions of dollars. An alternative to art collecting of hot names is to invest in fractional shares of the most famous artists or art collections. Some companies like Masterworks allow you to invest in their collections by buying a small stake in their art that’s similar to owning shares of a company.

While Asian art collectors buy art as an investment only, the American and English markets are quite different where people buy art for other reasons but investment, which leads us to the next reason to collect art.

3. Art collecting as an adventure and legacy

If you want to enrich your soul and collect art with purpose, you can become an art collector with the goal of leaving legacy in this world. Your desire is to give back to the community because you understand the importance of art in shaping culture and humanity.

You can build an art collection that becomes influential by itself in a decade or two of art collecting without collecting heavily promoted or already “hot” artists. When your art collection has a specific purpose that’s larger than life, it can potentially have social impact for generations to come.

Look at the art collections of the past that comprise the art museums today. Those wealthy art collectors thought of the importance of the arts and built their collections to leave legacy. Mammontov, Tretyakov were Russian industrialists who collected the best realist artists working at the moment. Today you can view their collections in art museums in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia. The Flaglers, Sacklers, Gertrude Stein, Peggy Guggenheim and many more were American art collectors. The Medici family and the Italian papacy commissioned one of the best artworks in the world. Kings and queens in European countries amassed great art collections that can be enjoyed by everyone visiting art museums and palaces these days.

5 Art collecting tips:

What do you need to start collecting art?

Set a budget.
Visit artists’ studios, fairs and shows.
Educate yourself about the art styles of the past and present as well as art trends.
Decide what style of art you love or wish to collect.
Have focus on the art style and some goal in mind.
Collect art direct from artists by contacting them on social media like Instagram or Facebook.

connection-oil on canvas-24x36 inches-veronica winters — connection, oil on canvas, 24×36 inches, veronica winters

Consider other costs to start collecting art

Art collecting is fun and it’s exciting to bring new artwork home. Overtime your art collection may become of considerable size. As a result you may face considerable storage costs, art consultant fees, fees to sell or acquire fine art, taxes and insurance to pay to preserve the blue chip paintings and sculpture.

If your art collection grows and becomes quite extensive you have to consider how you’re going to live with the collection and what happens when you’re no longer here. Relatives don’t usually have the same passion for the arts and it’s your job to find the placement for your art collection if you want to keep it together. This leads to questions about the estate planning. This foundation has great resources about estate planning that you could find here: https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/professional-development. Scroll down to see all the documents.

I hope this article brings you much closer to start collecting art! Visit my art store to pick your favorite painting or email me your questions.

Other articles that might interest you:

Art Collecting for beginners: how to collect art like a pro

Art Collecting 101: 7 ways to display art beautifully at home & office

How to spot art market fraud in contemporary art world

Posted on August 17, 2023August 19, 2023 by veronica

The uncomfortable truth about the art market corruption

Is this painting great? No. Discover why we face the fraud of contemporary art every day.

This is an opinion piece that you may not agree with. I’m going to explain some art market money laundering and Ponzi schemes prevalent at the top art market today. I’m a realist artist myself and I see how the majority of talented artists can barely make a living, while others are killing it in the contemporary art market. The obvious question is why some artists are incredibly successful while the majority struggle. This question is not about feeling jealous or insecure, rather it’s about observing and understanding the driving force behind successful artists so you can make informed decisions whether you’re an artist or art collector.

The first answer to this question is relationships. Artists who grow their network and connect to the most influential art dealers, gallerists and curators in New York, LA, London and other top art destinations can become famous early in their career. Artists who get exhibited in art museums in New York stand a much better chance of growing their artistic career exponentially according to Magnus Resch, the author of “How to become a successful artist” book.

The second answer to this question- why some strange artists become famous- is art market collusion. In essence, art investors pose as art collectors. This category of art collectors want to make money by buying modern and contemporary art at the art fairs and top art galleries, hoping to flip the art in a few years making a considerable profit. This leads to some remarkable art market corruption schemes at the very top tier of the art market you can learn about in podcasts, art law books and some YouTube videos. (I’m going to mention some of them below.)

There is no art market regulation. Therefore it attracts many speculators to it. In this post, I’m going to discuss several most used art market corruption schemes, however there are many more I’m sure.

First, let’s look at the numbers because art seems to be a profitable business overall.

How big is the art market?

Despite billions made in revenue, the art market is a relatively small market if you look at the numbers in comparison to revenues of some blue chip companies. For instance, FedEx annual revenue for 2022 was $93.512B. Walmart generated over $572 billion in revenue in 2022. In its 2022 financial year, Apple reported 394.33 billion U.S. dollars in revenues. The global art market for 2022 was $67.8B.

The global art market: the art market worldwide totaled $67.8 billion in 2022, growing by 3% year-over-year and reaching its second-highest level to date, according to The Art Market 2023, authored by Dr. Clare McAndrew, Founder of Arts Economics and published by Art Basel in partnership with UBS. The US was the top market, commanding 45% of global sales by value in 2022 and growing by 8% year-on-year to reach $30.2 billion! Significant growth at the high-end of the auction market, along with some growth in dealer sales, propelled the increase.
Other art markets: The UK and China ranked second and third among global markets respectively.
Dealer sales: art dealer sales went up 7%, reaching the pre-pandemic level of $37.2 billion. Nearly two-thirds (61%) reported an increase in sales year-on-year, and a majority (58%) even saw an improvement in values over 2019. About a quarter (24%) reported a year-on-year decline in values. The return of art fairs resulted in dealers making a growing percentage of their sales at in-person events in 2022.
Online-only sales: Online fell to $11 billion, dropping 17% from their 2021 peak of $13.3 billion, though still 85% higher than in 2019. Online sales represented 16% of the art market’s 2022 sales volume overall.
Auction Houses: The strength at the top end of the art market – Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips each achieved a record high in 2022, with combined annual revenues of $17.7 billion.
Source: https://www.artbasel.com/stories/key-findings-art-market-report-2023

Top 5 art galleries in the world:

Larry Gagosian of Gagosian Gallery, 17 galleries worldwide! $1B in revenue
David Zwirner of David Zwirner Gallery, 6 locations, $1B in revenue
Manuela Hauser and Iwan Wirth of Hauser & Wirth, 10 galleries, slightly under $1B in revenue
Marc Glimcher of Pace Gallery, 6 locations, $1B in revenue
Jeffrey Deitch of Deitch Project, 2 locations, considerably under $1B in revenue

Data Source: Magnus Resch

Art market fraud at the top tier of the art world

Money corrupts people. That’s human nature. The top tier of the art market is all about making money, not selling or purchasing beautiful art. Because of deregulation and tax laws in the US, art has become a place to write off taxes or to store millions in overpriced works. Art dealers, curators, advisors and top mysterious clients all participate in these art flipping or art market tax evasion schemes to make money and to avoid paying taxes. Let me explain.

Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud in which belief in the success of a nonexistent enterprise is fostered by by the payment of quick returns to the first investors from money invested by later investors.

Art market fraud refers to deceptive and dishonest practices within the art industry that are intended to deceive, manipulate, or mislead buyers, sellers, collectors, investors, and other participants for financial gain. This type of fraud can encompass a wide range of illicit activities aimed at misrepresenting the authenticity, provenance, value, condition, or ownership of artworks.

#1 Charitable donations to art museums

Let’s look at the charity donations to art museums. These charitable contributions have several angles. In the first instance, while the artist gets zero in return from donating his art to a charity (only the cost of art supplies can be written off taxes as a business expense by the artist), the art collector can write off the entire price tag spent on art by donating it to an art museum or other non-profit organization. Yep, the artist gets nothing but the art collector is getting paid via a legit art donation.

In the second instance, charitable art donations can be good for artist’s brand name recognition. To advance artistic career, artists must receive validation by exhibiting their art at the top art museums in New York City. What does it mean exactly? Art must be chosen for shows by leading art curators working in New York. According to Magnus Resch, New York is the center of the art world and the “Holy Land” of art institutions and galleries. The Holy Land consists of Gagosian, Guggenheim Museum, MoMa, the Whitney Museum, Pace gallery and Houser & Wirth. A commercial gallery’s director representing work of such artists, would say that it’s a stamp of approval from professionals who choose the artist by merit. The more art museums the artist concurs, the more validation he receives, the much higher price of art follows. As a result, galleries sell very expensive art because of formal validation, not the aesthetic principles of art or the artistic genius. Art market ethics is questionable here.

This leads to art museum purchases or donations that raise the value of art. Nothing wrong with that, only many mega wealthy individuals sit on museums’ boards and pump the artist’s price up by giving the artist a show and then donating the art from their personal art collection to that museum at a much higher price. Donation is a tax write off. Nothing more and nothing less. Big money donations to the art museums are simple tax write offs. Plus you get your name written on a bench or a plaque. How exciting!

donation to charity law — **Donation to charity:** Another means by which a taxpayer can shelter income is to donate appreciated property. If, for example, an individual is lucky enough to purchase a valuable work of art for an amount less than its fair market value, he or she may hold the piece for one year and then donate it to a qualified charity. The tax deduction which may be taken for this donation is based on the fair market value of the work on the date of the donation. As discussed in Section C of this chapter, valuation is an important consideration and a substantial penalty can be imposed if an underpayment of tax occurs as a result of overvaluation.
A taxpayer may take this donation concept one step further and set up a systematic plan of donations involving limited edition prints or books. In this situation, the investor purchases the prints, probably at a discount, or the books at cost, holds them for 12 months plus one day, then donates them to museums or charities. He or she then may take a charitable deduction in the amount of fair market value of the prints on the date of contribution and in the amount of retail list price of the books. However, two revenue rulings make it clear that the investor’s activity with respect to these types of art shelters makes him or her substantially equivalent to a dealer who sells the objects in the ordinary course of a trade or business. Rev. Rul. 79-419, 1979-2 C.B, 107. *Source: Art Law in a nutshell by L. DuBoff, 4th edition.*

ingres-Princesse-de-Broglie-1853-closeup-the-met-best-art-museums — Art: Ingres, Princesse de Broglie,1853, closeup, the MET

#2 How some obscure artists become famous.

Do you ever wonder how some strange art gets popular among the elite and good art remains in the shadows? Here is how you can become a famous artist participating in art market money laundering. Say, a wealthy person X must write off millions to avoid paying a big tax. So he must own an expensive painting, say a $15 million one without spending that much money on it. That wealthy person finds an underrepresented artist and buys some of his art for a few thousand dollars. But how do you make a $1k painting worth $10 million? Here is how. Such people are usually well connected and either already have or will find necessary people in the art world to realize their scheme. It means finding high end curators, appraisers and gallery owners who can decide on pricing of art. If the artist is underrepresented, they can’t justify price increase without a reason. Therefore they do something like this.

The unknown artist gets a massive marketing boost by hiring a PR firm to promote the artist’s work. These PR agencies place the artist in top publications, magazines and art influencer accounts using their connections. After a while, the artist gets a show at a high-end gallery where the right people shop for art at high prices. This process gives lots of credibility and social proof to the artist. As a result the unknown artist becomes “hot” as his artwork gets continuously promoted. The appraisers can put a high price on art from now on. At about that moment, the wealthy person X would cash in on his original investment because the art was purchased for pennies and sold for thousands. The investment is worth a million or two and can be donated to a setup charity. By spending some money on art and promotion, the artificially raised price becomes income after donation giving the investor profit not to spend it on taxes.

A variation of this business practice is when a ‘hot’ artist gets flipped a lot for higher prices in a pyramid-like scheme.

The most recent example of this Ponzi scheme is New York art advisor Lisa Schiff. She has got a lawsuit where two plaintiffs allege that she owes them $1.8 million related to the sale of a painting by famous Romanian artist Adrian Ghenie (b.1977). Ghenie is a hot artist represented by one of four top galleries-Pace. According to the Artnet news, the record for a Ghenie work sold at auction is $10.3 million for Pie Fight Interior 12 (2014), sold at Christie’s Hong Kong in May 2022. This lawsuit opened a can warms exposing Schiff’s business model of flipping art for profit for many years! In this particular case,

In 2021, Schiff told Barasch and Grossman that a Ghenie painting, Uncle 3 (2019), was available for purchase. After discussions they agreed to buy the painting. Barasch took a 50 percent share and Grossman and his spouse each acquired a 25 percent interest. No one got the art as it was shipped to a storage unit in Delaware. Source: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/art-advisor-lisa-schiff-hit-with-lawsuit-art-flipping-deal-2300709

Next year, the plaintiffs agreed to resale the art with the help of Lisa Schiff. They agreed on price of art – $2.5 million and to split the proceeds, after a commission to Schiff of $250,000. The art was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong and the sellers received $450,000. Schiff got the commission. The rest of the money, which was $1.8 million were never wired to the sellers by Schiff, hence the lawsuit.

The art world knows Lisa Schiff, an art advisor to the rich in New York who worked with high- profile clients. She was a well-connected, influencer seen at art fairs, on museum boards, and in New York and LA, running her upscale business from a gallery in Tribeca. Schiff was frequently quoted as an expert in the art press, until the day the lawsuit dropped accusing her of running a Ponzi scheme flipping really expensive art from one buyer to the next.
What’s common among such schemers like Bernie Madoff* or Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is their low sense of consciousness and unbelievably lavish lifestyle. Schiff maintained her business model and lavish lifestyle for many years at the expense of those art collectors/investors who chased hot contemporary artists to get a lucrative return on their investment within a few years.

*Bernie Madoff, a prominent New York financier, pleaded guilty in 2009 to running a Ponzi scheme that resulted in as much as $20 billion in cash losses and $65 billion in paper losses. He was sentenced to 150 years in prison and died in April 2021 at age 82. Sam Bankman-Fried’s case is ongoing in 2023.

#3 Art purchase as a bribe and exchange for a valuable position

In this art market money laundering scheme, you usually see inflated art prices on art selling at a high-end art gallery where an “art collector” comes in and purchases art in exchange for a big favor or a valuable position within the government or other entity. The Hunter Biden case illustrates this concept perfectly. I’m not going to discuss the political views and implications here, rather I’d like to focus on the art corruption scheme itself.

In this particular case, the art gallery sold Hunter Biden’s art to some art collectors for 1.3 million dollars. According to the Insider, one art collector bought 11 artworks for $875,000 according to the Insider. Upon close investigation, the names of at least two people who were art collectors became known- Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali & Kevin Morris. Eight months later after the Hunter Biden’ solo show opening, Joe Biden-the president- put Naftali to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad.

This case illustrates how valuable positions can be sold when you can’t do a simple money transfer in exchange for it.

This was first published in Insider on July 24,2023 by M. Schwartz. You can read the full article here: https://www.businessinsider.com/hunter-biden-joe-artwork-berges-gallery-elizabeth-hirsh-naftali-2023-7

#4 Murky Pricing at high-end galleries

Pricing is murky. When you enter a top art gallery, you won’t see prices for art sold at the gallery. When you go to Miami Art Basel, you see very few art galleries displaying prices on walls next to paintings. There is no art market transparency. Shrouded in mystery, prices are not publicized by dealers for a reason. Price varies depending on your looks and status.

Hot artists are not sold to first-come, rich art collectors. If you just walk in wishing to buy a particular hot artist, you’d be placed on a wait list with a promise that you need to buy a “less hot” artist first. Hot artists are sold to the most known art collectors first to bump up the price further.

art miami 2018_ron isaacs — Ron Isaacs, 3D wall art at Miami Art Context 2018

#5 Freeports

Freeports, also known as Free Trade Zones or Free Economic Zones, are specialized facilities that provide secure and tax-advantaged environments for the storage, trade, and exhibition of valuable assets, including art, collectibles, and luxury goods. These areas are typically located within a country’s borders but are considered to be outside its customs territory. Freeports offer various benefits, such as exemption from customs duties, taxes, and stringent regulations that would normally apply to imports and exports. In other words, the simplest way to use freeports is not to pay a sales tax on sold art by storing it in freeports, which speaks volumes of art market tax evasion.

Freeports have gained prominence as a solution for wealthy individuals, collectors, galleries, and art institutions seeking a secure and flexible space to store and manage their valuable artworks. They offer a range of services beyond simple storage, such as conservation, restoration, cataloging, and even private viewing rooms for potential buyers or patrons. These facilities are equipped with state-of-the-art security systems, climate control, and specialized expertise to ensure the preservation of delicate and valuable art pieces. The example of such facility is shown in the Tenet movie.

The primary advantage of using freeports for art storage is the ability to defer tax payments and customs duties until the items are brought back into the domestic market or are sold. This art market tax evasion feature can be particularly beneficial for collectors who acquire artworks from various parts of the world and wish to avoid immediate taxation or customs complications. It also allows for more fluid movement of art across international borders for exhibitions, auctions, and art fairs. Examples are:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Freeport

Geneva Freeport (Switzerland): One of the most famous freeports for art storage is the Geneva Freeport. Located in Switzerland, it offers secure and climate-controlled spaces for storing high-value assets, including artworks, fine wines, and precious metals. The Geneva Freeport gained notoriety for its confidentiality and lack of transparency regarding the ownership of stored items, making it a popular choice for individuals and institutions looking to keep their collections discreet.
Singapore Freeport (Singapore): The Singapore Freeport is strategically positioned in Asia and serves as a hub for art storage and trading in the region. It provides specialized facilities for storing art, precious metals, and other valuable assets. The Singapore Freeport is known for its stringent security measures, advanced technology, and favorable tax policies.
Luxembourg Freeport (Luxembourg): The Luxembourg Freeport is another significant player in the world of art storage. It offers a range of services beyond storage, including customs clearance, art logistics, and private viewing rooms. The facility’s location within Europe makes it an attractive option for art dealers and collectors seeking a central point for their art transactions. The LUXEMBOURG HIGH SECURITY HUB is a 22,000 m2, 4-story building with beautiful architecture. The facility has 24h-security and offers storage rooms, vaults and safes of custom sizes. https://lux-hsh.com/luxembourg/

In recent years, freeports have faced criticism and increased scrutiny due to concerns about money laundering, tax evasion, and lack of transparency regarding the ownership of stored assets. Some countries have taken steps to address these issues by implementing stricter regulations and transparency measures within their freeport systems.

This video gives a good overview of freeports to store super expensive artworks as means of tax evasion. It also explains some schemes in art fraud, manipulation, and price gauging. It explains some shady financial setups for trafficking of cultural assets through shale companies and freeports. For example, according to this video it’s estimated that the Nahmad family of art dealers stores over 4 billion in art at the Geneva freeport. Art Basel is the place for art dealers to make business.

Sometimes you can see the depiction of freeports in movies. They show such facilities where valuable items, like art can be stored, traded, or showcased. Some movies include:

“No Time to Die” (2021): In the James Bond film “No Time to Die,” there is a scene set in a fictional Cuban Freeport where a valuable art collection is stored. This location plays a significant role in the plot of the movie.
“The Thomas Crown Affair” (1999): This remake of the 1968 film features a scene set in a freeport where the wealthy protagonist stores his art collection, including stolen pieces. The freeport becomes a focal point in the investigation of a major art heist.
“Rush Hour 3” (2007): In this action-comedy film, there is a sequence set in a French customs warehouse that operates as a kind of freeport. The film’s protagonists discover valuable artworks stored there as part of the plot.
“The Good Liar” (2019): While the film primarily revolves around a con artist and his schemes, there is a scene involving a high-security storage facility in London that serves as a freeport for valuable items.
“Duplicity” (2009): This movie involves corporate espionage and features a subplot that revolves around a secure storage facility where high-value products are kept. While not a traditional freeport, the concept is similar.
“Danny Collins” (2015): While not the main focus of the film, there is a scene set in a storage facility where valuable items, including artworks, are stored. This scene contributes to character development and plot progression.

**“Tenet” (2020):** In Christopher Nolan’s movie Tenet, the protagonist travels back in time to the freeport in Oslo airport. The Protagonist approaches Sator’s wife who is an art appraiser. She sold Sator a forged Goya drawing for $9 million. As a result, Sator uses that forged drawing to blackmail her. The Protagonist plots to steal the drawing from a freeport facility visiting it as a potential art collector.

While freeports don’t play a central role in the movies, they serve as intriguing settings for some movie scenes or plot developments. Keep in mind that movies often take creative liberties, so the portrayal of freeports in these films may not fully represent the real-world complexities and operations of such facilities but somehow illustrate the nature of art market tax evasion.

#6 Art market forgery

There are numerous art market forgery schemes. While they’re somewhat different in motivation from all the previous art market collusion schemes listed, they do exist as forged art gets produced and sold to art collectors, art museums and private companies.

Art market forgery means creating or selling artworks that are falsely attributed to a well-known artist or created to imitate a particular artistic style in order to pass them off as genuine.

Misrepresentation of Provenance means providing false or fabricated ownership histories and records of an artwork’s past ownership to inflate its value or authenticity.

A very interesting documentary about a German art forger (born in 1951) who made over 35 million euros on forgeries. Because pricing of the top art market is so opaque, its sort of easy to sell art forgeries. The artist and his wife kept selling forgeries until their mid. sixties!

A single parent with two young children, the art forger made a living lying confidently about almost everything. He not only forged the modern art but also inserted forged provenances into the catalogs of the Tate museum’s archive. Amazing!!!

#7 Art Philanthropy

What is philanthropy? The original meaning of this word gets corrupted by human nature. Philanthropy raises the person’s profile. It also looks great on paper when the philanthropist is giving money to the foundations. The only problem is that that philanthropist controls the foundation behind the scenes. If it’s an LLC, these companies make and spend money as they want. During the money transfer to the foundation they get a tax break for a charitable contribution. In reality it’s same old tax evasion. If registered as charity, philanthropists donate to both nonprofit and for profit companies with direct interest in those companies that make them money. It’s a business, not philanthropy.

**Tax Shelter:** Another type of tax shelter involves an investment tax credit available under IRC § 46 for qualified rehabilitation expenditures. This is one of the few shelters which Congress appears to favor. It is a means by which the legislature can encourage rehabilitation activities that it deems beneficial. In these situations, the taxpayer deducts the tax credit directly from taxes owed. The amount of investment tax credit is 20 percent for certified historic structures and 10 percent for other qualifying structures. To qualify, most buildings must be non- residential at the time rehabilitation begins; however, certified historic buildings can be either residential or nonresidential. The building also must have been placed in service before the beginning of the rehabilitation, and it must have been substantially rehabilitated…*Source: Art Law in a nutshell by L. DuBoff, 4th edition.*

#8 Price gauging at art auction houses

Price gouging at art auction houses refers to the practice of artificially inflating the prices of artworks beyond their fair market value through various means, ultimately leading to higher auction results. This can occur due to a combination of factors, including manipulation, collusion, hype generation, and unethical practices by auction houses, bidders, or intermediaries involved in the art market. While not all art auction houses engage in price gouging, instances of such behavior can undermine the transparency and integrity of the art market.

Methods of Price Gouging:

Shill Bidding: Auction houses might use “shills,” which are individuals posing as legitimate bidders, to drive up the bidding and create an illusion of high demand. Shill bidders artificially increase the price of an artwork, encouraging genuine bidders to offer higher bids.
Pre-Arranged Sales: Some artworks might be sold privately before an auction but are then presented as fresh-to-market items. This tactic can create the perception of high demand and value, leading to increased bidding during the auction.
Chandelier Bidding: Auctioneers might falsely claim to have received bids from the audience, inflating the price of an artwork even if no actual bids were placed. This technique encourages real bidders to compete at higher price points.
Limited Information: Auction houses might withhold relevant information about the artwork’s condition, provenance, or authenticity, leading to higher prices based on incomplete or misleading information.
Hype Generation and Marketing: Auction houses often use elaborate marketing campaigns, glossy catalog descriptions, and celebrity endorsements to generate hype around certain artworks or artists. This can create an atmosphere of excitement and exclusivity, driving up demand and subsequently inflating prices.

Price gouging can have many negative consequences for the art market that include loss of trust of collectors and investors, loss of value of art, and damaged reputation of houses, dealers, etc.

Other art market scams:

In addition to price gauging, you must be aware of Online Auction Scams. These scams involve posting fake listings on online auction platforms, often using stolen images, to deceive potential buyers into making payments for nonexistent artworks. There are also scams involving undisclosed restoration or damage. The scammers conceal the fact that an artwork has undergone restoration or repair, or downplaying the extent of damage, in order to sell it at a higher price. Some art market participants also give false appraisals. By providing inaccurate or inflated appraisals of an artwork’s value to deceive buyers or lenders for financial gain. Finally, some can forge the Certificates of Authenticity by creating counterfeit certificates of authenticity or manipulating genuine certificates to falsely authenticate an artwork. Obviously, it leads to financial losses and legal battles by the art collectors.

In conclusion

You can call me cynical or too ironic describing the art world. After all it’s a web of connected art dealers, auctioneers, appraisers, art critics, influencers and gallerists – all participating in the art market collusion. My point is that art has nothing to do with art. All of these art market money laundering schemes are real and some thrive because of legit tax code in the US. Art as an investment is for people to do just that. To put money to work. Yes, they all say that they love and enjoy looking at art. Perhaps. And so many really talented artists live and work on the sidelines of these marketing machines and have no way of receiving a” stamp of approval” to either confirm or raise the value of their art.
Until the day we have a new voting system in place where people vote after seeing new shows or recent acquisitions at the art museums, nothing would change. We will continue to be mesmerized by exuberant pricing and ugly “art” hung in institutions telling us what’s great and what’s not. They will make you believe something that’s not true. You will continue being confused about what you’re seeing, saying to yourself that you don’t understand art.

The sad part is that the average Joe and Jane pay their taxes to support the government spending while wealthy people who can really contribute to the well-being of our society avoid doing just that.

If you’re an artist and want to take part in this marketing machine, now you know what to do. You can try getting into the shows at the art museums in New York or connect to a powerful player in the artworld who would promote your art.

As a side note, you can read about various cases and corruption schemes in this book. It’s a great read to understand other art-related issues as well. Art Law in a Nutshell, 6th Edition https://amzn.to/3Ds3SmJ Art Law in a Nutshell presents an overview of the legal issues concerning art. It covers the definition of art, and the theft and movement of art in wartime and peacetime. It examines the business of art for artists, dealers, museums, and collectors, including art as an investment, auctions, authentication, insurance, tax issues for artists and collectors, working artist issues, and aid to the arts. It also explains the intellectual property issues of copyright, trademark, moral rights and economic rights, right of publicity, and First Amendment freedom of expression rights. The latest introduction was written by a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals judge who actually wrote at least one of the opinions discussed in the book.

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ART WYNWOOD 2023: the sudden rise of commercial, mind-blowing art that changes the game in art collecting

Posted on February 19, 2023November 23, 2023 by veronica

Leo Manelli at art wynwood 2023-veronica winters art blog — Leo Manelli, Bel-Air Fine Art Gallery at Art Wynwood 2023 (price estimate 6000-12000 euros)

On February 16, 2023, ART WYNWOOD kicked off its 10th edition with exuberant crowds, diverse art and energetic vibe. Held during the presidents day weekend, the art fair welcomed art collectors big and small to enjoy art, cocktails and trendy hangout. Smaller than the CONTEXT Art Miami, this winter art fair was held in the same spot – One Herald Plaza @ NE 14th Street, on Biscayne Bay, Downtown Miami. Thursday’s VIP Preview benefited The Bass – Miami Beach’s contemporary art museum.

MARCO GRASSI HOFA gallery at art wynwood miami — Marco Grassi, HOFA gallery at Art Wynwood Miami

broken koons balloon dog sculpture-veronica winters art blog — During the opening night -VIP preview-someone knocked off Jeff Koons’s shiny balloon dog sculpture made of glass. Staff was very quick to take care of it and the crowd dissolved as quickly as it appeared around the broken sculpture. The gallery that displayed the balloon sculpture was also quick to delete the entry in the computer. Bel-Air Fine Art continued to show art that evening and no one seemed to be asked to pay for it. My guess, art of this kind gets insured to prevent accidents and stealing. You can see it in the video I shot displayed below.

Martín Mancera, Putin, mixed media,78in galeria casa cuadrada art wynwood- veronica winters art blog — Martín Mancera, Putin, mixed media,78in, galeria casa cuadrada, art wynwood 2023, $25000

ART WYNWOOD attracted international crowd of the rich during the opening night in downtown Miami. Some walked off their yachts to see the show, others stepped out of their winter houses to enjoy the artsy night. People with dogs, women in hats, men in colorful shirts. Hispanic. White. Black.

The most fascinating part about such art fairs is the variety of presented art. Painting, drawing, sculpture, mixed media art, light-based art, textile art, photography – these general categories take on a new life here. Walking into the art fair in Miami can be both exciting and draining seeing so much art at once. Cutting-edge, contemporary art often tests the limits of what’s possible, appropriate or imaginable. Attracting wealthy viewers from afar, most paintings are very large to occupy the white walls at the fair. In fact, some art won’t fit your regular living room wall. They range from 50 to 80 inches in length. That’s how big those artworks are. Sculpture is often a hard-sell in a commercial gallery but it doesn’t seem to be the case here. It’s quite impressive to observe an array of subjects, materials and sizes presented at the Art Wynwood.

Jorge Jiménez Deredia, Capullo, marble sculpture, Contessa gallery at ART WYNWOOD

vladimir kush, kush fine art gallery at art wynwood — Vladimir Kush, Kush Fine Art gallery at Art Wynwood

Art Galleries

Art Wynwood showcased contemporary art from more than 50 established and emerging international galleries. The galleries included the following:

Aldo Castillo gallery: Aldo presented Daniele Fortuna who uses a variety of materials to create the the sculptures so they can be touched.
Blink Group Fine Art presented Hebru Brantley’s fiberglass and acrylic sculpture that borders childhood memories, pop-up culture, shiny colors and Hero narratives.
Bel-Air Fine Art showed Leo Manelli’s acrylic paintings that combine classical art with contemporary pop culture.
Chase Contemporary: RISK debuted four new Virtual Reality graffiti prints, which come to life through the screen when activated via a phone camera.
Heitsch Gallery showed Eike König, whose sarcastic social commentary is internationally recognized.
Liquid Art System presented hyperrealist art by Attilio Cianni and sculptures by Peter Demetz.
Cernuda Arte presented works from 20th century modern artists Wifredo Lam and Carlos Alfonzo.
Contessa gallery showed Jorge Jiménez Deredia‘s sculpture.
HOFA gallery presented popular Italian artist Marco Grassi who creates big figurative abstractions in gold and silver leaf, paint and resin.
Quidley & Company showcased a variety of wall art.
Goldman Global Arts Gallery presented a collection of 15 artworks by artists, including Leon Keer, Hebru Brantley, Dan Kitchener, Kai, and Okuda.
Kush Fine Art Gallery presented paintings and sculptures of Russian-American artist Vladimir Kush who works in metaphorical realism combining surrealism and natural elements.
Laurent Marthaler showcased new works from Swiss artists Crystel Ceresa and Daniel Cherbuin.
Avant Gallery presented Tim Tadder’s works created with Artificial Intelligence.

christian alexander albarracin-paper sculpture-blink group gallery-art wynwood — Christian Alexander Albarracin, paper sculptures, Blink group gallery at Art Wynwood

hijack-got your nose, contessa gallery, art wynwood — Hijack, got your nose, mixed media on wood cut, $62000, Contessa gallery, Art Wynwood 2023

DANIELE FORTUNA, girl with a pearl earring, aldo castillo gallery-art wynwood 2023 — DANIELE FORTUNA, girl with a pearl earring, 27x17x26, acrylic and mixed media on wood, $8500, Aldo Castillo Gallery, Art Wynwood 2023

Jorge Jiménez Deredia, gemelos, sideview, bronze sculpture-contessa gallery-art wynwood-veronica winters art blog — Jorge Jiménez Deredia, Gemelos, sideview, bronze sculpture, $65000, Contessa gallery at Art Wynwood

joe black, beautiful game, plastic flowers side-eternity gallery miami-art wynwood — Joe Black, Beautiful Game, plastic flowers, eternity gallery Miami, Art Wynwood 2023

Leo Manelli, acrylic painting, Bel-Air Fine Art Gallery at Art Wynwood 2023

attilio cianni art wynwood 2023 — Attilio Cianni, Liquid Art System Gallery at Art Wynwood 2023

Eddy Maniez.Fr- Moon Fish, resin,crystal silicone-gallery got-art wynwood — Eddy Maniez.Fr- Moon Fish, resin, crystal silicone, Galerie Got at Art Wynwood

roberto fabelo-a bit of us-art wynwood — Roberto Fabelo, a bit of us, bronze sculpture, 44x30x21, $145000, 6 of 7, Cernuda Arte gallery

This is a visual summary of my visit to the Art Wynwood art fair in Miami, February 2023

Location:

Tickets are: VIP-$225, General admission – $36.50, Senior/Student-$25. Garage parking is $30

http://www.artwynwood.com | February16-19, 2023 | Location: The Art Wynwood Pavilion, One Herald Plaza @ NE 14th Street, on Biscayne Bay between the Venetian Causeway & MacArthur Causeway, Downtown Miami

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Why Artists Create

Posted on November 7, 2022October 22, 2024 by veronica

Why Do Artists Create Art? Online Group Exhibition

I’d like to thank all the artists who entered this competition and all the sponsors who support the artists. Please visit the sponsors via the links shown below.

Written by Veronica Winters, MFA | Edited by Vladislav Fomitchev

You might think that artists create art for a variety of reasons. We find an outlet to communicate our ideas, to express our emotions, to capture a moment in time, to tell a story, or to bring inspiration and joy into people’s lives. Some artists create art to make money, while most artists produce art to express their soul and talent because they feel a pure need to create.

Learning to express ourselves visually is a need. Without having this deep drive to create the artist may remain just a skilled illustrator or a good craftsman. Many artists experience the urgency to paint especially when they’re deprived of it for quite some time.
Most artists feel the need to paint because doing art is freeing. It fixes our inner yearning and heals our pain. Artists often paint to fill a void inside them because creatives process emotions visually. To develop a unique visual language, every artist must do a deep dive inside his soul to understand his Why. Why do you create what you create? What does it accomplish? What do you want others to see in your artwork? These are the questions that are always there for the creatives to think about. After all, that’s how the artist discovers his purpose and meaning as well as the meaning behind his own creations.

Artists enjoy the process of creation so much that they commit to spending years learning the craft. It’s often not enough to have a 4-year college degree to master the skill and develop a unique vision. But because artists can’t live without art just like you can’t live without your heart, they are driven to produce art.
Many artists create art in progression of skill and personal growth. Artists keep painting, sculpting, and writing to make this world less dark and more beautiful. As art brings beauty home, artists paint emotions, not subjects or objects. And that’s the reason why you can really fall in love with a piece. You connect to it emotionally.
Since the 19th century, artists have gained freedom to create personal art that was very different from expected religious scenes, formal portraiture, and mythological illustrations. Stepping away from widely accepted academic painting, many new art styles have emerged since. Art Nouveau, Impressionism, Cubism, abstraction, surrealism, art installation, photography, new media and so many more!

The freedom of artistic voice is almost always affected by external culture. Why do we look at human history through ancient objects, architecture and painting? Early excavations, Renaissance masters, modern art… Art is never created in a void. Yes, it expresses emotion but it also comments on fashion, culture, events or political divisions in society. Sometimes it becomes a propaganda tool to express the political and economic glory of a nation.

Art is a visual language that’s often taken for granted because it’s all around us. However, if you remove every picture, poster, cover, book, sculpture, movie, cartoon, song just for one day you’ll experience a profound lack of beauty, thought, and inspiration. Art is a mirror for your soul. It’s a place to see your true self. It’s a depiction of feelings we often hide, suppress, or don’t even think about.

How long did it take you to paint this?

All artists get one question they may or may not find exciting. Viewers often try to start a conversation with this question. Artists either try to calculate the hours spent painting the art or get upset by the very nature of this question because the number of hours may not reflect all the unseen work, and sweat spent in the trenches learning the craft.
Don’t ask the artist how long he painted the art, ask him why he painted it. A lot of creatives need to process this question in their mind and heart themselves! This is the most fascinating part about creation. Artists produce something beautiful out of “nothing.” Understanding that space is peeking into the artist’s heart and mind. When I look at someone’s art, I also see how deep the artist travels inside himself. If there is exploration of feelings, social themes or intelligence. Painting is simply a journey into the artist’s soul. It’s an invitation to look into yourself without saying a word and to make personal discoveries. This in turn enriches our soul giving more meaning to what we do in our work.

When you see great art in a museum, you want to come back to it to experience it again, to find something exciting in it. The same painting can give you a different meaning, feeling, or story. It can make you look at life a bit differently. It can make you laugh or cry but it can’t leave you indifferent. While the curation of our taste in art comes from our knowledge and understanding of art history, art collecting should be about emotion, aesthetics, and the joy of appreciating beautiful work. By bringing art home you fill the need for beauty and emotion but you also make a difference in an artist’s life. You give the artists more reasons to create art and develop their vision and skill.

While there’s a lot of speculation at the top tier of the art market, most artists produce art to say something personal as opposed to making a quick buck. While top art collectors purchase art as an investment, most artists feel their art is getting devalued by daily offers of free work for ’’exposure’’ or with why-is-it-so-expensive questions. Even though they need it to continue painting, artists often search for meaning and beauty, not money. The dream of every artist is to keep creating and get paid for all their unseen work that can’t be measured in standard terms… To make a living, yes, but an artist’s real dream is to create art that touches your soul or makes a positive change in your life.

Nicole Finger

Award: Gift Certificate from Jerry’s Artarama

Making art has always been my most natural mode of expression. Creating something with my hands, eyes and mind always could be more highly curated than letting thoughts spill out of my mouth! I create because it has become habitual, meditative and satisfying. Harnessing creativity in both the process and end product is purely selfish; it fulfills a sense of productivity and feels like a daily hit of serotonin!

Barb Sotiropoulos

Award: digital subscription to the Colored Pencil Magazine

I have never known a time in my life when I wasn’t creating art in some way. There were seasons when I was able to create more abundantly than others, but I have always been driven to do something creative. In the times that I wasn’t creating as much art something always felt off or unnatural. I believe that artists are creative to their core and that when we aren’t making art our spirits often feel out of alignment. I endeavor to explore the themes and stories that I see in my head through my artwork. Often when these stories and themes find me they will haunt me until I create them. It’s almost as if they need to be born into the world somehow. As artists, I believe we are the conduits to make that happen. I create for myself, my spirit and to hopefully connect with others by experiencing the work I create.

Ali Rouse

Award: Gift Certificate from Jerry’s Artarama

I create as I don’t know how to exist without creating. It is as breathing. Beauty is creation and creations surrounds us everywhere.

Nancy Jacey

Award: Gift Certificate from Jerry’s Artarama

Every day I wake up inspired by the world around us: the colors, details and elements that make up our surroundings. I am fascinated by life’s details, and I like to reflect this in my everyday life and in my career as an artist. I constantly study and photograph the world around us and use these references and experiences in my artwork and in my teaching.

I like to vividly capture these personal interactions and bring them to life for my audience in large-scale oil, acrylic and colored pencil paintings. I work as a full-time artist, mother, small business owner and private art instructor.

Kimberly Raboin

Award: digital subscription to the Colored Pencil Magazine

I create art because I want to capture the beauty of the natural world and also communicate inner experiences and emotions. Recently I’ve been practicing realism with colored pencil and my subject matter has been landscapes. In my landscape work I’ve tried to capture the beauty of places I’ve visited, and also the feelings I experienced while there. My hope is that my recent landscapes convey a sense of vastness and serenity.

My most recent colored pencil drawing ‘Wings of Renewal’ combines my love of landscapes with symbolism. The butterfly in this piece is a symbol of transformation and change. I hope to create more work that combines realism and symbolism.

Dean Rogers

Award: digital subscription to Create! Magazine

This piece represents the culmination of a lifetime of work. The books in the background are the inspiration for an incredible amount of artwork, as well as the series I’ve been creating for the last 5 years.

This series, “Fantasy Meets Reality” is about fantasy creatures who have crossed over into our world. I wanted to create a scene involving a fairy, and I couldn’t think of a better modern fairy pastime than reading relatively recent fantasy novels.

She is using a cell phone like a computer, and she is asking her friends if they would like to go see the movie “Enchanted” which directly inspired me to create this series.

Denise Howard

Gift Certificate from Jerry’s Artarama

I create for many reasons, but perhaps the most important one, and the one behind “Faith’s End,” is that I want people to stop and think, and come away with more than “that’s a pretty picture”.

Visual art has a power where words sometimes fail. Rather than hit the viewer over the head with an obvious message, which they might reject outright, I want them to use their imagination a bit to figure out what’s going on in the picture, what it means to them, and how it makes them feel. If it resonates with them, so much the better. I’ve spent a lot of years developing my skills, so I’d be lazy if I only used them for easily forgotten “pretty pictures”.

Kerry Simmons

Award: $100 Gift Certificate from Ampersand

I find joy and satisfaction in the act of creating. I see every new sheet of paper, or canvas as an opportunity to create something new, bring something into existence that is both my point of view and inspired by the work of other artists and the world around me. When I am painting or drawing I am able to let go of my worries and fears and just be in the moment. I’ve noticed time even operates at a different pace. If I’m thoroughly engrossed in what I am creating, time just whips by. I think for me, being able to create art has been an enormous gift, joy and comfort. One could also say it’s simply a compulsion as I can’t imagine life without it!

Dorian Vallejo

Award: digital subscription to Create! Magazine

This drawing is from a small sketchbook which I used to work from life in the warmer months. Working this way puts me in direct contact with a poetry of life that informs all the work I do. This practice sensitizes me to the beauty nature offers us on a regular basis. Most importantly, it also informs me of how that beauty can be used as a metaphor for the Good.

Ranjini Venkatachari

Award: digital subscription to Create! Magazine

When I discovered the art of Origami and how I can incorporate it in my Trompe-l’oeil still life, my work took a different trajectory. My usual collectors stopped buying my art because I didn’t make pretty still life’s using flowers or fruits anymore. I was discouraged, disappointed, I stopped drawing for a while too. But then I realized I stopped living as well. I was procrastinating, didn’t want to move out of my comfort zone I realized I stopped growing, that’s when I came across the concept of Dharma & Ikigai.

Dharma, is an ancient Sanskrit word that roughly translates to a soul’s purpose in life-the big reason why we are here, and it’s not just what we do, but how we do it, and why we do it. Ikigai is a similar Japanese concept on giving a person purpose life and living. I decided to draw for myself and that completely changed the way I looked at my own work. For me, art is the only reason to get out of my bed each morning and look forward to the rest of my life. I guess that’s how it is for the most of us artists, it’s our primal instinct without which we cannot survive. So I create in order to live my life to the fullest with a purpose.

Traci Wright Martin

Award: digital subscription to the Colored Pencil Magazine

In all my years as an artist, I have spent the most time in an evolving exploration of the portrait. I am fascinated by people and their complex individuality. I marvel at the ability to build strong community by way of the smallest thread of commonality. It is my hope that each and every viewer finds a little point of connection or sees themselves somewhere in my work.

With these ideas in mind, the overall narrative in each series I create weaves in and out of a conversation on perspective and representation. Combined with charcoal drawing as the anchor, I carefully select colorful pastels, patterned papers, and paint techniques to further the themes and create a recognizable, unique identity for my body of work.

Dr. Carla René

Award: digital subscription to Color Crush Course

Long before “realism” was a genre in art, I described my artist self as “an arm with a camera on the end of it”. As a child, I was fascinated that the artist could possess the skill that would mimic the accuracy of a photograph so no one could tell the difference.
Now as an adult, an astrophysicist, and mathematician, the laws of physics show this mysterious symbiotic relationship is possible, so I strive to prove this on a personal level through every piece I produce. I have also developed an original technique using only standard CPs that emulates watercolors, since my attempt to learn them was disastrous. As my confidence grows, I’m able to explore my love of physics by experimenting with chemically-diverse tools. I AM a woman in STEM, and proud. I want to encourage others to find the joy of science, tech, engineering & math as I did.

I’d like to thank all the sponsors of this art competition. Please follow the links to discover awesome products they offer for artists to be creative!

What is NFT art?

A non-fungible token or NFT is a digital collectible. NFT is a proof of ownership of something in a digital format (similar to a certificate of authenticity for a work of art). Unique NFT is recorded on blockchain as a smart contract, mainly the Ethereum. When it’s put on the blockchain, it’s price history and provenance become authenticated. Unlike in traditional art market, the record is transparent of all transfers, pricing and sales on blockchain. NFT’s could be digital files of original paintings, songs, documents or mainly digital art and animated art. Each non-fungible token is unique. Just like a unique painting can’t be exchanged with its reproductions, the NFTs are also non-fungible. They also give legal rights to the owner of the specific NFT. They are stored in a digital wallet.

So those who buy a specific NFT become the owners of it until they resell it ( which gets recorded on the blockchain insuring transparency of price and ownership). Once the sale goes through, the artist gets royalties from each new transaction. Main beneficiaries of re-sales are digital and animation artists. Traditional artists can also mint NFT’s of their art. My art as NFTs is available here: https://opensea.io/collection/veronicawinters

It’s obvious that when NFT art sells for millions it becomes a new form of investment. Just like buying Picasso to hold and resell it at a later date, some buy NFTs for millions. Hence we arrive at crazy pricing for one-f-a-kind digital products.

2021 is a year of explosive growth

what is nft — Cryptokitties NFT art from Genesis digital game, photo by handout

While NFTs have existed for several years, the 2021 became the year of explosive growth. At the end of 2017, the first NFT – a digital cat from Genesis sold for $117,000. The game allows players to collect and breed unique digital cats on the blockchain (https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3156004/cryptokitties-beeples-crossroads-and-clips-lebron-james-dunking-nfts).

what is NFT art? — Beeple, Crossroads, NFT art sold at Christie’s, photo by handout

In March 2021, The auction house Christie’s sold a digital artwork called “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” by digital artist Beeple. It sold for$69,346,250. NFTs craze spilled over the art events during Art Basel Miami week in 2021.

According to Art News, the craze started when Christie’s sold a Beeple work worth $69 million. Sotheby’s reported a $100 million in NFT sales, helped by the the launch of its NFT marketplace, Sotheby’s Metaverse. Nearly 80 percent of the people who bought and bid there had never done so before at the house. (Overall, 39 percent of buyers and 44 percent of bidders who transacted at Sotheby’s in 2021 were newcomers.) Art News, https://www.artnews.com/art-news/market/sothebys-2021-sales-record-1234613533/

Other examples of NFTs

NFTs as sports video clips collectibles:

A company Dapper Labs works with the NBA to convert top historic moments recorded as digital short videos to the NFTs. They sell those NFTs on the NBA Top Shot marketplace like trading cards.

NFTs as first document collectible:

CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey sold his first tweet as an NFT for $2.9 million. The computer programmer-Tim Berners-Lee created an NFT of the World Wide Web’s original source code, autographed it, and sold it through Sotheby’s auction house for $5.4 million.

NFTs as unique collectible characters:

There are 10k CryptoPunks collectibles created and resold on the Ethereum blockchain. They are 24×24 pixel art images, generated algorithmically. All of them have already been claimed for free and they’re getting sold and resold now. You can view and buy them here: https://www.larvalabs.com/cryptopunks

Largest sales of Cryptopunks NFTs as of January 2022

NFTs as art collectibles from oil paintings:

Serge Marshennikov is a well-known Russian realist artist who creates figurative art, painting seminude figures of young women. His NFT’s can be found here: https://opensea.io/assets/0x495f947276749ce646f68ac8c248420045cb7b5e/2321015729488442568237834758686003406737920752444130988804117818945702985828

NFTs as photography collectibles:

Numerous collections of photographs are available for sale as NFTs.

NFTs as music collectibles:

You can bid on to buy music and songs that can include a 24 bit Mastered WAV file and full song stems. It could also be a pack of audio-visual NFTs.

The Metaverse or virtual worlds

The crazy part about this blockchain technology is that art collectible NFTs is just the beginning. The virtual worlds are emerging. Decentraland is a metaverse where users buy NFTs representing land and property. People use MANA token to buy/ sell goods and services. Inside the Decentraland metaverse you’ll find games, art galleries, and other businesses. https://decentraland.org/

You can explore digital collections and buy tokens from various games, avatars and so on. Browse examples here:

https://opensea.io/collection/virtual-worlds

Famous characters & copyright

As far as I get this, if we purchase an NFT depicting Captain America, it doesn’t mean that we own the intellectual property of Captain America, just like we don’t own copyright on a purchased print of the hero. We own the print only. The copyright belongs to the original owner of this intellectual property and if he lists it as the NFT, then he would potentially sell his ownership to the buyer of this NFT.

Who are the buyers of the NFT’s?

It appears to be the craze among younger generation of investors and enthusiasts, who are very passionate about art collecting in a digital format. There is no moving of actual products, art, framing etc. But there is this innate desire to collect something, and NFT’s seem to fit the bill. Digital art seems to get the best traction in the NFT marketplace.

astral painting contemporary art veronica winters — NFT: https://opensea.io/collection/veronicawinters | Midnight Dream, oil painting on canvas, 38 inches square, veronica winters, available

How to mint the NFT’s

You can mint the NFT’s by registering at any big platform such as OpenSea, Foundation. It may cost you a fee to mint the NFT or the cost could be passed on to the buyer. Minting requires energy consumption, which is a big concern for the environmentalists but it doesn’t affect you directly when you register and open your own NFT collection.
To create your NFT you must have an Ethereum wallet to connect it to the platform where you’ll host your account with the NFTs. Such wallets are Coinbase, MetaMask, WalletConnect, Dapper and so on. You can find a full list of accepted wallets on a platform you’d like to host your NFTs on. The hardest part is to connect the wallet to the platform. When you connect your digital wallet to OpenSea, you must pay gas fee (account registration fee) to synchronize the digital wallet with the platform (OpenSea). There is no limit on NFTs publishing with no recurring fees for artists.
Lastly you click on “create” tab on OpenSea platform, upload the image, write the description and publish it. Don’t forget to click on the “list for sale” button to make it available for purchase on the marketplace. OpenSea pays 5% in royalties when your NFT gets resold.

How to purchase NFT’s

Find a marketplace where NFTs are sold. OpenSea, Rarible (Rari token), Nifty Gateway (centralized platform where you can buy NFTs with your dollars)
Connect the digital wallet that stores your passwords to bought NFTs. (Coinbase)
Click on Marketplace to find your favorite NFT. You can “buy now” or “make an offer”. Once the offer is accepted or you buy it straight, you’ll see your purchase record under “collectibles” tab in coinbase wallet. You can also find your purchases on ‘my profile’ tab on OpenSea.

Beware of buying digital collectibles that have crazy number of editions. Just like prints, if it’s an edition of 10, 100 and 1000, its ok but if it’s an edition of 200,000, maybe it’s a good idea to pass. Also, check if the NFTs are sold by the artist and not someone else, posing as one.

Check out my collection. My art as NFTs is available here: https://opensea.io/collection/veronicawinters

Is it a bubble?

NFTs are not a fad. It’s a new asset class on the market. It’s great technology that utilizes blockchain tech. However, pricing bids on some NFTs confirm to the last stage of euphoric bull market, in my opinion. When euphoria kicks in, it ingulfs not only the stock market but also other markets. Even Melania Trump launched her own NFT platform. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/melania-trump-nft-platform-1234613890/ I think that the pricing bubble on some multi-million NFTs will burst someday and it maybe sooner than we think.

https://veronicasart.com/product-category/psychedelic-art-mandala-art/

Highlights from CONTEXT ART MIAMI 2021

Posted on December 11, 2021November 21, 2023 by veronica

Miami swells with art and artsy crowds during the first week of December every year ( with no fairs in 2020). There are several top art fairs happening in the city that bring the art lovers and professionals from all over the world. Art Fairs include the Art Basel, Scope, Miami red dot/ Spectrum, Context art Miami and some more! In addition, some hotels organize art events during this time too to draw people in. The fairs are spread out in the Miami Beach but the locations stay the same year after year.

coderch and malavia-sculpture-context art miami 2021 — Coderch and Malavia, sculpture at the Miami art fair in 2021

Miami Art Context 2021

I visited Context Art Miami during the opening hours in early December thanks to my friend Florencia. It felt like a big celebration of the arts. There were so many visitors, artists, gallerists, curators, art collectors, museum professionals and yes, celebrities visiting the fair, it almost felt crazy to experience so much energy in one place. While not every art piece was great, I loved to look at variety of contemporary art, pushing the boundaries of what art could be. I enjoyed seeing boldness and innovation, creativity, the use of textures and materials, and 3D-art.

😃 As long as artists create on this planet, we won’t be consumed by the existing darkness on Earth.💕

This is a short video shot with my phone where I tried to capture realist art as well as some innovative pieces. Some of the artists shown are: Carole Feuerman (hyperrealist sculptures), Anthony James (light sculptures), Coderch & Malavia sculptures, David Uessem, Damien Hirst, Marco Grassi and so on.

As far as I know the rules of participation for the galleries have been relaxed somewhat, which used to include the following: The gallery must have a physical location. It must be in business for over 3 years. And it must pay a hefty fee. Depending on the size of the booth, the cost of gallery participation amounts to $20,000-50,000 (Context Miami. I’m pretty sure that Art Basel is even more expensive to participate in). This doesn’t include, airfare, hotel, meals and staff salary. So you can imagine that the art shown at Art Basel reflects this pricing and not every gallery sells out… Galleries are on the hunt for top collectors, institutions and celebrities buying art from them. While there were fewer visitors than in the previous year, sales were robust according to Artsy.

Spectrum Miami review

Finally I want to mention another popular art fair- SPECTRUM Miami located in Wynwood. I mainly want to record my opinion here, so if you plan to exhibit at this fair, it might not be what you think it is, or perhaps it’s a lot more than you thought of it in the first place. I’m going to compare it to Context Miami fair. So Spectrum is all about emerging artists taking charge of their careers and exhibiting there, not the galleries working on their behalf. The space and lighting isn’t top notch. The crowd coming to the show is very different. Young, excited to go out and celebrate. My question was if there were any art collectors there at all. My guess, there were few. Of course, the cost of renting a booth is much cheaper just as the price of an entry ticket in comparison to the Context. Finally the quality of art is very different from the Context, showing young artists with most being Florida-based…Perhaps there is a lot more to the Spectrum but these are valid points to consider either visiting or exhibiting in this art fair.

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How to commission art as art collector: 8 things to know what artist needs to make a great, commissioned painting

Posted on October 29, 2021November 21, 2023 by veronica

If you’ve decided on a specific idea or want to commission a portrait painting you need to learn how to approach the artist you like. So what’s the right way of communicating your idea and understanding what the artist needs to produce a custom art piece? In this article I’d like to discuss what the artist needs from you in order to fulfill your commission.

Damien Hirst: genius or imposter? Solo show at villa Borghese in Rome

Posted on October 27, 2021November 21, 2023 by veronica

Damien Hirst show at villa Borghese in Rome

I revisited the Borghese gallery in Rome in September 2021 and saw the Damien’s solo exhibition titled “Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable.” It’s a collection of sculptural works from a fictional shipwreck off the coast of East Africa. Walking around the gallery I couldn’t but notice a thoughtful placement of the artist’s pieces in the rooms. Most fit organically into the gallery space that goes overboard with art by design. The powerful Borghese family members were avid art collectors and patrons of the arts. That’s why their exuberant art collection boasts so many masterpieces by the 16th and 17th-century artists like Caravaggio, Bernini and Canova.

Borghese gallery, Damien Hirst, the Minotaur sculpture, Archaeology Now — Borghese gallery 2021, Damien Hirst, the Grecian Nude (left) and the Minotaur (right), black granite, sculpture.

Born in 1965, Damien Hirst is a British contemporary artist who explores the theme of life and death. Because he sees no separation between life and art, this theme becomes his art, which is an amalgam of painting, sculpture and installation. The theme of death is one of the central themes in the Western art world but every artist is able to take it into a different direction…

Damien Hirst Lion Women of Asit Mayor- bronze-2012-borghese gallery-winters blog — Damien Hirst Lion, Women of Asit Mayor, bronze, 2012 at villa Borghese 2021, pictures taken by Veronica Winters

First shown in Venice in 2017, “Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable” is a show with some merit. Sculptural works utilize traditional and precious materials, such as marble, alabaster, lapis lazuli, coral, crystals, malachite and bronze. Some sculptures breathed with beauty and classicism long forgotten by the contemporary art galleries. It was fun to spot contemporary art by Hirst standing right next to the antiques of the Borghese gallery permanent collection. Some sculptures did give a feeling of rescued objects from the ocean floor as colorful barnacles and sea creatures covered the surface of many sculptures. Some body limbs were missing or got obscured by the sea overgrowth.

damien hirst_unknown pharaoh-borghese g-veronica winters blog — Damien Hirst, Unknown Pharaoh at villa Borghese. This is one of my favorite pieces seen at the gallery. There is a beautiful balance between materials, color and the form. This sculpture gives a feeling of a real piece saved from a shipwreck.

While most of it fit well within the space, the sculptures were strikingly different in the level of execution. It prompted a question who really made these artworks and how much of it was Hirst’s skill and vision. Some were very classical in nature, while others looked like the leftovers from modernism. Some sculptures were beautiful and engaging, while others looked strange and too primitive to be called ‘art’ especially in comparison to the art collection of the Borghese family.

borghese gallery-sculpture of hirst — Bronze sculpture of Hirst at the villa Borghese in 2021, This sculpture looks grotesque lacking ethereal beauty of classical art.

How original is Damien Hirst?

Hirst is the all-over-the-place artist, in my opinion. He produced a variety of art that would be frowned upon in any graduate school where consistency of theme, size, and approach is encouraged and basically required to graduate. And this is where the rules get broken… The artist rose to fame with a number of controversial art pieces. The notorious diamond scull, beautiful entomology paintings, sharks in formaldehyde, pill cabinets, dot paintings, neoclassical sculptures, installations and so much more – everything made by Hirst or it may be not.

I think it’s ok to evolve and transition into new art forms or body of works over the years as we-artists experience change and so art changes with us. However, Hirst seems to drift from one idea to the next that doesn’t have a clear connection to his previous work in either technique or vision. Usually we can see one work by the artist and recognize the “style” in subsequent works even if it’s quite different. Hirst puzzled me in this regard because his series of paintings or sculptures had no connection to each other.

Art Workshop

The exhibit made me think of a Renaissance workshop. Workshops used to be the only way of learning and training young artists in the Renaissance Italy. That’s how da Vinci painted his first angel in the Verrocchio’s painting (The Baptism of Christ, 1475, Uffizi gallery, Florence). Vision and ideas were of the master artists who painted major figures and finished paintings. Master artists worked on image designs, composition, color and so on while art students mixed paints, helped with image transferal and some underpainting. Based on presented sculptures I saw at the villa Borghese, the Damien Hirst workshop functions quite differently. The apprentices seem to be the creators.

damien hirst_Pair of Slaves Bound for Execution-painted bronze sculpture-borghese g — Damien Hirst, Pair of Slaves Bound for Execution, painted bronze sculpture at the villa Borghese

His workshop may produce all the art with some apprentices (artists) being very skillful at their task. That explains great inconsistency and variety of produced art by Damien Hirst. Painted bronze sculpture “Pair of Slaves Bound for Execution” was the most exceptional, contemporary art piece I’ve seen in a long time, showing balance, grace, and the perfection of anatomy – central to classical art. “Unknown Pharaoh” is one of my favorite pieces. There is a beautiful balance between materials, color and form. This sculpture gives a feeling of a real piece saved from a shipwreck. While another sculpture with a giant foot, squirrel and ear looks immature. The standing bronze figure of Hirst appears grotesque to me as well.

Damien Hirst-Archaeology Now at the Galleria Borghese-installation view — Damien Hirst, Archaeology Now at the Galleria Borghese-installation view (giant foot with a squirrel)

Are workshop artists mere laborers or the creators on their own right? Based on the produced and shown art at the villa Borghese, Hirst created a factory of talented artists who do all the work but marketing. And in this case it looks like marketing is everything really. Remove the name from any of these works and they won’t be fetching top dollar for art.

Now, many famous contemporary artists keep workshops. We can explore the workshops of contemporary realist artist Kehinde Wiley or the glass blower Chihuly. You can find their art pieces in many permanent, museum art collections, private art collections, hotel lobbies and so on. The key difference is that these artists are true to their unique vision and every piece feels like a continuation of the artist’s previous work. Apprentices in their workshops are the helpers, not sole creators of art. That’s my opinion of course, you may not agree with.

Damien Hirst, sculpture of a shell displayed at the villa Borghese in 2021

There is no doubt that Damien Hirst is a very smart artist. He is also a great publicity guru. He created and marketed himself as a top luxury brand for the wealthy to invest in. There is a lot to either admire or learn from this living artist. What do you think of his art? Share.

Damien Hirst, Hydra and Kali, outdoor sculpture, Borghese gallery-veronica winters blog — Damien Hirst, Hydra and Kali, sculpture displayed outdoors at the Borghese gallery

damien hirst_neptune-borghese g-veronica winters blog — Damien Hirst, Neptune, 2011 at villa Borghese

Learn more: https://damienhirst.com/

This blog is created for educational purposes with the art credited to the sited artists. All pictures are taken by Veronica Winters. The article expresses personal opinion only.

Damien Hirst sculptures at villa Borghese — Damien Hirst sculptures at the villa Borghese in Rome in 2021

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6 Tips for Arranging Wall Art in Your Home

Posted on April 16, 2021November 16, 2023 by veronica

Whether it’s your own work, a cherished gift, or an important purchase, a piece of art is one of the best ways to personalize your space. However, deciding where to place art and the best way to hang up a painting can be challenging. Thankfully, there are several rules of thumb to guide you. The following tips, along with 1stDibs’ illustrated advice on how to arrange wall art, will help you decide the perfect ways to exhibit art in your home.

1. Where to Hang Art

Small pieces look lost and awkward when placed alone on expansive walls. If you have a large wall to fill, consider finding larger works that make a statement. Alternatively, you can pair multiple small pieces together in a grid setup or gallery wall to help fill the space.

Other ways to display art include propping them up on a mantelpiece or floating shelf. This approach allows you to easily move pieces around without damaging the wall.

2. Plan your art wall display

One of the best things you can do before hanging wall art is to make a solid plan. There are several great methods of envisioning pieces on a wall before hanging them up.

First, you can try out art visualizer tools and interior decorating apps on your phone that use augmented reality to show you how a painting will look on your wall. This will not only help determine the best placement for an art piece, but will also show you how the colors will either complement or clash with your existing decor. There are lots of these digital tools out there, so you can search through the app store to find the best one for your needs.

Second, you can try using kraft paper to plan an arrangement. To do this, cut out kraft paper pieces that are the same sizes as all your art pieces. Adhere the pieces of paper to the wall with painter’s tape to find an arrangement that you like. This is also a great way to experiment with spacing between pieces before you hang them up.

3. Measure your wall space, furniture & art

Spacing out art and deciding on the best height to hang pieces is sometimes a matter of intuition. However, if you’re unsure where to start, here are some suggestions.

Hang art so that the middle of the piece sits at eye level, around 57 to 60 inches above the floor. This way, people walking by will get the best possible viewing experience and won’t have to strain to see the work.

When hanging art right above a piece of furniture, such as a sofa or console table, it’s aesthetically pleasing to keep the width of the furniture wider than the art above it. A general rule is to keep art above a sofa ⅔ the width of the sofa.

What about spacing in between multiple art pieces on a wall? In general, it’s a good idea to leave anywhere from 3 to 6 inches in between the pieces.

wall art display how to measure distances in wall art displays

4. Decide on either Symmetrical or Asymmetrical wall art display

When planning an art display with multiple pieces, it’s important to ask yourself if the room would be better suited to an asymmetrical or symmetrical arrangement.

For a tidy, traditional-looking display, choose a symmetrical layout such as a grid, diptych, or triptych of identically-sized pieces.

For a more diverse feel, put together an asymmetrical, salon-style gallery wall. In a gallery wall, you can pair different sizes and styles, but it’s best to maintain cohesion by keeping a running theme or repeating color palette.

wall art arrangements, wall art displays

5. Create visual balance

In the aforementioned gallery wall setup, how do you keep everything visually balanced?

A great way to start is to hang up the largest pieces first. Put up a large art piece near the center of the wall to draw the eye to a focal point. Then, hang the smaller pieces around it to create visual interest.

Another approach is to imagine an invisible line down the center of the wall. When you hang up your art, keep the same visual weight of pieces, large and small, on both sides of the line. This way, you’ll ensure the wall stays balanced and unified.

Finally, if you’re lining up different-sized works horizontally, align the centers, not the tops or bottoms of the pieces.

Framed pictures display @ Beverly hills hotel

6. Experiment with the layout on the floor

If you have no visualization apps, place your arrangement on the floor first to see how art pieces harmonize together in size, theme and color. I often collect pictures of my favorite wall art displays in a digital folder. Some art arrangements include more than art, such as decorative mirrors and metal sculptures. Experiment!

These tips will help you get started creating a beautiful art arrangement that will enhance your home and make for a visually pleasing display. That said, showcasing art is all about creativity, so feel free to break the rules and follow your instinct whenever it feels right.

You can also see other wall art designs and ideas here: https://porch.com/advice/design-best-gallery-home

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Further reading: https://veronicasart.com/art-collecting-101-6-ways-to-display-art-beautifully-at-home-office/

Art Collecting 101: 7 ways to display art beautifully at home & office

Posted on October 24, 2020June 27, 2024 by veronica

How do you display art? While being an art collector may sound too serious, many of us have paintings at home. They may be small or by the unknown artists, gifts or simple prints that decorate our spaces. So we want to hang them prominently to add beauty and peace to our homes. There are several effective ways to display your art collection at home and office.

What’s to consider in wall art display

When you want to hang your painting, consider the following parameters:

#1 Consider the wall space size to make a statement with large art.

Large painting should take the majority of wall space in a room’s center. The art should have some of the colors seen in the room. Give one prominent art piece all the space it needs. Arrange other paintings around it.

Virtual walls interior illustrates how strong colors of the walls complement the drawing’s hues. the art takes most of the wall space above the couch.

Don’t place small artwork too high on a large wall

One big mistake people make is placing small artwork too high on a large wall, so it gets lost in the space. Consider hanging one large painting instead. It should take up most of your wall space. It’s easy to determine the length of the painting by measuring the length of your sofa. Art should take 3/4 of its length.

#2 Painting’s size. Display art in multiples or in tight arrangements.

You’re not doomed, if you have small paintings. Small art works great in intimate spaces with small walls in a corridor or kitchen, or in a cozy guest room. Small art can also be a part of multiples arrangement.

Zena Holloway, the Directed Art Modern at the art fair | This is a different kind of art display where photographs have equal arrangement on the right that balances out one vertical piece on the left.

#3 Other wall art display ideas

Consider other displays shown below.

This is a gallery wall display at an art fair that shows multiple paintings hung on one wall. Notice that they have identical framing, size and theme. Two large paintings balance the small ones in the middle of art wall display.

Pitti Palace art-Florence. Look at this exuberant wall art display of paintings that have different size, frame and format. Notice that gold is the unifying element in this wall art arrangement.

#4 Let main colors of the painting “connect” with the hues of your home accents

Color harmony. Color harmony is important in every space. Usually, if you have light and neutral walls, almost any artwork would fit into the room beautifully. Sometimes walls might have strong colors, and it’s tricky to find the right painting for it. Your chosen painting should echo some of the hues you already have in the space. Yet, sometimes it works great when strong colors of the wall complement the main color in the painting.

how to display art in interior space — A commissioned triptych at the art collector’s home in Pennsylvania. Let few colors of the painting “connect” with the hues of your home accents (curtains, pillows, vases, lamps). Art should take 3/4 of its length. The space was quite big and we decided to make 3 – 36”panels to fill the wall space properly. Notice how colors in the painting tie in with the furniture and decorum of this living room.

#5 Don’t mix gold and silver accents in one room

Try not to mix gold and silver (frames, chandeliers, furniture and accents) in one room. It’s overwhelming visually.

Abbotsford house | This beautiful room has a color play of green-reds mixed with some gold accents. Gold frames add opulence to one of the rooms in the castle of Sir Walter Scott, the 19th century novelist and ‘Great Scott’ who saved the Scottish banknote and rediscovered his country’s Crown Jewels.

#6 If you have an art show…

If you have an art show, hang you wall art at the 57-inch level.

#7 Frame art well

Think how the frame style complements both your art and interior space. Do you have contemporary, white space with clean lines and minimalist appearance or do you like baroque-inspired rooms? Framing should reflect your aesthetic to have coherent look.

John Duncan 1866-1945, Scottish artist, St.Bride,1913 | This ornate frame is a perfect extension for this beautiful artwork.

Jan van Eyck, Portrait of a man, 1433 | Gold frame complements the skin tones in the portrait and contrasts the dark background.

Check out this extensive blog post about framing here: https://veronicasart.com/how-to-frame-art-on-paper-and-on-canvas/

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If you’re interested in my Colored Pencil Techniques video course, visit: Veronica Winters Art School

Art Collecting for beginners: how to collect art like a pro

Posted on November 28, 2019November 15, 2023 by veronica

Contemporary art is a Wild West. Because there is no clear standard or assessment of creative genius available today, it’s often puzzling and frustrating to see how some childish art may be valued for a lot more than a beautiful painting. Contemporary art collecting is a multi billion economy where some artists make it big and others struggle for good. If you’re new to the art collecting world and want to get some insight, let’s have a discussion here! As an artist, art collector, and educator, I’m going to outline several characteristics that affect artist’s popularity, pricing and more. I’ll discuss the value of collecting art prints and what to look for in art pieces. I’m not an art dealer or museum curator, therefore views are strictly my own that reflect my understanding of contemporary art.

Copyright Rogan Brown, paper cuts | roganbrown.com

Why buy original art

There are many reasons why people collect art. It can be status, speculation, and love of art! I find that people collect American fine art simply because it’s their passion. They really love discovering new artists and following their careers. Art is an investment for many art collectors, especially the male ones. Primary goal is to invest in popular art that appreciates in value over time even more. Contemporary American art displayed at home shows taste and highlights luxury lifestyle. Another reason for art collecting may be to support the livelihood of contemporary artists. By doing so, you give them the opportunity to paint daily.

Be clear on your goal. Do you want to collect art for pure joy, investment or patronage of the artist? It could be all of the reasons mentioned above or just one.

Know what you like & what you want to invest in

I think it’s super important to educate yourself in art history and contemporary art to make good art purchases. Relying on art advisers, art brokers or gallery directors alone is a mistake because you end up relying on someone else’s taste, while you’re the only person who would live with the art piece at home. It’s good to hear their opinion and reasons for or against the painting, but the the final purchase decision should be yours.

last day of Pompeii detail Karl Bruillov — The last day of Pompeii, oil painting detail by Karl Bruillov

Study art history to figure out what you’re passionate about the most. Educate yourself in major art movements and artists of each time period. Understand the reasons why those artists got their fame. Figure out what time period interests you the most. Next, ask yourself if you favor old historic paintings or contemporary art. Do you like American fine artists or the Italian ones? Answers to these questions come with experience going to art exhibitions, museums, interaction with galleries and reading. It does take time and effort to develop taste and to distinguish between good and bad art.

“Any dealer who says, ‘you have to buy it now or it’s going to be gone,’ I generally won’t do business with,” art collector & ambassador Sondland said in the 2016 interview. “I try to go back and visit it again because, in different moods, art interacts with you differently. And I might be in a manic mood, I might be in a great mood, I might walk in and look at the painting and say, ‘I want to buy that.’ But then the next day, I’ll go and look at the same painting and say, ‘what was I thinking? It doesn’t inspire me.’” You can read the article here: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/gordon-sondland-art-collection-1710738

glass object venice pavilion 2017 — Glass vase at Venice pavilion, Venice biennial 2017

Lorenzo Quinn hands sculpture in venice italy — Lorenzo Quinn, sculpture of giant hands in Venice, Italy 2017 | This contemporary sculpture brings our attention to the climate change and rising seas. Venice experiences rising tides flooding the St. Marco square.

Learn what makes a painting great:

Great art has a message expressed beautifully. When it’s not heavy on concept or idea, paintings and sculptures can still be strong pieces visually. This is where you need to recognize Quality in art. By Quality I mean creativity/voice+artistic skill+technical skill+high-quality art supplies & presentation. Most importantly, good art generates emotional response that continues to grow on you every day. It could be a memory of a place or event, a combination of lines and color or something else. Emotional interaction with the piece is very personal.

Below you’ll find several extensive articles about art history, movements and more:

Art movements, education, patrons and more: https://veronicasart.com/learn-what-makes-a-painting-great-video-1-part-1/
Composition, color, lines & emotion: https://veronicasart.com/learn-what-makes-a-painting-great-video-1-part-2-composition-color-lines-and-emotion/
Contemporary art: https://veronicasart.com/contemporary-art-learn-what-makes-it-great-today/

If you like American art and would like to collect fine artists of America, you can read the following articles here:

If you like Hyperrealism: https://veronicasart.com/contemporary-art-hyperrealism-10-amazing-artists-who-crush-it/
Contemporary women artists: https://veronicasart.com/17-contemporary-women-artists-the-best-of-real-and-surreal-in-painting/
Art Context Miami 2018 includes both American art and International artists: https://veronicasart.com/art-miami-context-art-miami-2018-contemporary-realism-painting-and-more/
Art in Palm Beach 2018: https://veronicasart.com/art-palm-beach-international-2018-highlights/

How to start art collecting

Scottish national gallery — John Duncan (1866-1945) Scottish artist, St.bride, painting detail, 1913 |The Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland

Collect what touches your soul. I often visit commercial galleries and notice that not every painting creates emotional response in me. Sometimes I see dead paintings. Other times I can admire the technique and I rarely see the piece that moves me in a profound way.
Constantly educate yourself in the arts cultivating taste and aesthetics.
Be on mail lists of your favorite art galleries, museums and artists.
Attend receptions at galleries and auction houses. Make connections with professionals. Schedule studio visits with artists!
Know the artist you’re purchasing from. I think when the connection is personal, art grows on you even more.
If art collecting is a clear investment for you, research the artist on Sotheby’s or other art auction house to see a range of paintings available and at what price they sell. Price may vary considerably over time and in different gallery. It also may go up or down in value. Buy famous art from reputable sources like Christie’s or established blue chip art gallery to minimize cheating. If you like contemporary art, go to Artsy or Artnet to see the price range of your favorite living artist. A lot of established galleries don’t display pricing, intimidating possible collectors.
You can negotiate pricing above $10,000.
Art must be unique and have a signature of the artist along with the certificate of authenticity.
If artists don’t have gallery representation, contact the artist directly. If the artist sells through the gallery, you should contact the manager/director/owner of the gallery asking to view and purchase the art. Artists abide by the rules and have a relationship with the gallery, not selling their paintings directly but bringing the clientele to the gallery.

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What established artists have:

Reclining mode by Karen LaMonte at the Smithsonian, Washington D.C.

Unique style, meaning that you can instantly recognize the artist’s work among the rest.
Education level. It’s not a requirement but it often plays into the level of artist’s work.
Sales record/collections list. If artists have notable placement in art museums or prominent corporate collections, it raises the artist’s status.
Artists work on their careers diligently. It’s not a hobby. Artists are often experts in their fields of study.
Consistent pricing.
Other achievements ( grant recipients, etc)

Art posters: to buy or not to buy

veronica winters art posters — https://veronicasart.com/product-category/art-posters-for-sale/

Art posters, open edition prints limited edition prints:

Art posters (prints of original paintings, drawings, etc) give people a chance to decorate their homes on a budget. Art posters also give artists a chance to raise some cash when selling originals may be difficult.

There are two types of art prints: limited edition and open edition. Open edition prints have no signature and are not numbered. So you have no way of knowing how many prints get printed. It could be just a few or 10k. It’s often doesn’t matter because it’s a nice way to bring art home and not to worry about the cost of owning the print. Open edition prints are affordable and make great art gifts.

Limited edition prints are limited in number. Different sizes may have their own limited editions. (Say, a 5×10″ print could be an edition of 20, while an 18×24″ could be an edition of just 10 prints).

A limited edition print must have artist’s signature and two numbers, like 1/500 (fist print in edition of 500). The smaller the number of prints, the more valuable the limited edition could be. Artist’s signature gives the series authentication. However, limited edition giclee prints are just computer reproductions. They don’t have much value unless it’s issued by a famous artist.

Limited-edition, signed giclee prints may accrue value if they’re issued by a famous artist but in no way it would equal to the value of original art (purchase price + appreciation over time). As a rule, giclee prints don’t have that much value, original art is valuable, assuming it’s a good one.

dali museum spain_lithography and sculpture_web — Dali museum, Spain | lithographs and sculpture (left)

Printmaking & lithography:

Hand-pulled art prints have a lot more value. These are signed and numbered lithographs, intaglios, screen prints and other forms of printmaking when every print (in the limited edition) is hand-pulled by the artist. This is a very labor-intensive process that requires knowledge and skill to do it well technically assuming the artistry of the image itself is good.

Lithographs get printed off of the stones. Silkscreens get printed off the silk screen. Intaglios are printed off of the metal plate. Andy Warhol made limited edition silkscreens. Rembrandt was a master printer, producing not only oil paintings but also intaglio prints. Lithographs are also inherently limited in number. They can be either black-and-white or in color. The process of hand-printing in color pulling the print through the press requires a considerable skill that’s often taught in art colleges. All hand-pulled prints must line up colors perfectly. They also must have even printing of colors, clean white borders and backing. All prints are numbered and signed by the artist.

Andy Warhol silkscreen print seen at the art auction in Naples, FL

colored pencil techniques video course by veronica winters — https://veronica-winters-art-school.teachable.com/p/veronica-winters-complete-colored-pencil-techniques-in-90-days

Factors that go into predicting whether an artist’s work will increase in value over time

Carole Feuerman’s sculpture in Venice, Italy

This is a grey area. Sometimes great artists perish and get rediscovered years or centuries later (Vermeer, Gaugin, van Gogh, etc). Other times the artist could be hot but it doesn’t mean he’ll go down in history passing his prime.

There are a few points for you to consider trying to figure out if you make a good investment in art.

Art is truly unique. The artist’s voice is so one-of-a-kind it stands out.
Art is in important collections in art museums, corporate or private collections of famous people or elite.
Artist has been serious working on his/her career for years and often exhibits nationally and even internationally. There is a considerable body of work shown across art museums and galleries.
Artist may have permanent public art installations.
Check out the following artists that conform to all the points above: Carole Feuerman, Karen LaMonte, Kehinde Wiley, Arantzazu Martinez, Philipp Weber, Kaws, Koons, Hirst.

Art websites to check out:

Sotheby’s
Christie’s
Artnet – contemporary art & auction research tool
1stdibs – contemporary art, fashion, furniture, jewelry and more
SaatchiArt – contemporary art, abstract to realism
MutualArt – auction price database search via premium membership
MyModernMet – well curated contemporary art, inspiration
The Colossal – curated contemporary art
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

If you find this post useful, share it on social media.

How to start your own art collection: 3 powerful reasons to collect art today

Continue your reading about the art collecting.

Art Miami & Context Art Miami 2018: realism painting and more

Posted on December 17, 2018November 13, 2023 by veronica

yigal ozeri at art miami — Yigal Ozeri, New York-based artist paints women in hyperrealism style.

cesar santos in art basel miami — Painting by Cesar Santos, Cuban-American artist

Art Miami & Context Art Miami 2018: realism painting & much more

Generating insane foot traffic, both Art Miami and Context Art Miami are two art fairs I visit during the Art Basel week in Miami. In December Miami overflows with tourists, curators, and art collectors, visiting over 20 art fairs in just one week! If you decide to take part in this event, you can buy tickets online and see all of the offerings beforehand. Context Art Miami (adjacent to Art Miami) features more contemporary realism art than its counterparts and thus interests me more than other art fairs. The art fairs represent both American artists and international ones alike, including galleries from China, Korea, and Europe.

One of the reasons I go to these art fairs is inspiration. What I find interesting is to look at innovation in art materials use, textures and design. Sometimes, I don’t really care about a particular artwork, but its innovative combination of materials or subjects feeds up my creativity. I also enjoy seeing the excitement and commotion around the arts, which is rare in Naples, Florida.

Salustiano at art miami 2018 — Salustiano

elisa anfuso — Elisa Anfuso, Female Italian artist painting personal stories in realism style.

Another reason for many artists to see the shows is to network in the arts. I must say that most gallerists are very busy at the art fairs and hate to be approached by artists when they try to sell exhibited art. Art fair participation costs run in many thousands of dollars and gallery representatives are there to work. So if you’re an artist, be respectful of the gallerists. Yet, if you’re there to show your work, come in early before the opening when the crowds are not there yet and the gallery owners are more inclined to meet you in person. Parking would be much easier as well.

The art fairs show a lot of abstract art and painting but also include large-scale portrait photography and 3-D sculptures. Art crowds often gather around animated paintings or video paintings, lenticular photography and lenticular painting (see the video) or art that plays with perception, examples of which you can watch in my video. Also, depending on a person’s taste the roundup of art like you see here is vastly different in social media. Those who have a minimalist aesthetic post abstract/minimalist art, and figurative realism artists like me post representational art.

3-D sculpture @ Chase Contemporary played with my perception of reality big time.

Address: Art Miami + CONTEXT Pavilions, One Herald Plaza @ NE 14th Street, Downtown Miami, FL 33132

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5 great art gift ideas for women and men

Posted on November 16, 2018November 13, 2023 by veronica

Tired giving same old sweater, candle or mug for the holidays? Looking for meaningful art gifts that inspire and stay in the family for years to enjoy? Here are 5 great art gift ideas for an art enthusiast.

#1 Timeless beauty: portrait paintings

Splurge. Celebrate life with portrait paintings that bring peace and beauty home. Big or small, realistic paintings create soothing atmosphere at home and office.

sunshine by veronica winters 16x20_romantic paintings of women — Sunshine, oil and aluminum on archival panel, 16×20 inches, unframed. Click on the image to buy.

# 2 Personal touch: unique art gift ideas for women

Custom-printed tote bags

The perfect prep to start her busy day. Our custom-printed, vivid tote bags let her carry stuff to work, beach or go shopping in style. These tote bags come with unexpected benefits: strong handles and high-quality printing. No zipper. Black handles. Identical print is on both sides of the canvas bag.

Order the custom printed tote bags here.

Art Books

educational books, drawing instruction books, travel books — Art Lessons in Drawing, Painting & Beyond, 2014

Cheers to the art book that goes wherever she or he does! “Art Lessons in realist drawing, painting, and beyond” includes interviews, pictures and demonstrations from leading contemporary realism artists. Grow your creativity and skill, making art that inspires others. You can order this book on this site or Amazon. https://veronicasart.com/product-category/art-instruction-books/

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# 3 Inspiring art posters

Kiss the empty walls good-bye! Affordable art prints help decorate home and office with unique and colorful images. Every art poster is custom printed in California and delivered to your door. Head to the Art Posters section to pick your favorite!

#4 Uplifting as ocean’s breeze: Seascape Necklace handmade pendants with real starfish & sea shells

Add a bit of shimmer to her day. These handmade ocean pendants are totally one of a kind that keep fun memories near her heart! Made of resin and glitter, real starfish, sand dollars and seashells, these artful pendants come with sterling silver chains. Contact the artist for details about current selection.<br /> <span data-mce-type=”bookmark” style=”display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;” class=”mce_SELRES_start”></span>

# 5 For a serious beginner in colored pencil drawing: Colored Pencil Techniques Video Course

Give a gift to your mom, dad or that special person who loves to draw. This video course is perfect prep for every beginner in colored pencil drawing. For a limited time when you enroll into this course, you’ll receive promotional pricing and complementary support direct from the artist to complete your projects!

If you are serious about learning and would like to take your colored pencil drawing techniques to the next level, click here to watch a video and several preview lessons from the Veronica Winters Complete Colored Pencil Techniques video course! You’ll learn not only the basics of colored pencil drawing but also some important artistic concepts that make the Artist stand out from a crowd.

veronica winters complete colored pencil techniques video course — These are the video lessons included in the course.

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Highlights from the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida

Posted on September 27, 2018November 13, 2023 by veronica

The State Art Museum of Florida, the Ringling museum has a neat collection of art, circus attributes, art books all in one place- a luxury winter home and gardens of the Ringlings.

John Ringling was a successful businessman who partly owned and operated the circus in the 1920s to become one of the richest men in the U.S. John Ringling and his wife Marble shared a passion for art, collecting art in Europe.

Highlights from the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art

Art Museum Highlights

The art museum has a pretty big collection of Flemish, Dutch, English & American Art as well as Italian, Spanish and French paintings and some sculptures. You can find their extensive collection online but the digital images are quite small and can’t replace the experience of seeing art in person. John Ringling built the initial collection between 1920s-30s that was later expanded by the museum curators.

Roman courtship

The tremendous size and beauty of this painting will leave you speechless. While this neoclassical style painting (with luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire) fell out of fashion by the 20th century, the artistic merit is obvious here. Strong design and composition, color harmony and a much lesser known story from Greek mythology will hypnotize you once you’re in the gallery.

Three sisters- three fates span the thread, while the oldest one cuts it, thus determining a man’s lifespan. I love how the cupid forms a circle around the couple with a bright garland of flowers. Soft greens of the fabric mimic the greens in a pillow, mosaics, and a marble bench.

Still life with plates

The Rringling art museum, Cristoforo Munari, Italian (1667-1720), Still life with plates, 1710, oil on canvas

This oil painting is remarkable thanks to realistic painting of textures. Various candied fruits, fruits, and breads looks incredibly rich and tasty. Their warm, orange tones contrast the cool blues of the vases and plates. During the 16th and 17th centuries sugar cane was very expensive in Europe and only the wealthy could afford purchasing it. The white pyramidal shape you see in this painting is the cane sugar itself.

Narcissus

While this painting’s chiaroscuro and fabric’s bright red are reminiscent of the Caravaggio’s work, the vivid blues of the sky are similar to the Venetian school of painting.

In Greek mythology, Narcissus was a beautiful young man who fell in love with his own reflection once he rejected Echo (who was unable to speak her love for him). When he died, Narcissus turned into a flower that we call the narcissus.

Still life with parrots

De Heem is one of my favorite realist Dutch painters. This school of painting loved to capture realistic textures of lavish objects. Such still life paintings expressed status and wealth of a person who commissioned the art. Rare parrots and seashells, exuberant silverware were expensive goods in the 17th-century Netherlands. The merchants often commissioned paintings to show off their wealth.

Sculpture

Circus Museum

Circus museum is a fun place to visit for adults and children alike who can learn about the industry’s history, actors, and circus acts in extensive displays that include wardrobes, props, wagons and posters.

CA’ D’ZAN House

Well, if you’ve visited Venice, Italy, you can certainly recognize its ornate Venetian Gothic style of the palazzi. The Ringlings had been traveling throughout Europe for decades and brought art and inspiration back home. Their winter home faces Sarasota Bay with a view. The house exhibits artwork, furniture and art objects.

Contact:

Home

5401 Bay Shore Road
Sarasota, FL 34243

Open Daily 10am-5pm.

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de la Cruz Art Collection in Miami: Force and Form 2018 show

Posted on September 8, 2018November 12, 2023 by veronica

Located in the Miami Design District, de la Cruz Collection is a private, 30,000 square foot art museum displaying the contemporary art collection of Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz. Occupying a modern, 3-story white building, the art museum opened in 2009 to display the collection and to conduct lectures and workshops. Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz are the top 200 art collectors in the U.S., and it is amazing to see how much time, effort and finances this couple spared to build and maintain this art museum.

Force and Form

Force and Form brings together pivotal works from the collection to create a dialogue addressing a shift in artistic, as well as cultural, practice and form. The works respond to current issues of identity, gender, class, power, and the values that define our social fabric. The use of everyday materials and recycled imagery challenge traditional practices of sculpture, installation, and painting, while addressing the interaction between the human and mechanical gesture.

If you happen to see the galleries, the staff is incredibly friendly and accommodating to every person ringing the door bell. They are also eager to walk you through the installations. The downside is that the art show is hardly visual arts. Despite its monumental display and the scope of this art exhibition, most artwork is so conceptual, it leaves nothing for the eye to get excited about. And while the staff may explain the artwork to engage you some, this engagement would be limited to your perception and art appreciation in general. When I see such shows one of the questions that runs in my mind is how irrelevant the skill, talent, and knowledge have become in art production and sales. Almost anything can be named ART, while very few artworks deserve this definition. This is one of the reasons visitors feel confused looking at ART that makes no sense whatsoever and therefore doesn’t connect with the viewer on a visceral way. This purposeful deskilling of ART leads to and fosters public’s indifference to contemporary art in general, in my opinion.

Obviously, any private art collection is a matter of taste of the collectors, and should be viewed as such. It is nice of the couple to support the artists making purchases of their art. If you plan on buying art for your private art collection, I encourage you to rely on your aesthetics and support talented contemporary artists as well.

de la cruz collection 2018 — de la Cruz collection 2018 (Left: these white leaves are made of paper that are glued over the image to produce the 3-D effect. Top Right: Ana Mendieta is known for her feminist work that’s mainly installations in video and pictures.)

Artists in the Exhibition

Kathryn Andrews, Tauba Auerbach, Walead Beshty, Mark Bradford, Joe Bradley, Dan Colen, Martin Creed, Aaron Curry, Salvador Dalí, Peter Doig, Isa Genzken, Félix González-Torres, Mark Grotjahn, Wade Guyton, Guyton/Walker, Rachel Harrison, Arturo Herrera, Jim Hodges, Evan Holloway, Thomas Houseago, Alex Israel, Rashid Johnson, Alex Katz, Martin Kippenberger, Michael Krebber, Wifredo Lam, Glenn Ligon, Michael Linares, Nate Lowman, Adam McEwen, Ana Mendieta, Albert Oehlen, Laura Owens, Jorge Pardo, Manfred Pernice, Sigmar Polke, Seth Price, Sterling Ruby, Analia Saban, Josh Smith, Reena Spaulings, Rudolf Stingel, Rufino Tamayo, Kelley Walker, and Christopher Wool.

Contact:

Open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00AM to 4:00PM. Admission free. Must call the doorbell to enter the museum (doors are locked even during the open hours).

23 NE 41 Street. Miami, FL 33137 | (305) 576-6112 | https://www.delacruzcollection.org/

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The Gilded Age Splendor: Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, Florida

Posted on August 27, 2018November 12, 2023 by veronica

Located in Palm Beach, Florida, Flagler museum is a culturally rich and visually inspirational place to visit. Its 75 luxurious rooms, railway pavilion, beautiful grounds as well as lace and antiques collection are amazing and worth your visit. First, a beautiful home, then a luxury hotel, and finally the museum – Whitehall will pleasantly surprise you. Built as a wedding present for his wife, it used to be a winter home for the Flaglers between 1902-1913, attracting the wealthy into the area who were thoroughly entertained in the house.

The Gilded Age Splendor: Flagler Museum review

Who was Henry Flagler (1830-1913)?

flagler museum palm beach_flagler — Mr. Flagler, oil painting

The earliest land developer of Florida, Henry Flagler was a founding partner of Standard Oil corporation who also built luxury hotels across the state and a railway, linking the east coast of Florida from St. Augustine to Key West.

The rooms

John Carrère and Thomas Hastings designed Whitehall inspired by the Greek temples to Apollo. Symmetrical white marble columns, grand staircase, and the marble entrance hall evoke feelings of ancient beauty. Such visual architectural balance continues with the interior spaces. The New York firm designed the interiors of a 2-storied house. These rooms have designs and decorum of various epochs, including styles of Louis XIV, Louis XV, Louis XVI, the Italian Renaissance, and Francis I.

In these pictures you can find some of the most beautiful rooms but not all! Novel steel beam construction, cast plaster ceilings, central heating, plumbing and electricity made the house a standout back in 1902.

flagler museum palm beach_rooms — Flagler museum, luxurious rooms and a bathroom! (bottom right).

Henry Flagler’s Railcar in the Flagler Kenan Pavilion

Built in 1886 for Flagler to travel across the state, you can find the original railcar in a special sunlit pavilion inside the museum. Flagler museum acquired and restored the Railcar No. 91 in late 1960-s. It’s a lot of fun to walk through its cozy rooms.

flagler museum lace — The historic museum has an extensive lace collection. I used to make lace when I was a teen and have a soft spot for lace designs today.

I hope this visual review encourages you to visit this historic museum soon! To learn more, please visit the official website of the Flagler Museum.

Contact: Open Tuesday-Sunday. https://www.flaglermuseum.us/

You can also buy a combined ticket for the house and the Breakers hotel, Henry Flagler’s second hotel in Palm Beach.

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10 beautiful art pieces at Lowe Art Museum in Miami

Posted on August 22, 2018November 12, 2023 by veronica

Situated on campus of the University of Miami, Lowe Art Museum is a neat find. The art collection has a little-bit-of-everything and spans across centuries, cultures and art styles. It’s worth your visit, if you swing by the neighborhood of Coral Gables and have a little bit of free time on your hands. Here are top 10 contemporary art pieces on display at the art museum.

Hands & Earth is a group exhibition of Japanese ceramics running between June 20-September 23, 2018. A private collection of Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz is set as a traveling show to many art museums across the country. This exhibition has some most unusual and beautiful pieces of contemporary Japanese artists as well as the 20th century ones. Glazes and surface treatments are the most peculiar in this art show.

1. Kondo Takahiro, Seismic wave

lowe art museum_miami univ_seismic wave by Kondo Takahiro — Lowe art museum, Copyright Kondo Takahiro, Japanese, b. 1958 “Seismic wave” 2016, porcelain and glass

2. Pascale Monnin, Resurrection Angel

lowe art museum sculpture by pascale monnin_s — Copyright Pascale Monnin, Haiti, b.1974 “Resurrection Angel” 2011, pottery with raku glaze, wire, pearls and jewels. Soulful and fragile, this sparkling sculpture rotates around itself, suspended in a corner of a glass gallery in the art museum.

3. Tobacco Box, Japan

lowe art museum_miami univ_tobacco box japan — Tobacco Box, Japan, Edo Period, 1615-1868, 19th century wood, lacquer, mother of pearl, pewter. This elegant, stylized tobacco box captures the very essence of Japanese art and culture, evoking thoughts on simplicity, nature and beauty.

4. Masoumi Garashi, Untitled

lowe art museum_miami univ_shirt glass by masoumi garashi — Copyright Masoumi Garashi, Japanese, b.1972, Untitled, glass. Evocative of Karen Lamonte’ glass sculptures of hollow gowns, this glass sculpture makes us contemplate feelings of presence and absence.

5. Circle of Pieter de Grebber, Unequal Lovers (The trapped thief)

lowe art museum_miami univ_unequal lovers — 5. Circle of Pieter de Grebber (1600-53), Unequal Lovers (The trapped thief), 1650, oil on canvas. Humorous and theatrical, this painting depicts a satirical relationship between the lovers of different age and background that hints on exchange between youth and wealth.

6. Workshop of Andrea Del Sarto, Madonna and Child and the infant St. John

7. El Greco, Christ carrying the cross

lowe art museum_miami univ_el greco_christ carrying the cross — El Greco (1541-1614), b. in Greece, Spanish, “Christ carrying the cross,” 1595, oil on canvas. Most El Greco art is in Spain, but you can find some of his works scattered throughout the American museums. His amateurish style of painting led to a very honest, emotional depiction of his subjects.

8. Laura Donefer, Royal Amulet Basket

lowe art museum_miami univ_laura donefer_royal amulaet basket — Laura Donefer, American, b.1955, “Royal Amulet Basket” 2011, glass

Laura Donefer is known for her vivid, organic, blown and flameworked glass – the “Amulet Baskets.” These baskets are bursts of color, joy and energy.

9. William Carlson, Pragnanz Series

lowe art museum_miami univ_william carlson_pragnanz series sculpture — William Carlson, American, b.1950, “Pragnanz Series” 1980s, cast glass and granite

You need to experience William Carlson’s sculptures in person because you can barely see the intricate play of textures between glass and granite in pictures. The artist stacks and balances abstract shapes with amazing precision.

10. Dale Chihuly, Mosaic Persian

lowe art museum_miami univ_dale chihuly_mosaic persian_detail — 10. Dale Chihuly, American, “Mosaic Persian” 1998, detail, glass

Dale Chihuly is famous for his glass sculptures. Organic and colorful, the flowing shapes are reminiscent of the ocean’s floor.

Crappy Art Corner

Artists: Martin Disler (1949-96), “Untitled”, 1989 (right); Chryssa (1933-2013) “Americanoom”, steel and neon (top left); Jean-Paul Propelle and others.

Lowe Art museum is located on the grounds of the University of Miami.

1301 Stanford Drive,  Coral Gables
Coral Gables, FL 33124
305-284-3535
https://www.lowe.miami.edu/

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contemporary art history, contemporary art history_learn what makes it great

Contemporary art: learn what makes it great

Posted on February 24, 2018December 16, 2023 by veronica

In the first video you got introduced to classical painting created before the 20^th century. In this article let’s talk about some contemporary art to figure out why some “childish” paintings cost millions while relatively good art remains undervalued. Before I say anything about it, I’d like to note that I’m not an art critic, and I’m here not to judge artists, rather I’d like to explain what’s great about contemporary painting, so you’d consider my understanding of art to make your own decisions. I also encourage you to reach out to mentioned artists directly via their websites or Instagram. This video and writing are created as part of my mission to educate and inspire others to value art.

Video #2

Art & art marketing are two opposing forces

When everything is entertainment and the entertainment is everything, provoking the public to engage with contemporary art becomes a necessity. Artists compete with the media and each other and often try to engage with the audience, either shocking you with their art, or innovating the process somehow that generates publicity, sparks a conversation, and engages you. Performance art, installation art, shinny sculpture or moving video image attract us a lot more than a silent wall painting. Contemporary art museums try to catch up with the social media and modern times, making installations that encourage interaction, taking of selfies and other social media activities. Contemporary art paintings often don’t make any sense unless they are explained. As viewers we are often forced not to rely on our senses judging the painting’s visuals that’s inherited from concept painting or abstract expressionism. We have to search for meaning in shown art in artist statements or curatorial writing.

Jeff Koons announced his art sculpture as a “gift” to Paris of the ‘Bouquet of Tulips’ that would cost a 3.5 million euros to install that would be funded by a fundraising. One of the wealthiest artists in the world, Koons donated his concept to the city that doesn’t cover the cost of construction.

Quality of art hardly matters these days, and many artists are sold based on their publicity stunts and marketing efforts. Therefore popularity and name recognition that we call ‘branding’ becomes vital to the artist’s career. (We can look at great art marketers – Jeff Koons, Marina Abramovic, or Damien Hirst).

While performance art can be powerful caring a message, it largely relies on a shock value to deliver that message. By following this link, you can see how low we as people can go, to take advantage of others. https://www.elitereaders.com/performance-artist-marina-abramovic-social-experiment/ Over the years I saw several installations by Abramovic, and they varied significantly in their message, shock value and impact.

Marina Abramovic’s 6-hour performance art showed a quick escalation of sexual harassment and violence among people by letting them do whatever they wanted to her body.

Not all artists travel this road and focus on cultivating their clientele based on their artistic vision and skill. If art is not political or socially charged, it’s much harder for an artist to get noticed based on vision, and this is the cornerstone for a lot of creatives out there. Does the artist change his mindset to work for the market attracting attention in new ways, or stays true to himself, creating art for the art’s sake?

Art buying tiers and social behavior

Art buying has its own tier system. The lowest tier – is the tier of consumerism. Because we see artistic creations all around us, it desensitizes us and makes good art look unattractive, cheap and unnecessary purchase. We don’t buy originals, rather get posters and merchandise that makes practical sense because we either can’t afford the original of the contemporary artists we like, or we don’t want to make a commitment buying original art. Regardless the intent, most people buy prints. However, there is not much value in giclee prints in the long run. However, print sales support the aspiring artist, giving him/her a chance to develop artistically and not give up doing art. Limited edition signed prints hold more value for the collectors as well as allow artists to cover some of their studio costs.

Some prints doe have value. These are hand-pooled lithographs, silkscreens and other prints made based on traditional methods in printmaking. Printmaking is the original art form where you can get a few multiples or additions.

The middle tier – is where the market agrees to pay the artist anywhere between $100 and 1K for original art. The upper middle tier is where most artists want to sell their art because it covers the cost of living. These art collectors who buy original art at this price point love art and have the means to appreciate and support the artist.

In the top tier purchases we see hedge fund managers and the ultra rich, who are mostly driven by financial investment rather than art appreciation. Today we see famous contemporary art selling at epic prices. Money becomes the absolute that determines the value of the artist and his work at the Sotheby’s and other art auction houses.

(A Jean-Michel Basquiat painting rocketed to $110.5 million. The previous record was $105.4 million paid for Andy Warhol’s “Silver Car Crash, Double Disaster” four years ago. Pablo Picasso, Garcon a la pipe, 1881-1973 went for 104.168 million, Edvard Munch, the Scream, 1895 sold for $119.922 million). Obviously, these are the sales where art is bought and sold as an investment only. Most buyers are Wall street hedge fund managers, Russian oligarchs, oil magnates and other billionaires that push the art prices up. To understand this motivation isn’t hard. To see why visually terrible art sells, you can watch a documentary on Netflix titled Blurred Lines: inside the art world. Exit through the Gift Shop that shows you how an unknown street artist made his first million by taking risks and employing smart marketing tactics.

Jean Michel-Basquiat, Untitled, 1982, Courtesy of Sotheby’s New York

Willem de Kooning, Woman III, 1950s | Abstract expressionism

So how do we decide what’s good or bad art? I’d like to encourage you to make your own judgement as opposed to relying on experts and art critics, if you’re not buying art for investment purposes only. You either love it or not. You decide what’s meaningful to you, what moves and engages you on a much deeper level that’s not associated with publicity stunts, big name investment or marketing gimmicks.

The Smithsonian museum, Reclining Dress Impression with Drapery by Karen Lamonte, glass. I took this picture in the museum blown away by the complexity of its form that’s made of glass. http://www.karenlamonte.com/Artist-Talks-Lectures

Art is a business

Capitalism is unforgiving. This system of art sales leads to art market manipulation and the sales of art that’s not art but is represented as such to the wealthy by powerful dealers and curators. This is one of the reasons why we see ugly paintings at contemporary art fairs and art museums today. Art is a business and a collusion of sorts.

Art galleries, curators and dealers have their own tiers. Many of them are vanity galleries that charge artists thousands of dollars for representation and those artists who can afford it become part of the fairs. Their art is not great or even good to be called art, but because they have a way of paying for their space, they receive representation from small curators and dealers who offset their costs, making a living this way.

Financially strong and established galleries take on new artists who have consistent art production and sales as well as develop good relationship with the gallery owners. Competition among artists for getting into a really good gallery that takes care of the artist’s sales and pays 50% of the retail price is fierce. Competition for a spot under the sun encourages jealousy and rivalry among many contemporary artists I know, but not all. Many artists remain humble and sweet to their kind and tend to help out when asked properly.

Art is a tough business for many small and medium size art galleries because of high overhead costs that often eat most of the profit. Many small galleries close, move or go out of business as people shop for art online more. And just like the retailers, they experience a loss of clientele. This trend gives independent artists an opportunity to sell their art directly to clients bypassing the middleman. Therefore, learning the art of business and online marketing for the artist is just as important as making art.

Andy Warhol silkscreen print found at the auction in Naples, FL

Art education today

There is purposeful deskilling of art in college education. As a result of deconstructivism, abstract expressionism and concept art movements, artists have been forced to create art out of limitation, writing confusing artist statements about their work. The devaluing of representational art led to numerous colleges and universities to keep professors raised on concept art. Therefore college art education is limited to knowledge of its instructors. It’s often enough to look at their art to understand what you’ll be learning in class. If your aim is to study classical painting techniques in such universities, you’ll see lots of resistance and little instruction in this area as the main goal of college art education in studio painting is to work on your concept in art as opposed to growing your skill, vision, and business mindset. A student who decides to learn classical oil painting techniques often faces confusing opinions that don’t lead to constructive criticism because there is no standard left in art to aspire to. There are no rules or apprenticeships available to follow the footsteps of the established master painter as it used to be for centuries before the modernism. If a student aims to study realism, he is often a loner who receives no business or artistic tools necessary to make it in the art world after graduation. While we can see a rise in the classical training ateliers today, the art world is still largely dominated by abstract and conceptual art that you find in the educational system at college level.

As an antidote to this established system we see a revival and surge of realism in painting and education now. Atelier schools, artists’ studios and some universities have been popping up all around the country in the past decade. Such spaces include the Grand Central Academy of Art in New York, Anthony Ryder’s school in Santa Fe (www.theryderstudio.com ), and Nelson Shanks’ school Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia. (www.studioincamminati.org), etc. Many realist artists teach their oil painting techniques both online and in studio.

I must say that not every abstract is bad, just like not every conceptual piece is boring, or realist painting is great. My point is that artists should have a choice in their college education as opposed to ‘fitting in’ in the environment that doesn’t allow for personal growth in the direction the artist aspires to go to.

Because art conforms to no previously established rules and standards in art education we find it very hard to determine and value art today. To read any modern or contemporary artwork we have to look at artist’s mission, background and upbringing besides the visual element itself, which we call ART. Branding is often more important than art.

contemporary art painting — Copyright Roos van der Vliet, Storytellers XII, acrylics on canvas |http://www.roosvandervliet.com/

This contemporary portrait painting by Roos van der Vliet from the Netherlands is a wonderful example of great personal vision coupled with amazing acrylic painting technique. By looking at her paintings of women we ask questions about identity and alienation that we often feel being in a crowd of people, yet standing alone.

Major art patrons a century ago:

The Frick collection
Andrew W. Mellon collection
The Phillips collection in the U.S.
The Tretykov gallery collection in Moscow, Russia and so on.

Art players and influencers today:

Charles Saatchi & Larry Gagosian as well as other top art dealers
contemporary art museum top curators
Art investment firms and houses such as Sotheby’s.
Loot at MEI/Moses Fine Art Index explains the appreciation of art as a financial investment.

In this article you can read about art influencers:

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-gatekeepers-tastemakers-decide-call-art?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=10281912-Editorial-08-08-17&utm_term=ArtsyTopStoriesWeekly

Nicole_Finger_Gossamer_24x36_oil-hooked on art podcast

5 Artistic Elements that make great art

Here I’d like to talk about 5 major artistic elements that contribute to creation of great art. A lot of people consider art being great based on just two factors – the realistically painted tiny details and the overall brightness of a picture (paint). I’d like to shatter this myth by explaining that both of these factors are not sufficient to make quality art. It’s very easy to create paintings with bright pigments coming out of the tube. What’s much harder to achieve is color mixing of muted colors that create harmony. The same goes for details. Details are just details, if a painting doesn’t have a story behind it, or composition is weak, or it simply looks too decorative, it’s not great art.

Looking at contemporary art we can either get carried away by the artist’s technical mastery or by the unprecedented innovation. It doesn’t mean that traditionally executed painting is not innovative, innovation is always there in a new way of seeing things. Most importantly, we find something in a painting that resonates deep within us and enhances our lives whether it’s abstract or realist art.

The most important artistic elements that contribute to creation of great painting and 3-D art are personal vision, emotion, innovation, use of color and design as well as the technical ability to communicate the feeling.

A great example of contemporary art painting that combines vision, innovation and great skill is the art of Cesar Santos |https://www.santocesar.com/ | YouTube Santos is a contemporary Cuban-American artist who has painted a series of paintings titled Syncretism. This famous contemporary artist combines various, often opposing artistic tendencies in a pleasing balance. Cesar Santos’s realistic paintings integrate oil paint, charcoal and crayons, and portraits feature common people that become removed from their usual surroundings and placed in oil paintings with new space for them to live in. The artist’s amazing skill in classical painting helps him create powerful art that looks fresh and modern.

Copyright Cesar Santos, Magdalenes niece, oil on linen

Cesar Santos, James, 36×28″ oil and crayon

Ali Cavanaugh | www.alicavanaugh.com

Ali Cavanaugh paints her four children as watercolor portrait abstractions. Her original watercolor paintings have the feeling of spontaneity and freedom, yet the faces remain anatomically correct and alive. The artist paints on kaolin clay boards look like frescoes displayed without glass.

#1 Story & Emotion

Art is not created in vacuum. Artists absorb, filter through and reflect on personal experiences. They challenge our views, question values and bring beauty and emotional peace into our world. Story and feelings in the painting define the artist’s voice or style.

Sean Mahan | seanmahanart.com

Copyright Sean Mahan, Lost and Found, graphite/acrylic on wood

Sean Mahan is a figurative artist who paints a “sense of wonder about innate human sweetness.” The artist creates images of girls and boys busy with mundane tasks yet removed-from-this-world-expressions that produce a feeling of contradiction. Mahan paints in acrylic and graphite on wood to produce his contemporary art paintings.

Art as personal expression

We can look at art as personal expression. A lot of artists can’t articulate verbally why they paint because it comes from within and shows what we experience inside us. We paint emotions in visual symbols. If we are bitter, art shows that. If we are loving, art expresses it. A vast majority of art is created as means of personal expression today unlike the classical art.

Artist’s aesthetic plays a big part in a painting style. For classical artists beauty is the highest aim in any subject we paint idealizing the figure, which is the opposite to aesthetic of so many modern and contemporary artists. Ugliness finds its home in art just as beauty once did. (Look at Willem de Kooning’s paintings of women vs. William-Adolphe Bouguereau’ art).

This is one of the first artists I’ve discovered almost two decades ago. His unique artistic voice has captivated me ever since. The Canadian artist, Rob created amazing colored pencil drawings of illusion and magic realism art. I’m very saddened to write that Rob committed a suicide in late 2017.

Rob Gonsalves | www.facebook.com/RobGonsalves.Official

contemporary art — Copyright Rob Gonsalves, The Arboreal Office

Christian Schloe | www.facebook.com/ChristianSchloeDigitalArt

surreal art — Copyright Christian Schloe

This artist creates soulful digital artwork so sincere that it feels just as powerful as a real painting. His sense of color and design helps articulate powerful emotions of love, contemplation, curiosity and melancholy.

Art as ideology

A lot of art has been created to celebrate the country’s ideology and order. For instance, the Soviet Union art of the 50-s can be easily called propaganda art, but it also served a higher purpose lifting people’s morale to work for better good. The country took great care of its artists by giving them free studios, organized big exhibitions, commissioning and paying for work. The downside was the limitation on the subject of painting.

The Soviet art

I took these pictures back in 2015 during a large-scale exhibition happening near the Kremlin. An extensive review of the Soviet art created in the 50s-70s shows people at work building a new era of prosperity for the people.

We can also look at art that’s created as a rebellion against its government and social order. Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei often criticizes his government. The U.S. is also so divided politically that these feelings of division branch out to art. We can find paintings of both Hillary and Trump at art fairs, galleries and exhibitions.

Art can also become more sarcastic as we see in this painting of Trump and Putin by Tony Pro https://www.tonypro-fineart.com/dataviewer.asp

tony pro_trump painting — Copyright Tony Pro, Donald Trump, oil on linen, 16 x 12″

Art as social commentary

Some artists like to leave social commentary and to reflect our culture back at us. Famous modern art artist Andy Warhol commemorated consumption in his famous paintings. Contemporary artist Alex Gross paints images of people with the message of antisocial networking, media control and online self-absorption. He often incorporates worldwide brands, pop culture and cliché symbols into his paintings. www.alexgross.com

Alex Gross, Zeitgeist Oil on Canvas 37.5 x 60.5 2015

#2 Artistic vision and Technical Innovation

Artistic vision is the most important element in contemporary art and is the hardest to develop, producing consistent paintings and 3-D art.

The innovation takes different forms:

Unique vision often leads to innovation in the depiction of a form.
Unique vision pushes artists to explore the surfaces and materials to create contemporary art.
Unique approach is present in the narrative figurative painting.
Unique vision channels the artist in art installations designed to create personal experiences. Check out the infinity rooms by Japanese artist Kusama, feminist art by Judy Chicago, and numerous video installations or immersive experiences like by Studio Drift.

Kehinde Wiley | www.kehindewiley.com

Exploring contemporary painting we must notice figurative paintings of African-American artist Kehinde Wiley. His paintings are steeped in European art history and portraiture. They also reveal his sense of color and design. The artist often presents ordinary-dressed African-American men and women as aristocracy in his vibrant oil paintings, removing the figures from expected environment of the streets and placing them into a culture of high art. His most recent project is the unveiled official portrait of Mr. Obama for the Smithsonian.

Obj. No. 2006.14 Photo No. s55076.CT.1
Kehinde Wiley (American, b. 1977), Willem van Heythuysen, 2006, Oil and enamel on canvas, 96”H x 72”W Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund. Photo: Katherine Wetzel © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

martin r. herbst, hidden treasures at art fair 2018

Carole Feuerman

Carole Feuerman is a contemporary hyperrealist sculptor who creates indoor and outdoor sculptures that symbolize strength and balance. In her studio in New York, she makes casts from real people, then paints over them and adds Swarowski crystal beads, hair and eyelashes.

Another contemporary artist who creates 3-D art is Rogan Brown. His wall art pieces present us with intricate designs and delicate paper cuts reminiscent of natural organic growth we could observe under a microscope. There is a great sense of poetry in his paper sculptures that evoke feelings of death and rebirth. We want to get lost in these dreamlike multilayered forms.

# 3 Composition & movement

Strong contemporary art features great abstract design captured in shapes, colors, and diagonals, which create visual movement on canvas. As viewers we often don’t pay attention to painting’s design, captivated by other elements like details, color or facial expression, but the creative composition is a cornerstone to all great art. Movement lets us travel across canvas and leads us to the center of interest in contemporary art. Movement can be achieved in many ways that include placing often repetitive elements that create rhythm (Magritte, van Gogh) or atmospheric effects (Turner).

Contemporary Russian artist Serge Marshennikov is one of the best figurative artists working today. His sense of movement, color, and anatomic accuracy shines in paintings of semi-nude women. The models are intentionally placed at diagonals, letting viewers travel across the form to never leave the canvas. The artist’s understanding of color harmonies and color temperature in skin tones and the surroundings is truly amazing. While Serge lives and works in St.Petersburg, he is represented by several art galleries in the U.S.

Copyright Serge Marshennikov| Work-in-progress where we can see the unpainted areas and how real the female figure looks resting on a pillow.

Copyright Serge Marshennikov, Serenity, oil painting | This figurative painting is a masterful depiction of form, where legs, feet, body and arms are placed at diagonals to create movement.

Copyright Serge Marshennikov | Amazing details of fabric and lace are juxtaposed against the nude figure to create this sense of gentleness and fragility young women have. Airy and colorful in white, this fabric has soft strokes that define texture, supporting the figure.

#4 Color

Sophisticated color mixing may be hard to understand for a beginner in art. Here I’d like to explain the difference between professional painting and not so much so.

Color harmony plays enormous visual significance in contemporary art just like it did in the masterworks. Representational artists spend years to learn how to mix colors and to design their color harmonies. Usually it involves learning how to mix the subdued colors that support the leading hue. A lot of contemporary art paintings have garish hues coming out straight from a tube. They are too bright, flat and unnatural-looking to any serious contemporary artist who paints from nature in realist tradition. The difference between professional artist painter and an amateur one lies in his understanding of paint, edges and light. By carefully controlling these three elements professional artists are able to create beautiful contemporary art.

One of the famous contemporary artists who has mastered the color is Ed Minoff. His seascapes give us a chance to feel the power of nature in beautiful, subtle color harmonies. Such understanding of light and atmosphere comes from numerous studies and direct observation. Painting from life is a must for every aspiring artist who is serious about learning the traditional oil painting techniques. Edward Minoff works and teaches art in New York.

Edward Minoff | www.edwardminoff.com

#5 Painting Methods

Painterly strokes vs. Classicism

When we look at oil paintings, some appear hyperrealistic created with very smooth brushstrokes and others look loose with definite brushstrokes. This range of paint handling depends on artist’s personality and training. Both painterly and classical contemporary art can be equally good, if it’s painted with professionalism and from the heart. A lot of people don’t like the unblended brushstrokes, especially beginner painters, but this very type of painting is hard to achieve. Such loose brushstrokes look effortless to us, but this manner of painting actually carries years of experience learning to apply paint freely in just the right color and tone. Looking back at the art history Sargent and Zorn come to mind, employing loose, masterful brushstrokes to achieve freshness and realism in their paintings.

John Singer_Sargent_Lady_Agnew Scottish National Gallery — John Singer Sargent, Lady_Agnew

Classical painting technique shows no visible strokes. Van Eyck and David are great examples in art history. A complete blending of strokes comes with deliberate application of paint and brushing over it with a soft, clean brush after that. Also, painting with smooth brushstrokes often involves the glazing technique. These are multiple layers of paint applied very thinly to create an effect of light and luminosity. This oil painting technique involves lots of planning to foresee the end result painting in glazes (Vermeer, van Eyck).

Jacques-Louis_David death of marat — Jacques-Louis_David death of Marat

Jane Jones

www.janejonesartist.com

Contemporary still life painter Jane Jones works in realist tradition, painting flowers in luminous glazes. These flowers glow with light painted on panels. Careful compositions show remarkable mastery in achieving visual balance. The chiaroscuro effect of light and dark captivates the viewer instantly. If you’d like to learn about the artist’s oil painting technique, check out Jane’s art book, DVDs and more!.

Copyright Jane Jones, Survivors, 68×43″ oil painting

Painterly application of paint is a strong skill that’s often taken for granted. Being able to mix and apply paint in a single correct stroke involves lots of practice. We can explore painterly contemporary figurative art by Jeremy Mann. His personality is channeled through his aggressive and energetic strokes depicting streets and interiors, while the gentle hues in figurative painting capture his softer side. In his art, we can observe a thorough understanding of color impact and how it reverberates across the entire canvas.

Nadezda_Jeremy Mann contemporary art — Copyright Jeremy Mann, Nadezda, oil painting

jeremy mann abandoned dream, contemporary figurative painting — Copyright Jeremy Mann, Abandoned dream, oil painting

Contemporary painting often involves a mix of painting techniques that we can see in this artwork by Katherine Stone | www.katestoneart.com . Thin glazes create an effect of transparency and depth in the hair and background, while a more painterly strokes make textures in a doll and a girl’s face.

Copyright Kate Stone, A Certain Slant of Light, oil painting

Stylized art

An abbreviation of traditional methods and personal exploration leads to stylized art. When we look back at modern art, Gustav Klimpt and Mucha take prominent place in the world of art history. Their combination of materials is innovative for sure, but more importantly these artists’ work is based on a thorough understanding of human form. Their stylization doesn’t come from limitation (which is so common in contemporary painting), rather from their desire to find a unique voice in art that’s based on solid understanding of anatomy, color and composition. Therefore, their art is simply inspiring.

mucha, art neuveau — Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), The precious stones: topaz, ruby, amethyst, emerald

One of the examples in contemporary art painting stylization includes painting by Marco Grassi.

Sarah Joncas | sarahjoncas.ca

A Canadian artist, Sarah Joncas stylizes her figures and patterns to create art in paint. Inspired by animation processes and techniques, her art carries this simplification of shapes, color and tones, supported by exquisitely balanced compositions. Beautiful female figures and portraits are often juxtaposed against city views, nature or flowers to set the mood.

Copyright Sarah Joncas, fever Break,18×24″, oil and acrylic on panel

Abstract art vs. Realism

Traditional Realism involves a faithful depiction of light on a form studied from direct observation and Nature. But whenever we step away from it, other art forms take place.

Abstract art is about strong design and color management. We can learn to appreciate contemporary painting by learning to see textures/impasto techniques that create visual movement on canvas. Famous modern abstract artists include Jackson Pollock who pushed the boundaries of concept painting in vigorous strokes and textures. His abstract expressionism art shows understanding of color and design. Splattered paint on large canvases creates rhythm and energy.

Contemporary abstract painting by Joanne Miller Rafferty is beautiful, mature, and experimental in its nature. Abstract landscapes are spontaneous yet refined juxtapositions of color, gold leaf, and shimmery texture. They are lifescapes with the artist’s distinctive way of observation. Her acrylic paintings are collage pieces that begin at the horizon line and end at the personal experiences of viewers gazing at Joanne’s art. The artist has experimented with the use of leafing, gold leaf, and silver, copper, and variegated varieties. Using a mixture of acrylic color combinations on top of leafing creates new effects that Joanne has discovered in her creative processes. Her painting techniques are included in the Art Lessons book.

Copyright Joanne Miller Rafferty, Timeless #2, 60×40

Realism and Hyperrealism

I hope that this roundup of famous contemporary artists and their art gives you some ideas and direction how you can explore and grow your appreciation of contemporary art by paying attention to your emotions, story, composition, color and design in art. Contemporary art serves the humanity as a record of our history. It also creates a lasting memory of feelings and events, and allows us to communicate raw emotion.

Check out visionary art for sale

Great art websites to browse figurative art, sculpture and more:

ARC salon, the Met, National Gallery of Art, the Hermitage. Let me know if you have more resources/websites in mind.

Action step: Next time you look at contemporary art, ask yourself what three unique qualities you see in art. Is it a story, design, color, or simply a strong feeling that moves you? Analyze what draws you in and why.

Complete video series:

Video #1 Part 1 – Learn what makes a painting great

Video #1 Part 2 – Learn what makes a painting great 2: composition, color, emotion

Video #2 Contemporary Art – you’re here!

Video #3 How to take care of your art collection – coming soon!

Video #4 How to frame art

Video # 5 Why you don’t need an interior designer to buy and display art in your home – coming soon!

Art Palm Beach International 2018 highlights

Posted on January 23, 2018November 11, 2023 by veronica

Art Palm Beach International 2018 is a much quieter show in comparison to the Art Basel and Art Context Miami. The foot traffic commanded a much slower pace that actually allowed for thorough examination of contemporary art. Situated at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, the annual show consists of galleries showing art and sculpture with some installation work between January 18-21, 2018. As you often see in such fairs the quality of art hardly matters to be promoted and sold since there is no standard in art to adhere to in the first place. Craftsmanship doesn’t equal sales. We don’t listen to music or singing that is off key, but we are conditioned to look at terrible ‘art’. Not all presented contemporary art was bad at the fair, but visitors had plenty of chances to feel confusion and doubt in their understanding of art including me. In this article I to highlight some of the best pieces that were shown there as well as the worst ones, and a few artworks stuck in between the two categories.

It’s challenging for the artist to combine new materials with the traditional ones to record his vision that stands the test of time. Paintings look fresh if the artist is able to innovate and to play with the surface itself where the canvas size matters. A new trend in painting and 3-D art is added sparkle with Swarovski crystal, diamond dust or glitter. I think it cheapens the art for the most part and makes it too decorative. Neon light messages get incorporated into canvas art, and wall art installations may surprise some tech gigs. Innovation, thought and craftsmanship all contribute to the quality of painting and 3-D art. Here you see these elements at play in different proportions and scale.

If you’d like to learn more about the shown pieces, please contact the artists and galleries directly, I made every effort to identify each picture with the name of the artist or gallery representing him/her. If you see a mistake or want to add a name, please write to nika@veronicasart.com

Art Palm Beach International 2018: highlights

Video of selected works

In the video you see a hand-carved/etched glass with a neon sign “Keep working sucker” by Zac Knudson, 30×51″, Evan Lurie Gallery, and a solar Icd units in plexiglass titled “Perceptual Mirror” 28x17x2″ by Sungchul Hong, Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts.

Fake Fulfillment Center, Shawn Kolodny

Fake Fulfillment Center at ArtPalmBeach is a 3000-square-foot multi-sensory art installation by New York based artist Shawn that confronts the reality of modern addiction in a fun way. It consists of a short maze with rooms depicting and confronting the overwhelming drug addiction in our society.

Activation room: raise the caliber

Artists DetroitWick and Crow Studios transform pieces of guns that remain after they’ve been voluntarily turned in through gun buy back and amnesty programs or seized from crime scenes in America, into beautiful sculptures of lucite and prints. Percantage of sales is donated to the Caliber Foundation.

Debra Steidel

Ethereal and delicate vases reminiscent of the ocean are expertly crafted by Debra Steidel. Their textures look like sand and waves. Coral forms pull you in to touch the form and to feel the breeze of the waves. Visit steidelcontemporary.com to learn more.

Arinze Stanley

Marco Grassi

Isabelle Scheltjens

This painting is made of glass-fused mosaic! Like in some Dali paintings, Isabelle Scheltjens achieves unusual optical effects with her technique. The abstract image seen up close becomes a giant face observed from a distance.

Unfortunately I don’t know the name of this artist who made this sculpture, but by looking at this man it makes me think of life and balance, and how challenging it maybe to achieve at times.

Martin C. Herbst

B.1965, the artist creates a series of painted sculptures that are made of oil/lacquer on mirror-polished stainless steel. They range from 55 to 11 inches in diameter. Herbst paints a face on one half, and the other half of the sphere remains unpainted and becomes a distorting mirror (image below). The spheres rest on hidden rings and depending on the positioning of the sphere, the painted images change quite a bit. The idea for the spheres came to the artist from Italian painting by Parmigianino titled “Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror.”

The series hidden treasure explores the mystery of reflection. We see a woman’s face as a reflection found within the aluminum folds. Mirrored painting moves and disappears in the folds depending on your point of view.

A sculpture found on the floor at the Art Palm Beach 2018.

Pablo Dona

Pablo Dona creates whimsical installations pink, yellow and blue that are reminiscent of happy childhood. The artist aims to create a sense of magic that every child sees in commonplace objects and surroundings. Installations and photographs of tea cups, books and teacup sets with tiny people engaged in conversation, boat riding, swimming or walking have clean pastel colors that invite us to come back to that pure land of childhood. Whether you want to find it or not, you can contemplate your memories over tiny figures, rubber ducks and marshmallows.

Irene Wijnmaalen

These portraits of women have mesmerizing effect where you just keep looking back at the faces. Influenced by the Dutch painting, Irene creates moving portraits of women that seem to be lost in time.

Erin Anderson

B.1987, this young artist shows off her incredible talent painting figure on copper sheets. The artist creates visual comparisons between the figure and systems in nature. The metallic texture of the background is fascinating and creates movement and unusual shine, while figure painting follows classical art ideals and techniques.

Tanja Gant

Tanja Gant keeps us high on our toes with her colored pencil drawings that have a unique interpretation of ordinary subject, which goes far beyond realism and technical skill.

Sungchul Hong

B.1969, Korean multidisciplinary artist Sungchul Hong creates sculptural art out of strings. He prints photographs on elastic cords that he stretches over canvases or within steel frames. The images of grasping arms and hands look beautiful from a distance and puzzling up close. The construction of such images feels disruptive and you want to step back to see the unified piece. Artists often feel disconnected from the world, working alone in their studios. This sense of disconnect reveals itself in separate strings. In the video you can notice his wall art installation -blinking solar LCD units titled “Perceptual Mirror.” Grids of identical solar lcd units make changing flickering patterns that communicate life’s impermanence and isolation.

anthony brunelli fine arts_sungchul Hong_ string hands 2

Annalu Boeretto

B. 1976, Annalu Boeretto lives in Venice, Italy but exhibits her liquid sculptures internationally. Her mandala-like wall art mesmerizes us with light and lightness, natural beauty and liquidity. Influenced by the long history of Venetian glass blowing and water ways, she creates wall art from different materials that have beautiful sense of lightness and transparency common to water and glass. Fiberglass, resin and ink become Annalu’s materials that “freeze” pieces of nature in art. To learn more: www.annalu.it/

Pablo Caviedes

Pablo Caviedes, “On the map”We can look at this image and just see a face, but when a giant plate turns sideways the face becomes the U.S. map.

Jae Yong Kim

B.1973, the artist makes playful ceramic donuts. Each has a unique number of glazes and finishes that also include the Swarovski crystals in some. Fun shapes and colorful glazes create a visual feast so much so that you want to run to a donut place to eat some right away.

Mr.Brainwash

Mr. Brainwash established a name for himself in a single show that he organized and promoted to a celebrity crowd in LA many years ago. Coming from video taping of street art, Banksy art in particular, this man decided to become an artist himself, making these large canvases that carry instant message in street art style.

Alexi Torres

B.1976, Cuban artist Alexi Torres creates oil paintings that appear woven. These highly unusual brush strokes make this work very different from other figurative paintings.

Zena Holloway

Underwater photography is not an easy fit. B.1973, Zena Holloway takes pictures of celebrities and models underwater. Staged photography involves a lot of prep work with a team and a connection with models to get the shots just right. Her latest projects Sea Women and Body of Water aim to raise awareness of the effects of overfishing and pollution in the oceans.

Oliver Cole gallery: Michael Kalish

Artist and sculptor Michael Kalish makes vivid roses from reclaimed materials that include the license plates. These metal cuts that make up the flowers are suspended above the flat surface to create extra dimension.

Roberta Coni

Roberta Coni paints women inspired by Flemish painting. Her portraits don’t have the technical skill of the old masters, however, Coni’s eyes have piercing beauty.

Anja van Herle

Decorative and colorful, these sparkling paintings look like fashion ads where a woman’s skin is Photoshoped and lips have heavy outlines. The female faces are playful but not enigmatic.

A borderline “genius” art? If you don’t root for cuteness, it’s hardly artistic.

Crappy Art Conner

Sorry, guys, but this is hardly good art.

These pieces are whimsical and fun, but can we really say they are highly artistic creations? Perhaps to some who love toys or want to return to candy-land childhood.

This concludes the roundup of contemporary art you could have seen at the Palm Beach art fair. Hope you’ve enjoyed looking at various kinds of contemporary art.

To continue reading:

Contemporary figurative realism and more at Miami Art Basel Week 2017

Contemporary figurative realism and more at Miami Art Basel Week 2017

Posted on December 23, 2017November 9, 2023 by veronica

Art Basel Miami Beach is one of the largest art fairs held in the country every December. These art fairs also include Aqua Art Miami, Art Miami, CONTEXT Art Miami, Art Spot Miami, Design Miami, Form Miami, Fridge Art Fair Miami, Pulse Miami, Scope Art Show, Spectrum Art Fair and many more!

Art Miami and CONTEXT Art Miami are two of the art fairs shown under the umbrella of the Art Basel week in Miami Beach that I visit. Unlike last year, this time many galleries have emerged representing figurative realism. Also, there were more Asian galleries as well as galleries showing photography. Let’s dive in.

Art Miami and Context Art Miami at Miami Art Basel Week 2017

This video is a visual roundup of Miami art galleries, international galleries, 3D art and figurative realism art in Art Miami 2017. You’ll find the images and artists’ names in the article below.

Figurative realism artists and galleries

Brad Kunkle

In Brad Kunkle’s figurative paintings the feminine is symbolic of the intuitive that helps us connect to our purpose. By teaching us to study and to interpret artwork, the artist wants us to be more conscious of life and intuition and to feel the magic of life through his paintings. Brad Kunkle depicts women in a palette of warm browns set against the shiny silver leaf to express his idea of female softness and confidence.

To learn more: bradkunkle.com

Yigal Ozeri

Yigal Ozeri’s figurative realism is so stunning, it takes a while to believe that these are realistic oil paintings. Born in Israel in 1958, the artist works in New York creating large-scale paintings of women set in lush landscapes. The cinematic quality of his work forces us to stare and study every inch of the oil painting to believe that these are in fact realistic paintings. The artist is represented by Zemack Contemporary Art Gallery.

Clio Newton

Born 1989, Swiss artist Clio Newton creates hyperrealist, gigantic drawings of women in charcoal that are larger than life. The artist captures women with unbelievable anatomical accuracy in black and white that become towering statements of the artist’s talent. to To learn more: www.clionewton.com

Alonsa Guevara

Alonsa Guevara, Fernanda’s Ceremony, 80×32 in, oil on canvas | Anna Zorina Gallery, NY.

Originally from Chile, Alonsa is one of young figurative painters who shows her work during the Miami art fair. Alonsa’s fruit portraits are about desire. The desire to move people. Paintings of nude women that are often self-portraits are mixed with lush fruit and flowers that represent the fertility and life, mystery and birth.

To learn more: www.alonsaguevara.com

Mr. Brainwash

If you wish to understand how this street artist Mr. Brainwash made a name for himself and sold art for millions without any previous knowledge or background in art, you must watch the documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, 2010. His work continues to appear during the Miami art week to capture the art enthusiasts.

Mary Jane Ansell

Mary Jane Ansell is a British artist, who presents figurative realism in a new way, mixing up the baroque influences with military costumes and emotion. She creates the narratives around strong women that appear lost in their own quietness and self-reflection.

Mike Dargas

Oversized, hyper-realistic paintings of German artist Mike Dargas depict women’s faces soaking in either chocolate or honey. Discovered on Instagram, the artist often exhibits at the Opera gallery now. To learn more: mikedargas.com

FABIEN CASTANIER gallery is one of the Miami art galleries that shows work at the art fairs as well. The male sculpture is by Mark Jenkins and Speedy Graphito is on the walls.

Bernardo Torrens

A self-taught Spanish artist paints female nudes in monochromatic colors. He is represented by Louis K. Meisel Gallery.

Carlos Rolon

Carlos Rolon, decadence upon decadence, oil and gold leaf on canvas. Born in Chicago, the artist paints stylized yet delicate floral compositions heightening the baroque luxury with shiny gold leaf.

Fernando Botero

Colombian artist Fernando Botero is one of the most popular representational painters and sculptors today who is known for his humorous ‘fat’ figures that are also expressions of political criticism.

Marco Grassi

Playful and colorful, figurative realism art by Marco Grassi is a visual treat. He’s a popular contemporary artist often shown at big art fairs internationally. These portraits of girls have freshness and vigor heightened by the gold leaf shine.

Silvio Porzionato

Italian artist Silvio Porzionato paints large-scale portraits with amazing skill, dragging paint across the background to reveal the humanity of the face and hands.

galerie bhak_art miami 2017 — Korean art gallery – galerie Bhak at Art Miami Beach 2017 | Oil on Aluminum, Scratching

Bringing Korean artists to the Miami art fair, this art gallery is a pleasant surprise. Figurative realism art becomes a lot more than painting where non-glamorous people star in paintings made of scratches and aluminum.

Face, Oil on Aluminum, Scratching, 259 x 200 cm, 2016

Face, Oil on Aluminum, Scratch, 259x200cm, 2016, detail

3D art, sculpture and animation

In the video you see some animation paintings/digital media represented by the Priveekollektie Contemporary Art and Design gallery located in the Netherlands. In Bloomed wall, we study the movement of nature reminiscent of the Dutch still life painting in a series of ‘paintings’ that play animated flowers, birds, and more.

Flutter-Hologram-Pendulum-by-Dominic-Harris | represented by www.priveekollektie.art In this 3D Hologram two butterflies fly inside a jar when exited by the movement around them. They sit down at the pendulum, which represents life hanging in balance.
To learn more: www.priveekollektie.art

Carole A. Feuerman

American artist Carole Feuerman belongs to the Hyperrealism movement making life-like sculptures. She casts real people to produce sculptural hyperreal artk that symbolizes strength, survival, and balance. To learn more: www.carolefeuerman.com

Tiny nails map out the painting’s surface of this female face with thin threads moving in various directions to make up the tones.

Josepha Gasch-Muche

German artist Josepha Gasch-Muche makes glass sculptures from razor-sharp industrial liquid crystal display glass pieces! She breaks and arranges thin sheets of glass into strands to make geometric shapes. The artist is presented by the Heller gallery at Art Miami 2017.

Metis Atash

B.1979, German artist Metis Atash comes from the consultancy business in Germany to become the creator of sculptures that represent the duality of life and beyond. To learn more: longsharpgallery.com

Peter Anton

Peter Anton is a popular sculptor whose obsession is chocolate, ice cream and sweets! To learn more: www.peteranton.com

Liquid Art System

Photography

Jeff Robb

British photographer Jeff Robb experiments with three-dimensional imaging by taking pictures of the female nudes frozen in action and placing them in his lenticular photography. The lenticular photographs give us a mirage of volume and slight movement of a figure depending on the spectator’s point of view.

Ruud van Empel

This is one of few photographs that stood out from a crowd of paintings at the Miami art fair. The unusual part is seeing a black kid set in a beautiful, not diminishing way. And even more surprising part is that the artist is white – Dutch photographer Ruud van Empel. A child with mesmerizing eyes doesn’t really exist because the artist’s pictures are multilayered images. Photoshoped from many photographs, these black girls look like painted figures – symbols of childhood innocence. This deliberate deconstruction and reconstruction of digital imagery gives the art a mesmerizing quality.

To learn more: www.ruudvanempel.nl

Javier Bellomo Coria

Javier Bellomo Coria is an Argentinian artist who finds his influences in photography and architecture to create figurative paper sculptures. Realistic portraits look like gigantic puzzle paintings seen from the distance, yet when you walk around one, you find another image – a landscape printed on the other side of the artwork. The multi printed image is cut into numerous pieces and assembled again to reveal human fragility and multiplicity.

To learn more: www.javierbellomo.com

javier bellomo coria_art miami 2017 — A close-up view

Russell Young

Russell Young, Marilyn, acrylic screen print with diamond dust, Femme Fatale series. Russell Young’s oversized and glamorous depictions of iconic celebrities and figures are chosen based on a personal tragedy of each celebrity. Death, addiction or other fatalities brought them down only to glamorize their status even more. Just like Warhol, the artist knows how to attract attention to his work, combining the diamond dust with the iconic imagery everyone is more than familiar with.

This painting concludes my explorations in figurative realism at the Miami Art Basel Week 2017. Hope you like discovering new figurative painters and gain some insight into contemporary Miami art scene and beyond!

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15 places to see in Naples and surroundings in Florida

Posted on November 12, 2017January 6, 2024 by veronica

Are you about to visit Naples in Florida? Located on the Gulf of Mexico in Southwest Florida, it’s often called a paradise because of weather in winter months. I’m local visionary artist and I’d like to share some must-see attractions and sightseeing in and around town.

Main sightseeing attractions in Naples, Florida

5th Ave South

5th Avenue South is one of Naples’ most interesting shopping areas being packed with art galleries, fancy shops, and locally owned clothing boutiques. This is the best attraction in Naples. Situated next to the beach, the 5th avenue offers small boutiques, restaurants, the ocean and a beautiful feel of the tropics. Kids can get some ice-cream, parents can shop in small stores, and couples can spend their time at the beach or at upscale art galleries. It’s a fun and unique place all around, especially at night with the Christmas lights on! The street is the place for art festivals during the winter season as well as many other events.

Covered parking is free. http://www.fifthavenuesouth.com/ Location: 5th avenue south, Naples

aldo castillo gallery art naples-veronica winters art blog — Aldo Castillo art gallery in Naples, Location: 634 5th Ave S, Naples, FL 34102. Open till 9pm

This nature-inspired shop has unique furniture pieces that are art. The Cocoon furniture and art gallery is one of my favorite art galleries in town.

Christmas trees in lobby of hotel on 5th-sightseeing — Christmas trees in a lobby of the hotel on 5th

3d street & Naples Pier

3d street & Naples Pier– the historic district that can be reached on foot via a 10-minute walk on the beach from the 5th avenue beach entrance. The 3d street offers a row of upscale art galleries, boutiques and restaurants. It’s a charming place decorated with flowers, fountains, and shopping! http://www.thirdstreetsouth.com/

Located at the west end of 12th Avenue South that goes to the 3d street, Naples Pier is a long, wooden boardwalk with many fishermen on it, who can surprise you with their catch, and you can see many pelicans diving into water there. Dolphins are frequent visitors too! There is no fee to visit the pier.

The hurricanes

The pier was destroyed in the most recent hurricane in 2022…

It was surreal to see the boats stuck in trees after the hurricane passed, 2022

Clam Pass beach park

Clam Pass beach park– is a nice alternative to the Delnor-Wiggins one. There is a 15-minute, leisure board walk that stretches from the parking lot to the beach with tall, luscious green mangroves growing all around it. I love the quietness of that place. You can get a free ride to the beach that’s provided by the Naples Grande hotel. The hotel also has a tiki bar by the beach with condiments and rentals. There is a $10 parking fee, but you can park for free by the Waterside shops area and have a sweet, 5-minute walk to the ride. The park opens at 8 a.m. and closes right after the sunset! Bugs bite after the sunset. It’s best to have your bug repellent on at night. The beach is beautiful with lots of wildlife, and it’s a lot less crowded than the Vanderbilt beach or other locations. It’s situated in central Naples close to a shopping center, restaurants, and hotels.

Location: Seagate Drive & Crayton Road; http://www.colliergov.net/your-government/divisions-f-r/parks-and-recreation/beaches-and-boats/clam-pass-park

Another entry to the same beach that’s not restricted by the hours of operation is situated next to the Naples Cay entry and Venetian bay, and the park entrance is called ‘Gulf Shore beach access.’ A nice feature of this park is that you’re not monitored to get out of there right after the sunset, unlike in other parks (Clam pass).

Delnor-Wiggins Pass state park

This is a beautiful park with all the necessary facilities to spend a nice day out. I love the sand and the birds there, and it’s even possible to see the running turtles and swimming dolphins. There is rental equipment, bathrooms, picnic areas, etc. It has a $6 admission fee entering the park by car. Parking is difficult to find during the season at this beach. It opens at 8 a.m. and closes right after the sunset! https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Delnor-Wiggins Location: 11135 Gulfshore Dr., Naples, FL 34108

realism oil painting of ocean sunset — Sunset, 36×48″ Complementary delivery in Naples area, available

The Vanderbilt beach

This is the most popular beach in town for some odd reason. My guess it’s because of concentration of hotels facing the write sand and blue ocean. It’s always crowded there, especially during the season. Finding a parking spot is a headache there.

Location: End of Vanderbilt Beach road. Open 8 am to sunset.

Naples Botanical Garden

Botanical Garden in Naples during the Christmas season

Naples Botanical Garden-is a nice place to spend your morning with a friend, walking among orchids and tropical plants. Depending on the season, the gardens have varied plants in bloom, and it’s a beautiful nature preserve. Open: 8-3 p.m. but check their website for current schedule since it varies depending on the season. Admission also varies depending on season and just keeps going up.

Location: 4820 Bayshore Drive | Naples, FL 34112. Web: https://www.naplesgarden.org/

Naples Zoo

Naples Zoo is a great fun place for families with kids and couples alike. It’s a rather small zoo and my tip is to learn about the times when they have the shows (like feeding the crocodiles and giraffes) that culminates with a big show in the afternoon that you don’t want to miss! Bring plenty of water with you, and go on a short boat ride to a small island with monkeys!

Location: 1590 Goodlette-Frank Rd, Naples, FL 34102

There is an awesome trail path/walk, situated next to the zoo!! It”s a board walk in the nature. The entrance is fee with plenty of free parking there.

The Venetian Village

The Venetian Village is a rather small, upscale shopping center, situated next to the beach that has a few upscale restaurants overlooking the bay. The shops are unique and parking is free.

Location: 4200 Gulf Shore Blvd N, Naples

The Waterside Shops

It’s an upscale shopping center situated behind the Barnes and Noble bookstore, with unique, open-air architectural design and fountains. You can find major brands selling their goods here that include Apple, Louis Vuitton, De Beers, Lulu lemon, Ralph Lauren, Saks Fifth Avenue, etc. The shopping center also has some popular restaurants.

LV-Louis Vuitton-sightseeing in Naples Florida--blog

Location: 5475 Tamiami Trail North. Every store closes at 7 p.m. but they keep longer hours during the winter season.

Revs car museum

Surprisingly good. Big. Fun. If you like looking at shiny cars from different time periods, it’s a great place to spend your afternoon. The car museum offers docent tours and closes quite early. You must reserve your tickets online to get to the museum.

Revs Institute’s Cars & Coffee event returns during the season from 8:30am – 11:00am. This family-friendly public event is open to anyone. The museum is open for walk-ins during the event, this allows purchase of tickets without a reservation, to enjoy the outdoor event and explore the automobiles from Miles Collier Collections inside the building.

Location: 2500 South Horseshoe Drive, Naples, FL 34104

https://revsinstitute.org/

Naples Museum of Art

Naples Museum of Art | Artis Naples. Situated next to the waterside shops, this art museum has an awkward art collection with a few big names. The best pieces are by Dale Chihuly. You can also find a few small Magrittes there. The art museum offers a free community day once a month. $10 adult admission, children 17 and under come free. Free parking. Check the hours and other info at their website. Web: http://artisnaples.org/ Location: 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd

Mercato

Mercato is a small, upscale shopping center in Naples. It consists of restaurants, bars, galleries and a movie theatre. Many people love to dress up and head over for a dinner here. It’s a fun atmosphere with night lights and music. It also has a fancy yoga studio, art galleries and spas. Covered parking is free. Location: 9110 Strada Pl, Naples.

Sightseeing around Naples, FL

Captain Jack’s airboat tours

Captain Jack’s airboat tours are so much fun, you won’t be disappointed. You must get on this boat tour if you come to Naples! You will see lots of animals there and may be able to pet a tiny crocodile. This picture is taken from their website.

The picture is taken from their website.

1-844-326-2628 Toll Free | 1-239-695-4400 Phone | Hours: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm daily, 365 days a year, boats depart about every 30 minutes

Tickets & Gift Shop: 200 Collier Avenue, Everglades City, FL 34139 (map)

Mangrove Tour: 905 Dupont Street, Everglades City, FL 34139 (map)

Animal Sanctuary, Grassland & Swamp Buggy Tours: 32330 Tamiami Trail East, Ochopee, FL 34141 (map)

Web: http://www.captainjacksairboattours.com/

The Koreshan State Historic Site

Located in Estero, The planetary court is surrounded by pine flatwoods’ habitat and has a religious colony settlement, the Koreshan Unity, whose last members deeded the land to the state in 1961, according to the Naples Daily News. The Unity of 200 followers relocated from New York to Florida in late 19th century, who believed that the universe existed within a giant, hollow sphere (according to the park’s site). The park is good for fishing, hiking and boating. The park is open from 8am to sunset. the historic settlement is open till 5pm. There is a per vehicle fee.

Location: 3800 Corkscrew Road, Estero, FL 33928; (239) 992-0311

Web: https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Koreshan

Marco Island

Marco Island is a stretch of pristine beaches similar to the Naples ones, but with its own charm. Located on the Gulf of Mexico it offers natural beauty and luxury accommodations. It also has a free to visit Marco Island Arts Center.

Well, that sums it up. Have a blast in Naples, Florida! 🙂

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King Woman: contemporary art show review

Posted on October 21, 2017November 9, 2023 by veronica

King Woman

King Woman is a contemporary art show held at the Pen+Brush nonprofit art gallery in New York in October, 2017. The title reflects epic impact you receive visiting the exhibit. Occupying two floors, the exhibition features a number of large artworks in contemporary painting, photography and sculpture. This art show is a rare gem, sparkling in an overall landscape of mediocre contemporary art. Both abstract and realistic, art is united in a single vision where a woman is King. The curator of the show is Mashonda Tifrere.

She said, “My goal for this show is to highlight work by women who question history and deny limitations, persevering in their art despite social mores and norms. These artists have also found a way to acknowledge their gender but at the same time move beyond it by owning it in an unabashed way – showing that women can be more than Goddess or Queen, that they are capable of being ‘King,’ at the pinnacle of power and strength and skill.”

Art transcends the gender roles, and while it shouldn’t be about the division between the sexes, it’s important to see women have equal say, being presented in art exhibitions. While we don’t see male artists showing in groups where their art challenges stereotypes and disparity they often face, women seem to unite in their message channeled through their art. Being vulnerable is beautiful. Women artists often feel unimportant and invisible however, their art becomes powerful once the forces are united in the show like this one.

Carole A. Feuerman

Carole Feuerman is a pioneer hyperrealist artist who actually began the the hyper-realism movement in the 1970s. She portrays women in steel, bronze and resin so lifelike, you can’t help but reach out and touch the sculptures. Tiny eyelashes, hair and droplets of dew make her figures appear incredibly real. Large and small, her figurative sculptures can occupy a small space in a room or in the entire garden. The sculptures are often integrated into their environment, like you can see in Venice. https://veronicasart.com/venice-biennial-2017-a-crappy-show-with-rave-reviews/

On the artist’s website Feuerman explains her work.

“She creates visual manifestations of the stories she wants to tell of strength, survival, balance, and the struggle to achieve.”

Chrysalis, 2017, resin, 33 x 36 x 18″

Ingrid Baars

Artemis, 2017, C-print face mounted on dibond, edition of 7, 45″x 59″

This incredibly powerful photograph is inspired by African culture, fashion and women. Romantic at heart, the photo manipulation is the image of striking beauty and ethereal contemplation.

Yvonne Michiels

Royal Flowers, 2017, Fuji Crystal on dibond with perspex

Based in the Netherlands, the artist creates incredibly moving digital collages of women with floral crowns. At first sight her portraits of women express confidence and beauty. Women’s faces look so magnificent, you stare at the image speechless, yet we can feel some hidden vulnerability behind the perfect looks.

Roos Van Der Vliet

These intimate portraits of women feel incredibly sincere. Dutch artist paints women realistically to express her inner desire to replicate reality as close as she can. Her paintings give a sense of a woman who is hiding yet she wants to be seen. Painting process is always a path to understanding oneself. Here we see the artist making discoveries about her own vulnerability.

Reisha Perlmutter

Iris, 2017, oil on canvas, 40 x 60″

Reisha paints women floating in colorful water. Abstracted patterns of body and water channel their healing powers where women are allowed to dwell freely in their ever changing environment.

Victoria Selbach

Kali Ma, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 50″

This painting surprises with its size that creates instant sense of power and control found in a figure. She looks like a goddess or warrior who is ready to concur the world.

The list of artists in King Woman includes:

Rebecca Allan; Azi Amiri; Ingrid Baars; Hunter Clarke; Donna Festa; Carole Feuerman; Lola Flash; Meredith Marsone; Yvonne Michiels; Stephanie Hirsch; Kharis Kennedy; Kit King; Lacey McKinney; Jane Olin; Reisha Perlmutter; Renee Phillips; Trixie Pitts; A.V. Rockwell; Victoria Selbach; Lynn Spoor; Swoon; Tiara; Roos Van Der Vliet; Elizabeth Waggett; Lynnie Z

Where:

King Woman is the contemporary art show that runs between October 12th-December 9th, 2017 at Pen+Brush nonprofit art gallery in New York (29 East 22nd street). To read more about the show: http://www.penandbrush.org/articles/press-release/upcoming-exhibition-king-woman

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Venice biennial 2017: a crappy show with rave reviews

Posted on June 10, 2017November 8, 2023 by veronica

If you regret that you haven’t seen the show yet, don’t. Venice Biennale 2017 is monumental in concept and degraded on visuals, heavy on installations, and weak on any form of beautiful painting, huge on scale and tiny on emotion. Chief curator of the Pompidou center in Paris, Christine Macel arranged the exhibition in a number of pavilions -realms which flow together with concept art titled “Viva arte Viva!”

While paid entrance to the biennale invites you to visit vast spaces of the Arsenale and the Giardini, a number of other pavilions are scattered throughout Venice in medieval palazzos and gardens. Art in those palaces looked better than the one in the official biennale. Each pavilion usually represents a single country with its native artists exhibiting their talent to the multilingual public.

Venice biennial 2017: the Arsenale. 9 chapters or realms, 86 countries, 120 artists – one feeling of confusion. The show opens up with large-scale installations situated between a long stretch of bare, tall brick halls of the Arsenale. Arsenale is the medieval Venetian warehouse for arms and boats.

This is one of the top art international shows that obliterates visual beauty in favor of concept. Boring to the eyes and craftsy at best, the viewer has to read lengthy statements in provided brochures to “get” the idea behind the pieces. I love Venice for its beautiful architecture, history and art, yet the biennial rejects even a slightest idea of having representational art on its grounds. The exception is the Venetian pavilion itself that defies the curator’s voice with sparkling jewelry, chandeliers, gowns and sophisticated glass that highlights traditional artist labor and skill.

A woman’s head is picking out from a hole in the floor with piles of clothes arranged in a circle.

The Romanian Pavilion

Like in the naked king fairy-tale, fooling of people takes place in the exhibition stating what they see is ART. Rooms after rooms visitors encounter piles of materials, fabric, metals or abstract sculptures, that often have profound meaning expressed through riveting writing. However these endless primitive installations and videos leave the spectators confused on what ART means.

Art exists to call our attention to something, to make a statement, or to leave a record of times lived. Curated as apolitical and without a clear message, the biennial misses to deliver on any of these points.

The German Pavilion

More rooms

Visual arts are called visual for a reason. Because the artist’s call to attention and its impact is visual, conceptual art rarely leaves considerable emotional impact. Even when the concept is strong, it’s weakened by the absence of the visual perception we all share. Therefore, such installations should get a specific classification not to be promoted as art. Today’s notion abolishes any standard for an artist to aspire to, and for people to understand or appreciate. Why did we keep high standard in music or dance and completely abolished the one in art? It’s not the absence of artists willing to travel years in education to achieve something worthwhile of people’s attention, it’s about few art critics and curators, influential art shakers who pick and choose, add and subtract – curate according to their tastes, business practice and economic whims.

The pavilion of Shamans

Art installations that catch attention

On the upside, the exhibition is gender-even, nationality-diverse, with the majority of the unknown artists representing both influential and obscure countries. There are a few art installations at the main complex of the biennale that caught my eye.

The Zimbabwe Pavilion

The Russian pavilion

Russian Pavilion: Change of Decorum. Growing aggression, terror, irrational life of people, control and manipulation of masses are the themes of the art installation with drones, people, soldiers and androids living in the “transparent world.”

The Chile Pavilion

Artist Bernardo Oyarzun explores the theme of the current representation of the Mapuche community, a group of indigenous inhabitants of southcentral Chile and southwestern Argentina. Dark room features an installation of over 1,000 Mapuche kollong masks, traditionally used in ceremonies. Note that 40 Mapuche artisans produced these handmade masks commissioned by the artist who installed them in the pavilion.

The Argentinean Pavilion

“Making art is not a luxury. It’s a way of surviving that humans as a species have developed: we are, so far as we know, the only group of living beings capable of calling the attention of others to the meaning of life. That’s something to celebrate.” – Claudia Fontes

Other rooms

The Mongolian Pavilion

The Venetian Pavilion

This is a visual Venice guide about the city and its history. To shop on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3QSvpFr

Art seen off of the biennial in Venice in 2017

A nice surprise is a solo show by Carole A. Feuerman situated in a peaceful corner of a green garden at the Giardino Della Marinaressa, by the Venice Biennale (open and free to the public). The artist makes hyper-realistic, life-size sculptures of women in painted bronze and steel, resin and oil that look so life-like, you just want to reach out and touch the sculptures!

Kendall Island, lacquer on bronze, life-size sculpture

Project by Lorenzo Quinn on the Grand Canal in Venice. His monumental sculpture of white hands raises awareness about the climate change and the rising sea levels.

Street art in Italy

I must mention the performance that I saw on the streets of Turin. A young man pounded the keys of an old typewriter with rare obsession. Here is one of his finished pieces.

The artwork made using an old type writer.

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#3 Using Advanced Printing Techniques

#4 Having Customization

#5 Enhancing the Viewer’s Experience

#6 Offering Long-Term Value and Investment Protection

How to frame art on paper

Framing supplies

Mats: white vs. color

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Standard vs. custom cut mat

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Mat Cutters

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Metal or wood frames? Consider the lifespan of your display

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Framing companies where you can customize any frame, mat, online:

How to frame art on canvas & panel

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Standard vs. non-standard frames

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Framed oil paintings at art museums

Consider wall space & art display unity

To Frame or not to frame?

Complete video series:

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Contemporary art sculpture at the Context Art Miami

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1. Art collecting as decoration, attachment and altruism

2. Art collecting as an investment

How to collect hot, emerging artists

Who are those hot, established, famous artists?

3. Art collecting as an adventure and legacy

5 Art collecting tips:

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I hope this article brings you much closer to start collecting art! Visit my art store to pick your favorite painting or email me your questions.

The uncomfortable truth about the art market corruption

How big is the art market?

Top 5 art galleries in the world:

Art market fraud at the top tier of the art world

#1 Charitable donations to art museums

#2 How some obscure artists become famous.

#3 Art purchase as a bribe and exchange for a valuable position

#4 Murky Pricing at high-end galleries

#5 Freeports

#6 Art market forgery

#7 Art Philanthropy

#8 Price gauging at art auction houses

Methods of Price Gouging:

Other art market scams:

In conclusion

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