A Studio Visit with : Brenda Goodman

I visited Brenda Goodman's studio a few weeks ago and saw these three new paintings. The only question I have is which lucky museum is going to invite her for the retrospective she so rightly deserves? 

Wild Thing-You Make My Heart Sing     50 x72    oil on wood     2013

Kickstart     56 x79    oil on canvas     2013

Jingle Jangle Morning     51 x 58      oil on wood    2013

Brenda also showed me these two paintings that she had just gotten back from collectors. I asked her to write a few words about them as they seem very connected to the new work.

The Cat 1970

"An old friend who I lost contact with many years ago got in touch with me and offered to return a cat painting I did in 1970. It was done 5 years out of art school. She was downsizing the amount of belongings she had. I remembered the painting and even though I hadn’t seen it in over 40 years my emotional connection to it never went a way. Now I have it in our living room and feel so happy to see it everyday."

Breakthrough 1985   
                           

"Two weeks after this event a collector called me and said he was looking for a new home (hopefully a museum) for a painting of mine he bought in 1985 from the Ed Thorp Gallery.   The painting is called “Breakthrough” and indeed it was when I painted it and though I didn’t want to sell it I so badly needed the money and had to let it go.  I said to him I would do anything to have that painting back. We settled on a price.  I bought my painting back and  am overjoyed." 

Here is Brenda's studio:

                                                   

                                                                                

There is a review of her work  here and here

Thanks Brenda for allowing me to visit and also sending me some better pictures!!

Marie Vickerilla

I went to see Marie Vickerilla's paintings last week at the Simon Gallery in Morristown, NJ. I have known Marie since 1981 when we were studio neighbors at Bard in their brand new MFA program. We were fast friends and have been ever since. It a treat to see her work out in the world. These new paintings are masterful, humorous and complex.  

To see more of her work visit here and here.

"At sixty, the perception of every aspect of my life shifted, including how and what I painted." Marie Vickerilla 2013

Red on Red  60 x 60 oil on canvas 2013

                                Pink Lady 60 x 60 oil on panel 2013

Hey 60 x60 oil and paper on panel 2012

Therapy Talk 52 x 72 oil on panel 2012

Orange Stop 29 x 48 oil on panel 2013

 Positive Void 84 x 54 oil on panel 2012

                                            Portrait   29 x 24 oil on panel 2013

Nocturnes and Shape Shifting

I am happy to be included in these two upcoming group shows:

Nocturnes

OPENING RECEPTION

Tuesday June 18 4:30-7:00pm

Exhibition Dates; June 18- September 22,2013

Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery

College of Saint Elizabeth

2 Convent Road

Morristown, NJ 07960

All That Matters 24 x 24 oil  

The Light 24 x 24 oil

And

SHAPE SHIFTING

Susan Eley Fine Art

46 West 90th Street, 2nd floor, New York, NY 10024

between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue. 

Gallery Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 11 am-5 pm and by appointment. 

A Group Summer Show Featuring 

Semi-abstract Paintings by:

Lisa Fellerson, Tom Gaines, Kentaro Hiramatsu,

Joseph Piccillo, Lisa Pressman and Carlos Puyol

OPENING RECEPTION

WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 6-8 pm

Exhibition Dates: July 10-September 6, 2013

Saturday Afternoon  30 x 30 encaustic

July 4  24 x 38 encaustic

Linking 3  24 x 24 encaustic

The Edge of  World  48 x 38 oil

What's New?

7" x 5"  encaustic on board from the All That Matters Series

Recent video made for the Red Show at  the A Gallery in Provincetown, MA.  

Recent & Upcoming Exhibitions

April, 2014  S.H.E  GALLERY, SOLO, Boonton, NJ

September, 2013 ROSENFELD GALLERY, ALL THAT MATTERS, SOLO Philadelphia, PA

July, 2013  SHAPE SHIFTING, Susan Eley Gallery, New York City,  NY

June, 2013  SWEPT AWAY: Translucence, Transparence, Transcendence in Contemporary Encaustic
 The Cape Cod  Museum of Art, Dennis, MA. Curated  by Michael Giaquinto

June, 2013 GROUP SHOW, Western Carolina State University Museum, Cullowhee, NC

June, 2013 RED, A Gallery, Provincetown, MA

June, 2013 ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM , Laconia Gallery, Boston, MA

Inside Time 24 x 24 encaustic

Mapping Time: A Collaborative Exhibition

There is a new space 5 minutes from my house that houses a gallery and also artists lofts for rent. I was offered to have an exhibtion there recently and  decided to use the opportunity for a creative challenge. I invited fellow artist Krista Svalbonas to collaborate. Her work explores the urban landscape using pastel, wax and graphite to create meticulously drawn installations.

Our project began with Krista's geometric paintings, wall drawings along with my paintings that mapped the gallery. Krista spent two days creating her wall installation.  I responded with color drawings done with graphite and pastel. I can not emphasize enough that collaboration is a great way to expand and fine tune your own vocabulary.

Mural Outside of the Firehouse, Orange NJ. Lisa Pressman and Krista Svalbonas

This mural is the outside door of the firehouse. Krista started with the green shape based off one of her paintings. My challenge was to find the right drawing tool and also to feel free enough to paint in a public space.  I discovered acrylic markers and began to riff off her geometry. I was inspired by the firehouse brick and the community surroundings. At one point both of us and Krista's husband, Lars were all working together on the piece. It was great fun even in the freezing weather.

ValleyArts is proud to present the third exhibition at the new Firehouse Gallery, Mapping Time: A Collaborative Installation by Lisa Pressman & Krista Svalbonas. Pressman and Svalbonas  created a site specific installation, transforming the walls of the Firehouse Gallery into a visual dialogue of architecture, language and temporality. The installation is comprised of two-dimensional mixed media work and integrated wall drawings. Learn more about the artists and see some of their work on their websites: www.lisapressman.net/ & www.kristasvalbonas.net Gallery hours: Saturdays 10am – 4pm; Sundays 12:20pm – 4pm; by appointment. Exhibit runs March 21 – April 28, 2013

"Perfect for the space... shapes and colors of the paintings flow directly into the structure of the gallery itself. "

-- Dan Bischoff, Star Ledger

                 Lisa Pressman and Krista Svalbonas:  Corner, pastel and graphite

 Lisa Pressman and Krista Svalbonas: encaustic, pastel, graphite installation

I loved Krista's idea of expanding the collaboration to small affrodable works She and I visited a letterpress company near the gallery with her design  for the these cards. We had 250 printed and now they are back in my studio. She added cutouts and I have been using old prints, drawings, tape, water media and a Japanese hole punch to embellish. I am loving the backs almost as much as the fronts of these works.

Small Works Collaboration: Mapping Time 6 x6  letterpress and mixed media on paper  Lisa Pressman and Krista Svalbonas

Small Works Collaboration:Mapping Time 6 x6  letterpress and mixed media on paper

Lisa Pressman and Krista Svalbonas

Small Works Collaboration:Mapping Time 6 x6  letterpress and mixed media on paper

Lisa Pressman and Krista Svalbonas

                                       

                                           Firehouse  Hallway Gallery

Past Time:  Lisa Pressman : Paintings from 1983-2011


When I went to visit the space to consider having the exhibition I spent some time in this hallway which is a huge space with lovely natural light. It seemed  to whisper to me that it was time to bring out some of my work that has been tucked away in storage for 25 years. It has been an instructive way to revisit my imagery, use of color and creating context for all of my work. 

                    Inside Out  70 x 60 oil on canvas   1990  L Pressman

                      Undercover 60 x 66 oil on canvas 1992 LPressman              

FIne Tuning

Meditation Map  12 x 12 oil on board  2012

It seems like opportunities arise all the the time to fine tune and examine what  I think about art making and my own work. I am not talking about the official write your statement, write a grant kind of moment, but the kind that sneak up and surprise you.

Recently at an opening of mine, during a casual interview, a reporter asked me this question, " How does your art tell your world view?"  I started answering and then said I would get back to her.  It was a tough question for me to answer off the cuff so I gave it a few days and tweaked my statement.


I focus on fragments in my work, just as our culture is fragmented and disconnected but my worldview is one of interconnection. I try to reveal elements that many people have lost sight of, elements that communicate to a place deeper than words. My work is rooted in a sense of play and discovery, an intuitive dialogue between the random and the deliberate that allows a relationship between intent and accident to develop. I try to create in the place of “not knowing” and exploration. My paintings invite a deep, visceral response that evolves over time; they have a life of their own. 

When I refer to fragments I also think about my photographs as being clues to how I see the world. My photos focus on fragments, close ups, shadows, light, texture, line and pattern not unlike my vision when I take my eyeglasses off. Astigmatism makes my world a blur so that details drop off. More about that here.

Below is a picture I took in Tuscany about 2 years ago and underneath is a painting that I am working on in the studio. I had forgotten that this photo was hanging around. I find it interesting the way things get synthesized and regenerate in the work.

Tuscan Wall, photo, 2011

Tuscan View 30 x 30 oil and encaustic on board 2013

From the Train, 2013

Drawing  12 x 11 mixed media on Mylar 2013

 One of the other opportunities I have had to look at my work was  responding to artist  Valerie Brennen's interview for her blog Studio Critical.

                      Heading In  20 x 20 oil on board 2012



Here is an excerpt from that interview:

Tell me about your process, where things begin, how they evolve etc.

 My working routine and process are pretty close. I am at a point in my art making where I feel I have my tool belt pretty well stocked with a vocabulary, ideas, materials, and inspirations. I try to trust that and stay out of my own way. Work begins as play, play with great freedom and without judgment. Evolution comes from looking and paying careful, intuitive attention to what is happening in the work. If I am listening, my work tells me my story. My visual memory and interpretation of the world are more perceptive and in tune than my intellect. I believe in the idea of the spiral. Images and ideas that I have investigated in the past reappear again and again in a different form at different times. I have found my photographs to be very helpful, not as something to work from, but as an indicator of how I see the world. The most important part of my process is looking, editing and of course, deciding when a painting is done. One of my favorite times is coming back to the studio after a day of working to see the work again in a new light.

Read more at Studio Critical

Appearance 30 x 30 encaustic 2013