Warm Autumn Sky Fall

Warm Autumn Sky Fall

with foliage at a field's wood's edge behind my home painted Oct 15, 2024, 10" x 8" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$300

Autumn Over There

Autumn Over There

with foliage at a field's wood's edge behind my home painted Oct 15, 2024, 7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$200

Autumn Oaks Leaving

Autumn Oaks Leaving

at the edge of a back field behind my home painted on Oct 15, 2024, 10" x 8" (w x h), using Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$300

Goat Island Light Attitude

Goat Island Light Attitude

in Cape Porpoise Harbor, Kennebunkport, Maine on June 11, 2023, painted June 16-17, 2023, 10" x 8" (w x h), using Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$300

Puffin Pair Up There

Puffin Pair Up There

Painted October 10, 2024 from two photos of Icelandic puffins (Fratercula arctica) flying in the Icelandic Bay of Breidafjordur in the Bjarnareyjar Islands archipelago where I lived solo on one of the uninhabited islands, Budey, for five mid-summer weeks in 2005 rowing between the islands, 9" x 12" (w x h), using Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed, $400

Our Model's Hair Peaks Studies

Our Model's

Hair Peaks Study 1

With model Shelly at our Kennebunkport Drawing Group, Sept 8, 2024, 8" x 10" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$300

Our Model's
Hair Peaks Study 2

With model Shelly at our Kennebunkport Drawing Group, Sept 8, 2024, 7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$150

Our Model's
Hair Peaks Study 3

With model Shelly at our Kennebunkport Drawing Group, Sept 8, 2024, 7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$150

Our Model's
Hair Peaks Study 4

With model Shelly at our Kennebunkport Drawing Group, Sept 8, 2024, 5" x 7" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$150

Our Model's
Hair Peaks Study 5

With model Shelly at our Kennebunkport Drawing Group, Sept 8, 2024, 5" x 7" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$150

Our Model's
Hair Peaks Study 6

With model Shelly at our Kennebunkport Drawing Group, Sept 8, 2024, 9" x 12" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$350

Our Model's
Hair Peaks Study 7

With model Shelly at our Kennebunkport Drawing Group, Sept 8, 2024, 7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$150

A Simple View Scene

A Simple View Scene

painted at our Kennebunkport figure art group with model Karen on Aug 23, 2024, 5" x 7" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$150.

Wave at You Study 3

Wave at You Study 3

This was painted during the 2024 Ogunquit (Maine) Perkins Cove Plein Air Event on September 7th and completed in my studio when dry for wet lifting using Viva Signature paper towels and brushed layering. 12" x 9" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$300

Maine Surf in Watercolor by 8 Artists

Maine's Rocky Coast
Surf in Watercolor 

by Eight Noted Artists, 

the earliest born in 1849 

and the oldest died in 1995, 

with their art in these six museums:

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME
Monhegan Museum of Art and History, Monhegan Island, ME
Portland (Maine) Museum of Art, Portland, ME
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

Surf, Splash, Waves

1
The Sea, Maine (Deer Isle)
John Marin (1870-1953), American
Watercolor and charcoal on paper, 20" x 17" (w x h), 1921
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

Source Wiki edited and added to:
John Marin (1870-1953), American, spent his first summer in Maine in 1914 and almost immediately the rocky coast there became one of his favorite subjects. Over the rest of his life, Marin became intimately familiar with the many moods of the sea and sky in Maine. "In painting water make the hand move the way the water moves," Marin wrote in a 1933 letter to an admirer of his technique. Though he painted at many places along the Maine coast, he never painted on Monhegan Island, where many famous artists of his day painted, because he preferred to find his own places. Eventually he had a home at Cape Split in Addison, Maine.

2
Neptune Churn
Vincent Andrew Hartgen (1914-2002), American
Watercolor on paper, 26" x 20" (w x h)
Gift of the artist
Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine

Source Museum Notes edited and added to:
Vincent Hartgen was head of the art department at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine when I was a student in the late 1960s. He grew the art department while he also painted abstract watercolors inspired by the Maine landscape, coast and nature. During his life he was awarded the Black Bear Award, the Distinguished Professor Award and even became an honorary doctor of fine arts at the University of Maine. Born on January 10, 1914, in Reading, Pennsylvania, Hartgen was an artist from an early age. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and during World War II (1942- 1945) he was a camoufleur, or a person who designed military camouflage. Hartgen arrived at the University of Maine Orono in 1946 and taught until his retirement in 1982. He passed away on November 27, 2002, at the age of 88. He was a prolific artist, creating an estimated 2,000 signed paintings and drawings and an equal number of sketches.

3
Pounding Surf, Portland
Frederick J. Ilsley, (1855-1933), American
Watercolor on wove paper, 12" x 9", 1932
Portland (Maine) Museum of Art, Portland, Maine

Source Cincinnati Art Gallery edited:
Frederick Julian Ilsley (1855-1933) was born and died in Portland, Maine. He was a self-taught artist, and a member of: the Portland Society of Artists, the Salmagundi Club, the Rockport (MA) Art Association, the American Artists Professional League, the Hayloft Club, the American Federation of Artists, and the Brushians Club, Portland Maine. He exhibited at the Society of Independent Artists 1925, and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts 1931. Ilsley worked as an engineer for Cumberland County Power and Light, and later the owner of his own business, Ilsley & Cummings, company of civil engineers on Exchange Street in Portland. As a member of the Brushians Club he traveled with the group at least once a week to paint throughout Maine and New Hampshire on painting excursions. He was known to other members of the Club as the Politician and looked to by the group to add spice and insight into conversations.

4
Seascape with Rocks (Monhegan Island)
Henry Newell Cady (1849-1935), American
Watercolor on paper, 19" x 14" (w x h)
Monhegan Museum of Art and History, Monhegan Island, Maine

Source askART and Wiscasset Bay Gallery, edited:
Henry Newell Cady (1849-1935), was born and died in Warren, RI. He was known for his seascapes of the New England coastline with a sensitive touch for capturing the effects of sky and sunlight conditions as they affected the sea and rocky shoreline in ever-changing rhythms. As a self-taught painter, Cady exhibited amazing ability at a young age. One of his paintings from 1869, when he was twenty, of seacoast waves crashing on the rocky New England shore, hangs in the John Hay Library, Brown University, Providence, RI. Cady attended Brown University, studied art at the National Academy of Design, and was a member of the Providence Art Club. Cady exhibited at many prestigious exhibitions, was an illustrator for several national magazines, composed piano music, even after he began to go deaf, and photography.

Untitled #4776 (Monhegan Island)
Ted Davis (1908-1995), American
Watercolor on paper, 14" x 10" (w x h), 1956
Gift of James B. Wyeth
Monhegan Museum of Art and History, Monhegan Island, Maine

Source askART edited:
Ted Davis (Louis Theodore Davis) (1908-1995) was born and died in New York, NY. For nearly fifty years he summered on Monhegan Island. He likened the island to a big cruise ship. It never went anywhere, but the passengers and the atmospheric changes were constantly changing. From the late 1940s to the end of his life, Ted's work became increasingly abstract yet it always contained elements of the natural environment. The early work, influenced by Hans Hoffman "push-pull theory" used Marin-esque brush strokes to imply a setting, rather than utterly define it. Ultimately, these brush strokes resolved themselves into blocks of color--a fish shack, a boat, and a buoy. From the 1960s to the 1990s he created prismatic layers of thin color, each layer overlapping and intersecting another. Was it the sun that shone through the center of these works? Ted Davis was a beloved figure on the Island. Many collectors and friends were devoted to his work and through him were educated to the world of modernism. His artistic skill was summed up by the painter and The New Yorker cover illustrator and fellow summer islander, Charles E. Martin, who called Ted "the best watercolorist on the island."

6
Thundering Sea (Monhegan Island)
James Edward Fitzgerald (1899-1971), American
Watercolor on paper, 26" x 20" (w x h)
Monhegan Museum of Art and History, Monhegan Island, Maine

Source various edited:
James Edward Fitzgerald (1899-1971), known for his watercolors, was born in Milton, MA and died at Isle of Aran, Ireland. In 1924 at 25-years-old he made his first trip to Monhegan Island. In 1928 he shipped to the West Coast as a seaman aboard a freighter, then settled in Monterey, California from 1928 to 1943 where he lived and painted. In 1943 he sold his studio in the Monterey hills and moved to the former home of his friend Rockwell Kent on Monhegan Island, ME where he spent much of his later career painting in his unique style. This house is now a part of the Monhegan Museum. He made many trips to Jamaica, Nova Scotia, the Canary Islands, and the Isle of Aran off the coast of Ireland.

7
Sunken Ledges (Ogunquit)
Charles Herbert Woodbury
Watercolor on paper, 29" x 21" (w x h), 1933
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

Source Wiki edited:
Charles Herbert Woodbury (1864-1940), born in Lynn, MA and died in Jamaica Plain, MA, was a close buddy of John Singer Sargent and a President of the Boston Watercolor Society. His earliest work was part of the group later known as the Lynn (MA) Beach Painters. While an undergraduate at M.I.T. he became a regular exhibitor at, and at 19 the youngest member of, the Boston Art Club. After graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with degree in Mechanical Engineering, in 1886 Woodbury had great success painting up the New England coast in the towns and beaches of Nova Scotia, exhibiting the results. From January to June 1891, he was a pupil of the Académie Julian in Paris, and then went to Holland, where he studied the techniques of the modern Dutch painters. Returning to New England, he settled in Boston for his winter studio and spent his summers in the small fishing village of Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine. In 1897 he founded one of the most successful of the summer art colony schools that even survived his death, the Ogunquit School. In 1928, Woodbury, along with a group of other area-artists, founded the Ogunquit Art Association. Woodbury was one of the most sought-after teachers of his generation, having begun teaching on a regular basis while a freshman at M.I.T. Ironically, he had little formal training himself other than a few months of classes at the Academy Julian in Paris. Woodbury maintained a close friendship with John Singer Sargent and a pleasant acquaintance with many of his contemporaries including J. Alden Weir and Childe Hassam.

8
The Washerwoman
Sears Gallagher (1869-1955), American
Watercolor on paper, 19" x 15" (w x h)
Monhegan Museum of Art and History, Monhegan Island, Maine

Source Wiki edited:
Sears Gallagher (1869-1955), was born in South Boston, MA and died in Roxbury, MA. He was an American artist proficient in drawing, etching, watercolor and oil painting. His work consisted largely of landscapes, seascapes, and cityscapes depicting his native Boston and northern New England, especially Monhegan Island, Maine. Illustrating magazines and books provided steady work and income, and his etchings and prints attracted popular demand. Gallagher took his art seriously, adapted new techniques, and was open to the influence of European Impressionism. During the height of his career his watercolors were favorably compared to those of Winslow Homer and F. W. Benson, and his etchings and drypoints to those of James McNeill Whistler.

Wave at You Study 1

Wave at You Study 1

This was painted during the 2024 Ogunquit (Maine) Perkins Cove Plein Air Event on September 7th with over 100 painters participating and judging done that day, this one submitted for judging. 14" x 11" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.

$500

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2024
Perkins Cove Plein Air Event

1

My two easels

ready today,

with fabulous,

huge, surf at play.

2

A moment to clean my palette.

3

I painted next to my artist friend Carol Douglas,

who made this seconds-long video
(press it twice to play).

4

Art set up for judging and sale along Perkins Cove.

Wave at You Study 1 on top for judging.

See all of the Plein Air Photos 
of the event at the Event's web page Gallery HERE.

Strange but True Fact: At the 2024 Ogunquit (ME) Perkins Cove Plein Air Event in the Amateur Division all eight winners were women, and in the Professional Division all but one of the seven winners were men, with the judge a woman.

Surf Surge

Surf Surge

This was painted during the 2024 Ogunquit (Maine) Perkins Cove Plein Air Event on September 7th with over 100 painters participating and judging done that day, but I submitted another one for judging. This one is a study that I refined further in my studio the following day to complete the finishing touches September 8, 2024, 14" x 11" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.

$500

Gilsland Caretaker for the Birds

Gilsland Caretaker for the Birds

Painted June 28, 2024, 10" x 8" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$300

This painting was juried into this show and on display for sale at Maine Audubon's Gilsland Farm at 50 Art Exhibition at 20 Gilsland Farm Road, Falmouth, ME on September 13-October 14, 2024 Opening Reception open to the public Sunday Sept 15, 2024, 2:00 - 4:00 pm

My essay included with my entry: Strolling across the rolling fields of grasses and goldenrod, glancing at the tidal inlets, listening to birds singing, and even watching turkeys trot, inspires me to capture a sense of place, this wild refuge yet so close to a city. Whether it's early morning or afternoon light, the sun paints Gilsland Farm for both wildlife and me to feast on.

Site of Soaring Height

Site of Soaring Height

in East Iceland on July 14, 2024, painted August 5, 14" x 11" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$500

Site of Soaring Height Sketch

Site of Soaring Height Sketch

in East Iceland on July 14, 2024, painted August 5, 7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$150

6014 feet of Snæfell

6014 feet of Snæfell

in east Iceland, the tallest mountain not under a glacier, on July 15,  2024, painted July 19, 2024, 7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Prismacolor waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$150

Mount Esja from Reykjavik...

Mount Esja from Reykjavik

Early Winter Study 3

painted on Aug 8, 2024, 14" x 11" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.

$500 

A Pier Walking on Old Orchard Beach

A Pier Walking
on Old Orchard Beach

Third Place Professional at Open Air Artistry, the second of two paintings for this $200 award, painted during the Open Air Artistry event at Old Orchard Beach, Maine, from under the Pier, plein air, Aug 24, 2024, 12" x 9" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and wax resist on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$400

I'd painted people on the beach from the shade under the pier. Then I turned my setup 90 degrees to the left and painted the view underneath The Pier. Third Place Professional for my two paintings, Roller Coaster Oh Oh Beach on the left and A Pier Walking on Old Orchard Beach on the right.

I'm holding the flowers that went with the $200, while standing with the judge, whose leg angle and pier's column angle, and even the tripod leg match, cool serendipity.

Roller Coaster Oh Oh Beach

Roller Coaster Oh Oh Beach

painted during the Open Air Artistry event at Old Orchard Beach, Maine, from under the Pier, plein air, Aug 24, 2024, 14" x 11" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed, $500

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Third Place Professional
at Open Air Artistry Old Orchard Beach, Maine
Plein Air Event, Saturday, August 24, 2024,
$200 Prize

My plein air setup under The Pier in cool shade

My palette and work-in-progress

Third Place Professional for my paintings, the one on the left including a roller coaster in the art.

Ironically, Cindy, who placed Third Place Amateur also included a roller coaster in the art.

It was great to see my painter friend Russell Whitten and chat a bit as he painted his...

First Place Professional, $600, Stopping for French Fries.

Aquinnah Cliffs Study 2

Aquinnah Cliffs Study 2

On the west end of the island Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts painted plein air Nov 2, 2023, updated in the studio Aug 8, 2024, 12" x 9" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and ink, on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper.
$700

Reydarfjordur Guano and Buttercups

 Reydarfjordur 
Guano and Buttercups

Reydarfjordur guano on an island and buttercups on land with a view of the island Skrúður in the east island fjord Reydarfjordur on July 14, 2024, painted July 21-22, 2024, 14" x 11" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.

$500

Question - Grazing Studies

Question - Grazing Study 2 / 

Spurning - Beit - Skissa 2

Two horses along the fjord Reydarfjordur in East Iceland on July 15, 2024, painted July 30, 2024, 12" x 9" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed, $400

Question - Grazing Study 3 / 

Spurning - Beit - Skissa 3

Two horses along the fjord Reydarfjordur in East Iceland on July 15, 2024, painted July 30, 2024, 12" x 9" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lbs. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed, $300

Question Marks the Art - Essay

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
Question Marks the Art

Seven Paintings

1

Curved Red on Blue

Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015), American

Oil on canvas, 84" x 105" (w x h), 1963

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas

"The curve is a form that exists in nature but can also be manipulated to be abstract. I was fascinated by the different effects you could achieve with a simple curve." -Ellsworth Kelly

Source: Balcom, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 2015, edited

Throughout his fifty-year career, Ellsworth Kelly's art reflects his fascination with form as it presents itself to him on a daily basis, whether it be the shape of a shadow, an architectural detail, the curve of a hill, or the edge of a leaf. During the early 1960s, Kelly was particularly intrigued by the character of curved forms, leading him to explore the transformational qualities of various curves, using both color and edge to divide the ground of the canvas. Curved Red on Blue consists of an enigmatic red curve dividing a blue canvas. The canvas barely contains the red form, which pushes against all four canvas edges. Kelly acknowledged Curved Red on Blue is a seminal work that opened a career-long investigation of the curve and its transformational possibilities.

2

Where the Autumn Has Passed It All Became Dust

Vasile Dobrian (1912-1999), Romanian

Screen print, 1996

Source: Various

Vasile Dobrian, a Romanian artist and writer, was co-founder of the groups Grupul Grafic and MCMXLII. He was one of Romania's first and most important 20th century engravers. Known for his connections with the Romanian avant-garde, he was also a poet, although his volumes of poetry lacked critical acclaim. After his early art works from the 1930s often using social themes and influences from movements such as cubism, he moved on towards a gradually refined lyrical hard-edged style with figurative allusions. His geometric constructions often using the alphabet as a starting point.

3

U.F.O. Otaznik / U.F.O. Question Mark

Julius Koller (1939-2007), Slovakian

Mixed media on paper, 20" x 28" (w x h)

$650 USD

Source: Various

Trained as an academic painter, Julius Koller (1939-2007) took a critical stance as a student. He used conceptual techniques and dry wit to question the Western art world and comment on Communist Czechoslovakia where cultural production was divided into official and so-called free art. In 1970, two years after the Prague Spring had been put down by tanks of the Warsaw Treaty, Koller introduced the acronym U.F.O. into his work: Universal-Cultural Futurological Operations. Over the next three decades he created his major group of works under the same name, while he became the subject of a series of annual portraits known as U.F.O.-naut J.K.

Since the rediscovery of Slovak's Julius Koller's work (1939-2007) in the early 1990s by Slovak artists and intellectuals, his work has been shown throughout Eastern Europe. Only recently has Koller's conceptual work received wider recognition from the Western art world, exhibited regularly in Slovakia, Koller has also exhibited internationally including in Brazil, New York, New Zealand, Paris. Poland and Tokyo.

4

Nude

Nakao Yoshitaka (1911-1994), Japanese

Color woodblock print, edition of 210, 22" x 35" (w x h), 1960

$850 USD

Source: Ronin Gallery, NY plus various

Yoshitaka Nakao (1911-1994) was a woodblock print artist of the Sosaku Hanga (creative print) movement. Nakao was largely self-taught, though he studied woodblock printmaking for a time. Following awards in 1949 and 1956, he gained recognition among his fellow print artists. Until 1955, he favored the cement print, where he poured wet concrete into a wooden frame, carved into the surface as it dried, then relief printed from the dry concrete. In the following years, he shifted to oil-based inks and more traditional woodblock print techniques, still integrating the use of concrete paste to create rich texture in his woodblock prints. His work often features abstracted figures depicted in bold, textured blocks of color. In 1960, the Graphic Art Society of New York published his prints on three separate occasions. His woodblock prints are in collections such as the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

5

The Singer

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Russian

Woodcut on paper, 6" x 8" (w x h), 1903

Source: Wiki, edited

Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstraction in western art. Born in Moscow, he spent his childhood in Odessa, where he graduated from Odessa Art School. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics. Successful in his profession, he was offered a professorship at the University in Estonia. Kandinsky began painting studies (life-drawing, sketching and anatomy) when he was 30-years-old. In the summer of 1902, 35-year-old Kandinsky taught summer painting classes just south of Munich in the Alps. Art school, usually considered difficult, was easy for Kandinsky. It was during this time that he began to emerge as an art theorist as well as a painter.

6

Question Mark

Andrew Barrow (1945- ) British

Collage, 20" x 22" (w x h), 2012

Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery, London, UK

Source: Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery, London, 2020, edited

Winner of the Hawthornden Prize and the McKitterick Prize (best first novel by an author aged over 40) for his comic masterpiece novel, The Tap Dancer (1992), writer of nonfiction and novels, and UK collage artist Andrew Barrow creates collages which are like books rich with stories and connections.