Surveying the Shifting Climate of Painting in South Florida

Surveying the Shifting Climate
of Painting in South Florida
Nov. 16, 2009 – Jan. 10, 2010
Cover image: Craig Kucia, it was like the sound of a flight of stairs falling down a flight of stairs (detail), 2009, Oil on
canvas, 54 x 54 in., Courtesy of the artist and Shaheen Modern and Contemporary Art, Cleveland.
Left: Lilian Garcia-Roig, Hyperbolic Nature: Florida Vines, 2008, 5 x 8 ft., Oil on canvas, Courtesy of the artist and Carol
Jazzar Contemporary Art, Miami.
Below: Guerra de la Paz, Carmen (from the series - Friends and Family), 2007, Acrylic on linen, 16 x 12 in., Courtesy of
the artist and Carol Jazzar Contemporary Art, Miami.
TIME + TEMP: Surveying the Shifting Climate of Painting in South Florida
Nov. 16, 2009 – Jan. 10, 2010
Opening Reception: Fri., Nov. 20, 6 – 9 pm
Participating Artists
Harumi Abe
Guerra de la Paz
Gavin Perry
Farley Aguilar
Richard Haden
Vickie Pierre
Kevin Arrow
Jason Hedges
Oliver Sanchez
Bhakti Baxter
Craig Kucia
Asser Saint Val
Loriel Beltran
Natalya Laskis
Diego Singh
Pip Brant
Nicolas Lobo
Nancy Spielman
David Brieske
Pepe Mar
Alex Sweet
Timothy Buwalda
Jordan Massengale
Runcie Tatnall
Julie Davidow
Raul Mendez
Kristen Thiele
Ivan Toth Depeña
Beatriz Monteavaro
Mette Tommerup
Eugenio Espinosa
Gean Moreno
Kiki Valdes
Lilian Garcia-Roig
Daniel Newman
Marcos Valella
Lynne Gelfman
Glexis Novoa
Michael Vasquez
Mike Genovese
Ray Olivero
Agatha Wara
Mark Gibson
Skot Olsen
Chuck Webster
Karen Starosta-Gilinski
Brandon Opalka
Michelle Weinberg
Jacin Giordano
Ernesto Oroza
John Zoller
Francie Bishop Good
Perry Pandrea
Aramis Gutierrez
Raul Perdomo
This exhibition presents a survey of dynamic
incorporate Mickey Mouse and other cartoon
work by a selection of South Florida-based
characters, and both Kristen Thiele and
artists who embrace and incorporate aspects
Oliver Sanchez’ individual reinterpretation of
of painting into their practice. A resurgence
vintage stock photography depicting bygone
of painterly tendencies is currently taking
eras. Masterfully gestural painting of people,
hold among artists on a national and
places, and things, in which the subject
international level. Its growing appeal is also
becomes a vehicle for powerful flourishes
evident within our region’s ever-expanding
of brushwork, color, form, and line, are
contemporary art community. On view is
embodied in the work of Lillian Garcia Roig,
work by approximately 50 artists who are
Mette Tommerup, Michael Vasquez, Jordan
investigating and pushing the prevailing
Massengale, Brandon Opalka, Timothy
definitions of painting. Boundaries of form
Buwalda, and newcomers Runcie Tatnall and
have been expanded through a variety
Natalya Laskis.
of techniques, utilizing a broad range of
materials. Some pieces have been created
“Painting” finds new form through
specifically for this exhibit, yet are made
unconventional approaches and use of
with media other than traditional pigment-
unorthodox materials. One example of
based paint on canvas. Representation and
this “out of the box” approach is Nicolas
abstraction continue to be very much at
Lobo’s site-specific mixed media piece Cereal
the forefront of this genre. However, issues
Pyramid. To make this work, Lobo utilized
which have dominated painterly themes
crushed multicolored kid’s cereal combined in
such as color, surface, narrative and gesture
a mixture with Elmer’s Glue that he applied
are finding new expressions in a variety of
in an abstract geometric configuration
unconventional and energized styles. Our
onto the gallery wall. Jason Hedges, whose
tropical, lush, and organic environment,
artistic practice is consistently fueled by
intersected by gleaming architectonic towers
consumable substances like wine and food,
of light, glass, and concrete sets the stage
presents a minimalist composition made up
for fertile and flowing currents of invention,
entirely of peppercorns—a commodity with
which are reflected in this array of works.
socio-political and historic significance. The
variation in color and texture of the pepper
The majority of pieces in the exhibition
dictates the painting’s surface. Gean Moreno
feature some type of representational
and Ernesto Oroza have collaborated on a
imagery. That said, narrative and non-
new series of site-specific installations made
narrative depictions of figures, structures,
of newsprint panels with abstract graphics
nature, Pop iconography, and other forms
printed on them. The sheets of paper are
of representation vary dramatically. At
hung in a grid with the pattern’s repetition
the heart of compelling canvases by Craig
creating a geometric design as a layer upon
Kucia, Harumi Abe, Raul Mendez, and
which to place other work. Similarly layering
Aramis Gutierrez are moments that, while
images over an extent field is Michelle
narrative in nature, are isolated fragments
Weinberg’s Backdrop, a large-scale gouache
in non-linear story-telling. The viewer is
playfully simulating a three-dimensional
intended to bring their own associations and
space upon which smaller paintings done in
memory to complete the open-ended plot.
the same style are hung.
Farley Aguilar, Asser Saint Val, and John
Zoller’s dramatically different aesthetics and
Numerous other artists are further exploring
approaches each incorporate overarching
a wealth of diverse materials and inventive
themes which dictate the nature of their
approaches for their creation of painting.
individual subject matter, characters,
Richard Haden has been producing a
environment, and the thread of continuity
series of painting/sculpture hybrids which
that flows throughout their work. Myriad
employ a combination of painstakingly
forms of Pop Culture iconography and
detailed processes to arrive at trompe l’oeil
imagery is embedded in the work of various
depictions of mundane objects such as
artists, including Beatriz Monteavaro’s
refrigerator doors, fire extinguishers, and
fascination with horror movie imagery, Kevin
random car parts. Meticulously carved from
Arrow’s brightly colored mandalas that
wood, the perfectly proportioned forms
Above: Mark Gibson, Last Cave, 2009, Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in., Courtesy of the artist and
Twenty/Twenty Projects, Hialeah.
Gean Moreno and Ernesto Oroza, Taboid (Diagram) [with painting by Bhakti Baxter], 2009,
Newspaper, shown installed as wallpaper.
Kristen Thiele, N & D, 2009, Oil on canvas, 39 x 44 in., Courtesy of the artist.
are then painted, often in industrial quality
leaving the exposed drywall as a ghostly
restrained and refined and then at times
Chuck Webster produced a series of paintings
metallic tones. The resulting pieces are
presence beside the paint’s new incarnation.
marred and manipulated to conflate pristine
while at Dan and Kathryn Mikesell’s
perfection and manic gesture. Jacin Giordano
Fountainhead Residency in Miami during
startling doppelgangers of urban detritus.
Pepe Mar makes a departure from his
When going back to the basics of pigment,
embraces the physicality of paint itself.
June 2009. These biomorphic compositions
signature use of intense, vibrant color in
paint, and canvas, innovation has not waned.
His purely abstract works combine various
reflect the artist’s fascination with formal
Gold One, a shimmering golden assemblage
Abstraction finds form through a variety
techniques that freeze the fluidity of paint,
elements and decorative motifs he finds and
of abstraction and figuration combined to
of styles. Julie Davidow’s sharp and prickly
its drips, blobs, layering, and plasticity. Paint
isolates in images culled from art historical
emulate a Byzantine icon. In an inventive
fields of cool color, linear intersections, and
is his medium—manifesting in many forms
sources. In this body of work, the verdant
turn about, Loriel Beltran has literally cut
microscopic mutation elegantly grace the
not always constrained by two-dimensional
tropical environment of the studio’s setting
and peeled the existing white paint off the
canvas surface and at times virally sprawl
surfaces. Raul Perdomo’s dizzyingly complex
had a significant impact on his approach.
gallery wall and then placed it as a single
out of bounds onto the wall itself. Gavin
compositions are webs of colorful, exploding
intact sheet onto a stretcher to be hung
Perry masterfully embeds layers of painterly
organic shapes, tendrils, and carefully
Hybridization of process is also found in
where the paint removal was executed,
statements into dense resin tableaux,
deliberate splatters. New York-based artist
combining mediums, such as Agatha Wara’s
Previous spread: Jason Hedges, Peppercorns #1, Peppercorns on panel, 2009, 48 x 48 in.,
Courtesy of the Artist.
Left: Pepe Mar, Gold One, 2009, Plaster, fabric, burlap on metal structure, Courtesy of David
Castillo Gallery, Miami.
Above: Oliver Sanchez, Nunsmoke [“Truly the light is sweet...” (Ecclesiastes 11:7). But the “nuns”
here are actors taking a break from filming. July 1959. Source: Hulton Getty Picture Collection],
2009, 48 x 72 in., Oil on canvas, Courtesy of the artist.
Left: Kevin Arrow, Four Weeping Mice, 1995-2009, Oil on
wood, 48 x 48 in., Courtesy of the artist.
Richard Haden, Do Not Open Smell Or Taste, 2009, Painted
wood, 12 x 11.5 x 6.5 in., Courtesy of Dorsch Gallery,
Miami.
Chuck Webster, Buggin’ Out, 2009, Oil on panel, 16 x 16
inches, Courtesy of the artist and ZieherSmith, New York.
Below: Michelle Weinberg, Backdrop, 2008, Latex, acrylic,
gouache, framed gouache paintings (dimensions variable)
on paper, 66 x 154 in., Courtesy of the artist.
Right: Michael Vasquez, The Guarded Entry, 2008, Acrylic
on canvas, 48 × 36 in., Private collection.
Back cover: Michael Genovese, Hopes and Aspirations of
Chicagoans in Transit (detail), 2008, Interactive engraving
on aluminum w/ baked enamel finish, 48 x 48 in., Courtesy
of the artist.
works, which derive their imagery from
The possibilities of what painting can be at
aged microfiche film which has decayed and
this moment are as varied as the array of
corroded. She lifts and further distorts these
styles evidenced within this exhibition. South
images through her unconventional displays.
Florida as an art center doesn’t possess a
Michael Genovese takes aluminum which
prevailing movement, theoretical approach,
has a baked black enamel finish and deftly
or school of thought. It remains a fertile and
etches all manner of detail and content into
organic realm where most anything and
it. In many of his works, viewers are invited
everything is fair game.
to interactively create their own images,
words, and patterns on these same pieces
using an array of sharp hand tools that are
attached for that purpose. Photographer
and painter Francie Bishop Good combines
both of these processes in works that show
representational scenes intersected by bright
strokes of color abstraction.
—Jane Hart, Curator of Exhibitions
Art and Culture Center of Hollywood
Gallery Hours: Mon – Sat, 10 am – 5 pm; Sun, noon – 4 pm. Gallery admission
is $7 for adults; $4 for students, seniors and children ages 4 to 13; and free
to Center members as well as children age 3 or younger with an adult.
Complimentary parking.
1650 Harrison Street
Hollywood, FL 33020
954. 921. 3274
ArtAndCultureCenter.org
The Art and Culture Center of Hollywood is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization supported in part by its members, admissions, private
entities, the City of Hollywood, the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council, and
the National Endowment for the Arts. We welcome donations from all members of the community who wish to support our work.
Funding for the 09/10 visual arts season is provided in part by Francie Bishop Good and David Horvitz, and a grant from Funding Arts
Broward.