messy gallery

Been a while! Guess what gets left behind when we all get busy? Yep – this blog.

All galleries are different. One of the things I like best about our gallery is all the work we show is exclusively by artists we directly represent. This means we get to know these folks. In fact, over the past 3 months I’ve enjoyed visiting a whole bunch of them and hanging out in their studios. I love my job.

A few years ago – life got really hard for many artists. I am not an economist. Far from it. My world economic health gauge hinges on 2 things. How messy the gallery is, and how often we get to call an artist to say “It’s sold!” We are able, especially when times are good, to enjoy it on both sides – savoring that remarkable contact high from a client who is acquiring a piece of original artwork, and then bearing the great news to the creator of the work. Over the past year we’ve been relishing this fun on both sides at a record pace. Depending on who you read – there are great economic minds that write about both how our economy is headed for disaster, or believe  it’s on an upswing. I don’t pretend to know – but it’s sure been way more fun in the gallery lately.

SO – where to start. Why not with TRIO, our current show which opened last night. We have the new work of 3 very different artists. While enjoying the party last night, I realized there is a common theme. Each artists creates work that invites the viewer to move in tight. I’m talking really close. In both the 2 dimensional artists work, Carlos Gamez de Francisco, and Mariana Palova, there is so much content per square inch – it forces you to get really intimate. Ted Gall‘s work is also almost impossible to view casually. The sculptures demand to be explored from every angle.

Angie, Unknown Girl and Katherine Staring Right, each 72" x 26" acrylic on canvas

Carlos Gamez de Francisco presents a series of fantastic work. Listening to him talk about his ideas behind the series last night was a treat. I love it when artists expose their nerdy side – and Carlos came through with flying colors. He is obsessed with everything historical – art / politics / sociology. His new series French Radical Fashion in 1789 is about so many things, including the rigidity of life for French citizens under Louis XVI; the namesake of his new hometown Louisville, KY, the real story of Louis and Marie Antoinette, and Cuban politics.The paintings are filled with ideas and symbolism.

In his latest work pictured at right, he explores historical ideals of beauty.  Throughout different periods, artists have used head height as a unit of measurement to render the body in proportion. Carlos has played with these equations  and how they have changed throughout history and the subject of the portraits. These 3 women represent different proportions; 10, 7.5 and 8.5, each relating to a historical rule accepted during different periods. Can you tell who’s who?

Woman exploring Pigs Fly, cast bronze, by Ted Gall

Ted Gall‘s new sculpture is awe inspiring. They invite you to touch and play and explore, which was a happy pastime for many visitors last night. Each moveable piece has hidden places to investigate under layers of gorgeously sculpted bronze. Observing a viewer as she discovers a hidden place or an idea within the work is a blast for us.

Beyond the interactive playing with bronze sculpture component, which is unique and fantastic, is the not-to-be-overlooked part where you realize Ted Gall is a phenomenal sculptor and technician. Possibly the strongest works in the group are the two larger stand-alone cast stainless steel pieces. Both enjoy exquisite modeling and narratives.

Here’s a video of Ted’s studio shot by his son. I loved finally seeing Gall World – the magic place where all his subjects are born.

Materia Prima (8/35), 22" x 15" digital photography

The Astrologer (6/40), 18" x 14" digital photography

Mariana Palova‘s body of work is spellbinding. When you live and work in an art gallery, you watch people looking at art. When folks come in and enter her area of the show, it’s fun to watch as they slow down and move in close. Her digital paintings are lushly colorful and magical. Mariana lives and works in Mexico and at 22 is showing mastery beyond her years in both technique and her imagery exploring nature, astrology, and the beauty of human metamorphosis.