Duke City Darlins: Sophisticated Vandalism

The opening reception for Sophisticated Vandalism is this Friday, June 15, from 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM at Archetype Dermigraphic Studio/Gallery. I recently spoke with Dezy Hardin, the founder and CEO of the Duke City Darlins, about the upcoming show. Hardin described Sophisticated Vandalism as a collection of paintings, drawings, prints, designs, photography and other works by the members of the Duke City Darlins. Since most of their group events revolve around charitable fundraising for the community, this art show gives the members a chance to showcase their artistic talent to the public. 

The Duke City Darlins have partnered with Archetype Dermigraphic Studio/Gallery as the venue for their art exhibition. This studio is all about promoting a high ethical standard and a sense of community and brotherhood for those who are in the tattoo industry. Not only a tattoo studio, but a place for artists of all mediums to collect knowledge from one another and to inspire each other to branch out and tap into new veins of thought. Sharing their mantra, the Archetype Dermigraphic Gallery believes, “Art is for sharing, not only imagery, but reaches to the gut and root of human experience. They invite all those who love art. Whether you produce it, like to look at it, or love to wear it.” 

The Duke City Darlins are a dynamic group of women who specializes in organizing, hosting, and managing local and national charity functions in New Mexico. The Darlins are the epitome of grassroots humanitarians. They are women of the "alternative lifestyle" being tattooed or otherwise modified. The Darlins have the common goal of bettering the community as well as educating the public on safe tattoo and body modification practices. By contributing greatly to society, the Duke City Darlins hope to change the negative stigma placed on modified women and create a sisterhood of lifelong friends. For more information visit www.dukecitydarlins.com.

Sophisticated Vandalism will hang during the month of June at the Archetype Dermigraphic Studio/Gallery, 529 Adams Street, NE, Albuquerque, NM 87108, (505) 265-0972, www.archetypetattoo.com.

Tara Massarsky: Conveyance at The Art Salon at Inspire

First Friday’s ARTScrawl led me to The Art Salon at Inspire in Downtown Albuquerque.  The idea for this urban salon is unique.  Designed for an intimate and comfortable experience by offering visitors avant-garde hair design, the Inspire Salon also provides an appreciation and understanding of art and its role in society through direct engagement with original artwork. 

Tara Massarsky, the featured artist for June and July, opened last Friday with her exhibition Conveyance. Massarsky consciously develops her own visual language by using a restricted palette or through extravagant abstraction. She finds that these ideas are best developed through a series of paintings, allowing the viewer to witness the X and Y of creativity. This concept can be seen in her series, Solve et Coagula, which allows the viewer to “tap into places of stillness and uncomfortableness, places one naturally resists tampering with.”

Massarsky has been influenced by great artists such as Dorothea Tanning, Arshile Gorky, Egon Schiele, Ad Reinhardt, Max Ernst, Willem De Kooning, and Adolph Gottlieb for their mastery of disinclination, passion and knowledge of art making. She also admires the minds and earnestness of the American Abstract Artists for their geometric adherence to a picture’s internal structure. Massarsky was academically trained at The Art Student's League in New York City and The Corcoran School of Art in Washington D.C. She has been exhibiting her artwork since 1988 and has numerous works in private collections in New York, California, and New Mexico. In May 2012, Massarsky was awarded Best of Show at the New Mexico Showcase Juried Exhibit at 516 Arts.

Conveyance will hang through July 31 inside The Art Salon at Inspire, 423 Fourth Street, SW, Albuquerque, NM, 505.242.4549, inspireartsalon.com. Get acquainted with the evolving visual language of Tara Massarsky at the Artist Talk and Closing, July 28 from 7:00 - 9:00 PM, taramassarsky.com.

May Flowers at The Old Schoolhouse Gallery

The Old Schoolhouse Gallery has moved their first Friday ARTScrawl to the second Friday of each month. This month's exhibition titled May Flowers proved to be a double treat. In addition to the gallery artists who submitted various art mediums with a focus on flowers, the gallery hosted an opening for Nancy and Stephen Attaway who create one-of-a-kind jewelry designs.

Nancy has been cutting gemstones since 1987. She learned to facet colored gemstones from several master gem cutters in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Steve carves gemstones and renders the gold work with hand-fabrication and lost wax casting.

Nancy and Steve's designs are true collaborations as sometimes they even work on the same gemstone. In 2004, Steve and Nancy were involved in a special project with the Smithsonian Institution studying the Hope Diamond. Nancy has three gemstones in the Smithsonian's gem collection, including a replica of the French Blue Diamond, from which the Hope Diamond was cut. 

Also, noteworthy in the gallery this month are paintings by Tricia Love, Semiramis and George Howard Hayes III. Hayes, nicknamed Hauie, which often appears on his artwork, paints with vivid colors and subtle nuances; all carefully crafted with precise attention to detail. Hauie’s broad range of paintings include everything from Abstract, Fantasy, Flower, Myth to Nature and Portraits. He has a handful of visually pleasing paintings at the gallery but to really understand the breath of his work you must visit his website at www.hauieart.com.

May Flowers will hang through May 31st at The Old Schoolhouse Gallery, 12504 North Hwy.14, San Antonito, NM, 505.281.1250, www.theoldschoolhousegallery.com

Travis Bruce Black - New Kungfu

Carolyn Carroll of Bright Rain Gallery invited me back to her gallery for the opening reception of Travis Bruce Black’s New Kungfu exhibition. What a treat to meet the artist behind the Chirp watercolor series that has attracted a steady stream of loyal fans since Black himself owned the Bright Rain Gallery from 2007 - 2011. His new figurative works are tightly composed and watery with the color saturation turned way up. The environment of these pieces are clouds of color with a hard edge architectural structure.

The bird portraits of Travis Bruce Black are in a category by themselves. These are not your ordinary birds. Black’s technique pulls viewers into his paintings until their reality blurs with his fantasy. Vivid colors and subtle flirtations are paired with his abstract technique, bringing a dreamy quality to his artwork. 

In particular, Chirp 200, his milestone piece and largest watercolor to date at 37 x 51 inches, shows it’s domestic scene of two magnified birds perching on an oversized geranium branch. Black, a graduate of UNM, contends, “My aim is to create compelling works that bring joy, optimism, and mystery; art that expresses my lust for life and the simple exuberance of being.

He also states that, “To express the fullness and my experience of life, I try to work in paradoxes like straight lines vs. curved lines, for example the difference between architecture and plants. Even more interesting to me is how curves and lines commingle, like in the aesthetic of shoes or cars. I try to show the spectrum of difference between abstraction and naturalistic form to illustrate how layered reality is and to flesh out a more inclusive picture of what “real” feels like. An overarching theme for my work is how complex creatures are and how every living thing is a little package of total mystery.”

Travis Bruce Black’s New Kungfu exhibition will run through May 31 at Bright Rain Gallery located in Old Town’s Patio Market, 206 1/2 San Felipe NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104, (505) 843-9176, www.brightraingallery.com

Frank McCulloch ~ Imagenes de mi Tierra

The art show and book signing for Frank McCulloch opened Friday, May 4 to a standing room only crowd at Sumner & Dene Creations in Art. The gallery buzzed with positive energy as many locals came to meet McCulloch in person and to admire his life’s work. McCulloch, who is best known for his modernist-leaning landscapes and geometric abstract prints, was warm and welcoming to all who stopped by to visit with him.

Born in Gallup in 1930, McCulloch began his craft, painting, as a child. He then went on to earn a BFA from UNM and a Masters of Arts from NM Highlands University, along with a MFA from Instituto Allende in Mexico. He is one of the most prolific and successful artists in the state, as well as a musician and a retired teacher whose students often became successful artists themselves, such as Angus Macpherson. McCulloch has often been called the “granddaddy” of Albuquerque artists. His retrospective exhibit in 2008 at the Albuquerque Museum was a testament to his vast career and enormous talent. 

A recipient of the New Mexico Governor's Award in the Arts, University of New Mexico Distinguished Alumnus of the Year, Albuquerque Arts Alliance Bravos Award, and AABA Local Treasure, is just a partial list of his recognition as a painter and an artist. McCulloch’s legacy has been covered in Southwest Art Magazine, New Mexico Magazine, Art News, and American Artist to name a few. He has a steady base of collectors who love his New Mexico landscapes, abstracts and prints. If he is not in his studio painting, you can find him somewhere in town performing with his band, Frank McCulloch y Su Amigos, keeping old New Mexican folk songs alive. 

Frank McCulloch’s art exhibition will hang through May 26 at Sumner & Dene Creations in Art, 517 Central Avenue, NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, (505) 842-1400, www.sumnerdene.com

Jo Diane Kasper at Bright Rain Gallery

Last Friday’s ARTScrawl led me to Old Town where I met angel artist, Jo Diane Kasper at Bright Rain Gallery. As the featured artist of the month, Jo’s mystical combinations of oils, pastels and watercolors filled an entire wall at the gallery. Each of her paintings are beautifully framed to accentuate the haunting subtlety of spirituality that runs throughout all of her artwork.

Jo grew up in the mountains of Arizona, studied fine art and photographic art at Arizona State University and the University of Iowa.  She lived in New York City for many years working in fine art photography and exploring several fields including horticulture. Jo returned to the Southwest in 1997 and made New Mexico her home. 

Growing up in Arizona gave Jo a deep love and appreciation for the subtle and often mysterious beauty of the land and the ancient places of the Southwest. Her angel paintings, watercolors, sepias, and oil paintings of these ancient ruins and sacred places capture the divine and mystical connections between Spirit, Nature, and Humans. Her paintings reflect these connections in a transcendent impressionistic technique; evoking a sense of the precious and eternal oneness of the universe in which we live.

Along with being an angel artist, Jo is also an angel reader. Her gifts include dream interpretation, animal communication, situational assessments and counseling with extended personal sessions of guidance in ongoing life experiences as well as business. Her understanding is that we are all connected to each other, to our planet and to our universe. She believes that the divine energy of Spirit flows through all that is. Jo's specialty is her angel reading and pastel, in which she combines an Angelic psychic reading with a pastel drawing of the Guardian Angel she "sees" with the client.

Jo Diane Kasper’s art show will hang through April 30th, at Bright Rain Gallery located in Old Town’s Patio Market, 206 1/2 San Felipe NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104, (505) 843-9176, www.brightraingallery.com

Tamara Coatsworth "EYE-conic" glass art exhibition

Last Friday, I was in search of a new art experience. I had reviewed watercolors, oils, acrylics, lithographs, and metal art. I wanted to find an exhibit that would literally move my heart and dazzle my mind. I found so much more when I stepped inside Palette Contemporary Art & Craft gallery to see Tamara Coatsworth’s glass art show.

JOLLY TIME, FUSED GLASS, ENAMELS, TORCHWORKED, SANDBLASTED, ACID ETCHED

Primarily inspired by nostalgic pop culture, Tamara precisely explores the iconic nature of everyday items. Observers will be amazed at her attention-to-detail spent when it comes to skillfully utilizing a wide array of glass-making techniques including torch work, fusing, sandblasting, acid-etching, and elaborate enamels to create original artwork that lovingly replicates items such as movie-theater popcorn, a box of matches, or beautifully decorated cupcakes. Tamara’s artistry will appeal to your many senses while her familiar objects are assured to evoke fond memories as she brings them to life using the medium of glass.

ENDANGERED, FUSED GLASS, ENAMELS, TORCHWORKED, SANDBLASTED, ACID ETCHED

Palette Contemporary Art & Craft, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico features a variety of contemporary fine art glass, original paintings, limited edition signed prints, ceramics, marbles, and wearable art. It searches locally and abroad to bring a collection of contemporary art and craft with a colorful edge and clean lines by both emerging and renowned artists.

CUPCAKES, CAST GLASS, 3.5 X 3.5 INCHES

Tamara Coatsworth’s show, “EYE-conic,” will hang through May 3rd at Palette Contemporary Art & Craft gallery, 7400 Montgomery Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109, (505) 855-7777, www.palettecontemporary.com

Edge of Color - Tamarind artists examine color as form, from 1960s to present

This week I ventured over to the University of New Mexico to view the group exhibition at the Tamarind Gallery featuring the works of Garo Antreasian, Valerie Arber, Frederick Hammersley, Robert Kelly, Nicholas Krushenick, John McLaughlin, Ruth Root, Leon Polk Smith and William Turnbull. The Edge of Color show includes a spectrum of lithographs, from the 1960s to the present, with geometric, hard edge color as a pure form in itself.

The Tamarind Lithography Workshop was established in Los Angeles in 1960 by artist June Wayne with funding from the Ford Foundation. Its goal was to bring attention to process of lithography—a method of printmaking invented in the late 18th century—and bolster its use among a new generation of artists. During its years in Los Angeles, the workshop was run by Wayne, Clinton Adams, and Garo Antreasian. In 1970, when funding had run out, Tamarind became affiliated with the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque, where it remains today.

The Tamarind Institute opened in 2010 to celebrate Tamarind’s 50th anniversary. It’s gallery exhibits and sells original, limited edition lithographs and monotypes created at Tamarind by visiting artists working side-by-side with collaborative printers. Revenue from these sales partially supports the institutes’s educational and research programs, as does revenue from projects with artists who contract for pressroom service. 

After viewing this provocative and cutting edge exhibit, I started to wonder where are the artists today. According to Shelly Smith of the Tamarind Institute, “Valerie Arber currently lives and works as an artist in Marfa, Texas. Frederick Hammersley (January 5, 1919 – May 31, 2009) has a show now at Los Angeles Louver, and is one of the most important artists in evolution of abstraction in post-war Los Angeles. Robert Kelly, lives and works in New York City and Santa Fe (represented by Chiarscurro Gallery). Ruth Root also lives and works in New York City. Nicholas Krushenick (May 31, 1929 – February 5, 1999), John McLaughlin (May 21, 1898 – March 22, 1976), and Leon Polk Smith  (1906-1996) are all deceased. William Turnbull (born January 11, 1922, Dundee, Scotland) had a show back in 1997 at Waddington Custot Galleries in London.”

Edge of Color will run through May 25, 2012 at the Tamarind Gallery at UNM, 2500 Central Avenue SE, Albuquerque, NM 87106, (505) 277-3901, http://tamarind.unm.edu

Text Me ~ Paintings by Matthew Lutz

Last Friday, I took a friend with me to view the exhibition of Matthew Lutz’s newest work - Text Me currently showing at Matrix Fine Art. Lutz’s current body of work is influenced by modern technology and street graffiti, using traditional oil painting techniques to depict human interaction in the digital age which explains why at least one or more subjects in each painting is holding a cell phone. 

In Lutz’s paintings, we see elements of Cubism - where objects are broken up, analyzed, and reassembled in an abstracted form - instead of depicting his subject’s arms as complete with hands, Lutz breaks the continuity of the hands and places them somewhere else as seen in his Tommy @ 3 painting. In addition, Lutz especially admires the works of Pablo Picasso; elements like the elongated limbs, arresting colors, and mystical visages are evident in his paintings Tornado and Stand. 

This exhibition also includes Lutz’s Life Paintings, a body of work that underscores the impact that one person’s life, no matter how temporary or fragile, can have on others. Each piece projects flowers through the foreground, inviting the viewer into the image, into the subject’s life. Some of the people who have influenced Lutz’s own life are no longer alive, but painting a flower in full bloom has allowed him to capture a moment when they were in their splendor. According to Lutz, “The blossom itself dies long before the painting is complete, yet the image remains for others to see and admire. It’s the same with posterity - the positive impact of one person’s existence continues for future generations.” 

Matthew Lutz is both an artist and educator. Born and raised in Indiana, he now has his home and studio in New Mexico. Lutz received his Bachelor’s degree in Art Education from Taylor University in 1996. He then spent a year in South Korea teaching and creating woodblock prints in his studio. In 2001, he entered the University of New Mexico, but his degree program and work was interrupted by a spinal injury. He earned his MFA with Distinction in 2005. Throughout his graduate program, Lutz was awarded numerous fellowships from both private and public funds.

Text Me - Paintings by Matthew Lutz will run through April 28th at Matrix Fine Art, 3812 Central Avenue SE, Suite 100 A, Albuquerque, NM 87108, (505) 268-8952, www.matrixfineart.com

Dan Garrett & David Snow ~ Abstracts on Metal

Last Friday’s ARTScrawl at Sumner & Dene was the opening reception for the two person abstract show of Dan Garrett and David Snow ~ Abstracts on Metal. Snow is an Albuquerque artist who works with copper plates coated with powdered glass then fuses the work in a kiln. His imagery ranges from abstracts, figuratives, cityscapes to florals. Spectacular color, texture and sheen describe his rich contemporary enamels as seen in his Eye Dazzler and Journey In Green.

Garrett creates abstracts out of metal and mixed media. He applies layers of paint and mixed media to his metal canvases. He then manipulates them with heat, compressed air and an assortment of high speed metal working tools. This creates various textures as seen in Garrett’s Amarelo Atual of welded and painted steel acid patina, his Klasik of welded and painted steel found object, and his Luna Nox of welded and painted steel aluminum and acid patina. 

Garrett comes from a very artistic family and was encouraged from childhood to explore different art forms. He started with pen and pencil sketching and developed an interest in pointillism as a way to express himself in a more dimensional style. A spur of the moment purchase of used welding equipment was the seed to Garrett’s latest endeavor. Garrett is an accomplished landscaper and exterior designer, so his initial metal work revolved around art to enhance an outdoor setting. Many of his creations translated to interior art, which is where his primary interest now lies. 

This intriguing art show featuring both the contemporary enamel work of David Snow and the abstract three dimensional metal work by Dan Garrett makes this two person show a worthwhile experience.

Dan Garrett and David Snow ~ Abstracts on Metal will hang from March 2nd - 31st at Sumner & Dene Creations in Art, 517 Central Avenue NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, (505)842-1400, www.sumnerdene.com