S Ross Browne Statement

S. Ross Browne

artwork | video | statement | biography
 

Statement

Persistence of History
Persistence of History
I am compelled to create images that explore compositions of the human form and the juxtaposition of perceptions and misconceptions associated with sensitive socio-political dynamics past and present. My interpretations of historical relevance and possibility permeate the visual dialogue that the images inspire.

I am passionate about challenging preconceived notions of the shared human experience and eroding the conventionally assigned racial archetypes. To that end, I examine the possible in the perceived introspections and shared history of my subjects in classical pictorial representations using delineations of factual chronicles and imagined mythology. As a nascent artist, I was content to reproduce representational tableaus that merely showcased virtuosity of form, color, composition and gradient value. However, during my matriculation in the South, I experienced illogical assumptions of class and culture based solely on the hue of flesh. My desire was to use portraiture, replete with persuasive imagery that defies the common visual library, as a conduit for communication and an instigator of discourse.

As the paintings evolve in iteration I find my impetus is to produce works that challenge the struggles of identity, power and self-actualization unique to the experiences of the people of the African diaspora and women in particular, in America and on a global stage. A provocative dichotomy ensues when the artwork itself receives assumptions based merely on the race of the subject, making the work a resonant optical cavity, infinitely reflecting the human condition.

S Ross Browne

S. Ross Browne

artwork | video | statement | biography
 

Artwork

Michael Gross – Abstraction

Michael Gross: Abstraction I & II


Opening reception – American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington, DC

Abstraction I
American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center
June 13 – July 26, 2015
Washington, DC

Abstraction II
July 8 – August 8, 2015
Gallery B
Bethesda, Maryland

About the Exhibition

Michael Gross, painter and printmaker, offers expressive and emotionally filled works using a kaleidoscope of color. Gross creates art as “a means of grappling with the impulses and struggles that make up the way I see my place in the world.” Through his visual lexicon,which is devoid of ideological reference, Gross seeks to create order from chaos. His lyrical compositions of concatenated lines, textured surfaces and rich hues, invoke Abstract Expressionism and pay homage to artists who inspire his work: Willem de Kooning, Richard Diebenkorn and Jackson Pollock. Curated by Myrtis Bedolla

Artwork

Michael Gross

Born in 1944 and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Gross showed artistic promise from a young age. His talents were influenced and nurtured by his artist mother, with whom he would travel to the Art Institute of Chicago where they took classes and his father, an advertising executive who took Gross to his office on weekends, where he would set him up at a drafting table with crayons and paper, allowing him to draw for hours. As a fledgling artist at the age of ten, Gross won an art competition and received a $500 savings bond.

Gross would go on to earn a Juris Doctor degree from New York University School of Law, becoming a corporate attorney, and in the 80s, a real estate developer. But art-making always remained an integral part of his life, as he continued to take classes at the Corcoran College of Art + Design in Washington, DC and develop his techniques under the watchful eye of friend and mentor, artist William Christenberry.

The World is Going to Hell and I am…

The World is Going to Hell and I am Printing Yellow!

view the exhibition | about the artists

Artists’ Talk: The World is Going to Hell and I am Printing Yellow! is the affirmation of ten women artists who hold firm to their conviction to create objects of beauty in the face of a changing world and the challenges of daily life.

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Featured Artists: Susan Goldman, Sujata Gopalan, Anita Jung, Barbara Kerne, Bridget Sue Lambert, Kathryn Maxwell, Miriam Mörsel Nathan, Patricia Underwood, Eve Stockton and Judit Varga.

Nina Buxenbaum Statement

Nina Buxenbaum

artwork | video | statement | bio

Statement

I began my work as an exploration of images of African American women in our society. As an African-American woman of mixed heritage, I approach my work as an opportunity to position women of color into the Western Art Canon where we have been conspicuously absent. We judge a culture and a civilization by the images and art objects that they create. I have always focused on creating honest and personal depictions of women, particularly women of color, as a means to provide an alternative to the stereotypes prevalent in our culture.

I use the “Topsy-Turvy doll” as a metaphor of black women and the way we learn to define ourselves. The doll, whose name is derived from the character of Topsy in the Harriet Beecher Stowe novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is designed to look like a southern belle on one side, but her dress conceals a black girl underneath. Through the flip doll, I explore my personal expression of self, as a biracial-woman, and also play with the metamorphosis of identity. I am also interested in the ability of this subject matter to address femininity as it relates to cultural constructs including class and race. The complexity of identity is one of transformation and redefinition: it is mutable.

These dueling images deal with some of the complexities of identity that go beyond race. Much of the work is autobiographical; it is the personal versus the public persona that I am exploring. The internal self and the self we project out to the world are often disparate or opposing, sometimes in subtle ways. As I continue to paint these women, I find deeper layers that tell more complex stories about who we are and who we pretend to be.

artwork: Pair, 24″ x 18″, Oil on panel, 2012

Nina Buxenbaum Biography

Nina Buxenbaum

artwork | video | statement | bio

Biography

Image courtesy of cuny.edu

Double Identity by Nina Buxenbaum[/caption]Nina Buxenbaum was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY to a politically active, multi-racial household. She received her MFA degree in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art and her BFA from Washington University in St. Louis in drawing and printmaking.

Ms.Buxenbaum has participated in residencies at the Cité Interational des Artes in Paris, France, the Skowhegan School of Painting (Skowhegan, MN), The Artists Alliance (NY, NY), and The Byrdcliff Artist in Residence, (Woodstock, NY). Her work has been included in several exhibitions including the Studio Museum of Harlem (NYC, NY), the Kentler International Drawing Space (Brooklyn, NY), the Ingalls Gallery (Miami, FL), Rush Arts (NYC, NY), The Sampson Projects (Boston, MA), including a solo show at The Stella Jones Gallery (New Orleans, LA). Her work has been reviewed in the International Review of African American Art.

She is currently an Associate Professor at York College, CUNY, in Jamaica , NY, and Coordinator of the Fine Arts Discipline in the Department of Performing and Fine Arts. She maintains and active studio practice in Brooklyn, NY and Bethel, CT.

Empire Artwork

Artwork featured from Galerie Myrtis on Fox’s Empire
 

Empire    WEDNESDAYS on FOX

Galerie Myrtis is pleased to announce that artwork by Jamea Richmond-Edwards, Jeffrey Kent and Arvie Smith will be featured on Fox’s new drama series Empire. The first episode will air January 7, 2015.

Synopsis: Hip-hop artist and CEO of Empire Entertainment, Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard), has always ruled unchallenged, but a medical diagnosis predicts he will be incapacitated in three years, which prompts the sharks to circle. Without further damaging his family, he must decide which of his three sons will take over. The reappearance of Cookie, his ex-wife (Taraji P. Henson), complicates things; she says he owes her for taking the fall for the drug-running that financed his early career.

empire-pic
 

featured artwork

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