Denis Gaston, “The Pollinator”, acrylic on canvas
Paintings by Denis Gaston and Sculptures by Eric Doctors
ARTicles/ Leslie Curran Gallery’s space in St. Pete is currently showing Robbie Acts Up, an exhibition of bright and colorful work by Denis Gaston and Eric Doctors.
Along with their rotating exhibitions, the gallery shows a wide variety of local artists and offers a wide range of services including custom framing.
Above is Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds’s work Surviving Active Shooter Custer, 48 monoprints, 2018, from the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, on view in 2021.
From the museum about the work-
The term “active shooter” is one we hear too often in today’s news. Here, Heap of Birds uses this contemporary phrase to characterize massacres committed by United States troops against Native Americans in the 1800s. Each of this work’s panels contains six lines of text evoking the violence of not only this country’s history but ongoing acts of oppression against Indigenous communities. The prints on the right are “ghost prints” of those on the left, made by using the residual ink remaining on the printing plate after the first print was produced. For the artist, these prints recall the “ghosts of a whole culture.”
In the video below from the museum, the artist discusses the work with two of MoMa’s curators.
One of the two Creative Liberties spaces in the Limelight District
On the second Saturday of every month artists from the Sarasota Studio Artists Association open their studios around Sarasota, Florida. One place to stop is the Limelight District where you can find Creative Liberties, Palmer Modern, and The Bazaar.
Founded by artists Barbara Gerdeman and Elizabeth Goodwill, Creative Liberties opened its first location at the end of 2021 and the second in February of this year. Along with the artist studios, the space hosts exhibitions and classes for children and adults.
The exhibition space and tables from a finished class from September 2023
If you go make sure to also check out the delightful Free Little Art Gallery. Created by artist Judy Robertson and modeled after the Free Little Libraries, you are encouraged to take a piece of art, leave a piece of art, or sometimes just admire what’s been donated. There is one for work by adults and for children’s art work.
Below are images from a few of the artist’s spaces in the Creative Liberties buildings.
Paintings by Lisa DiFranza
Paintings by Adrienne Watts
Paintings by David Sigel
Photography by Henry Martin
Work by Sandra Wix
Paintings by Cheryl Taub
Work by Susan Hurwitch
Paintings by Ava Young
Work by Creative Liberties founder Barbara Gerdeman
Work by artists Traci Kegerreis and Sandy Koolkin
On the next page- Palmer Modern and The Bazaar
The University of Tampa’s Scarfone/Hartley Gallery is currently showing the creatively displayed B.A.S.K.: Because Art Should Kill, work by Aleš Bask Hostomsky aka BASK. The exhibition also allows visitors a chance to participate by adding their own marks to a wall in the show.
From the gallery-
Known for his iconomorphic revisitation of contemporary images, BASK’s work highlights the transformative ability of hybridization. Offering layered deconstruction and reconstruction, each piece pushes viewers to look anew at culturally infused images and text, in order to consider what they say about the viewer and the culture that developed them.
BASK’s bricolage style takes the known and familiar, the distressed and destroyed, and merges them to create windows through which visitors can explore places of unanchored interpretations and ask a multitude of questions of the piece and of their interpretations.
This exhibition closes 12/15/23.
The image above is Boris Anisfeld’s Clouds over the Black Sea-Crimea, 1906, from Brooklyn Museum’s exhibition Monet to Morisot: The Real and Imagined in European Art which highlights European art from the 19th and early twentieth-century from their collection. The exhibition “focuses on a period of significant societal transformation, when artistic techniques, subject matter, and patronage underwent profound changes”.
About the painting from the museum-
Boris Anisfeld’s canvas presents a vertiginous view of the Black Sea from the top of the Ayu-Dag mountain in southern Ukraine. The viewer has the sensation of being placed in midair, looking down through billowing clouds at an expanse of blue water, in the midst of which is a small boat. Although the scene represents a vast space, the artist’s complex composition challenges the illusion of depth in traditional landscapes by flattening the elements-cloud, land, and horizon-onto a single plane.
This painting was included in the 1906 Salon d’Automne in Paris in the Russian galleries organized by the ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev, for whom Anisfeld designed stage sets and costumes. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, the artist came to the United States, and within a year the Brooklyn Museum hosted his first American one-person exhibition.
This exhibition closes on 11/12/23.
Featured artist at Art Harvest- Michelle Mardis
Paintings by John Maurer
Paintings by John Maurer
The weather this past weekend was perfect for enjoying two big outdoor art events in the Tampa Bay area- the annual Art Harvest juried art show in Dunedin and the autumn edition of the biannual Art in the Yard event in Gulfport (the next one is next year in March).
Wendy Boucher’s collages made entirely of paper on canvas
More work by Wendy Boucher
Linda Heath’s work
Linda Heath (work above) uses the Gyotaku technique to make prints from the fish she catches in the Gulf of Mexico.
Below are a few artists from Art in the Yard-
A homemade sign from Art in the Yard
Art in the Yard is a great way to interact with local Gulfport artists and to see their creations. Stopping at the home of The Oiseaux Sisters (Susan Andrews and Carolyn Fellman), is a journey into their whimsical world. The head above was filled with little cards with their website and a different word, like a fortune, on each. My card read “Surrender”. All around their property you can find work hidden among the vegetation, on walls, and in among tables of materials they use for their work.
Outside at The Oiseaux Sisters’ home
Outside at the The Oiseaux Sisters’ home (the upper left work is a recreation of an image of Tallulah Bankhead turned into a movable figure)
Mixed media works by Dorian Angello
Jayne van der Voordt’s house had lots of fun decorated mannequins and mannequin body parts
Jenn Ryann Miller’s charming creations, seen above, are currently on view at Tempus Projects in the Kress Contemporary building in Ybor City for her solo exhibition, Hobby House.
From the gallery-
Hobby House– where art meets self-indulgence, subversion meets humor, and creativity meets absurdity. With ceramics, sterling silver, a little photography and a lot of gemstones Hobby House presents objects that are meticulously crafted for no good reason other than looking fabulous. Hobby House contemplates the places and practices of art making with humor, irony, and a little wit.
Jenn Ryann Miller explores materiality and aesthetics through sculpture and painting. With a background in functional ceramics, her work subverts tradition and process through the experimentation with oblique materials and forms. Miller has been part of numerous solo and group exhibitions in Florida and the United States. Originally from Connecticut, she received a BFA from the University of Connecticut and MA from the University of South Florida. Miller currently teaches ceramics at the University of South Florida.
In another of the Tempus Projects gallery spaces is Justin Myers‘ exhibition, What Did We Use To Say, seen below, which uses collage along with a video and sound installation to explore the concept of memory.
From the gallery and artist-
What Did We Use To Say? Trying to remember things from the past from distorted and fragmented memories. Is that really how it happened? With intention, the mind has the ability to erase just as easily as it does create. The mind decides what stays and what gets purged for the new. Are you in control? Or is the subconscious doing as it pleases? In this work, I explore deconstruction, recomposition, and sampling, and their impact on memory and perception.
Justin Myers, a Tampa Native, is a member of music projects Justin Depth, Alien House, and Diamond Man. He also is the co-founder of Tampa-based record label, Image Research Records.
Justin studied printmaking at HCC in Ybor City and began experimenting with sculpture and installation-based works during his time there. Myers finds inspiration from discarded imagery, random thought, and spontaneous actions. Over the last 10 years, Myers has participated in numerous exhibitions at Tempus Projects, including the T-shirt shows, Mix Tape Show, Return to Sender, and an offsite window installation as part of a partnership with Downtown Tampa and more. In 2020, Myers partnered with his brother, Jeremy Myers on a virtual exhibit with Tempus Projects titled, “One Day of Perfect”. Justin has been involved with Tempus Projects since his music project Alien House made its debut performance in November of 2011.
Both of these exhibitions are on view until 12/14/23.
“Steelhead” Terracotta sculpture by Ako Castuera
Spooky season may be coming to a close but there is still time to see the ghosts, and the artists behind them, in At Home with “City of Ghosts” at Dunedin Fine Art Center. Thoughtfully curated by Nathan Beard, the exhibition focuses on artwork, in a variety of mediums, by 17 of the artists who helped create the award winning Netflix series City of Ghosts.
Created by Elizabeth Ito, City of Ghosts follows a group of children as they track down and record stories about the history of Los Angeles from the ghosts who also live in the city.
Artists included in the exhibition- Mike Andrews, Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin, Ako Castuera, Alex Cline, Mercedes Dorame, Luis Grané, Chloe Hsu, Elizabeth Ito, Jasmin Lai, Bob Logan, Yulissa Maqueos, Hugo Morales, Keiko Murayama, Adam Muto, Claire Nero, Zen Sekizawa, and Pen Ward, with additional contribution from Decibel Studios LA.
This exhibition closes 12/23/23.
Below are some additional selections from the show.
Chloe Hsu– “Fish Market”, drypoint and watercolor
Jasmin Lai– “The 110 and Downtown LA”, digital print
Acrylic and ink work by Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin
Prismacolor and watercolor work by Alex Cline
Luis Grané– “Pool Maintenance” , acrylic on canvas
“La Mejor Herrencia”, Maqueos-Gonzalez family photos and “Maqueos Music (Banda Oaxaqueña)”, 2023, video by Decibel Studios LA with Los Angeles based clarinet player Yulissa Maqueos
Pendleton Ward (left) and Elizabeth Ito (right) both created Pepper’s Ghost animations for the exhibition
Anthony Freese “State of Emergency”, 2023 vinyl and “Termination”, 2023 3D print
(L to R) Jay Giroux “Slow Burn”, 2023, waterborne acrylic on aluminum sign panel mounted to MDF; Ryan Lagasse, “This Isn’t Sunshine”, 2023, acrylic on wood; Blake Bailey, “Solar Pressure”, 2023, linocut relief print
Ryan Lagasse “This Isn’t Sunshine”, 2023, acrylic on wood
Jay Giroux, “Drug Store”, 2023, acrylic on primed MDF
RJ Martin, “Cold projections”, 2023, digital print on signboard and “Truth in blue”, 2023, 3D print
(left) Edgar Sanchez Cumbas, “Where There Is Brown There Is Gold”, 2023, digital print embellished with wax, acrylic, and charcoal on Arches cold press 140lb paper; (right) Joana Hila “Equilibrium of Insect & Flora”, 2023, mixed media
The works above are from Department of Contemporary Art’s latest group exhibition Degrees, organized with Tampa’s Greater Public Studio. It explores the multiple uses of the word “degrees” including in climate change, education and history.
Artists included in the exhibition- Blake Bailey, Anthony Freese, Jay Giroux, Joana Hila, Ryan Lagasse, Richard Martin, Julia Parrino, Alex Roberts, and Edgar Sanchez Cumbas.
About Degrees from the gallery’s website-
In this exhibition, we unravel the layers of meaning behind ‘Degrees’. From the nuanced shades of truth that shape our perceptions to the tangible degrees of temperature that influence our environment, the exhibition creates a dynamic dialogue between different dimensions of this concept.
Situated in a pivotal battleground state, the exhibition also contemplates the intricate relationship between degrees and the pressing issue of global warming. Delving into the political discourse, we examine how degrees of belief and denial intersect, particularly in the context of climate change debates.
Furthermore, the exhibition prompts contemplation on the notion of an art degree. What does it signify? How does it define one’s creative journey? These questions guide us through an exploration of artistic qualifications and the degrees of expertise they represent.
A journey through art history reveals the connection between degrees and lines, as we delve into the associations between angles, perspectives, and the progression of artistic movements. This collection invites you to ponder how degrees of inclination can shape artistic expression and historical narratives.
Join us in this immersive exhibition, where degrees of interpretation converge, offering a multi-dimensional encounter with the concept of ‘Degrees’.
Tomorrow (10/26/23) from 6-9pm is the last chance to see the show.
Ermin Tabakovic has created an intriguing world with his geometric paintings for Transcending Space, on view at Morean Arts Center in St. Pete.
From the gallery’s website-
Ermin Tabakovic was born in 1980 in former Yugoslavia (now Bosnia). In 1993 he and his family moved to Berlin, Germany where they lived between 1993-1998. As a teenager in Berlin, Ermin was involved in the city’s vibrant graffiti art scene and completed numerous murals. In 1998 he and his family emigrated to the United States, settling in the Tampa Bay area. Upon arrival in the US, Ermin took on painting and studied at St. Petersburg College where he focused on art and architecture. He went on to study art at the University of Central Florida in Orlando where he completed his BFA in Art Studio with Minors in Graphic Design and Art History.
Ermin actively exhibited his work between 2000-2008, taking part in many shows throughout Florida. He stopped painting in 2008 due to health issues and picked it up again in 2020 with a new vigor and a new vision. His new works are mature, colorful and bold representations of his core vision and aesthetic steeped in geometric form and a structural sensibility. Currently Ermin resides in Tampa with his wife Lisa and their beloved cat Maximus.
“Modern geometric painting has had a very big influence on my work, especially the Constructivist artists such as Malevich and El Lissitzky and the various other modern Art movements of the 20th century such as Cubism, Neoplasticism, Minimalism, and Surrealism. In my current work I tend to fuse all these different influences and combine them with my own personal aesthetic to create a new visual language that transcends the past and points to something new and different. We live in a digital age, so there is that digital touch to my compositions as well by using the hard-edge approach.
“I want the works to be visually striking, thus my use of vibrant colors, contrast, pure and robust geometric forms, clean lines, etc. I also like to add a surreal touch to my works to give them a sense of mystery and visual drama. Furthermore, I seek to create visual paradoxes by intertwining 2D and 3D space to add tension and ambiguity. My aim is to challenge the viewer’s perception of space and test the boundaries of what is possible by juxtaposing the seemingly impossible.”
This exhibition closes 10/26/23.
