The Figurative Impulse
dal 3/11/2005 al 23/12/2005
Segnalato da
Steven Assael
William Beckman
Alan Feltus
Raymond Han
Susan Hauptman
Michael Leonard
David Levine
Richard Maury
Odd Nerdrum
Christian Vincent
3/11/2005
The Figurative Impulse
Forum Gallery, Los Angeles
Group show. Works by Steven Assael, William Beckman, Alan Feltus, Raymond Han, Susan Hauptman, Michael Leonard, David Levine, Richard Maury, Odd Nerdrum and Christian Vincent.
Group show
Along with examples by preëminent contemporary artists whom Forum Gallery represents,
the exhibition also features works by artists who belong with the pantheon
of master contemporary figurative painters.
Forum Gallery artists Steven Assael, William Beckman, Alan Feltus, Raymond
Han, Susan Hauptman, Michael Leonard, David Levine, Richard Maury, Odd
Nerdrum and Christian Vincent are all represented. Assael's recent oil on
panel, Carla Twice, is an introspective personality study of the sitter;
William Beckman's Study for Diana #1 is an elegant pencil drawing of
sculptress Diana Moore dating from the early 1970s; Susan Hauptman's
Self-Portrait as Prima Donna Bitch is an imaginary rendering in charcoal and
pastel; and David Levine¹s Influenced portrays a woman in a kimono, executed
with a tapestry like effect in his favorite medium of watercolor.
Always working on a small if not minute scale, Forum's Peter Greaves latest
effort is an oil on tempered hardboard bust portrait of a young girl Adeye,
which measures less than 2 x 2 inches. The sitter's delicate skin tone,
subtle tilt of the head and lowered eyelashes are rendered with insuperable
detail and delicacy. On a different scale is Odd Nerdrum¹s monumental
recent painting, Love Divided, an iconic and incantatory image by this
contemporary figurative giant of two interlocked figures in space. Equally
enigmatic is Los Angeles painter Christian Vincent's painting Bump in the
Night, in which a young girl dressed in white lays on her stomach over a
large and unidentifiable object, covered by a white drape, before a pitch
black background.
Works by artists outside of Forum's direct representation include those of
Nicolas Africano, Bo Bartlett, Claudio Bravo, John Currin, Lucian Freud,
Julie Heffernan, Whitfield Lovell, Clive Smith, and Mark Stock. Whereas
Chilean great Claudio Bravo's study of male Heads is a sensitive and subtle
pastel on paper, John Currin's graphic social commentary comes in the form
of an ink drawing titled Braless which portrays a woman with grotesquely
oversized breasts. Julie Heffernan's Self-portrait in Coral II depicts the
artist, nude, waist deep in the murky waters of a lagoon with an assortment
of coral shells at her feet and an array of mysterious tropical trees in the
background. Sumptuously colorful and highly detailed, the painting is a
fantastic assortment of the known and unknown, a surrealist journey of
incongruities in search of a cryptic allegory.
Bay Area based painter Mark Stock is represented by two paintings: Gnaw and
The Butler's in Love. In Gnaw a bereft looking young woman rests her head
on a bureau, wedding band still on the fourth finger of her left hand which
nearly touches an overturned picture frame as she gazes out into oblivion.
The Butler's in Love showcases a gloved hand holding a fountain pen in the
process of writing anguish filled words taken directly from the romantic
novel The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer. Drawing from a
wide range of historic, literary and cinematic sources Stock explores themes
such as love, betrayal, deception, and murder.
With a broad range of subject matter, and variety of mediums, The Figurative
Impulse provides an impressive survey of the highest quality figurative art
of our generation.
Image: Odd Nerdrum, 'Love Divided,' 2005, oil on canvas, 104 3/8 x 81 1/2 inches.
Opening Reception: Friday, November 4, 7-9pm
Forum Gallery
8069 Beverly Blvd. (at Crescent Heights Blvd.) - Los Angeles
Hours: Tuesday  Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.