Art, Money and Spirituality - Interview with Cathy Breslaw, written by author of Money Stories, Connie Hill

http://gmnite.weebly.com/1/post/2014/03/art-money-and-spirituality.html

This is a link to a recent interview with Cathy Breslaw by writer, astrologer and author of the book: Money Stories. The interview centers around the issues of art and its relationship to money and spirituality.

R.B. Stevenson Gallery, La Jolla, California Exhibiting "Kinetic Contrasts": Works by Painter, Ricardo Xavier

R.B. Stevenson Gallery

“Kinetic Contrasts”:  Ricardo Xavier

February 22 – March 29th

review by Cathy Breslaw

www.cathybreslaw.com

www.artfullifebycathy.blogspot.com

Flow    acrylic on canvas   48" x 96"   2013

Color, pattern and design take center stage in this exhibition of works by artist Ricardo Xavier. The exhibition is made up of 37 works - acrylic on canvas paintings, water based screen-prints on paper and small circular works of acrylic on round wood panels. Standing among Xavier’s works, one feels the vibe of Mardi Gras in New Orleans or Carnival in Brazil – saturated and intense colors swirl and sway into complex multi-dimensional repetitive patterns that dance on the surface and below. While these paintings send the viewers’ eyes into overdrive, once settled into focusing on one painting at a time, we are able to capture the energy and layering of patterns and can make sense of the gestalt of the piece. There are obvious systems employed to create these surface designs and we can see a behind the scenes methodical approach to creating the work.  One wall of the gallery is devoted to 28 fourteen inch round acrylic works on panel, each with its own design and color palette.  It is here that the viewer can digest Xavier’s work in small bites, slowing down the process of understanding the work and getting to its essence.  These small works are energetic compositions that appear as microcosms of the other much larger scale works in the show.

Looking Forward    acrylic on canvas    60" x 60"    2013

Meyer Fine Art, San Diego Exhibits Work by Clay Walker: 'Beyond Traditional Boundaries'

Meyer Fine Art, San Diego

Clay Walker: ‘Beyond Traditional Boundaries’

Article by Cathy Breslaw

‘Beyond Traditional Boundaries’ is a solo exhibition of the work of deceased artist, Clay Walker.  Other than a few group exhibitions, Walker’s work has not been shown since the 1970’s.  His work was brought to the attention of art dealer Perry Meyer by Walker’s wife Muriel after his death in 2008.  Walker’s over 50 years worth of art-making reveal an artist who mastered many mediums including painting, sculpture, paper making and mixed media. He was most noted for his printmaking works – woodcuts and glass prints.  His work reflects the diversity of the mid-twentieth century aesthetic – showing an influence of Abstract Expressionism, Surrealism, Neo-Expressionism and Contemporary Realism. His work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. and Walker had friendships with Picasso, and Andy Warhol.  After the 1970’s Walker abruptly stopped exhibiting his work but continued to be a prolific artist, creating hundreds of art pieces. Upon viewing the vast and differing styles of the work he created, much of his color palette and mark-making reflects his Seminole and Cherokee Native American  heritage.  Earthen hues of reds, browns and golds, and symbolically created shapes are sprinkled through the large and small scale paintings on canvas, works on paper and sculpture.  Walker’s figurative works bear a strong relationship to Cubism while a large metal sculptural work is reminiscent of Rauchenberg’s ‘Combine’ pieces. Clay Walker’s work has been shown in over 200 exhibitions but a curiosity remains as to his decision to work ‘under the radar’ in the art world after having enjoyed a significant presence for many years.  This retrospective exhibition at Meyer Fine Art is an opportunity to peer into the world of Clay Walker’s ideas, thoughts and imagination and into the creative process of an artist who obviously loved his craft.

The Social Significance of Our Component Parts   oils   32" x 40" 1947

  Enter Not   woodblock print 19 1/2" x 23 1/2"  1950-1952

Christo at Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, California - Installations, Drawings, Photos and Film

Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA

XTO+J-C: Christo and Jean Claude Featuring Works From the Bequest of David C. Copley

Review by Cathy Breslaw

XTO+J-C is an exhibition that features artist Christo’s best known monumental projects he and his late wife, Jean Claude accomplished over forty years.  Included in their works are the 241 ½ mile long “Running Fence” in California’s Sonoma and Marin Counties(1976), the Wrapped Reichstag in Berlin (1995) and in New York’s Central Park, “The Gates” (2005) which included 7,053 fabric banners that spanned the walkways in the park. This exhibition features more than fifty works by Christo, and highlights recent gifts from the artist, as well as The David C. Copley Foundation. Since these are all environmental projects in various locations around the world, the exhibition displays installations, drawings and photographs from these years long projects as well as a 59 minute film documenting “Running Fences” from 1976.  Also included are the Wrapped Packages (1960) alongside many drawings and collages related to Christo’s early wrapped objects – chairs, road signs, motorcycles, tables, telephones, wheelbarrows, armchair and luggage rack. These wrapped item drawings draw our attention to these everyday items through their ‘concealment’. Included as well are the large-scale “Store Front” (1965-66) and a related series of “Show Windows” from the early 1970’s, which expanded Christo’s sculptural art practice into the environmental realm and spawned the many subsequent outdoor projects. For those museum visitors unacquainted with Christo and Jean Claude’s work, the documentary is very educational and portrays many of the challenges these artists have had in creating environmental installations including communications with people in communities, and local, state and federal government officials to obtain permissions and legal papers as well as navigating throughout the long years and time frames for completion. The commonality across all their projects is the use of fabric and textile – fragile, sensual and temporary materials which translate the temporary character of the works of art and beauty.

Christo   Package    fabric, rope and twine   29 1/2" x 13 1/2" x 8"   1960

Scott White Contemporary, La Jolla Exhibit 'Color and Form' Features Kenneth Noland, Morris Louis, and others...

Scott White Contemporary, La Jolla

Color & Form

Review by Cathy Breslaw

‘Color and Form’ is a group exhibition of well known artists Helen Frankenthaler, Kenneth Noland, Morris Louis, Jules Olitski, Larry Poons, Friedel Dzubas and Thomas Downing. Known as a color field painter, Dzubas’s paintings “Nouveau” and “Stone Flower”, are oil paintings reflecting the simplified abstracted shapes in blues, beiges and yellow/oranges resembling landscapes.  Larry Poon’s “Untitled” acrylic on canvas reflects his expressionistic style with its subtle color palette of ranges of white, blue, red, and beige in energetic vertical brushstroke patterns.  Kenneth Nolands three paintings in the show – “Mysteries Aglow”, “Dusk Affair” and “Via Fill”, are each representative of one of the major types of paintings Noland did that were categorized as stripes, targets(bulls eye circles) and shaped canvases.  These works which were painted between 1968 and 2002  are subtle in their hues and contemplative in their overall feel.   Jules Olitski’s “Third Caliph” and “Monday Night Mark”, both painted in 1965, are acrylics on canvas, representative of  color field painting and seemingly painted by spraying layers of color subtly blending one with the next of dark yet vibrant purples, blues, yellows and reds. Thomas Downing who is known as the pioneer of the “dot” in painting, and spent most of his career painting various patterns of them, expresses this concept in “Reel”, an acrylic on canvas with a color palette of red, white and blue.  There is one sculpture in this exhibition that though it was created in 2013 by Joey Vaiasuso, “Untitled”, fits like a glove into this mid-century modernist group of artists’ exhibition. Tomato red planks of powder coated steel in varying lengths in a structural arrangement, create a thoughtful counterpoint to this exhibition of painters.