Fine Art Connoisseur November/December 2020

fear not

Every summer my family spends time in the Adirondacks, in upstate New York. I love it, yet memories of my first visit to this million-acre state park remind me of my initial unease there. My parents had just sold our place on Indiana’s Lake Wawasee after three generations. I thought that was my favorite place, my summer escape. Rather than resting on tradition, my father, troubled by loud racing boats and fumes of fuel, realized there were still places that remained quiet, much like Wawasee had been when our family first settled there. I resisted the breaking of tradition, and I was determined not to like it. But by the end of a week in the Adirondacks, I discovered something about it, and about my own heart, that resulted in my…

kindred spirits we should meet

On a rolling basis, some of the many artists, dealers, and organizations highlighted in this magazine check in to let me know how the art world is looking from their perspectives. I always value their insights, and today I thought it might be useful to relay one trend I see emerging. Quite rightly, everyone is concerned about what younger people are buying to adorn their new homes. I am referring to folks in their 20s, 30s, and even 40s who are finally settling down for the longer term, possibly because children have arrived, though not necessarily. Although this generation’s zeitgeist tends to be minimalist and “anti-stuff,” they eventually need to decorate their walls with something, and we at Fine Art Connoisseur believe that should include original works of art. A huge swath…

favorite

J ane Marx knows how to read people. As New York City’s most personable and original tour guide, she greets strangers at notable sights and knows right away how to enlighten and entertain them. “My favorite people to lead on tours are grandparents with grandchildren,” she says, “because, even at my age, I still possess a child’s heart, mind, and eyes. I’ve never lost my childhood enthusiasm.” While Marx rarely brings people inside museums on her tours, preferring to stay outdoors amid what she calls “the real life of the streets,” she does remember her first visit to Paris’s Musée d’Orsay many years ago. There she encountered The Gleaners by Jean-François Millet (1814–1875). “I was immediately mesmerized by it, but I was not the person then that I am now. Today…

figurative art showcase

SCOTT ROGERS Paradise, Utah Chiricahua Apache, 23 in., bronze, edition of 30 rogersbronze@gmail.com•www.scottrogerssculpture.com Represented by The Adobe Fine Art, Illume Fine Art, Legacy, Lunds Fine Art, Mountain Trails (Jackson/Sedona), Sage Creek Gallery, Settlers West. JESSICA BIANCO Niagara Falls, Canada My Weakness, 70 x 100 cm, oil on canvas biancofineart@outlook.com www.biancofineart.com ALEXANDRA TYNG Narberth, Pennsylvania Breakthrough, 50 x 50 in., oil on linen Available through Dowling Walsh Gallery alexandratyng@aol.com www.alexandratyng.com Represented by Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, ME; Gross McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; gWatson Gallery, Stonington, ME. REGINA JACOBSON San Luis Obispo, California Beautiful Burden, 22 x 30 in., oil on wood panel regina@reginajacobson.com 949.677.1102 www.reginajacobson.com Represented by Lovetts Gallery, Tulsa, OK. JAQ GRANTFORD Victoria, Australia Transparent, 21 x 33 in., oil on canvas Available through 33 Contemporary on Artsy jaq@jaqgrantford.com • www.jaqgrantford.com Represented by 33 Contemporary (via Artsy), Chicago IL. NANCI FRANCE-VAZ Ocean, New Jersey Out of Eden, 40 x 28 in.,…

three to watch

JULIAN DIX (b. 1961) creates paintings in series for the same reason many past masters did, including one of his principal influences, Giorgio Morandi (1890–1964): to look closely at a subject for a prolonged period, exhausting visual interpretation until unseen philosophical, poetic, or psychological conclusions emerge. “I am most excited when exploring an idea I don’t fully understand, something greater than me, a piece that takes me to uncharted realms of ideas and impressions that strive to move through my brushes onto canvas,” the artist shares. “I am aware that what I am creating is at the edge of my understanding, and the painting becomes a process of discovering what wishes to reveal itself.” Two recent series — Shifting Values and They & Us, both done this year — are works…

graydon parrish & carmen dell’orefice meeting the muse

The first time Graydon Parrish set eyes on Carmen Dell’Orefice, he knew he wanted to paint her. “I thought she was one of the most interesting people I’ve ever seen. So intriguing,” he recalls. At the time, Parrish (b. 1970) was living and painting in Amherst, Massachusetts. Carmen (as she’s known) was a celebrated fashion model living in New York City. The Carmen that Parrish saw that day was a photograph on an advertising poster, and the prospect of meeting the real Carmen — let alone asking her to sit for a portrait — seemed unlikely. Nevertheless, the artist filed away his mental image of Carmen in what he calls his “private list of 10 people I want to paint before I die.” After all, who was to say the two…