Fine Art Connoisseur March/April 2022

Like any entrepreneur, my “to do” list tends to run my life. Some days it’s long, other days less so, but there are always projects that get kicked down the road. And though most organizational gurus would suggest I rethink how I’m organizing my time, it seems like there are days, sometimes weeks, when that list is controlling me. My merry-go-round tends to run around 75 mph; I don’t dare jump off or major disruption might take place. But jump off I did for a Christmas break, then for a couple of weeks under the weather, sleeping most of the time. Typically, after a vacation or some time away, I tell my assistant, Ali, that I’m going to work less, focus more, and do more of the things I want to do.…

Across America, retail stores and office buildings continue to empty as more consumers shop from home and professionals choose to remain working there. At the same time, artists are struggling to find affordable studio spaces in the group settings that help them inspire each other. For better or worse, it is creativity — more than manufacturing or services — that keeps the U.S. out in front; the world looks to our visual and performing artists, designers, video gamers, and other creatives to lead the way. Yet many of these folks have been priced out of the areas where they once gathered, even as the rest of us drive past shopping malls and main streets plastered with “for rent” signs. Surely there’s a way to solve both problems simultaneously? Yes, Virginia, there is.…

Tug Rice draws New Yorkers of a certain ilk engaged in the life of their city — milling at art openings, dining in private clubs, shopping on snowy days, attending costume balls. Though he is much in demand on the very cultural scene he illustrates for magazines, books, and even lines of china, Rice has never actually depicted himself. Yet the circumstances of his finding and purchasing this circa 1732 painting by Jean-Baptiste Pater could make for an engaging series of illustrations. Rice recalls having moved into a new Manhattan apartment, and while visiting the Kips Bay Showhouse resale shop in search of some chairs and a lamp, he found this unsigned painting for a reasonable price. “I knew the moment I saw it that it was something special,” he says.…

There are many reasons people collect art, and they’re all worthy of applause. Perhaps it’s to enliven our living spaces, to enjoy beauty or technical virtuosity, to connect with artists and others in the community, to satisfy an urge for creativity, to invest in something that will grow in value, or to feel kinship with the past. Fine Art Connoisseur has always been devoted to celebrating the great collectors we see all around us, and also to inspiring newcomers to give it a go. In every issue we highlight the stories of those who acquire art with passion, and we are particularly excited to do this now. Why? Because when it comes to realism (or representation, or figuration — whatever you choose to call it), we are living in a golden…

Based in New York’s Hudson Valley, where artists have basked in the beauty of nature for centuries, JORDAN BAKER (b. 1981) is an emerging artist with a discerning eye focused on the world around her. Her classic still lifes, painted with keen attention to detail in the trompe l’oeil tradition, may initially look like odes to everyday objects. But beneath the surface, they started out as philosophical ruminations on important issues the artist feels compelled to explore and share. Take, for instance, her recent Too Much Is Never Enough series, in which food in great quantities challenges our notion of excess. “I have used the visual language of traditionally composed still life painting to explore the subjective concept of good taste and the wavering line between abundance and excess,” Baker explains.…

In Denver, Abend Gallery is presenting an exhibition of recent easel-sized paintings by two gifted artists based in Seattle, Tenaya Sims and Christopher Remmers. On view through March 25, their show’s title, Evolving the Myth: Portals of Perception, points to the laudable longterm ambition both men harbor — to prove that today’s highly skilled realists have what it takes to create epic narrative paintings that tap into myth and legend in fresh ways and excite the imaginations of modern viewers. This objective was cherished by many artists until the mid-20th century, when other approaches eclipsed realism. It is only now becoming attainable again thanks to the robust revival of technical skills over the past 30 years. Interestingly, the passion that now drives these two colleagues originated not in the world…