Eric Zener

                      

                                                                       

         Art Event

          Eric Zener

Eric Zener, I totally fall in love with his paintings, after I saw his paintings at the chelsea gallery. I went to Chelsea gallery for a field trip with my classmates, and I went to a bunch of different galleries as well, I saw great paintings from great artists. I was trying to find the gallery that are professor recommended we see,while walking around in chelsea; but I suddenly couldn't move after I saw his painting through the window. His exhibition wasn't on the list from the paper, but I really wanted to go see his painting because I felt like something was grabbing my feet and forced me to go inside of his exhibition.

Eric Zener is an American photorealist artist best known for figure paintings of people under water in swimming pools. I felt so ambitious when I saw his painting because he painted so realistic, but if you move closer to his painting, you would see very abstract shapes around the figure, in the figure and the swimming pool. I was very pleased to see the realistic figure and abstract shapes from the water, and shadow. Zener is a self-taught artist. I really like how Zener knows how to put realism with aspects of abstractionism together. His paintings, mostly in oil and inspired me to want to use oil. Zener's painting, shows subjects standing on hilltops, submerged in water and standing at the ocean's shore. They were very introspective and show the relationships between the natural and human. When I saw his painting, I was very delighted to see all of his painting because I felt like It was an escape from New York City and got to go on a trip to an ocean beach.

In the summer of 2003, Zener lived in Spain on Spain's Costa Brava, and he was intrigued by the masses of people bathing in the Mediterranean. He saw water as a pleasure place like a oasis; regardless of social standing, everyone enjoys the sunlight, especially at the beach. He creates the title for most of his work. I felt his title have relationship between nature and people, such as “relinquishing”, “engulfed”, and “balance”.

His exhibition is located at Gallery Henoch, New York- solo, April 15 though May 8, 2010.

I strongly recommend if you want to go on vacation in NYC, but you don't have much money or time, you could just go his exhibition and enjoy his painting. I would describe his painting as an small oasis in the dirty air of New York City.

M y W o r k s

Seul Lee " Butterfly Series " mixed media/ acrylic 24x40 2009

This is my first series of painting from last semester at FIT. I wanted to paint a butterfly because butterfly has a beautiful variety of colors and I liked the soft feeling of butterflies. My favorite painting is the second painting from the top. It seems not that clear in the photo, but I did gradation softly each color. I actually used a acrylic and treated like a watercolor. I don't have a chance to use a watercolor often, so I just wanted to challenge myself tried to use a new technique, so I can develop myself. This painting look unfinished, but that was actually my concept of this series painting. I wanted to leave the background blank, because I liked the way of white color on the background. My theme was a butterfly, which means I wanted to show a purity, simple, and beauti.

Lancy Lang

Lancy Lang "Taboo Yogini Series"

G e n e r a l w o r k s

Nancy Lang "The birth of Venus"mixed media on canvas, 90x63cm, 2005

This is one of the Lancy's "Taboo Yogini Series" painting. First of all, "Yogini" means the spiritual messenger between God and human beings. It is both satan and angel at the same time in a greece word. And Nancy Lang's "Taboo Yogini" represents mixed images of angels and daimon generally, however, it comes out with variety of imaginative appearances and forms through the different concepts. She usually use the famous person's head and she painted a robot on the body. Because of it is a mxied media, her painting made my eye move around the page and think about the color how she used. I really like her "Taboo Yogini Series" because she actaully has a strong them of her series and it has a variety creativism on her painting.

Damien Kamholtz "My anchor my love" acrylic on canvas 120 cm x 120 cm

Damien's painting is very lovely mono-ton vintage. His painting is very thin like a water color, I felt like daydreaming in my room because it is so thin and treated like a watercolor. I usually do thick painting because I thought thick painting is much stronger feeling than thin painting. However, he treated like a watercolor and represent as a vintage feeling and that was very strong point of his work. His painting is not that strong and not thick at all, but I felt something suck me into his painting.

Mitchell Spider "Seated woman (impatient)"

Unfortunately, I couldn't found the medium that he used, and the date of this work. I love the fast figure drawing , and I think this is the one he painted like a gesture figure painting. Even he used only three or four colors, it gaves me strong effect because he used a black outline of figure.

I also want to try abstract gesture figure painting just like what he did.

Devin Troy Strother " Please Don't Tear Down the Dancehall", 2009Gouache, acrylic, cel vinyl, and silkscreen on cut paper23" x 29.75"58.4cm x 75.6cm

Again, love the primary and some baby pastel colors ! Generally, I looking at the color first, and composition (the shapes, space of depth, and etc..). I think the color is the most important method because even the composition is nice, it might look not 100% perfect if you don't use a good color. I like the artist who creates their own world like Devin, and Takashi.

Eleanna Anagnos "Threesome"2009, 120" x 84", Oil, fluorescent and phosphorescent pigment on canvas

Her painting is awesome. It's very strong and energetic and her painting reminds me of Nicholas Daunt. They have similar brush tecniques, and I know her pallettes are unity. She didn't use many colors on her work, but it's really strong. I think this is one of her tecniques too. The composition created another shape, and that the thick black lines are make this painting compelete.

A b s t r a c t w o r k s

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)Still Life with Mandolin and Guitar (oil on canvas, 1924)
If Da Vinci was a father of Renaissance, Pablo Picasso is the father of art. Picasso is a genius and very intelligent painter. I wish he was my grand-grandfather. I didn't know what to chose his painting for my blog because there are too many great paintings. Picasso is perfect, he could painted like a realistic and he also could painted abstract way. I personally, like his abstract painting. He broke the objects a part and he created a big shape and less details, this creates a almost a human face to me. His pallete is also very joyful and greate !

Nicholas Daunt "One with Everything" - 2.5 x 2.5 m

Energetic ! I felt so energetic of his brush technique. His pallett (red, yellow, blue, violet, white, and some black outlines) made a beautiful harmony and strong effect. Even he used a few black outlines, it created a strong composition and it seperates my eyes. It seems like he wasn't planning before he start like kandinsky or takashi, but he definetely knows how to make a successful painting. He knows where he have put the point on his painting, the color combination, the space of depth, and general composition. I'm wondering what the title means to him. I don't know why this painting reminds me of a "life", or if I look this painting about four seconds, I felt like I'm sitting on the yellow chair and looking at the blue ocean with my coffee. This painting seems not that happy but you could think about the one moment of your life.

Takashi Iwasaki "Gemmidakosasanouzu" Acrylic on canvas51 x 51cm 2008

What a creativism world ?! His work of painting is really my style. I was so into his painting when I found this. I personally, love the primary color and some baby pastel colors. He is using both colors at the same time, and that made me feel so bright and joyful. Some people think primary colors are for kids, but I definitely love kids color and pure colors like a baby. In my abstract painting class, I'm creating my world like Takashi, but my own world. Takashi is pretty young Japanese artist, but I really do love his work and everything he creates !

Wan Gyu Lim (임완규) 1952 "Butterflies oil" 50×39.6cm oil on canvas

When I was researching the butterflies for my last semester's project, I found him on the internet. I was pretty shocked because he is Korean, and I believed he was the first generation of the Korean abstract painter during 1950 period. During that time period, an abstract painting was not a common in Korea. Actually, the period of 1950~60 was most difficult time in Korea because the North and South had a war in 1950. How could he think about this creativism during that period? It just amazing to me. However, the sad thing is I only found a few of his painting. I wish I can find more of his work, so I can put his other great works on my blog too.Because of him, I'm going to study and learn about Korean abstract painter just like Lim. I love his pallet, which is like a mono-tone but colorful at the same time. The big centered-main butterfly is horizontally stand, and I thought this is interesting.

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)Transverse Line, 1923 141 x 202 cm Oil
on canvas Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf

Kandinsky, Russian artist one of the first creators of pure

abstraction in modern painting. I didn't understand his painting when I saw his painting at first. Espeically this painting doesn't have any background color,only geometric shapes and someorganic forms. However, while I was researching and studying about

the abstract painting from the artists, I figured it out the abstract painting is something that you

can't understand or something that you can't defined it and you can't judge it. That is my definition of abstract painting. I understand his work, I really love it and enjoy now.

His work of painting makes my eyes move around the page and that means I'm actually enjoying his painting. I feel so harmonious, joyful when I see his paintings, and some of his painting reminds me of musical instrument.