I’ve recently been intrigued by the quiet and thoughtful work of Laura Vahlberg, an observation-based painter from Roanoke, Virginia. Her landscapes, in particular, are remarkable examples of how light and atmosphere can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Vahlberg's broad paint handling summarizes the mundane particulars of her surroundings, close looking through a lens of formal abstraction engages her compressed limited palette with tonal schemes to capture a visual essence and atmospheric lyricism. Vahlberg celebrates the interface between the abstract and the real with works that are as much about the act of seeing as they are about the final image. Laura Vahlberg’s work has been exhibited around the U.S. and internationally (in Italy, Alabama, and Virginia). She has studied under artists including Israel Hershberg, Elana Hagler, Sarah Rutherfoord, Susan Zurbrigg, Ken Szmagaj, and Susan Jane Walp. She was born in Alexandria, Virginia in 1988 and now lives in Roanoke, ...
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Recent Posts
Interview with Marie Riccio
Last October, I had the pleasure of meeting Marie Riccio at her solo exhibition, Still Echoes, at The Painting Center and the Small Works Invitational at First Street Gallery. Riccio’s work drew my attention for the sophistication of her compositions and subtle yet powerful use of color as tone that brings an exceptional depth and nuance to her modern still-life setups of commonplace objects, transforming them into subjects of contemplation and ...
Interview with Paula Heisen
I am delighted to share this email interview with New York City-based painter Paula Heisen. My interest with Heisen's art began upon discovering her work on Facebook and was further enriched by a visit to her Long Island City studio a few years back. The emotional resonance of her nature-inspired landscape and still life compositions, coupled with the richness and precision of her color palette, left a lasting impression on me. Her work ...
Interview with John Lee
I've been captivated by John Lee's meticulous observational study and innovative approaches to color in his paintings. I've long followed his work's impressive evolution through his social media updates. So, when John agreed to an email interview from his home in Williamsburg, Virginia, I was thrilled. In our conversation, we delve into his background, but the spotlight is primarily on his insights regarding color and his methodical approach to ...
Interview with Bruce Lieberman
I'm pleased to present this email interview with the Long Island based painter Bruce Lieberman who has been painted landscapes, figure compositions, still life and more since the 1970's. He recently had paintings showing in work in the group show, "MASTERWORKS OF AMERICAN LANDSCAPE PAINTING" at the Center for Figurative Painting in New York where Lieberman exhibited along with an incredible array of stellar artists such as Lois Dodd, Lennart ...
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Reviews and Events
Joey Cocciardi at the Lodge in LA
Review by Christopher J. Graham, guest contributor Its Getting Dark, Joey Cocciardi’s current show at The Lodge features twelve explosive paintings. Their compositions vary between apparent firework-inspired bursts to glowing auras from an astral plane, leading the viewer to a place of ephemera. Their surfaces are worked over through layers of ...
Review of Julie Beaufils at Matthew Brown LA
Review by Christopher J. Graham, guest contributor Diegesis, the latest exhibition of work by Julie Beauflis at Matthew Brown features a suite of paintings and drawings. The name Diegesis refers to the term used to describe a form of storytelling within a film, and at times can refer to telling a story within a story. Sparse atmospheric ...
At a Glance
- Mariah ONeill
A while ago on Facebook, I started seeing a large number of posts of stunning portraits, landscapes, and more by many lesser-known European artists from the early to mid 20th century. Many of these artists were unfamiliar but there was a common thread of originality, intensity, and poetic vision that captivated me and inspired me to find out more about these painters. But first, I wanted to find out about this Facebook poster, Mariah ONeill. Someone with such a good eye for great paintings must also be an interesting artist to check out. I wasn’t disappointed. I was enchanted by her many expressive portrait drawings which capture some remarkable aspect of the sitter’s personality, while simultaneously celebrating the transformation from marks on paper into something visceral and alive. I wrote to her hoping to learn more. She sent me a link to her Flickr page(see here www.flickr.com/photos/mariahoneill ) and stressed that she had little in the way of formal training and was largely self-taught, mainly by copying old masterworks by Rembrandt, Rubens, Caravaggio, etc. as well as spending much of her time growing up doodling. She said she did take some classes at her local art center and took one semester at PAFA but had to drop out due to needing to take care of her mother who was dying. Later, instead of art school, she went back to school to become a psychotherapist. She has had to struggle with serious chronic illness since 2005 and currently lives in the New England area. She attributes her involvement with an online drawing group, “Julia Kay’s Portrait Party” as being a big influence as there were a lot of excellent artists […]
- Tracy Everly
I ran across Tracy Everly’s paintings on Facebook recently and was struck by the warmth and joy in her work. The clarity of light and air and the freshness of work made me think that despite the devastation wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic, we can still be awe-struck by newly revealed beauty, like seeing distant Himalayan mountains for the first time after long being hidden by industrial smog.
- Monica Bernier
I love these delightful inventions by Monica Bernier that explore new possibilities for shape and sensuous color. I particularly enjoyed her whimsical series of Desert forms and the formal compositional investigations in her Collage cutouts seen in this slideshow.
Recent Posts
Interview with Bill Scott
I'm delighted to share this email interview with Bill Scott who writes from his home in Philadelphia. I’ve long been intrigued by Bill Scott's paintings and prints and was lucky to view an exhibition of his works last year at The Pierre Hotel in NYC. He was scheduled to have a solo show this April at his gallery, Hollis Taggart in Chelsea, NYC, NY. that was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. His unapologetic celebrations of beauty, lyrical ...
Stanley Lewis Interview, Part Two
I am very fortunate and grateful for the recent invitation by Stanley Lewis to visit his studio and home in Western Mass. and talk in person. Our conversation continued and helped to follow up on the second part of our interview which was recorded previously in our phone conversation. (Link to part one of this interview) When I arrived he showed me a large oil painting on canvas, a work in progress made over this past winter, on hold now till ...
Great Reads
A Conversation With Frank Galuszka
Interview by Jeffrey Carr The artist Frank Galuszka lives and paints in a magical place, Santa Cruz, California. I first knew him when he was a very well-known and important member of the ...
Interview with John McNamara
I'm delighted to share this interview, conducted by email, with the San Francisco-based painter John McNamara. There is much to see and think about his enigmatic subject matter, compositional ...
Interview with Martha Armstrong
Martha Armstrong was in San Diego a few weeks ago and agreed to an interview with me. We met at a mutual friend’s home where we sat out on a hillside deck overlooking a huge valley with the distant ...
Interview with Susan Lichtman
I'm delighted and honored that Susan Lichtman agreed to this telephone interview and thank her greatly for being so generous with her time and attention with sharing thoughts about her art and ...
Rules for Abstract Painting, BBC series
Videos
Elizabeth Geiger’s, Borrowed Rhythms, at the Gross McCleaf
Elizabeth Geiger is currently having an exhibition this March of her latest paintings, Borrowed Rhythms, at the Gross McCleaf in Philadelphia. This John Thorton video interviews Geiger and gives us a look at that show and discusses her new direction of Cubist-inspired still-life. ...
Robert Birmelin, John Thornton’s Video Interview and “Conversations with the Other” Exhibition
John Thornton interviews and discusses Robert Birmelin in his latest video, Robert Birmelin's Life in Art before his upcoming exhibition at the Stanek Gallery in Philadelphia (reception on Saturday, March 4) Robert Birmelin, who will turn 90 in November, is a major American artist known particularly for his paintings of New York City crowds. In ...
The Art of Gregory Gillespie: In Conversation, Simon Dinnerstein and Peggy Gillespie
A brilliant discussion between Simon Dinnerstein and Peggy Gillespie on the art and life of Gregory Gillespie. They discuss many aspects of the late Gregory Gillespie's artwork with deep insight from his wife Peggy Gillespie. There is also a new documentary being produced that should be out next fall. More information is forthcoming. ...
Studio Visits
Interview with Deborah Kahn
This past summer I met Deborah Kahn in her home in Amherst, Mass. The walk to her studio through her house went past a huge collection of paintings by many stellar artists, all competing for my attention. Once inside her studio, I was additionally overstimulated by her enormous collection of art ...
Stanley Lewis Interview, Part Two
I am very fortunate and grateful for the recent invitation by Stanley Lewis to visit his studio and home in Western Mass. and talk in person. Our conversation continued and helped to follow up on the second part of our interview which was recorded previously in our phone conversation. (Link to part ...
A STUDIO VISIT WITH JANICE NOWINSKI
by Xico Greenwald An exhibition of recent paintings by Brooklyn-based artist Janice Nowinski will open this week at John Davis Gallery in Hudson, NY. The objects and figures in Ms. Nowinski’s paintings teeter and tilt. An active, funky geometry animates her canvases, with a warm, muted ...
Interview with John Dubrow
John Dubrow in his studio Interview with John Dubrow by Xico Greenwald John Dubrow has been making ambitious figurative paintings of New York City scenes since he moved to Brooklyn in the mid-1980s. His light-filled canvases are often years in the making—ragged, impastoed ...
The Viewfinder
Wayne Art Center celebrates the nude figure with two exhibitions
The Wayne Art Center is having two exhibitions, The Nude, Mirror of Desire showing the work of Ben Kamihira, Paul DuSold, Margaret McCann, and Scott Noel as well as the juried exhibition The Nude Figure which displays 71 artists with 86 works selected out of 242 artists and with Scott Noel and Paul DuSold as the jurors. The Wayne Art Center press release states: The Nude, Mirror of Desire ...
Interested in Writing for Painting Perceptions?
I wanted to put out a call for any painters who might be interested in writing critical essays, reviews, interviews, or op-ed pieces for Painting Perceptions. I'm particularly interested in writers who are knowledgeable with the many technical concerns of painting to write on a regular basis. This is a good way for painters who enjoy writing to reach a wider audience of fellow painters. ...
Apollo and Dionysus in the Representational Painting Family Feud
by Elana Hagler This essay explores the subconscious impulses behind aesthetic choice and offers a framework for a deeper understanding of contemporary representational painting. It is written by a painter with a readership of painters in mind, but is appropriate for anyone who wants this specific peek into the creative psyche. “Apollo and Dionysus in the Representational Painting Family Feud” ...
Thoughts on Varnishing
This is the first article for the new section on materials and technique, "Sounding Technical". The first thing I need to say is that I'm no expert about the technical aspects of painting. What I hope to offer is a non-partisan centralized source of knowledge and opinion to help in the learning and promotion of sound painting principles. Naturally there are many resources online to learn about ...