Loop

New painting:

Loop

2020, oil on linen, 13" x 13"

Courtesy of Adelson Galleries

This painting is closely related to another, Subway Loops.

Subway Loops,

2009, oil on linen, 40" x 50"

Collection of the Wen Long Foundation, Taiwan

When I first started painting Subway Loops in 2008, the composition was smaller, 30" x 32", with two rows of seated figures and three figures holding the loops.

After finishing the heads of two figures, I decided to rework the composition, increasing the size to 40" x 50", and adding another row of seats and one more figure holding a fourth loop. A new canvas was stretched and the first version was abandoned.

However, I liked the two faces I'd painted on that first version, and cut them out of the canvas, saving the two pieces and restretching them. One - Woman Wearing a Red Hat - was finished in 2014. This second unfinished canvas, Loop, remained hanging on a wall in my studio until a few weeks ago when it finally returned to the easel and the red dress, the loop, and the background were painted. 

Subway Loops, drawing #9

2008,  pencil on paper with pastel tone on reverse, 30" x 32"

Courtesy of Adelson Galleries

Above: the final drawing for the first version of the composition. 

Below: the expanded composition for Subway Loops. 

Subway Loops, drawing #11

2009, pencil on paper with pastel tone on reverse, 40" x 50"

Collection of the Wen Long Foundation, Taiwan

Here's the other figure that was saved and finished a few years ago: 

Woman Wearing a Red Hat

2014, oil on linen, 16" x 10"

Courtesy of Adelson Galleries

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May - June 2020

An Online Exhibition
About the Artist: Andrew Stevovich

Adelson Galleries
New York      Palm Beach

click to view the online exhibition

The Fuller Building
595 Madison Avenue, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10022
(212) 439-6800

318 Worth Avenue
Palm Beach, FL 33480
(561) 720-2079

www.adelsongalleries.com

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Olga

New painting:

Olga

2020, oil on linen, 7 1/2" x 6"

My previous three paintings - Twins, Flying Torpedo, and Subway Interior - were complex compositions, so it was time to go to a simpler image. Getting the right grey notes to work in harmony was not easy, but I think it all worked out. The red lipstick does the trick.

Perhaps the painting is an homage to Whistler, to his beautiful use of monochromatic harmonies ... perhaps it is a grey response to the desolation of the coronavirus pandemic ... perhaps it's both.

The figure was present in my previous painting, Subway Interior, and received comments about the hat. One person expressed a wariness that no modern women would ever wear such a hat. Being a stubborn person, I just liked the shape and stayed with it. 

And here, perhaps the hat is another homage, now to Piero della Francesca and his brilliant double portrait of Federico da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza:

The Duke and Duchess of Urbino
 Diptych of Federico da Montefeltro and Battista SforzaPiero della Francesca
ca. 1465-1472, tempera on panel, 19" x 26" Uffizi gallery, Florence

Or perhaps it's simply due to a childhood memory of the black hats, the kalimafhi, worn by Orthodox priests:

Perhaps it's both.

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Subway Interior

New painting:

Subway Interior

2019-2020, oil on linen, 26" x 15"

In this painting, I originally planned to use a harmony of cool blues and blacks complemented by the warm note of the woman's blond hair. However, while resolving the advertisements along the top, reds began to predominate ... it's an unusual harmony and juxtaposition, but I think it works quite well. 

Subway Interior, drawing #4

2019, pencil on paper with yellow ochre pastel on reverse, 26" x 15"

Subway Interior, drawing #5

2020, pencil on paper with green oxide pastel on reverse, 8 1/2" x 15'

Subway Interior, drawing #1

undated, pencil on graph paper, 7 1/2" x 6 3/4"

Subway Interior, in progress

I'm working on a new subway painting. Drawings for the composition have floated around my studio for a couple years and the painting was finally started last September, at the same time as I was working on Flying Torpedo.

Here's how the painting looked recently:

in progress, 16 Feb

26" x 15", oil on linen

The following was originally planned for the advertising at the top:

However, the partial face of a woman, her hand holding a card, no longer seemed right. After exploring new ideas, I decided to split the ad into two separate ones:

A red-faced Tengu - a creature found in Japanese folklore - on the left. A woman on the right holding a photo of another woman with her eyes shut. The tiers of space and narrative, running from the small photo to the advertisements themselves, and then to the overall composition, had a rhythm and energy that felt right and created an interesting flow.

The painting yesterday, after these changes:

in progress, 26 Feb

26" x 15", oil on linen

As for why Tengu? I've always wanted to include one in a painting on account of a significant personal event that happened at the Tengu Restaurant in San Diego in 1982. Great sushi too, but  the restaurant is now long closed.

Upcoming Retrospective

A retrospective of my paintings will be at the Greenville County Museum of Art in Greenville, South Carolina, from February 5th to March 29th. 

Link to the GCMA web page about the exhibition

Thirty-seven paintings and two drawings will be shown, dating from 1987 to the present. Among the works:

Betting Windows
1995, oil on linen, 38" x 46"
Private collection, New York

Sophie with Tarot

2001, oil on linen, 30" x 24"

Private collection, Massachusetts

Tortilla Factory
2003, oil on linen, 11" x 20"
Private collection, New York

Flying Torpedo

Finished:

Flying Torpedo

2019, oil on linen, 36" x 48"

The colors of the individual torpedoes required considerable thought and experimentation. The ride that inspired this composition had alternating red and yellow cars, but I made numerous studies of different color combinations and sequences. All red or all yellow seemed promising, just red and yellow too, and then there was blue and green. 

In the end, I felt the three primaries - red, yellow, and blue - were the best choice, creating the most energy and movement. They are counterbalanced by the secondary colors - green, purple, and orange - in the clothing of the riders, and by the triangle of the three white shirts.

The final challenge was the background. Night or day? I started to paint a dark sky, but it didn't look right. A light sky blue was immediately better. Next, how to create the impression that all was airborne? Painting small people down below, or buildings or tree tops, made the composition seem too busy and precious. I decided the best solution was an arc at the bottom in a neutral color over stripes; stretching from side to side it would symbolize a structure below the ride. 

small sketch for the lower background

2019, pencil on paper, 2 1/4" x 3"

When I started to paint it, however, the idea of a winding line quickly took over. One more time the subconscious knew better.

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Amusement Park Ride

This is the final drawing for a painting that I'm currently working on - a composition of riders on an aerial ride in an amusement park:

Amusement Park Ride (final drawing)

2019, pencil on paper with green oxide pastel on reverse, 36" x 48"

The idea for this image came from the 'Flying Skooter' ride at Glen Echo Park in Maryland, a couple miles northwest of Washington, DC. Except for the carousel, all the rides are long-gone now, sold or demolished by 1970. I went there many times as a teenager and it was my next favorite ride after the roller coaster. Each car had room for two people, and by moving a large rudder in front, one could make it rotate and point in different directions while spinning around the central axis. A lot of fun for the time, but tame by the standards of contemporary rides.

photo from A General History of Glen Echo Park, by Richard A. Cook, 1997
https://glenecho-cabinjohn.com/GE-04.html

The initial drawings were simpler and included the rudder. I still may go back to this original composition for a smaller painting, but as subsequent drawings became larger, the rudder started to seem too dominant. I dropped it and added more cars and couples.

Amusement Park Ride (drawing #1)

1991, pencil on tracing paper. 9 1/2" x 11"

Amusement Park Ride (drawing #2)

1993, pencil on paper. 9 1/2" x 11"

Amusement Park Ride, in  progress, detail of upper left quadrant

ca. 21" x 24"

James Abbott McNeill Whistler

The paintings of Whistler (1834-1903) have been a significant influence on my work - one that I don't mention as much as I should. The beauty of his compositions and his use of closely-related colors to create tonal harmonies have long been an inspiration, and these qualities are embodied in Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The painting is one of my favorites, and I always go to see it when I visit the museum. 

Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl 
James Abbott Mac Neill Whistler
1862, oil on canvas, 84" x 42 1/2"National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

A painting of Joanna Hiffernan - Whistler's muse and mistress - it was submitted to the exhibition at the Paris Salon in 1863 and rejected. It was shown instead at the Salon des Refusés where it became a major attraction. Whistler regarded the painting as an expression of his belief that a work of art should fundamentally be appreciated for its appeal to the eye - for what I would call its abstract qualities - rather than being viewed and interpreted only as a narrative.

I share that point of view, as well as Whistler's interest in harmonies of very similar tones of one color. His use of different whites in this painting, punctuated by the note of dark red hair, is compelling and beautiful, and I've gone in that direction in a number of my paintings.

Some examples of my harmonies in white:

Night in a White Room

1969, oil on canvas, 12" x 18"

Destroyed in 1974. An experiment with an oil medium caused the surface to splotch and discolor, and being painted in oil over an old acrylic painting caused the surface to crack and peel as well. Lessons learned.

Interior at Night

2013, oil on linen, 52" x 50"

Collection, Fidelity Investments

Bread Shop

1996, oil on linen, 14" x 20"

Private collection, Massachusetts

And a harmony in red:

Lola Likes Red

2016, oil on linen, 8" x 5 3/4"

A more minimal Whistler is in the collection of the Worcester Art Museum - a portrait of a later mistress, Maud Franklin:

Arrangement in Black and Brown: The Fur Jacket

James Abbott Mac Neill Whistler

1877, oil on canvas, 76" x 36 1/2"

Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts

Twins

Finished:

Twins

2018-2019, oil on linen, 30" x 38"

My March 9th post was about how Bahareh and Farzaneh Safarani - artists and twin sisters - came to my studio and asked if I would do a portrait of them set within the world of my painting. As the work progressed, I posted about adding the large background figure - the muse - and then about the color choices being made.

Now completed, I find that the harmony of closely related tones of warm neutral colors contrasting with the large areas of dark grays and blacks makes for a gentle luminescence, despite being rather subdued. All is further energized by the notes of bright color - the two drawings, the brush, the pencil, and the lid on the jar of water or turpentine - objects that could be considered the iconography of artists.

The final result is not a strictly accurate portrait - people who know the sisters may say they look a bit different from my representation - but the painting is an accurate portrayal of my inner feelings about them as a psychological expression, or perhaps better said, as an impression.

In the sisters' studio
30 October 2017

Sisters, in Black

All the dresses and the window are now finished in my painting of Bahareh and Farzaneh Safarani in their studio.

in progress

30" x 38". oil on linen

I envisioned both sisters in black dresses when the initial composition was being developed, but later, other possibilities were also considered: all in blue, or one sister in blue and the other in black.

Three or four different deep blues were tried first, but none seemed right, and I decided to go with all black. The color immediately felt correct. It related to the ever-present black dresses in their paintings. All black was also integral to my original vision of a somber, neutral color palette, energized by a few notes of bright color.

All that's left to do are a few more small objects, the tables, and the wall.

my initial color study on palette paper

Interrogation of the Self
Bahareh and Farzaneh Safarani
2017, oil on wood panels, 78" x 172" 
photographed in their studio

A recent example of this color palette is Nadine with Cigarette - where her red lips and the complimentary green blouse are the only bright notes.

Nadine with Cigarette

2018, oil on linen, 9 1/2" x 7"

Sisters

Work is progressing very well on the large painting of Bahareh and Farzaneh Safarani in their studio.  

The hands and faces are finished except for some minor glazing. I was about to begin painting the clothing next, but instead I felt a clear need to add a large face to the reflection in the window ... the face of a woman that "watched" over the composition. She was not in the original drawing, but when I drew her, she arrived quickly, fitting in as perfectly as if she'd been there from the beginning. I smiled with the thought that she was the sisters' muse. Little did I know ...

in progress

30" x 38", oil on linen

I wrote the sisters about the addition and Farzaneh replied: " ... there is like another person who oversees us and lives with us in our world. This person is like a mutual ego between me and my sister. In our paintings even though we do paint portraits of one of us - which is often me - but we try to portray that person who is someone between me and my sister. It grows with us and we both contribute to her being. She is the actual subject of our works. We try to to represent her through ourselves."

That thought provoking insight into their work is one more uncanny item to add to the ever-growing list of positive outcomes when letting the subconscious dictate the painting.

The dresses are next to paint now, though first have added the bright notes of a pencil and a brush on the table.

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Bahareh and Farzaneh Safarani

Bahareh and Farzaneh Safarani are twin sisters, known primarily for their collaborative works of art: multimedia as well as performance. I first met them in September 2016 at the opening of their exhibition, Projecting Her, at the Adelson Galleries Boston.

The exhibition was one of the most outstanding I've seen in a number of years by any young and emerging contemporary artists. Approximately a dozen paintings were exhibited, some quite large. They had worked in tandem on each and were also the subject of each. Videos were projected onto the paintings: curtains in a light breeze, legs walking. The end result was very evocative and thought-provoking, but rather than trying to describe the visual experience, here's a short video produced by WBUR earlier this year:

Iranian Twin Sisters Create Striking Paintings

Asleep
Bahareh and Farzaneh Safarani
2016, oil on wood panel with video projection, 5 x 13 feet
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Since that exhibition, they have created performance pieces at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Institute of Contemporary Art, and the work pictured above, Asleep, has been acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts. Significant achievements.

Six months after that opening, I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from them that concluded: "... we wanted to see if you are interested in doing a painting from both of our portraits as twins. Hope you want to."

They came to the studio and the idea intrigued me. The painting was not being commissioned; they simply wanted to be within the world that exists in my paintings. Normally, I would have declined, preferring the freedom of working without outside constraints or concerns, but swayed by the compliments and especially by the challenge, I agreed. Then I took almost a year before coming up with a composition that I liked, of  them in their studio.

2018. pencil on graph paper, 7 1/2" x 9 1/2"

Since much of their work seems to be about identity and the boundaries between individuals, I liked the ambiguity of this composition: not defining which sister is which, adding the reflection of one face in the window, and leaving unclear whether a mirror, poster, or painting is being held up.

A year later - about the average time I take between having an initial idea to getting to the easel - an oil painting is now in progress:

oil on linen, 30" x 38"