September

I spent July through December working on the painting below, titled September. 

Compositions with an abundance of leaves are among my most complex and take a lot of time to paint. The placement and color of each leaf, the flow they generate together with the branches and trunks, are always a challenge. 

September

2020, oil on linen, 34" x 22"

Private collection, Florida

The color organization puts cool greens and a blue sky in the upper part of the painting, and warm reds and browns in the lower. In a way opposite of what I did in another recent painting, Subway Interior, where the warm colors are on top and the cool below.

Subway Interior

2020, oil on linen, 26" x 15"

Below are my two largest leaf paintings. Each took a year or more to complete. 

In the Garden

2006-2007, oil on linen, 62" x 72"

Private collection, New York

Woman with Autumn Leaves

1992-1994, oil on linen, 36" x 72"

Private collection, California

Meanwhile, during the last two months I've been working on a painting of a woman playing with a cat and developing drawings - including a large one of an audience at a theatrical performance.

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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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Nadine with a Cigarette

A new painting of Nadine ...around the twelfth time she's made an appearance in my work since 1974; usually she's alone, though in four paintings she's with other figures. Since I'm counting, this is also the ninth painting I've done of a single individual smoking.

Nadine with a Cigarette

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

Three earlier paintings of Nadine:

Nadine with Espresso

24" x 17", oil on linen, 1998

Private Collection, New York

Nadine's New Dress

6" x 4", oil on linen, 2009

Nadine with Two Demons

7 1/2" x 4 1/2", oil on linen, 1998

Private Collection, England

And here's one time when - by way of three posters on a wall - she was transformed into a chanteuse:

The French Singer

28" x 36", oil on linen, 1998

Private Collection, New York

Interior at Night (initial concept)

After a run of small and intermediate sized paintings, I've been working on drawings for a larger and more complex piece: a composition of a woman in an empty room, with a window in the background open to the night sky. The final dimensions will be around 52 x 50 inches and I'm imagining the painting to be predominately tones of white with several smaller notes of dark color.

Interior at Night, drawing #2

18" x 17 3/8"     pencil on paper     2013 

The composition is a variant of a painting I did at RISD in 1969, Night in a White Room. I've always liked the image and often thought about making a new version, though have never done anything similar since then.

Night in a White Room 

12" x 18"     oil on canvas     1969

destroyed in 1974

The original idea was based on a dream and the young woman is someone I knew; she figured in several of my paintings at that time. Unfortunately, the painting was damaged by an experiment in varnishing that went wrong. After some additional damage that happened in 1974, it was destroyed.

Below is a photo of another painting of the same person; this one was based on reality and included a self-portrait. These are among the first paintings I did with figures, having transitioned three months earlier from making hard-edged abstractions.

D.C. Nightclub

72" x 60"     oil on canvas     1969

Private Collection, Connecticut

Loretta Sleeping

After four paintings in a row of a woman holding something in her hand, my "model" fell asleep!

Loretta Sleeping

8" x 10"    oil on linen    2013

Compositions with a sleeping figure have always been one of my favorite themes, both for the narrative and for the abstract possibilities. While most of them have focused on the figure from the head to the waist, below are  images of three older paintings on this theme with full-length figures.

Woman with Autumn Leaves

36" x 72"    oil on linen     1994

Private Collection, Michigan

Sleeping  Woman
22" x 40"     oil on linen     1989
Private Collection, New York

Hector  Asleep

14" x 16"    oil on linen    1983

Private Collection, New York    

Group Exhibition: Post War Works on Paper

I have four pieces in the upcoming group exhibition, POST WAR WORKS ON PAPER, at the Adelson Galleries Boston, from 14 December 2012 to 30 January 2013. The opening reception is on Friday, 14 December, 6 - 8 PM.

Drawings for three recent paintings will be exhibited: Blackjack Players, On the Stairs, and Sophie ... as well as the print, Nadine with Espresso.

Nadine with Espresso

20 ¾” x 8 ½”       line etching with chine collé        2001

Nadine with Espresso is the last etching I've made and is an edition of 25 with 4 artist's proofs. The chine collé process is one of my favorites; a thin sheet of delicate tissue is placed over the inked plate and the pressure of the press bonds it to the supporting paper, creating a beautiful tone beneath the lines. 

The print is based on a composition I'd used earlier in a painting of the same title.

Nadine with Espresso

24" x 17"     oil on linen     1998

Private Collection, New York

Paintings before 2000

Woman with Autumn Leaves

36" x 72"     oil on linen      1994

Private Collection, Michigan

Woman with Demon
6" x 6"     oil on linen      1992

Private Collection, Massachusetts

One-Shot Jimmie's
40" x 50"     oil on linen      1988
Private Collection, Massachusetts

Twenty-One
32" x 70"     oil on linen     1984
Private Collection, Michigan