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Artists Talk With LVA: August 18 2022
Ying Kit Chan is a Chinese American artist who was born in Hong Kong. In the 1970s, he studied art in several colleges in Hong Kong. In 1979, Chan continued his study in the United States and received his BFA from the University of Oklahoma (1981) and MFA from the University of Cincinnati (1983). Between 2003 and 2005, he attended the European Graduate School (Division of Philosophy, Art, and Critical Thought) in Saas-Fee (Switzerland) and Paris and has taken seminars with some of the world’s most visionary thinkers including the late Jacques Derrida and Jean Baudrillard.
Chan has presented his artwork in over 200 exhibitions in the United States as well as in Australia, Canada, Ecuador, Germany, Italy, Korea, Japan, England, Hong Kong, Poland, Taiwan, and Portugal. He is currently a Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Art and Design at the University of Louisville.
Moremen Gallery is pleased to announce Not In My Backyard: New Work by Ying Kit Chan, on view from August 26 through September 24. 2022, Moremen Gallery, 710 West Main Street, Louisville, KY
Artebella On The Radio: July 8
This week we spoke with Uhma Janus whose solo exhibit is now at Mellwood Art Center. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM or stream on Artxfm.com at 10 m each Thursday to hear Keith Waits talk with artists.
Uhma Janus — “Beginnings” at Mellwood Art Center through July 30
Uhma Janus is a native of León, Guanajuato, México.. Her work includes abstract pieces, monographs, and portraits. Some of the elements that can be recognized in them reflect her interests in the fundamental, in all that exists as interconnected and in their inherent dynamism as complex systems, in the disciplines of Geometry, Physics, Biology, Neuroscience, and human physiology.
Her abstract work is emergent from the cyclical repetition of the becoming and unfolding of each trace of a line.
Open Studio Spotlight: Meredith Hayden
“Circus Colors” by Meredith Hayden, Alcohol Ink with air duster on Ceramic Tile, 12x218in, 2018, $350
Color is a potent visceral expression of emotion in the work of Meredith Leigh Hayden. Ideas are communicated through the dynamic of specific mediums as much choice in subject matter, materials leading the artist as much as the artist leads the materials.
“Creating art has become an essential practice for refreshing my senses so I can enjoy being present,” she explains. “When I see something noteworthy I try to snatch it up and describe it with color. Art transforms the chaos of life into something tangible I can work with. It gives me a chance to breathe.”
“My favorite memories become crystallized on the surface with the medium I choose at the time. Currently, I use inks, chalk pastels, or crystals. I am usually seen wearing a crystal I wrapped. As much as I would like to feel I’m “in control”, there is no real way to control the bold Alcohol Ink. I did find I can move the ink with an air duster. The results amaze and delight me every time. My pastel flower series celebrates the impermanence of life and our universal connection to nature and each other. As flowers grow and change, they reveal their unique imperfections and lively character traits, just as humans do.“
“By showing the Alcohol Ink tiles and Chalk Pastel flowers together, I hope to provide a sense of hope and renewal for Spring through color. The rigidity of the tiles is a contrast to the flowing chalk pastel flowers. The wandering inks are carefree and mobile like the growth cycle of florals. The Chalk Pastels are a delicate and subtle contrast with the bright penetrating color of the ink. In any medium, daring color is the common thread to all my work. I choose to celebrate life’s majesty with the delicate and vibrant colors I choose.”
“Mystic Branches” by Meredith Hayden, Chalk Pastel and water on sanded paper, 30x24in, 2014, $750
Meredith Hayden will be participating in the 2018 Open Studio Weekend, sponsored by Louisville Visual Art and University of Louisville’s Hite Art Institute. Her studio, located in Art Sanctuary in the Germantown neighborhood, will be open the weekend of November 3 and 4. Tickets for Open Studio Weekend will go on sale October 16. Click here for more information.
On the the first Saturday of December, during Bardstown Road Aglow, Hayden will be showing at Safai Coffee, 1707 Barstown Road.
Hometown: Newtown, Pennsylvania
Education: University of Louisville Liberal Studies major, minor in Psychology, and concentrations in Art, Theater, and Women's Studies. Some art study in Italy
Website: mhayden.artspan.com
Instagram: meresmuse
Meredith Hayden working on “Red-Lipped Secrets”, Chalk Pastel, 24x30in. 2011, $750
“Enchanted Vibration” by Meredith Hayden, Alcohol Inks on Tile, Ink applied with a can of air. 12x20in, 2018, $250
“Wandering Eye of Contentment” by Meredith Hayden, Alcohol Inks on Tile, Ink applied with a can of air, 16x20in, 2018, $200
“Fiery” by Meredith Hayden, Chalk Pastel, 24x30in, 2007, Private collection
Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2018 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved. In addition to his work at the LVA, Keith is also the Managing Editor of a website, Arts-Louisville.com, which covers local visual arts, theatre, and music in Louisville.
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Vignette: Ray Kleinhelter
"Big Maple" by Ray Kleinhelter, Oil on canvas, 60x72in, 2017, $9000.
Sailing up and down the Ohio River in his aptly named boat Watercolor, Ray Kleinhelter works in the open air, sketching and painting amidst the natural beauty of the Ohio River Valley. Citing 20th century artists Richard Diebenkorn and Frank Auerbach as influences, Kleinhelter’s paintings seem to be in direct lineage with theirs; creating works concerned with the materiality of paint, viewing the medium almost as a sculptural tool and vehicle for expression, rather than a simple means for literal representation.
Though one may at first view one of Kleinhelter’s riverscapes, such as “Big Maple,” as a loose interpretation of a natural scene, “loose,” may not aptly describe Kleinhelter’s compositional sensibility. Each color-shape has the sense that it has fought for space in the composition. Carving each other out through an intricately woven series of beginnings and endings, the canvas becomes a geometric battleground. These interpretations in oil, created using multiple sketches done in the open air as reference points, “recreate the sensation of light and color out on the water, bringing the life of the river indoors,” as Kleinhelter puts it.
In “River Drawings” and “Untitled Watercolors,” the viewer is afforded glimpses into the process of creating the larger compositions in oil. Through these smaller studies, done in ink and watercolor, the “bones” of the larger, more complex pieces can be seen; the planes of light striking trees along a riverbank, the formal interaction between the land and sky that creates a horizon, and how that interaction can be manipulated to make a horizon dissolve inside the composition, refuting traditional western notions of perspective.
"River Drawing 70" by Ray Kleinhelter, Ink on paper, 9.5x12in, 2017, $200.
"Untitled Watercolor 49" by Ray Kleinhelter, Watercolor on paper, 9.5x12in, 2017, $400.
While the influences of Diebenkorn and Auerbach can clearly be seen in Klienhelter’s work, the well-known paintings of Piet Mondrian also come to mind. Similarly reinterpreting the natural into abstracted geometric compositions, Mondrian simplified the cityscape into a series of rectilinear forms in primary colors. The clean lines and separation of color ideas exemplifies Mondrian’s experience inside urban spaces, and so too do the energized compositions of Kleinhelter exemplify the experience of a natural space vital to the culture of Louisville.
Now through January 2018 Kleinhelter is showing new work at Lenihan Sotheby’s International Realty at 3803 Brownsboro Road in Louisville.
Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Education: Yale School of Art Summer Painting Scholar 1982; BFA, Kansas City Art Institute 1982; MFA, Indiana University, Bloomington 1986
Gallery Representation: Galerie Hertz (Louisville)
Website:www.raykleinhelter.com
"Big Sycamore" by Ray Kleinhelter, Oil on canvas, 60x72in, 2017, $9000.
"Late Spring Flood #3" by Ray Kleinhelter, Oil on panel, 36x42in, 2017, $3600.
Written by Aaron Storm. Entire contents copyright © 2017 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.
