abstraction

Public Radio

Artists Talk With LVA: May 26, 2022

This week Skylar Smith, Letitia Quesenberry, Gibbs Rounsavall, & Martin Benson talk about how their work communicates together in Not A Certainty But A Circumstance at Quappi Projects. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk With LVA.

Skylar Smith is an artist, curator, and educator. Her work deals with micro and macro perceptions of the natural world, and human-scale politics that influence perception.

Smith’s work has been exhibited regionally and internationally, including at Sanskriti Kendra Foundation, New Delhi, India; and at the Sanbarbh Residency, Partapur, India. She has completed Artist Residencies in India at Sanskriti Kendra and Sanbarbh Residency; and Colegio Trener, an elementary school in Lima, Peru. 

In 2020 Smith curated BallotBox, a contemporary art exhibition examining past and present voting rights with support from Kentucky Foundation for Women, Louisville Metro, Louisville Visual Art, and Great Meadows Foundation. BallotBox was on display in Louisville Metro Hall and at 21c Museum Louisville through March 2021. 

Letitia Quesenberry lives and works in Louisville Kentucky. Through the play of material, process, surface and technology, Quesenberry creates hypnotic objects that extend the boundaries of visual perception. Her bright amalgamations contain layers of vibratory and translucent elements: color correction film, tinted resin, mica dust, coal slag, sanded plexiglass, fluorescent paint, LEDs. She tempers the impulse to understand her work conclusively by focusing on visibility, bewilderment, and the desire to celebrate uncertainty.

Gibbs Rounsavall is a Louisville-based geometric abstract painter who was featured as one of 13 artists in Louisville Magazine’s, “13 Artists You Need to Know Now” issue. 

 His work has been included in academic presentations on subjects from abstract art to urban climate change. He has appeared in print, radio, and online interviews and feature articles. He has been invited as a guest artist to speak at events for arts organizations and academic settings. Most recently in 2017, he spoke on the subject of Serendipity for the Creative Mornings monthly lecture series titled, “How to Become a Serendipitous Learner.”

Martin L. Benson’s exploration of the healing power of art has its roots in personal experience. Born in Georgia and raised in Kentucky, Benson’s college education was temporarily interrupted when he became seriously ill and had to return home. “[That experience] opened up my world to my spirituality, which fostered a healthier relationship with myself and the world,” says Benson.

Benson’s hunger for greater understanding and meaning led him to the ancient science of Sacred Geometry –  the geometry used in the design of religious structures, sacred places, and religious art – and to the mathematical underpinnings of the cosmos. “Math’s universal language transcends linguistics, symbolism, and mythology, while at the same time remaining strongly connected to it,” says Benson. “Its inherent principles indicate the thumbprint of the creator.”

Not a Certainty But a Circumstance: April 29 - June 4
Letitia Quesenberry, Gibbs Rounsavall, Skylar Smith, & Martin Benson

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Public Radio

Artists Talk with LVA: March 3, 2022

Vian Sora joins us to discuss the work in her new exhibit at Moremen Gallery. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM.Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Keith Waits speak with artists.

Vian Sora is a first-generation immigrant painter addressing the effects of war and displacement. Sora prides herself in being a self-taught artist, currently working in Louisville, Kentucky, who has received degrees in computer science and an MBA. She studied printmaking under the tutelage of Suleyman Tekcan at the Istanbul Museum of Graphic Arts (IMOGA).

Sora has exhibited in Louisville, Baghdad, Istanbul, and Dubai, including at Dar El Cid Museum, Kuwait, IMOGA, and the Topkapi Palace, Istanbul. Her work has been collected by the Speed Art Museum and KMAC. Her newest work can be seen in"What You Shout Into The Woods Echoes Back" her solo show opening tomorrow at Moremen Gallery and running through April 2, 2022

Painting

Vignette: Corie Neumayer

“August at the River” by Corie Neumayer, Acrylic, Latex on canvas, 16x20in, $275

“August at the River” by Corie Neumayer, Acrylic, Latex on canvas, 16x20in, $275

Corie Neumayer is an accomplished woman, but she has a soft-spoken and unassuming demeanor that doesn’t automatically claim much for herself. It is not an unusual quality to find in a visual artist, and even more common for women creatives. That painters tend to be introverts is a cliché, certainly, but the truth that is the foundation for that stereotype is that artists look inward and outward on different terms than others.

“Ripples Canvas” by Corie Neumayer, Torn fabric glued to canvas, then painted, 18x 24in, 2018, $400

“Ripples Canvas” by Corie Neumayer, Torn fabric glued to canvas, then painted, 18x 24in, 2018, $400

Neumayer describes herself as a painter, “…who creates abstracted paintings of the landscape that focus on open spaces: desserts, mountains, lakes, small towns as well as my local countryside. My current work reflects the now fleeting beauty of our environment and the uneasiness caused by the changes in our climate.”

So while she looks outward for her subject, the inward perspective is expressed in the that balance of abstract and representational, a tension born of the artist’s forensic examination of the environment. Breaking everything down into geographic elements and using color and texture less to define space and form than to suggest those relationships. It underscores that there is often a thin line between descriptions and categories in art. Neumayer’s paintings are representational, and thus traditional, but abstract and conceptual, intellectual and emotional.

“I work mainly in acrylic and latex because it is so versatile. It dries quickly so the surprises of layering paint, or paper, cloth or almost anything else can be experienced almost immediately, and it lends itself to endless experimentation.”

In that statement the artist confirms the itch for discovery, but there is also a great pleasure in the tactile surface quality that documents the painter’s hand. The impasto crafted from brush, knife, and perhaps other tools, give a visceral kick to the viewer – paint is always seductive, has recently given way to a collage-like layering of canvas material.. 

On September 29, Neumayer will be part of the Louisville Visual Art’s Juried Exhibit in the 2018 Portland Art & Heritage Fair. The exhibit will be available for viewing at the Marine Hospital from 11am-5pm. Jury prizes will be awarded at 2:00pm.

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Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Education: MA in Teaching, University of Louisville; BA, Georgetown College (Georgetown Kentucky); also attended Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, Georgia), California State University-Long Beach, and St. Cloud College (St. Cloud, Minnesota)
Gallery Representative: Pyro Gallery
Website: www.corieneumayerpaintings.com

Scroll down for more images

“Hot September” by Corie Neumayer, Acrylic, latex on canvas, 20x24in, 2018, $450.

“Hot September” by Corie Neumayer, Acrylic, latex on canvas, 20x24in, 2018, $450.

“Tree Line” by Corie Neumayer, Paper, acrylic, latex paint on canvas, 18x24in, 2018, $400

“Tree Line” by Corie Neumayer, Paper, acrylic, latex paint on canvas, 18x24in, 2018, $400

“River Snow Latex”, Acrylic on canvas, Paint applied with rollers and brushes 24x30in, 2018, $600

“River Snow Latex”, Acrylic on canvas, Paint applied with rollers and brushes 24x30in, 2018, $600


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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Painting

Art[squared] Spotlight: Chuck Swanson

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To celebrate the 5th Anniversary of LVA’s Art [squared] Event to Benefit Children’s Fine Art Classes, we will feature five local artists who are contributing 24” x 24” paintings to be sold at the event through a Silent Auction. Today we feature Chuck Swanson:

"Untitled (Kentucky)" by Chuck Swanson. Acrylic on canvas, 36x48in, POR     

"Untitled (Kentucky)" by Chuck Swanson. Acrylic on canvas, 36x48in, POR

     

Swanson is an artist, primarily a painter, but he is also one of the pioneer gallerists in Louisville, having opened a gallery on Bardstown Road in 1982 and then in 1998 on East Market Street in what would eventually become the celebrated NuLu neighborhood. For the record, Swanson opened the space near Market and Clay well ahead of the rechristening of the area, so he must be counted as one of the reasons why the once-neglected and depressed environs became a hot spot for redevelopment.

As a painter, his images have often been landscapes, but not with the typical detail and texture for flora and fauna that are found in a wide range of such compositions. Swanson’s scenes are elementally observed, deconstructing the form to its basic structure and realizing the point-of-view with saturated color under layers of translucent medium.

"Calendar #3" by Chuck Swanson. Acrylic on canvas, 70x40in, POR

"Calendar #3" by Chuck Swanson. Acrylic on canvas, 70x40in, POR

The composition is almost always a body of water moving away from the viewer and dividing two landmasses as it approaches the horizon. While the tone is placid enough, there is also a tension that results from the opposite shores never touching, forever separated.

Swanson’s more recent work positions these images in relationship to abstract color fields, but even there we can find that same dynamic in the juxtaposition of acrylic painted panels either echoing the tension of two forms in opposition on a horizontal plane.

As a gallery owner, Swanson is credited with helping develop the early careers of artists such as Russel Hulsey, who calls Swanson, “extremely progressive and forward thinking”, and being among the first to include electronic media and musical performances   He has served on the board of the East Downtown Business Association, Louisville Visual Art, and has been vice president of both the defunct Artswatch and LOOK, a Louisville area consortium of art galleries.

  installation view, "Calendar #4 and Calendar #5", by Chuck Swanson

  installation view, "Calendar #4 and Calendar #5", by Chuck Swanson

Hometown: Wausau, Wisconsin
Education: BA, Social Studies, University of Kentucky

"Flattened Landscape" by Chuck Swanson, Acrylic on panels, 12x28in, POR

"Flattened Landscape" by Chuck Swanson, Acrylic on panels, 12x28in, POR

"Calendar #2" by Chuck Swanson. Acrylic on canvas, 54x40in, POR

"Calendar #2" by Chuck Swanson. Acrylic on canvas, 54x40in, POR


Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2018 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.

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Photography

Vignette: Brett Sutton


“The natural world is truly remarkable and we are an intimate part of this environment.” — Brett Sutton


"Neighborhood Runoff" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2016), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

"Neighborhood Runoff" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2016), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

Photographer, Brett Sutton

Photographer, Brett Sutton

Even a casual study of these photographs from Brett Sutton reveal the common thread of patterns in nature. The black & white images of the city illustrate humankind’s imprint of construction on the urban landscape, the latticework reinforcement of a fire escape and the shadows cast by the late afternoon sun. Sutton crops the main support of the structure out of frame, lending it an unexpected tension.

“While working at Luna Lodge, an eco-lodge retreat on the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, I was granted the opportunity to truly connect with the landscape, flora and fauna. The natural world is truly remarkable and we are an intimate part of this environment.”

Sutton’s images of the natural world share that same fascination with pattern, but the color places a greater emphasis on texture, and there is a more epic sense of composition in many of the pictures. He also seeks out unique vantage points; as he explains: “(they can be) hugely important when considering how one connects to and interprets reality, location, and relationship.” He achieves some mystery through abstraction, just as he cropped the fire escape, we here see two runners moving across a mercurial landscape that we can’t quite place, a scene bisected by an indefinable graphic element that visually appears to stop the joggers in their tracks.

"Costa Rican Leaf Cutter Ants" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2017), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

"Costa Rican Leaf Cutter Ants" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2017), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

“Not only is my zest for life and vitality enhanced through my creative pursuits but to my connections with others…location, and the environment as well. Whether working in film or digital photography, oil paint, or collages of the bark of decaying trees, I attempt to deliver messages of local-ism, connection to the land, and textural nuance.”

Hometown: Covington, Kentucky
Age: 29
Education: BA, History & Fine Arts from Xavier University (Cincinnati)
Website: https://brettmsutton.wordpress.com

"White Sands National Monument" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2017), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

"White Sands National Monument" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2017), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

"Fire Escape" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2017), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

"Fire Escape" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2017), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

"Central Bridge: Newport, Kentucky" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2017), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

"Central Bridge: Newport, Kentucky" by Brett Sutton, size made to order, film photography (2017), from $85 and up | BUY NOW

Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2017 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.

Are you interested in being on Artebella? Click here to learn more.

Are you interested in being on Artebella? Click here to learn more.