“The power of what we see and how it alters our ability to find what we consider ‘happiness’ is something I find challenging and worth exploration.” – Margaret Archambault

In her 6th solo exhibit, In Ten's; A Single Century to Live, which opens on October 6th at Tim Faulkner Gallery, Margaret Archambault examines perception and mortality: “In essence, we measure our lives in 10 decades of experience. Some of us don't reach that 10th decade, but we all see our ‘life-time’ as potentially 100 years. Our personal perspective evolves through these years and our expectations related to happiness and fulfillment either becomes satisfied or we are left perpetually wanting. It is my goal with this new series to demonstrate the fallacy of the world being sold to us and focus on the world we can create within ourselves.”

Illusion versus reality is a frequent theme in art, but does it challenge our sanity to question the perception of our own existence. Archambault posits the opposite, that we are already inured from reality by the insulating cocoon of mass media. Her busy, kinetic compositions emulate in analog fashion the unyielding assault of visual information that we weather on an almost constant basis in our daily lives.

"We Are What We Were" by Margaret Archambault, 60x84in, oil and spray paint on canvas (2017)

In “We Are What We Are,” Archambault breaks the pattern of dense collage slightly with the placement of one dominant figure, a 1920’s style woman representative of a pre-digital culture, but in a posture bent under the weight of 10 years of technological development.

“Regardless of our desires and often in direct defiance of our ‘plans’ the revolutions of time and the changes that come with it lead us to the revelations that alter our paths. My newest collection, the Silk Screen Series has a universal message about how our lives are affected by the world around us. More often than not, we make decisions based on what we think is expected of us, or what someone else wants us to do. These decisions often lead to destinations we never expected and only after we have arrived do we recognize the folly.”

Hometown: South Bend, Indiana
Education: BA, Interdisciplinary Humanities with Art Focus, Summa cum Laude, Spalding University, 2007
Gallery Representation: Tim Faulkner Gallery (Louisville)
Website: http://www.archambault-art.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/margaretarchambault

*"A Book of Life" by Margaret Archambault, 60x84in, oil and spray paint on canvas (2017)*

"It's What You See, Not What You're Shown" by Margaret Archambault, 32x23in, oil and spray paint on canvas (2016), $850 | BUY NOW — *"It's What You See, Not What You're Shown" by Margaret Archambault, 32x23in, oil and spray paint on canvas (2016), $850 | BUY NOW*

*"Celebration" by Margaret Archambault, 60x84in, oil and spray paint on canvas (2017)*

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

Painting

Vignette: Joshua Jenkins

Josh Jenkins · August 8, 2017

*"Searching For Enlightenment" by Joshua Jenkins, 43 x 64 x 1 in, acrylic and mixed media on canvas (2017)*

“Art to me is the soul’s communication - a response to experience and life.” — Joshua Jenkins

*"Summertime Contemplation" by Joshua Jenkins, 24 x 18 x 1 in, acrylic and mixed media on canvas (2017)*

Like any good Expressionist, Joshua Jenkins builds an atmosphere divorced from recognizable reality, and then populates it with figures of solidity that are often indistinct, occupying space as a mass but lacking the specifics of individual character. There is some detail in the faces he attaches to these figures, often on necks that protrude forward, so that the features often give the impression of a mask. Oftentimes the only insight provide for these figures are what they are holding: a stringed instrument is a common item, or a particular hat might give us some clue about the personality. Jenkins is more concerned with the composition and action of the paint, using setting and placement to suggest narrative.

“Some of the works in the show, like 'Summertime Contemplation' & 'Searching for Enlightenment' are an obvious transition from the body of work from my show Somewhere In Between Anxiety & Serenity,” states Jenkins. “There a lot of the paintings had more muted colors and calmer lines. A lot of these newer pieces harken back to my earlier work, the bolder style with warmer colors that I’m known for.”

*"Summer Heat (detail)" by Joshua Jenkins*

*"Summer Nights" by Joshua Jenkins, 48 x 30 x 1.5 in, acrylic and mixed media on canvas (2017)*

For many artists, the theme of summer would conjure up images of sunbaked landscapes, perhaps a beach-lined coastline - open areas of escape. But in “Summer Heat”, Jenkins captures the claustrophobic swelter of a crowded urban environment. This artist’s summer also include a domestic scene of four figures in a modern day family in “Summer Nights”, and the detail of the faces is noticeably more developed, with hair and facial details that suggest an element of autobiography in the scene. As most of the paintings show figures of some universality, here we get the sense that Jenkins knows these people, that this is his summer, and not necessarily anyone else’s.

Jenkins’ solo show, Summertime, will be opening at Lenihan Sotheby’s International Realty, 3803 Brownsboro Road, August 10 with an Artist’s Open House from 5:00pm-7:30pm.

Hometown: Poughkeepsie, NY
Age: 30
Education: BA in Digital Media with a Minor in Studio Art, Marist College (Poughkeepsie, New York)
Gallery Representative: Joshua is self-represented locally, but has works available at Revelry Gallery, KORE Gallery, New Editions Gallery (Lexington, KY), and at Caza Sikes (Cincinnati, OH)
Website: http://www.joshuajenkinsart.com

*"Summer Heat" by Joshua Jenkins, 64 x 59 x 1 in, acrylic and mixed media on canvas (2016-2017)*

*"Summer Nights (detail)" by Joshua Jenkins*

*"Nature’s Musicians" by Joshua Jenkins, 36 x 48 x 1.5 in, acrylic and mixed media on canvas (2017)*

Photography

Vignette: Marcia Lamont Hopkins

Josh Jenkins · July 13, 2017

“Time, memory, and the natural world always play a key role in my work.” – Marcia Lamont Hopkins

By applying a poetic and often metaphorical language to her photographic images, Marcia Lamont Hopkins opens the door to the unknown, to multiple realities, both real and artificial, so that one questions what is really happening.

Her images establish a link between the landscape’s reality and the artist’s imagination. While this could, to some extent, be said to be true of any artist using landscapes, Hopkins pushes the limits of our perception of what is real. Each object or environment seems entirely natural and plausible, yet the juxtaposition within the artist’s gauzy, dreamlike atmosphere creates an uneasy sense of mystery. Is our understanding shifting in relationship to time, memory, or some other reality that we can’t quite define?

"Casaubon" by Marcia Hopkins, 17x22in, digital archival print (2017), $500 | BUY NOW — *"Casaubon" by Marcia Hopkins, 17x22in, digital archival print (2017), $500 |* *BUY NOW*

In her artist’s statement, Hopkins explains it this way: “The series, Causabon’s Illusion, crafts a series of metaphorical vignettes rooted in elements of magical realism and the mind’s tendency to search for all-inclusive answers. In George Elliot’s Middlemarch, Edward Causabon spends his life in a futile and absurd attempt to find a comprehensive explanation for the whole of civilization’s knowledge and mythologies. Deluded, he believes that he alone has the key to humanity’s searching, an illusion which may be reflected in our culture today.”

"The Beekeeper" by Marcia Hopkins, 17x22in, digital archival print (2017), $500 | BUY NOW — *"The Beekeeper" by Marcia Hopkins, 17x22in, digital archival print (2017), $500 | BUY NOW*

As part of her 60WRD/MIN project, Art Historian and Chicago Tribune art critic Lori Waxman wrote of Hopkin’s work: “We like to control animals and nature, but when they get beyond our understanding things tend to get interesting. Hopkins envisions overgrown forests, historic graveyards, farm animals, and occasionally people, often in combination, in impeccable digital prints that blend multiple shots into believable wholes. The weirder and more convincing, the better: a sheep enmeshed in a dense forest seems as if it and the trees are made of the same stuff, a lama in a rolling meadow becomes one with the horizon and the clouds.”

Hopkins currently has a solo exhibit at Gratz Park Inn in Lexington, KY.

*Burnaway: The Voice of Art In The South, March 27, 2017

Hometown: Lexington, Kentucky
Education: BFA in Film and Fine Art and a Ph.D. in Psychology.
Website: http://www.marcia-hopkins.squarespace.com/

"Cemetery Sheep" by Marcia Hopkins, 17x22in, digital archival print (2017), $500 | BUY NOW — *"Cemetery Sheep" by Marcia Hopkins, 17x22in, digital archival print (2017), $500 | BUY NOW*

"Wedding" by Marcia Hopkins, 17x22in, digital archival print (2017), $500 | BUY NOW — *"Wedding" by Marcia Hopkins, 17x22in, digital archival print (2017), $500 | BUY NOW*

"Pyramid" by Marcia Hopkins, 17x22in, digital archival print (2017), $500 | BUY NOW — *"Pyramid" by Marcia Hopkins, 17x22in, digital archival print (2017), $500 | BUY NOW*

Painting

Vignette: Cheryl Buhrman

Josh Jenkins · June 23, 2017

The dream of making art becomes a reality.

“Beauty in nature is everywhere you look!” exults Cheryl Buhrman. “That is where I get my inspiration, and through the use of color and composition on my canvas I hope to portray my connection with all living things.”

Burhman has explored a wide range of subject matter, but has recently been working on a floral series. Like so many artists who explore such imagery, she finds the power of flowers as symbols for life and reproduction, finding these inherent qualities not through overt or pretentious awareness, but through a concentration on the delicacy of the form, petals enveloping the stamen, pistil and ovary of the plant. The idea of a flower representing femininity has long since entered the realm of cliché, but there is truth in every trope, and if the balance of strength and vulnerability expressed in “Orange Delight,” “Georgia On My Mind, or ”White Rose” is any indication, Buhrman has discovered that truth for herself.

"Georgia on My Mind" by cheryl Buhrman, 18x24in, acrylic on canvas (2017), $275 | BUY NOW — *"Georgia on My Mind" by cheryl Buhrman, 18x24in, acrylic on canvas (2017), $275 | BUY NOW*

“Although I taught art for several years, life got in the way and after working for 30 years in a job that wasn't my dream, my dream became a reality in retirement when I decided to start painting! I hope my paintings will fill some people with the joy that it's given me!”

Buhrman studied under Wine Kemple Harrison, Elizabeth Dawn Johnson, and Susan Tolliver, is a member of LVA, and in 2016 became a juried member of the Louisville Artisan Guild in acrylics. She just appeared at the Butchertown Art Fair in June, and will be at The Highlands Festival Sept 9, and Holiday Showcase in November 2017.

Name: Cheryl Buhrman
Hometown: Roanoke, Virginia
Education: BS, Art Education Longwood University, Farmville, Virginia.
Website: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/cherylbuhrman

"Spring Garden" by Cheryl Buhrman, 24x12in, acrylic on canvas (2017), $185 | BUY NOW — *"Spring Garden" by Cheryl Buhrman, 24x12in, acrylic on canvas (2017), $185 | BUY NOW*

"Blue Iris" by Cheryl Buhrman, 12x24in, acrylic on canvas (2017), $185 | BUY NOW — *"Blue Iris" by* *Cheryl Buhrman, 12x24in, acrylic on canvas (2017), $185 | BUY NOW*

"White Rose" by Cheryl Buhrman, 18x24in, acrylic on canvas (2017), $250 | BUY NOW — *"White Rose" by Cheryl Buhrman, 18x24in, acrylic on canvas (2017), $250 | BUY NOW*

"Orange Delight" by cheryl Buhrman, 16x8in, acrylic on canvas (2016), $95 | BUY NOW — *"Orange Delight" by cheryl Buhrman, 16x8in, acrylic on canvas (2016), $95 | BUY NOW*

Photography, Mixed Media

Vignette: Melissa Hall

Josh Jenkins · June 13, 2017

“Integrating my photography with encaustic processes blurs the line between reality and narrative.” — Melissa Hall

"Look Outward" by Melissa Hall, 24x36in, photography, encaustic, oil paint (2017), $820 | BUY NOW — *"Look Outward" by Melissa Hall, 24x36in, photography, encaustic, oil paint (2017), $820 | BUY NOW*

Melissa Hall is “drawn to locations and objects that are patinaed, worn, and wear their age like a badge on their surface, displaying their history. These decaying spaces spark my imagination and allow me to tell stories of the lives that could have been lived between the walls.”

"The Weight" by Melissa Hall, 24x48in, photography, encaustic, oil paint (2017) $940 | BUY NOW — *"The Weight" by Melissa Hall, 24x48in, photography, encaustic, oil paint (2017) $940 | BUY NOW*

We see female figures that are literally imprisoned within physical circumstances: a mermaid struggles inside of a ticket booth aquarium. The cubical is ludicrously small for her, but even if it were more spacious, it would remain confining. And another woman occupies an attic space, her body disappearing into a window, and even if we cannot see her face, we might, without too much difficulty, imagine a look of longing in her face. In any event she seems ready to depart; she clutches ropes tied to a brace of travel cases, her life further confined within even smaller spaces.

“My imagery evokes conceptual undercurrents from myths, twisted fairy tales, and simple aspects of everyday life. My work is built by combining photographs with translucent layers of encaustic medium, oil paint, and pastels. Integrating my photography with encaustic processes blurs the line between reality and narrative.”

In the work we see here, that layered effect is perhaps most obvious in “Stand,” an image in which the woman is not constrained by space. She stares out at a horizon filled with the ocean, typically a symbol of boundless freedom. Yet how is it that even in this instance, this figure also feels somehow limited? Hall plays with our expectations, crafting a tension and speaking to troubling issues of identity.

Hall has a solo show, Aggressively Fragile, running June 13 – July 21, 2017 at the MS Rezny Gallery in Lexington, KY. There will be a Coffee & Artist Demo on July 8th, 11am-1pm, and an Artist’s Closing Reception July 21st, 5-8 pm, in conjunction with the LexArts Gallery Hop.

Hometown: Lexington, Kentucky
Education: BS Computer Science & Mathematics
Gallery Representation: MS Rezny (Lexington)
Website: http://www.melissathall.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissathallstudios/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissathall/

"Endure" by Melissa Hall, 21x36in, photography, encaustic, oil paint (2017) $820 | BUY NOW — *"Endure" by Melissa Hall, 21x36in, photography, encaustic, oil paint (2017) $820 |* *BUY NOW*

"On Display" by Melissa Hall, 24x36in, photography, encaustic, oil paint (2017) $820 | BUY NOW — *"On Display" by Melissa Hall, 24x36in, photography, encaustic, oil paint (2017) $820 | BUY NOW*

"Hurry Up and Wait" by Melissa Hall, 24x36in, photography, encaustic, oil paint (2017) $820 | BUY NOW — *"Hurry Up and Wait" by Melissa Hall, 24x36in, photography, encaustic, oil paint (2017) $820 | BUY NOW*

reality

Vignette: Margaret Archambault