Vignette: Shayne Hull

"I see my paintings as exploring a space that encompasses both psychology and flesh." - Shayne Hull

"Anus Andronicus" by Shayne Hull, Oil on panel, 30x30in, 2018, SOLD

Since fall of 2017, Shayne Hull has been creating what he calls his "Andronicus" series, “…depicting members of the Trump world as grotesqueries (duh!), with a tenuous thematic connection to the vileness of the world of Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare's infamous political tragedy.”

We saw the first of these in Hull’s last Artebella appearance several months ago, but time has not blunted the edge of his caustic satirical eye. The artist is unsparing in illustrating his contempt for the Contemporary Political Animal, depicting them, with no mercy, as something less than fully human. He is an unabashed Provocateur of the first order.

“As a painter and portraitist, I’m interested in exploring and expressing the notion of (alternate) identity through grotesquerie, physical exaggeration and distortion, and body trauma. Importantly, I want my subjects to appear equally dramatic and humorous. Drawing inspiration from the work of artists like John Currin, David Cronenberg, Robert Williams, Jenny Saville, and Lucien Freud (among others), I see my paintings as exploring a space that encompasses both psychology and flesh.”

"Bild That Wall!" by Shayne Hull, Oil on panel, 32x48in, 2018, $1800

Hull teaches at Trinity High School, and he both inspires and is inspired by the experience: “I gave my students an assignment to create a drawing of their perspective of a social issue important to them. I received one drawing that was so spectacularly bizarre that I told the student, ‘This looks like one of my pieces (which of course meant he got an A+). What if I was to paint it one day?’ He said that would be awesome. So with a few tweaks here and there, here it is! (‘Bild That Wall!’) Thank you, Deke!”

Hull is currently showing these pieces as a part of Politicians and Flesh at Swanson Contemporary through August 11, 2018.

Hull studied painting at Texas A&M and the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), and earned a Master in art education from the University of Louisville. The Kentucky Arts Council has honored Hull with the Kentucky Visions 2004 Purchase Award, an Individual Art Professional Development Grant, and the 1998 Al Smith Artist Fellowship. He also won the Frank F. Weisberg Excellence in Painting Award at the 2003 Water Tower Annual (Louisville, KY).

Hometown: East Moline, Illinois
Education: BFA in Painting, Texas A&M @ Corpus Christi; MFA in Painting, Maryland Institute College of Art; and MAT in Art Education, University of Louisville
Website: http://www.shaynehull.com/
Gallery Representative: Swanson Contemporary (Louisville)

 

Scroll down for more images

"Meat Andronicus" by Shayne Hull, Oil on panel, 30x30in, 2018, $1200

"Dr. Dong" by Shayne Hull, Oil on panel, 32x46in, 2018, $1800

"Hangry for Sausage" by Shayne Hull, Oil on panel, 24x48in, 2018, $1800

"Paul Bunyan" by Shayne Hull, Oil on panel, 24x30in, 2018, $1200

---

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

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

Vignette: Joshua Jenkins

"Wächter (Guardians)" by Joshua Jenkins, Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 48x60x1.5 in, 2018, POR

To be prolific is a gift. Creativity as a practice does not always come easy. Painter Josh Jenkins has been steadily making art for several years now, some years filling 2-3 exhibits with new work. Yet in the last year or so he found his productivity slowing down: “Aside from finding it hard to make time for myself in the studio after starting a full-time job I've also been in a bit of an artist’s slump--which has led me to paint over more paintings than I've ‘finished’.”

Jenkins is an expressionist painter whose work, over time, can be seen as an extended, ongoing narrative illustrating a Neo Bohemian world of colorful characters. These people are usually captured at leisure; sometimes celebrating, but almost always being social.

"Just A Family Stroll Around The Neighborhood" by Joshua Jenkins, Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 48x36x1.5 in, 2018, POR

But now the artist has broken free of his slump, and his newest work, such as “Just A Family Stroll Around The Neighborhood” and “Wächter (Guardians)” seem to be an emphasis on domesticity; children and pets join Jenkins’ society, or at least they have taken more of the focus. The peace and tranquility of the traditional image of family, before dysfunctional was a descriptive term that would be quixotically embraced by the former “nuclear family” unit, is here placed within the unsettled line and mark making that has always been characteristic of Jenkins, providing a compelling visual tension.

One other piece we see here, “A Self-portrait at 31”, is perhaps the key to understanding the slight shift in themes, because Western culture highlights the passing in age of each decade, locating yourself one year after such a milestone suggests a time for rumination, an assessment of both the moment and the future.

Currently Jenkins has several "mini" drawings on wood available at KORE Gallery in the Mellwood Arts & Entertainment Center. They are recycled drawings mounted, painted, and then sealed on re-purposed wood. He is included in a group exhibit at The Champagnery on Frankfort Ave that will run through the summer.

Jenkins also will be participating in a group pop up show on Friday, August 3rd (a part of Trolley Hop) in the lobby of 635 West Main Street (next door to Red7e) from 5:30pm to 8:30pm. Other participating artists are Shawn Marshall, Mike McCarthy, and Amy Chase. 

Hometown: Poughkeepsie, NY
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: 

Scroll down for more images

"A Portrait of a Young Man That Knows Something" by Joshua Jenkins, Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 24x24x1.5in, 2018, POR (available at Revelry Gallery)

"A Self Portrait At 31" by Joshua Jenkins, Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 24 x 18 x .75 in, 2018, POR

"Two Nude Figures Reflect On Life Together" by Joshua Jenkins, Acrylic, collage, and mixed on canvas, 40x30x1.5 in. 2018, POR

"Sleeping Nude Figure" by Joshua Jenkins, Drawing on wood, 5x7x0.5in, 2017, $45 (available et KORE Gallery)

---

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

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

Vignette: Uhma Janus

"Alien I ZD" by Uhma Janus, Acrylic on panel, 32x24in, 2016, POR

Mexican-born artist Uhma Janus’ earliest initiation into the arts was at the age of 7 when her mother taught her introductory piano lessons. She developed into a classical musician, but pursued a degree in Physics at the University of Guanajuato and nursing degrees at the University of Louisville. When she came to feel a desire to paint, it would make perfect sense that her curiosity for the understanding of the physical world and Universe and her background with music would substantially inform her imagery.

Theoretical particles were a focus in Janus’ studies, and the busy compositions that rely on repetitive pattern express an innate sense of the unseen realities of existence.  Her early work is characterized by an exploration of the versatility of acrylic ink when tracing dots, lines, and curves in both spontaneous and controlled conditions. Later, her work delineated clearer patterns and figures that began to shift away from the abstract and, eventually, she began doing portraits. The journey reverses the more typical path from representational to abstract.

"XXXIII" by Uhma Janus, Oil on canvas, 72x48in, 2017, POR

Janus doesn’t use the words, “self-taught” when describing herself, but her intuitive approach to making visual art feels like an honest expression of her life story up until that point. “Alien I Z D” displays a kinetic energy that resembles a graphic representation of sound such as an oscillogram.

Though she started with acrylic inks, Janus has expanded her media to include acrylic and oil paint, mixed media, graphite and color pencils in the variety of her projects.

“My focus has been the authenticity of the emotionally-empowered, fully-intentional-expressive being in action. My work engenders the recognition of the merit and gravity that the most basic graphic elements (the dots, lines, and curves) have in and of themselves. This action finds its own graphic representation as a materialized emergent phenomenon only aesthetically-significant as a posteriori entity.”

When Janus talks about her work, her language is infused with intellectualism and scientific vocabulary that reflects her background in physics, but the work itself feels intuitive; emotionalism filtered through a stringent process in the manner of the Abstract Expressionists.

Her exploration for “modalities of expression” has also led her back to music, and Janus has recently taken up guitar, violin, cello, and darbuka (a goblet-shaped drum of Middle Eastern origin), all at what she calls “a beginner level. She is also composing and writing.

Hometown: Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico
Education: BS Nursing; BS Physics; AD Nursing
Website: www.behance.net/uhmajanus5dfd

Scroll down for more images

"Ms. Cursedly Expectant" by Uhma Janus, Graphite on paper, 24x18in, 2018, POR

"Abysmal Fall" by Uhma JanusOil on panel, 16x11in, 2017, POR

"Ms. Empty Hunger" by Uhma Janus, Graphite on paper, 24x18in, 2018, POR

"Broken Fly" by Uhma Janus, Acrylic and mixed media on panel. 16x16in, 2016, POR

---

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

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

Vignette: Robert Halliday

"Intermission" by Robert Halliday, Plexiglass, Watercolor, 28x31in, 2005, $4000

“Intermission” is an installation of images that pay tribute to the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Louisville. The series of small blocks are presented in a grid-like configuration that echoes the glass-paneled architecture as well as the audiences that congregate within. The piece neatly encapsulates the varying strains in Robert Halliday’s work: the propensity for non-representational images shot through with a sense of playfulness, contrasted with an equally developed eye for naturalism.

"Late Afternoon at Monhegan Light" by Robert Halliday, Watercolor on arches paper, 25s35in, 1997, Private Collection

Halliday takes an organic approach to medium, avoiding easy categorization and keeping a fresh and open mind. “I let each new idea dictate my medium and the form it will take,” such as watercolor for the landscape “Late Afternoon at Monhegan Light”. Halliday’s paintings in this genre earned him a place in “The Artist and the American Landscape, an Historical Overview of American Landscape Painting”, by John Driscoll & Arnold Skolnick. (Published by First Glance Books, Cobb CA, 1998).

This dedication to exploring mediums has led to a “surprisingly diverse body of art. I work in watercolor both on site and in the studio, Acrylics on canvas, and I have produced a collection of conceptual artworks in a variety of forms and media.“ In his group of blocks cataloging art trends of the 20th century, “Modernist Movement”, the pieces are ready to handle and play with as a child might with alphabet blocks. As with all of his work, balance and harmony dominate.

"Modernist Movement" by Robert Halliday, Painted Bricks, 48x48in, 2011, $18,000

Halliday is a Signature Member of both the Kentucky Watercolor Society and the Taos National Society of Watercolorists.

In 2019 Halliday will have a solo show at Kentucky Fine Art Gallery entitled "The Unexpected Landscape", and his work can be found in the following corporate collections:

PNC Bank Corp
Brown Forman Corporation
Makers Mark Distillery
Stoll, Keenon, & Park
Curtis, Baxter, Stevens, Broder, & Micoleau
Fidelity Investments
LG&E/KU

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Education: English and Humanities Major, University of Louisville; also attended the University of Arizona
Website: www.bobhalliday.com And www.hallidayart.com
Instagram: bobhalliday.1
Gallery Representative:  Kentucky Fine Art Gallery-Glenview Pointe, Louisville, KY

Scroll down for more images

"Bridge" by Robert Halliday, Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2008, Private Collection

"Network" by Robert Halliday Acrylic on canvas, 36x48in, 2013, $11,500

"Track" by Robert Halliday Acrylic on canvas, 30x30in, 2013, $3000

---

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

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

Vignette: Ashley Cathey

Ashley Cathey at the installation of her mural for the Kroger on West Broadway. Photo: Sarah Katherine Davis Photography.

Ashley Cathey is a painter whose creative journey began with performing arts before she was eventually encouraged to develop her visual art talents, which, up until then had been purely for her own personal edification, by exhibiting in Chicago before returning to her native Louisville. She came to prominence when ArtsReach commissioned Cathey to create a series of portraits for their annual Keepers of the Dream celebration at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. In 2016 her work was featured on the cover of LEO Weekly as part of an extensive story on artists of color in Louisville.

“Cherena” by Ashley Cathey, Acrylic, graphite on canvas board, 16x20in framed, $400

Cathey is currently featured in Looking Up: Heroes For Today – An LVA Exhibit at Metro Hall, which is on exhibit through January 11, 2019 at Louisville’s Metro Hall, 511 West Jefferson Street. The work included there consists of portraits of Women Of Color in acrylic and oil, striking in their use of non-traditional colors for skin tones and an almost complete omission of the hair. While the faces are rendered in rich, graphic layers of texture, where the hair would be Cathey has left mostly empty space, with perhaps a few marks to indicate the shape or direction of the women’s hair.

“So often Black women are judged by their hair, and I wanted to take that away and let them be judged for themselves. I didn’t want to focus on their color or their hair,” explains Cathey, “but on the colors of the paint, the expression on the face.”

“I wanted to do portraits of people that aren’t often acknowledged, such as single mothers. They are rarely, if ever represented at all, much less for what they accomplish: raising kids, feeding a family - simple things that many of us take for granted, but for which some of these women are heroic acts.”

Cathey’s portraits are largely these kind of “ordinary” women for whom just living can seem like an act of courage: surviving against economic challenges and fighting an uphill battle just to make it through the day. They include refugees and immigrants for who home is no longer viable.

“Kaila" by Ashley Cathey, Acrylic, graphite on canvas board, 9x12in, NFS

But some of her subjects are women striving to make a difference in the community that surrounds them, people such as Dr. Kaila Story, who is Associate Professor in both the Department of Pan-African Studies and Department of Women's & Gender Studies at the University of Louisville. “Her work on Strange Fruit (a weekly podcast of musings on politics, pop culture, and black gay life, that is broadcast on WFPL) is so important,” says Cathey. “There is not always a voice of color when it comes to dealing with LGBTQ issues.”

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Education: Studied theatre at Roosevelt University, Chicago, Illinois
Website:

Scroll down for more images

"Lakeishia” by Ashley Cathey, Acrylic and graphite on up-cycled plywood panel, 36x40in, $750

Illustration for the cover of LEO Weekly by Ashley Cathey, February 2016

"Nina Effect" by Ashley Cathey

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

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