Scherezade Garcia's Visual Narratives: Color, Emotion and Commentary
It's always a pleasure when a collector brings us an artwork from one of our favorite artists to frame. We recently got the chance to design the custom framing for a painting by Scherezade Garcia. The painting on deckle-edge paper was floated with mulberry paper hinges and rice paste. The color palette and brush strokes lent themselves perfectly to a softly curved natural maple frame with contrasting walnut splines. We accented the molding with 22K gold leaf rubbed to reveal touches of the red clay base. The art was exquisitely mounted on archival mat board with custom matching mat board spacers to distance the art from the glass. Finally, the project was finished using UV protective and non-reflective Museum glass.
The completed framing project in our studio
Sherezade Garcia is originally from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and currently lives and works in NYC. Her education includes an AAS from Altos de Chavón School of Design, a BFA from Parsons -The New School and an MFA from the City College of New York. She is the recipient of a 2015 Joan Mitchell Foundation grant. Garcia is currently represented by Lyle O Reitzel Gallery (Santo Domingo and New York). She is a faculty member of the Parsons School of Design in New York and is represented in the collections of the Smithsonian and El Museu del Barrio.
Details of the closed corner and gold leaf
This project brought together the aesthetic eye of the collector, the talent of the artist and the skills of our design and production team. It was another successful collaboration with the team at Quattro Frameworks. We were also happy to offer delivery to the collector’s home via our partners at Art Delivery Van.
Existential Fluid Portraits from Cuban Artist Karlos Pérez
Karlos Pérez's portrait of a Cuban school boy
Frames and Stretchers recently had the pleasure of working with a powerful figurative painting by Cuban artist Karlos Pérez in the studio. The collector came down from upstate New York and brought one of Pérez’s “Ametropia series” paintings to be stretched and framed. The Ametropia paintings reference vintage photographs, altered and re-presented in Pérez’s distinctive, distorted style. The images are rendered on a large scale and distorted through his painterly process. This particular image was based on a 1960s school portrait of a Cuban immigrant to the US. It’s part of a larger body of work that references vintage photographs which the artist manipulates in order to distance them from their original time and place and create a more surreal visual experience.
A work from Karlos Pérez's, "Ametropia"series
With a background in photography, video, and installation, Karlos Perez’s paintings blur the traditional discourse of art. His works are not so much portraits in the traditional sense, but more of an exploration of existential character. Pérez’s paintings also blur the boundaries between mediums. Fragments of images have been meticulously analyzed by the artist and processed through the filters of his personal experiences. Family photographs are removed and distanced from their temporal settings contributing to their surreal quality. His method involves blotting of paint and scratching of the canvas. He reshapes the original images as captured on film creating a fluid, liquid feeling. The results are enigmatic paintings that seem to have traveled through time to captivate us in the present.
An image with two figures from the artist's "Ametrpoia" series
Although based in Cuba, Pérez is a young artist currently exploring domestic as well as international production and exhibition. It was exciting to have the opportunity to work with his art here at our Lower East Side location!
From his artist statement: “There is no such thing as an original image, every image is incomplete and is always revealed as reminiscent of many others…”
Fragmented Reality in Pinar Du Pre's Stunning Portraits
Frames and Stretchers is thrilled to have the opportunity to once again be working with the art of Pinar Du Pre. We are in the process of building stretchers to stretch a selection of her vibrant canvases that will be featured in her upcoming solo exhibition, Snapshots II at the Emmanuel Fremin gallery in Chelsea. Once done, the paintings will be transported to the gallery courtesy of Art Delivery Van.
Powerful portraiture in texture, pattern and color
Pinar Du Pre is an Austrian/Turkish painter whose current body of work is comprised of colorful, gilded, fragmented portraits. An autodidactically trained artist, Du Pre takes her inspiration from numerous sources including the artists of Vienna Künstlerhaus and Wiener Werkstaette, Pop Art, contemporary virtual reality and the tension between human perception and scientific fact. As homage to her many influences she refers to her style as "Jugendstil Pop-Art". Pop Art was stimulated by the iconography of materialism and the mass culture of its time. Similarly, Pinar’s work addresses the concerns of our twenty-first century culture, specifically the fragmented pixilation that we are exposed to through digital technology. Her work differs from Pop in that her “snapshots” are more intimate in their subversive intent.
A provocative image surrounded by gold
Pinar addresses the differences between our perceived notions of realty and “actual” realty; how we see ourselves versus how the rest of the world sees us, the inner versus the outer self. Her use of materials also crosses the boundaries between the virtual and real. “Building on the synthetic intensity of digital art”* she paints with a blend of tangible media: acrylics, printed elements and epoxy glass, highlighted by bright metallics.
Du Pre’s growing success at both gallery shows and art fairs is testament to the fact that her figurative representations resonate with a contemporary audience. These strong, larger than life renderings are also distinctively beautiful!
Pinar Du Pre, Snapshots II opens May 11 and runs through June 17 at Emmanuel Fremin Gallery, 547 W 27th St #510, New York, NY 10001.
An opening reception will be held May 11 from 6-8pm.
https://www.pinardupre.com/about
The Life and Lines of Ariel Shallit
Here at Frames and Stretchers we've had the pleasure of framing several pieces of Ariel Shallit's detailed work. Shallit is a New York based artist who utilizes black and white photos of celebrities and important historical figures in his work. His work draws a sharp contrast between the photographs and the colorful over-painting of lines that he draws on the photographs.
An Ariel Shallit canvas featuring 60s era photography.
We stretched his canvas of Twiggy over a custom heavy duty stretcher for his solo show this past spring and we've continued working with him since then. Typically when we work with Ariel's canvases, we build custom heavy duty stretchers and stretch the canvases over them. The latest canvases we worked with have included photos of Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal. Other recently completed pieces feature model Cara Delvigne and boxer Muhammad Ali. He creates new and unseen impressions of these celebrities through his intense line work by displaying a visual representation of their personality. He deeply individualizes these celebrities personalities, showing an inner interpretation of them that we wouldn't usually see.
Gael Garcia Bernal canvas by Ariel Shallit.
This is precisely what makes Shallit's work so appealing to others. In an interview with Astoria Arts Festival, he mentioned that he finds inspiration in many authors including Frédéric Chopin, Alexandre Dumas, Stanley Kubrick, and Maya Angelou. For more information about Ariel and to see his work please visit his website.
A life size representation of Ariel Shallit's amazing Twiggy canvas.
Swimming To Havana by Luis Cruz Azaceta
Luis Cruz Azaceta is a Cuban visual artist with a diverse career spanning over 40 years. He fearlessly experiments with his art, often working on several series at a time. Besides experimentation, change is another theme that is prevalent throughout his work. Recently, we had the pleasure of stretching Azaceta’s canvases for his upcoming solo show at the Lyle O’Reitzel Gallery in the Lower East Side. This will be his first solo show in New York in five years.
Erick and Lyle O. Reitzel with a Luis Cruz Azaceta canvas before it is stretched.
Miguel and Alexis with the canvas after being stretched over its custom stretcher.
The concept behind this show is “Swimming to Havana”, an idea he conceptualized in 2009. Although he left Havana when he was 18 years old to live and work in the United States, Cuba has always been on his mind. A subject that has consistently remained on the forefront of his art is the Balseros Cubanos. These balseros escaped their stringent political conditions by risking their life to leave for Florida. The idea of “Swimming to Havana” represents the unlikelihood of the idea for a Cuban-American. To properly showcase his art, we built custom heavy duty stretchers and stretched the canvases for his large format pieces. We framed the smaller ones with our maple Rivington hardwood frames and floated the artwork using Japanese paper and wheat paste. With these archival methods, the buyers of Azaceta's pieces will be able to enjoy the art knowing that it has been custom framed to a museum standard.
A completed Azaceta piece custom framed using our Rivington hardwoods.
Azaceta’s work is often characterized by vivid colors and contrast as well as a deeper political message. He had his first solo show in 1975, and since then has covered a number of social themes including the AIDS epidemic, loneliness in urban environments, and the conditions of oppression caused by government policies. He currently lives and works in New Orleans, however he will be present at the opening of his solo show on November 5, at the Lyle O’Reitzel Gallery. Further information about Luis and his artwork can be found on his website, and for more details about the show check here.
Yvette with a completed Azaceta piece that was floated using Japanese paper and wheat paste.
Lines and Textures by Hector Frank
We've seen the art of multiple celebrated Cuban artists at Frames and Stretchers this month. Hector Frank is one of those artists. In preparation for his show this Thursday at Bryant Toth Fine Art we want to highlight and share the works that we stretched for him.
Yvette with a Hector Frank canvas stretched over a heavy duty stretcher.
Hector Frank is a celebrated Cuban artist who began his career as an engineer before deciding to become an artist full time. It paid off for him. During his first solo show he sold out of all his pieces on the first day! His artwork is vibrant, colorful, and visually textured. Through his work he displays the liveliness of Cuban life. Currently, Frank lives and works in Havana and has an established following within the Havana creative scene as well as world wide. He has exhibited his work internationally in Mexico, Cuba, France, Belgium, Malaysia, and several times throughout the United States.
Yvette and Antonio with a stretched Hector Frank canvas.
Frank's work often includes outlines of human faces, acrylic on canvas or acrylic on wood. He is inspired by human behaviors and emotions. Through his artwork, he intends for his characters to capture the unspoken words, feelings and behaviors that are present in everyday interactions. For more information on Hector Frank's latest solo show, please check the Bryant Toth website.
A close up of Frank's intricate work.
Spotlight on Bradley Wood
Originally from Canada, Bradley Wood is an expressive artist who is currently based in the New York City. His artwork exudes feelings of luxurious intimacy. When looking at one of his works, you imagine that you're watching a private scene with a glamorous vintage quality.
Dad’s house, 2015
We are building custom heavy duty interlocking wood stretcher for Bradley's work that will be shown in Human Exhibition Art Fair this fall in Los Angeles, Art Toronto and Pulse Miami Beach during the Miami Art Basel in December.
A custom interlocking stretcher assembled at Frames and Stretchers.
Bradley studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, California Institute of the Arts and at the Art Center Europe in Switzerland. Among his artistic influences, he counts Vuillard and Bonnard. The gestures and fluid nature of his subjects are a memorable component of his work. The long limbs and lounging positions combined with his use of oil paint make his work alluring and visually exciting. According to Wood, some of the subjects of his paintings are fantasized narratives about intriguing people he observes in his day to day life.
Gloria, Bradley Wood
Hawk Lady, Bradley Wood
During his creative process, Bradley could be inspired by anything. In an interview with Jacksons Art, he states "It could be, a hat from a Vogue magazine, a patterned rug from a 1950’s film, a pair of tube socks from memory. It’s always a compilation that’s really not overly planned." Watching him work is certainly a fascinating process as well. Saatchi Art made an intuitive video that gives an inside look at the process. Bradley is currently showing a solo show at Angell Gallery in Toronto and will be showing at the Human Exhibition Show . To see more of his work, visit his website for an in-depth viewing.
