Monthly Archives: April, 2015

Pierre Bonnard

“I haven’t lived with that long enough to paint it.” (Pierre Bonnard)

When I hear the name “Pierre Bonnard,” I think first of color — riveting, scintillating color with the power to sweep one away into the deep mysteries of life’s simplest daily pleasures and rituals. And I like that. His method was decidedly thoughtful and slow. His work took form from various initial renderings in pencil, watercolor, gouache, until over time and with increasing familiarity with his chosen subject, the completed version of the artwork emerged.

Jacob Lawrence: East Coast — West Coast exhibitions open April 2015

Jacob Lawrence (American, Modernism, 1917-2000): The Swearing In No. 1, 1977. Gouache on paper, 18 x 28 inches (45.72 x 71.12 cm). DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY © The Estate of Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, NY. © This artwork may be protected by copyright. It is posted on the site in accordance with fair use principles.

“For me, a painting should have three things: universality, clarity, and strength.” (Jacob Lawrence)

“Promised Land: Jacob Lawrence at the Cantor, A Gift from the Kayden Family”
April 1 – August 3, 2015
Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, Stanford, California

“One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series and Other Works”
April 3 – September 7, 2015
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

Martín Ramírez

Martín Ramírez (Mexican-American, Outsider Art, 1895–1963)

Exhibition: Martín Ramírez Forever
March 26 – May 2, 2015
Ricco Maresca Gallery, New York, NY

On March 26, five United States Postal Service commemorative “forever” stamps were issued honoring Mexican-American artist Martín Ramírez.

Little was known of his work until recently, particularly following the 2007 American Folk Art Museum retrospective of his work. During his lifetime, while undergoing treatment for schizophrenia, he produced an incredible body of works, numbering approximately 300. Artworks were produced from pieced scrap papers from examining rooms, newspapers, brown paper bags, whatever was at hand; binder, mixing bowls were often made from potatoes, saliva, oatmeal. The result: a unique visual poetry of Mexican folk art and urban landscape imagery, simultaneously exacting and exuberant. From the confines and depths of his restricted physical existence exploded images of intense beauty, delicacy and buoyancy of spirit. Yet, always present, the unrelenting tracks, tunnels, stage-like constructs — perhaps evidence of a trapped mind searching for order where there is disorder, for a way out. His is authentic Outsider Art.