Corrigan Gallery Presents “x rated?” on Semptember 1

Corrigan Gallery is presenting a variety of pieces and media from gallery artists such as Duke Hagerty, Manning Williams, Kristi Ryba, Mary Walker, Candace Flewharty, Lynne Riding, Paul Mardikian, John Moore, Richard Hartnett in a show titled “x rated?” for five days only beginning Tuesday, September 1, 2009 from 5-8pm.

What makes artwork be labeled as x rated?  Is there little xrated versus big Xrated? Where and who draws the line (no pun intended)?

This is a simple show of pieces that some may find objectionable.  We are here to present art and stir the pot! In the backroom – behind a curtain – guests will be carded at the front door.  A sexy drink will be served.  Please come visit for a libation and eye full!

This is also the four year anniversary of the gallery.

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“Julyan Davis: New Paintings of the South” Opening at Carolina Galleries on September 4

Carolina Galleries presents artist Julyan Davis: New Paintings of the South, September 3rd through 30th. This body of work explores the mystery of the South, its landscapes and streetscapes, abandoned mansions and haunting interiors. Davis’ new show documents the bygone structures of the Antebellum South and provides glimpses into the grandeur and majesty of Southern history and culture.

Join Carolina Galleries for the opening of his new show, Friday, September 4th from 5-8 pm. Meet the artist & enjoy libations with one of the South’s premier landscape artists. Davis, a British-born, Southern convert, attended university at Byam Shaw School of Art in London. In 1988, having completed his B.A. in painting and printmaking, he traveled to the South on a painting trip that was also fueled by an interest in the history of Demopolis, Alabama and its settling by Bonapartist exiles. He explored the rural areas of Alabama especially, and after settling permanently in Asheville’s Montford district he has become known for his landscapes of the South Carolina Lowcountry, Georgia, Western North Carolina and Alabama. His work is in many private and public collections across the United States and United Kingdom, including recent acquisitions by the North Carolina Governor’s Mansion and Western Residence and the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, SC. In 2009 he has had shows in Bath, England and Portland, Maine in addition to Asheville, NC and Charleston.

Carolina Galleries will also feature 19th and 20th Century Southern art including work of the Charleston Renaissance by Alfred Hutty, Elizabeth O’Neill Verner, Alice Ravenel Huger Smith, William Aiken Walker, William Halsey, Elizabeth White, Birge Harrison, and Benjamin Franklin Reinhart. Our contemporary artists are carefully selected to compliment the 19th and 20th Century Southern aesthetic: Stephen Chelsey, Craig Crawford, Gary Grier, Johnson Hagood, Chestee Harrington, Philip Juras, Tom McNickle, Margaret M. Peery, Philip Smallwood, Mickey Williams, Evan Wilson and Stephen Scott Young.

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“Measure: Creatures Great + Small” on View at Robert Lange Studios this September

Charleston-based painter Robert Lange plays with scale by shrinking massive animals and blowing-up mini animals in a series of 25 new works entitled Measure: Creatures Great + Small. On view from September 4 thru September 30, 2009, at Robert Lange Studios, the show is a unique investigation into how the size of an animal effects our interaction with them.

At the modest age of 28, Lange was recently the American Heart Association’s featured artist.  He received a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and is best known for creating bodies of work in a hyper-realist fashion.

In December of 2008, Lange’s acclaimed series Still + Life portrayed still lives with the addition of living elements such as birds and humans. In his upcoming Measure show, Lange is now giving the viewer a unique and whimsical perspective of nature; a tiny lion sits regally on a chair or a huge penguin follows a pedestrian down the sidewalk.

Some humorous, some obvious, and some more subtler but in each painting Lange has illustrated how much animals are missing from our everyday by placing them in common scenarios.  For example, in one of the pieces for his September show titled, The Fox + The Pear, Lange has depicted a tiny fox sitting in a bowl next to a pear.  The fox is scaled to be the same size as the pear and in a charming way sits as though he isn’t a bit out of place.

“The reason for playing with the comparative size of each animal versus their surroundings is to make people take notice. There is an intrigue that is created and captivates the viewer by skewing the scales,” says Lange. “I can’t help but feel a certain amount of disconnection from animals and nature in general and a desire to bring both into my life and at least make people think about a possible addition to theirs.”

In The Viewer, one of the works from his upcoming show, Lange paints a giant owl being viewed by two people in a museum-type setting.  Due to the relative scale of the viewers and creature, the people appear overwhelmed by the twenty-foot owl before them. This piece exhibits not only the artist’s feeling towards how our natural world is now displayed but also his humbled feeling as an artist towards capturing the quintessential essence of the subject.

“I wish through realism to create a seamless feeling that makes people second guess if tiny pandas really exist or what their experience would be like to have a giant chipmunk standing next to them,” says Lange. “It’s import to me that I’m always asking questions of the viewers through my paintings and that my audience looks to find the answers.”

Measure: Creatures Great + Small series will hang at Robert Lange Studios at 151 East Bay St. from Friday, September 4 – Wednesday, September 30, 2009. The opening reception will be Friday, September 4, from 5:30 – 8:30 PM and the artist will attend.

Please visit www.robertlangestudios.com or call for more information 843.805.8052. Digital images are available upon request.

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An Exhibition of the Fine Art, Inspired by the Maritime Muses Opening November 6th at Helena Fox Fine Art

A group of friends, America’s premier representational marine and landscape artists, William R. Davis, Donald Demers, West Fraser, Joseph McGurl , Kenn Backhaus, John Budicin, William McCullough, Billyo O’Donnell and Kent Ullberg – come together at Helena Fox Fine Art, for an exhibition titled THE SIREN CALL of the SEA and SHORE, showcasing paintings and sculpture influenced by the allure of the sea, the vessels that navigate her waters and the shores that contain her seduction. The exhibit opens in conjunction with the CFADA’s Charleston Fine Art Annual on November 6th and will be on display till November 27th in Charleston, South Carolina.

Since the beginning of history, mankind has been inescapably drawn to the sea, acknowledging her beauty and serenity, honoring her mystery and feasting on her bounty.  Homer has written in many passages of her seductive muses, the attraction has been proven to be everlasting and all encompassing. People of today remain enchanted by the vessels at work and play, the myriad flora and fauna, and the lush, luminous shores that contain this seductive maritime environment. Helena Fox Fine Art at 12 Queen Street in historic Charleston presents this show, a culmination of works by a distinguished group of artists who share a common inspiration, the siren call of the sea and shore.

Helena Fox Fine Art specializes in fine contemporary representational art. Established in 2004, the gallery features a compilation of work by national and international artists, most particularly West Fraser. The varied collection mingles impressionistic landscapes and streetscapes, plein-air paintings, realistic still lifes and trompe l’oeil, with wildlife sculpture and exquisite handcrafted 22K gold jewelry. Representing Sarah Amos, Kenn Backhaus, John Budicin, Donald Demers, Mary Erickson, Marie Fox, West Fraser, William McCullough, Billyo O’Donnell, Becky Parrish, Edward Rice and Kent Ullberg. For more infomation call 843-723-0073.

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John Hull’s First Lowcountry Painting

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