TABLA
RASA GALLERY
presents
The
Portrait, Painted and Personal
curated by
Robin Ross and Giustina Surbone
March 4 to
April 3, 2009
Opening reception
Wednesday, March 4, 2009, 6:00
- 8:00 pm
TABLA RASA GALLERY
224 48 Street (between
2nd & 3rd Avenues)
Brooklyn, NY 11220
718.
833-9100
info@TablaRasaGallery.com
http://www.tablarasagallery.com/
FREE
Tabla
Rasa Gallery is delighted to host The Portrait, Painted and
Personal curated by Robin Ross, and Giustina Surbone. This
exhibition presents the viewer an opportunity to see beyond
traditional portrait painting. Exhibiting artists include Nana
Delaplanque, Robin Gaynes-Bachman, Audrey Anastasi, Robin Ross and
Giustina Surbone.
The gallery is located a few short
"R" subway stops beyond Park Slope, at 224 48th Street,
between 2nd and 3rd Avenues in Brooklyn.
Transportation:
From Manhattan, "D" or "N" express train to
36 Street in Brooklyn, cross platform, and take "R" train
one stop to 45th Street. Street parking is available.
Tabla
Rasa Gallery is FREE and open to the public.
General gallery
hours: 1:00 - 5:00 pm, THURSDAY, FRIDAY & SATURDAY.
Call
718.833.9100 for events and schedule updates.
The
Portrait, Painted and Personal
Curator's
statement:
What is a portrait? It is a painting,
drawing, sculpture or photograph of the physical or psychological
likeness of a real or imaginary person. Historically, portraits
symbolized the majesty, authority or religiosity of a subject. As a
means to immortality, the portrait replaced the living presence of
the dead.
The Portrait, Painted and Personal, presents
the genre of portrait painting with the works of five contemporary
figurative painters: Audrey Anastasi, Robin Gaynes-Bachman, Nana
Deleplanque, Robin Ross and Giustina Surbone. All combine
realism, abstraction and form to create large-scale work.
These five artists work in a personal manner without
idealizing the subject. Using traditional rather than
conceptual methods, they display mastery without arrogance.
Because they are fueled by their experience, personal expression is a
priority over faithfully reproducing the subject in their work.
Perhaps, in spite of this, the artists capture the physicality and
individuality of human identity, sometimes of themselves, sometimes
of their subject, sometimes of the intersection of both artist and
subject. From this perspective, The Portrait, Painted and
Personal invites us to go beyond simply examining the beauty and
detail of exquisite painting.
***************************
ABOUT
THE ARTISTS:
Nana Deleplanque,
a French painter living in New York City, creates lush narrative
portraits about the physical, mythological and sacred worlds between
humans and nature. These dynamic works explore the
boundaries between imagination and reality.
Robin
Ross' luminous and expressionistic portraits are an
invitation to join her on a spiritual journey. Her work
reflects the movement in paint that mirrors direction toward the
spirit and away from the body. Her paintings incorporate
both lone and multiple figures, often based on images of family and
friends.
Giustina Surbone, a postmodern
portrait painter, works exclusively with single isolated figures
against indefinite backgrounds. Her subjects create an imposing
presence simultaneously perfect and imperfect, beautiful and
grotesque, in all their varied color, texture and
translucency.
Robin Gaynes-Bachman, a
divisionist painter, lays oil color next to each other to create
abstract mosaics of the figure. In her reverse vinyl portrait
paintings, she uses house paint, sand, glitter and personal
memorabilia to study issues of family, religion and spirituality.
Audrey Anastasi works from life.
Her portraits focus mainly on women in contemporary settings.
She paints her subjects with a "returned gaze" to challenge
the viewer, paralleling historical feminist concerns regarding the
depiction of female subjects.