American Art Collector - USA (2019-12)

072 http://www.AmericanArtCollector.com

COLLECTOR'S FOCUS

FIGURATIVE ART

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay

My, oh, my, what a wonderful day

Plenty of sunshine headin’ my way

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay!

Mister Bluebird’s on my shoulder

It’s the truth, it’s “actch’ll”

Everything is “satisfactch’ll”

The last two lines in the song sung

by the freed slave Uncle Remus, give an

inkling as to why the film has not been

seen since 1986 after protests about its

racist stereotypes. 

Conor Walton’s 6-foot allegorical

painting The New Religion approaches

stereotypes head on. He honors the work

of the Renaissance painter Giovanni

Bellini (1430-1516) in a work that might at

first glance appear to be a contemporary

version of one Bellini’s great altarpieces.

Yet at the center in place of the infant

Jesus is an infant chimpanzee with its hand

raised in blessing. He says, “My ‘saints’ are

the founders of modern biology: Charles

Darwin, the father of modern evolutionary

theory, Gregor Mendel, whose experiments

with peas laid the foundations of genetics,

and James Lovelock, the founder of

earth-systems science or ‘Gaia’ theory. My

‘martyrs’ are the victims of extinction and

ecocide. The ‘angels’ are my own children,

joyfully celebrating Nature’s glory.” And

continues, “In Bellini’s day there was no

obvious discord between science and reli-

gion. It’s that sensibility which I’m trying

to recover.”

Aware, assured and hopeful young

people around the world are forcing their

powerful elders to confront the plight

of the planet. A boy in Bryony Bensly’s

Seraphim gathers the land and the sea

“I always tell my collectors to buy what connects

with them visually and emotionally. Visually, a

painting should make you pause, no matter how often

you see it. Emotionally, the painting, the subject matter

and the story behind the purchase should always evoke

a good feeling.” — Priscilla Nelson, artist

3. Michael Bergt, Fire and Rain, gouache/colored pencil on toned paper, 18 x 13" 4. Conor Walton, The New Religion, oil on linen, 70.8 x 47.2" 5. PoetsArtists, The Dysphoria of
   Being Here Now, acrylic and oil on linen, 24 x 18", by Grant Gilsdorf. 6. PoetsArtists, If I’m not perfect by tomorrow, oil on linen, 54 x 54", by Dianne Gall. 7. PoetsArtists, Beyond
   my eyes, oil on canvas, 55 x 78", by Yunior Hurtado Torres. 8. Richard Schmid, Jamie, oil on canvas, 36 x 30"

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