Best known for his ‘frozen’ brushstrokes, Donald Martiny’s large scale abstractions manage to be both sculptural and painterly, while somehow effecting the action of performance art. It is no wonder then that Open, Martiny’s latest solo exhibition on view till January 2nd at the Dimmitt Contemporary Art in Houston, continues the artist’s exploration of the "gesture," which is made to exist forever in the present. Katarina at ARS sat down with the artist to talk contemporary culture, artistic influences, and the surprisingly delightful taste of a blue crayon.

KATARINA: Your newest show at the Dimmit Contemporary Art is called “OPEN,” which the curator writes is a reference to “the action of the viewer, rather than the object itself.” For all your viewers out there, what do you think we can all be a little more 'open' to and why?

This venue allows the gallery to provide museum quality works for acquisition, while adding an educational and cultural enhancement to the property. The gallery's 30 year history has focused on post-war and contemporary paintings, sculpture and works on paper, while maintaining an inventory of strong secondary market work. Artists who display innovative techniques and a unique approach to materials are paramount to the gallery's aesthetic. Sponder Gallery is a member of the Fine Art Dealers Association (FADA) and offers personalized support and consulting in all aspects of collecting and appraisal services.

BY THE BOOK | by Jon Thomason

MAX STEVEN Grossman is a celebrated digital photographer. But he’s also, in a more unorthodox sense, a librarian.

Each photograph in his signa- ture series, Bookscapes, is a col- lage of related books—extravagant coffee-table tomes, biographies, critical compendiums, art-history surveys—that do not exist outside the artist’s imagination. As art professor Natalia Brizuela wrote
in a 2017 essay about Grossman’s work, “Books in every image have never quite been placed in that way except in the virtual space of his computer. ... When looked at from a close distance, you can see that each book spine has a distinct image quality, revealing their dif- ferent provenance.”

Architecture Imitates Art at Jonathan Prince’s Berkshire County Home

By Nancy Keates

From one angle, Jonathan Prince's white, circa-1900 farmhouse, reached through an arch of maple trees, blends perfectly into rural Berkshire County's winding roads, stone walls, barns and summer camps.

But get closer, and it is clear somthing is unusual: The neatly trimmed yard, irrigated to stay emerald green, is mowed in different directions, creating a sense of movement. A long path to the kitchen door has piecces of bluestone jetting off to the side at different lengths, leaving dark lines that look like shadows in the grass. And the pristine rectangular swiming pool is a preternatural deep blue, flickering with light reflectiing off what appear to be pebbles.

The intended effect is "numinius" or mystical, says Mr. Prince, a 67 year-old sculptor, whose latest work, a series called "Shatter" currently displayed at Christie's Sculpture Garden in New York, consists of smooth steel water pipes, opened up to reveal reflective, highly polished stainless steel insides resembling broken glass. Three of Mr. Prince's sculptures are currently on sale at Christie's for $675,000 each. A work he sold for $350,000 called "Vestigial Block" is on permanent display at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University in East Lansing, a donaton of Julie and Edward J. Minskoff.

Frost Tower Fort Worth has commissioned artist Donald Martiny to create a unique work of art for the building’s ground floor lobby. Martiny’s work is internationally known for its unique approach to painting in which standard rectilinear canvases are forgone in favor of a form that is defined by large-scale brushstrokes. Swaths of paint many feet in length construe works that obscure the line between painting and sculpture, inviting viewers for closer inspection and a more dynamic interaction with a work of art. At 14 by 17 feet, the commissioned work must be created on-site, requiring the artist to set up a temporary studio in the lobby at 640 Taylor Street where he will create the piece over the course of a week beginning on November 18th.

Donald Martiny was included amoung the artists were commissioned to create 54 artworks for Nortstrom's new flagship location in NYC. The Art@Nordstrom app will provide customers with an audio-guided tour of the store’s collection.The Nordstrom NYC Flagship represents the biggest and best statement of the brand, and largest single-project investment in Nordstrom history. Located on West 57th Street and Broadway, across from the Nordstrom Men’s Store, which opened in April 2018, customers can shop 320,000 square feet of retail space located on seven levels – two below street level and five above. 

Nordstrom, Inc. is a leading fashion retailer based in the U.S. Founded in 1901 as a shoe store in Seattle, today Nordstrom operates 382 stores in 40 states, including 117 full-line stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico; 249 Nordstrom Rack stores; three Jeffrey boutiques; two clearance stores; six Trunk Club clubhouses; and five Nordstrom Local service concepts. Additionally, customers are served online through Nordstrom.com, Nordstromrack.com, HauteLook and TrunkClub.com. Nordstrom, Inc.'s common stock is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol JWN.

Shatter

September 10 - November 10, 2019

Shatter is an exhibition of New York-born sculptor Jonathan Prince’s work, his second viewing at Christie’s Sculpture Garden on Madison Avenue. Drawing upon his extensive knowledge of nature, science and the human body, Prince creates monumental and large-scale works of art out of materials such as stainless steel, CorTen steel, aluminium, bronze and granite. Prince’s works feature in notable public and private collections, including The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University and The Joseph M. Cohen Family Collection, and has been shown across the United States, in addition to his 2012 Liquid State series exhibition at Christie’s Sculpture Garden. See video.

Christie’s Sculpture Garden
535 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Black & White & In Between: Contemporary Art from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation

Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University, Malibu. Curated by Billie Milam Weisman

August 27, 2019 – December 8, 2019

This eclectic grouping of contemporary black and white drawings, digital media, photographs, prints,
paintings and sculptures are gathered together for this exhibition from the Frederick R. Weisman Art
Foundation. In color theory black and white are complete opposites. In scientific terms, where color is
determined through the visible spectrum of light, black is the absorption, or absence, of all visible light;
and white is the reflection, or presence, of it.

MADE IN CALIFORNIA: Contemporary Art from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation

Pete & Susan Barrett Art Gallery, Santa Monica College Curated by Billie Milam Weisman

August 27, 2019 – December 6, 2019

Since the 1960s California has emerged as a center for contemporary art that rivals New York in its accomplishments and innovation. Frederick R. Weisman was a pioneering collector whose rise as an important patron of the arts paralleled the emergence of the contemporary art scene in Los Angeles. He began collecting both international art and art from Los Angeles in the mid-1950s, and counted many of the city’s top artists as his close friends, building a collection that reflects these personal relationships.

Frederick Weisman was an early supporter of many of the artists that rose to prominence under the legendary Ferus Gallery, established by Walter Hopps, Ed Kienholz and later, Irving Blum. At the time Hopps was an innovative young curator who was tuned in to the idiosyncratic styles of Los Angeles artists, which had developed from isolation during the post-war period. As a result, LA artists were inspired by their daily lives and surroundings—the local terrain, vibrant sun, beautiful sunsets, blue skies, surfboards, and fast, flashy cars. Soon new art movements were created (such as Light and Space, and Finish Fetish), and the Cool School was born. But it would be decades later before the rest of the world recognized the importance of these artists and movements. The art on view represents a number of these diverse movements that have and
continue to play a decisive role in defining the visual arts in the Golden State.

Harmonies In Color: Six Contemporary Perspectives

August 24, 2019 - March 1, 2020

Color is fundamental to an understanding of our world and profoundly affects our daily lives. Although visible color constitutes only a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, it is complex and endlessly fascinating to artists and scientists alike. Harmonies in Color explores the perception of color and brings together the work of six renowned colorists: Gabriele Evertz, Irene Mamiye, Pard Morrison, Jen Pack, Robert Swain, and Sanford Wurmfeld. 

The exhibition includes paintings, photographs, sculptures, and “thread works,” and makes reference to major milestones in the scientific investigation of color, color themes and theories, and color as a subject in art. The artists featured in the exhibition work with different aesthetic media and are pursuing the investigation of color from different perspectives; but, all are united in their interest in the sensory experience of color.

Louisiana Art & Science Museum | 100 River Road South, Downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70802