Alexander Galchansky and Tanya Wissotzky are husband and wife working together to celebrate the nostalgia of Paris in the twenties. The artists' talents have been united on one canvas combining calligraphy with rich romantic images wistfully alluding to stories of another time. The mixed media paintings of Alexander and Wissotzky have received critical acclaim and success around the world including exhibitions in the United States, Sweden and Germany.
Alvar was born in the Catalan coastal village of Montgat near Barcelona in 1935. He started painting oils at age twelve, and at age seventeen was accepted at the Escuela Superior de Belles Artes in Barcelona. During this period the Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona acquired one of his paintings, for its permanent collection.
In 1993 an important book devoted to the artist's painting was published in Spain and the United States. In the same year ten one-man shows exhibiting the artist's works in all media (painting, graphics, sculpture and drawing) were held throughout the United States.
In ‘Soul Partners’ Thomas flipped the photos around to give this image a sense of altitude. At the top is the northern coast of California. The two yoga instructors photo was taken in a studio and later placed on this rock. The final image is perfectly balanced from angle to angle. The man is supporting the woman’s body and she is supporting him with her legs. They symbolize the perfect couple like two pieces in a puzzle. The inspirations for Thomas Barbéy’s works come from many years of traveling all over the world, everyday life and from some of his favorite artists, such as René Magritte who once said “The purpose of Art is mystery”.
Born in Fezze, Morrocco, Avi Ben-Simhon immigrated to Israel with his family where he and a group of friends founded a kibbutz. He studied at the Avni Art Institute and continued on to the Kallisher Institute for Contemporary Art. Influenced by the Fauvist and Cubist painters of the 19th Century, his works are exceptional with brilliant vivacious colors and textures that resemble a stained glass window. His powerful dramatic compositions and vivid colors, expressing the joy of life, command attention and captivate the eye of any viewer. Avi Ben-Simhon’s work has been exhibited throughout Israel, France, Canada and the United States.
Ruth Bloch is an Israeli sculptor whose sophisticated depictions of the human form are at once mysterious and familiar. The gracefully stylized forms of her figures speak eloquently about the human experience, both in relationships and in solitary emotions.
Her strikingly beautiful sculptures are collected internationally.
Angel Botello was born in 1913 in Cangas de Morrazo, Spain. He moved to France in 1930 with his family, where from 1930 until 1934 he was a special student at the Fine Arts School of Bordeaux. In 1935, Botello was granted a scholarship to study in Madrid, Spain. With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Botello interrupted his education to sign on as a cartographer. In 1939 Botello left Spain and returned with his family to France, where he was quickly accepted and recognized among artist and collectors alike. In the early 1940's Botello moved to Haiti with his wife, Christiane. Again, he became increasingly recognized and critically acclaimed. His Haitian landscapes and figure studies are considered to be some of his best works. In 1952 Botello moved to Puerto Rico, where he would reside for the remainder of his life. After the late 1950's his work revolved mostly around his four children, as family was very important to him. Angel Botello passed away in 1986, leaving behind a legacy of paintings, lithographs and sculptures. Recognition and demand of his work continues to grow today, fetching unprecedented auction prices.
Graciela Rodo Boulanger is a Bolivian artist who studied in Paris and currently resides in the U.S., South America, and France. Her enchanting depictions of children have been acquired by such museums as The Museum of Modern Art of Latin America, la Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, and the Modern Art Center in Zurich.
Romero Britto was born in 1963 in Northern Brazil. He has been recognized for the past 14 years as the leading pop artist of our time. His work has been compared to Lichtenstein and Rauschenberg, as well as Warhol. Romero finds that his recreation of popular art in nature, people and animals is an endless quest for a language that all of us can easily understand, but which in turn is emotionally and intellectually stimulating.
Bueno was born in Motril, Granada in 1950. At the age of six Bueno entered the Escuela de Artes. By nineteen he was earning a living as a professional artist. Bueno's art incorporates all the secret elements of the unknown. There is magic in his color while generating light from his canvas creating a sense of motion. His subject is created from his inspiration of today's woman.
A brilliant understanding of the detail of nature inspires the sun dappled landscapes of Spanish painter Salvador Caballero. Born in 1944, this entirely self taught painter is primarily inspired by the northern countryside of his native land. Fields of poppies and other summer flowers lead the viewer past ancient farmhouses and back to misty mountainsides. The smooth radiance of his panoramic vistas led noted Spanish art critic Jesus Mira to say, "His (Caballero's) paintings breathe with the breath that only nature can bring to the eye."
Chicago area Post-Modern artist, received his bachelor of fine arts degree from Boston University in 1973, and then he apprenticed himself to Frank Gallo for two years at the University of Illinois, where he received his master of fine arts degree in 1975. Michael was an instructor of art at the University of Illinois from 1973 to 1975, and has been a painter and an award winning art director for 20 years.
Internationally renowned artist Antonio Di Viccaro was born in 1935 in Italy where he still resides. He has developed a unique technique that appears at once painterly and sculptured due to heavy applications of oil paint with a palette knife.
His paintings are of the brilliantly colorful landscapes and sea vistas that embrace the coasts of Italy.
Jerome Gastaldi creates evocative landscapes of the mind that exist in the middle area between abstract expressionism and surrealism. Turbulent skies hover above bare landscapes that stretch, unbroken, to the horizon in these mysterious, new worlds. Founder of the Modern Museum of Art in Santa Ana, Gastaldi is also a noted author and sculptor.
Jean-Claude Gaugy is a French artist born in 1944 whose Linear Expressionist carved paintings have been commissioned by major corporations and institutions. He studied at l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, was discovered by Salvador Dali, apprenticed with Henry Moore, and exhibited his work at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. His sophisticated images of linear figures are carved and painted on wood with strong, interwoven colors.
Michael John Hill is an English artist whose remarkable style of meditative landscapes is loved all over the world. The endless detail in his traditional landscapes recalls the style of the Old Masters. His collectors include the British Royal Family, Forbes, Inc. and Lord and Lady Sterling.
JalinePol is establishing a unique place in the world of Impressionist painters. Her origins are in France, but it was in Africa and the South Pacific that she found the roots of her style. Inspired by the super-heated colors of the land and native costume, her works glow with the warmth of the sun. Flowers seem to pull off the canvas to reach the embrace of light.
Ted Jeremenko is one of the masters of Americana in the art world today. His paintings transcend those of a purely primitive or naïve painter by creating for the viewer a sense of timelessness and serenity. His vision is one of harmony, in which nature and humanity are bonded by a spirit of coexistence and peacefulness, making a world perhaps not as it is, but certainly as we would like it to be.
Ted’s frequent subject subject matter, including lighthouses, barns, cottages and village scenes, reflect a passion for simplistic, elegant architecture that derives its strength from the environment around it. From years of preserving houses on the coast of Long Island, he has developed and nurtured a sense of craftsmanship that is related in the details of his paintings, from the gentle curve on the top of a window frame, to the symmetry and stature of a beacon light in a distant lighthouse.
Israeli Dorit Levi has created a unique style incorporating gold leafing and bright earth colors in small jewel like scenes. Highly influenced by Graciela Boulanger and Pablo Picasso, Levi's goal is to translate dance into lines and angles, and music into color and texture. Though her techniques are complex, her work resonates a simple joy that belies the amount of work that goes into the creation of each image.
Maimon’s paintings capture the “boulevard culture,” that uniquely French atmosphere that so intrigued Lautrec, Bonnard and other artists before him. Though strongly influenced by the Paris school of art, with his intrepid use of color and line he creates works that are absorbing, rich and uniquely Maimon. Born in Israel to French-speaking parents, he exhibited and early artistic ability that was enthusiastically supported by his family. Maimon attended the Avni Institute of Fine Art in Tel Aviv, the most prestigious academy for the arts in Israel. He became restaurateur and pub owner. Always the artist, he was often found sitting at a back table sketching the patrons. Maimon has taught at several universities and exhibits each year at Art Expo in New York and has been shown art at expositions in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Japan.
Thomas McKnight's beautiful images of places near and far appeal to our senses. His lush but subtle color, his charming and elegant compositions, his skillful renderings of form are the qualities we admire and enjoy in the works of this master artist. Through McKnight's vision, one sees the partly real, partly imagined scenes evoked by his own search for an earthly paradise and these scenes have an unerring universality that makes them our vision as well.
Sung Sam Park was born in Seoul, Korea in 1949. He began painting at the age of twelve. While in Junior High School, he was chosen to teach high school painting classes. Park graduated from Jung Ang University in 1973 and then traveled to Paris, France to continue his studies. In 1984 Park returned briefly to Korea, where he was awarded a Gold Medal for a painting he created to commemorate the 1988 Soeul Olympic Games. Park then returned to Europe, residing primarily in France, but also spent time in Greece and Cyprus. He moved to Southern California in 1994, where he still resides. His work continues to be shown and widely collected throughout Europe and the United States.
Frederick Phillips was born in Staffordshire, England in 1953. Awarded an art scholarship at age 17, Frederick graduated with an Honors Degree. A lifetime inspired by the surrealists, Phillips art is praised for its precise, post-surrealist style that displays his mastery of oil painting. Phillips atmospheric paintings are like a half remembered dream. The viewer is drawn into his unique vision of highly detailed realistic elements, to further find themselves intrigued by the imaginative possibilities they slowly uncover.
Since 1985, Atlas Galleries has published the limited-edition graphics of this much sought after artist. In 1990, under an "Artist of Exceptional Ability" visa, Frederick Phillips and his wife Patricia moved to the United States where they now live. A full color book celebrating the life and art of Frederick Phillips including a catalogue raisonne' of his unique oils on canvas and limited edition graphics was published in 2000. Phillips art has been exhibited in cities from London, San Juan, Tokyo, and Hong Kong to Chicago, New York, Boston and San Francisco. His art is in numerous private and corporate collections throughout the world.
Admirers and collectors of the work of Frederick Phillips know that the hallmark of each piece is the attention that is paid to each and every detail. Few people realize, however, that in order to achieve this precision, Phillips works through many stages of preparatory drawings and studies. For the first time ever, Frederick has released pages from his personal sketchbook that illustrate some of the steps that come before he begins to paint.
Celebrated artist Markus Pierson developed his unique artistic vision while recovering from a near fatal bout with Crohn’s disease in early 1985. Upon his recovery, Pierson redirected himself to his artistic passion and his drive to create his own destiny.
The Coyote series was born later that year and has since become one of the most sought after contemporary art collections. Heads of State, major corporations and celebrities worldwide have collected his work.
“The Coyotes celebrate life. Sometimes life kicks them around, but they embrace it just the same. Heartaches, bad breaks, job problems, job triumphs, true love, rotten luck, vast fortune. Good or bad, they celebrate.” – Markus Pierson
The paintings of Francis Reihl speak of the qualities and images of nature. He captures the brightness of light and bold color placing color upon color with the result of a work of art exuding life both spontaneous and thoughtful. He achieves with the strongest method of painting utilizing the pallet knife to apply pigment to canvas capturing the vitality of landscape and nature’s blooms. His paintings capture the supernatural and the real joined in the brilliance of vibrating surfaces which contain the light of intense poetry.
-Estelle Callier et Richard El Mir
If you've ever read Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat In The Hat, or any of the dozens of books written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel, you may think you're familiar with the work of the man who delighted millions as Dr. Seuss. But the wildly imaginative creations included in the Secret Art Collection show a previously unseen dimension of Geisel's art. These sophisticated and whimsical paintings created for his own pleasure and never before shown to the public, will enchant and amaze you.
(c) 2000 The Chase Group, LLC. All rights reserved. Dr. Seuss Properties (tm) & (c) Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. 2000. All rights reserved. Photographs by Phillipp Ritterman
Viktor Shvaiko was born in Russia where he was formally trained as an artist at a young age. His "neo-impressionistic" style gives us beautiful images of European villages and cafes, which beckon us to enter upon his world and become part of the painting. He has been received in the U.S. for the past five years with overwhelming success.
Simonetti’s art expresses the unique maturity of his talent. Though he seeks out new expression in his art, Claudio Simonetti maintains the fundamentals of painting: exquisite drawing composition and color. His landscapes of the Italian countryside, his marine paintings of coastal villages and the scenes of the canals of Venice, seem to appeal to everyone. Simonetti's well balanced technique and sense of poetry pervades each painting. Claudio Simonetti paints and exhibits regularly in Venice, Milan, Paris, New York and Chicago. His artwork is in private collections worldwide.
There is a wonderland that exists for all of us. Grace Slick has brought you the visual version of the song that we all grew up listening to. The White Rabbit has led several generations into new worlds of life, love and experimentation. She enchants us with images of her rock-n-roll peers. By using a wide variety of mediums Grace Slick achieves a wide range of styles and brings you further into her Wonderland.
Adam Stewart was born in Nebraska, obtained a BFA from Colorado State University and currently lives in Colorado. His work is heavily influenced by nature, namely the Rocky Mountains. His unique technical process lends his images a singular visual impact. His abstract expressionist painting style is advanced, yet accessible and universally appealing.
American artist Thomas Stiltz received his Masters of Art from the University of Delaware. Developing an appreciation for fine wine while traveling through Paris as a graduate student, Thomas has been touring vineyards and meeting wine makers since. Pairing his passion for painting with his taste for fine wines, Stiltz created “The Wine Collection”, a series of paintings and prints that features celebrated bottles of wine from world-renowned vineyards. His beautiful eye-catching paintings bring together a strong sense of composition and space with a flair for the dramatic. Committed to old world techniques, Stiltz uses several layers to build up the paint’s surface, renders objects with an emphasis on naturalism and glazes the backgrounds with layer upon layer of color for richness and depth. His purpose is to stimulate the viewer with feelings and emotion about the common, ordinary objects of our lives.
Mackenzie Thorpe resides with his family in England. The fresh simplicity of his images evokes the innocence of childhood with tenderness, passion and humor. Thorpe was requested to create loving images for the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Save the Children Fund, and the British Dyslexia Foundation.
The Magical and Natural World of Gwen Peine Toomalatai
The Sacred Journey
"My paintings are mainly a reflection of my own journey in life and the lessons I've experienced up to this point. The animals, architecture, and nature that are represented in the paintings are intricately connected to my personal search for meaning and the discovery of the sacred both within and without." - Gwen Peine Toomalatai (Toe-o-ma-lá-tie)
Born in Toulouse (France) in 1948, Jean-Louis Toutain has received numerous national and international exhibitions plus he received the “Best Worker in France” award in 1991 for his sculptures and decorative works. A creative workaholic he is impelled by all of the beings born of his imaginations. Whether this new being is a man, woman or a child, it surprises, marvels and convinces instinctively with its purified contemporary shape. The massive body with its inferred limbs leaves movements frozen and opens the door of our imagination while remaining grounded in our experience. These characters tell of the strength and conviction they embody, of the artist’s contentment in creating them. But above all, they spread happiness all around with generous grace.
Sergey Tyukanov draws on stories, folklore and myth from around the world. His incredible imagination inspires these unique, intriguing creations. Sergey has the steady hand of a formally-trained printmaker, and he has also brought us beautifully detailed watercolors and drawings.
Although he was born and educated in rural Russia, exhibitions in museums and galleries have taken Sergey across Europe and Asia. Atlas Galleries is proud to give Sergey his first one man show in Chicago.
Michael Wilkinson studied in his native California and later at the Art Students League in New York City. His romantic style of sculpture was developed through many years of drawing and sculpting the human figure. With his recent acrylic sculptures, he is able to manipulate light and transparency, giving the figures a sense of graceful fluidity.