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J.R. Mooney Galleries of Fine Art: Art Tips, Reviews, Fine Art, and Custom Framing News
Thursday, July 10, 2014
July 2014 Quarterly Newsletter
Thursday, June 19, 2014
American Plains Artists Show
Mark your calendars for Thursday July 1 , 2014 for the annual American Plains Artists Show and Sale
At Fort Concho San Angelo, Texas. Come out to support J.R. Mooney Gallery artist, Bill Scheidt as he displays his signature aesthetic of contemporary Western Art.
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Bill Scheidt and the Battle of Walkers Creek
JR Mooney Gallery Artist, Bill Scheidt
showcasing his new painting
commemorating the Battle of Walker's
Creek for the city of Sisterdale, Texas
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Congrats BILL!!!!!!
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Cliff Cavin, Boerne Business Monthly and installation images
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Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Purple Mountains Majesty
Cliff Cavin, a San Antonio based artist has been working in the Texas art community for over 3 and a half decades, giving a unique voice to impressionistic landscapes of Texas and New Mexico. Cavin painted what he found inspiring, seeking success by way of painting what he has liked. Opening June 14, 2014, Cavin will premier his spotlight hanging exhibition at JR Mooney Galleries of Fine Art, Boerne with an exhibition titled: "Purple Mountains Majesty", (Redux).
His work, simple and elegant has not drastically changed over the last ten years. Minus earlier successes of his loose watercolors, rural husbandry, and quasi-western painting, Cavin’s signature scenery aesthetic is pure; harkening back to the principles of our impressionistic forefathers – capturing light, gauging time of day; giving in to tones, shadows, and infinite spatial definitions.
However, in the select hanging exhibition at J.R. Mooney Galleries, “Purple Mountains Majesties (Redux)” contrasting light, values, and tones make for bold statements of color choices. Cavin’s blues, purples, oranges, and greens mock each other for audacious visual adventures. He cements the visual stimulus with a jovial rendition of stark lighting casted down by light of day, evening or glorious morning.
Golden Shadows, a mostly orange and carroty painting is balanced by blues that fade to a certain cerulean atmosphere that draws us up in to the clouds. The vast skyline is anchored by the core of the painting – the background with its mountains and hard edged definition. These deliberate divisions make simple strata in the painting, giving way to compositional horizons that play off acute angles; a thoroughly thought-out configuration with stark contrasts coupled with simple color theory.
“I found the colors of my surroundings, Texas and New Mexico to be my muse and hoped my audience felt the same; evolving in style and aesthetic along the way.”
For more information contact J.R. Mooney Galleries at 830-816-5106. The gallery is located at 305 S. Main St. Boerne, Texas 78006.
By: Gabriel Diego Delgado
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Friday, May 16, 2014
Panoramic images of the Boerne, Texas Gallery (JR Mooney Galleries of Fine Art)
These are random images of the current interior of the JR Mooney Galleries, Boerne location. I know some of you in San Antonio and Houston have not made it out to see us, so I thought I would share some images of the current set up. The interior changes monthly depending on the exhibition and spotlight hanging.
The current exhibition, "Unveiling Texas", features Jose Vives-Atsara and Russell Stephenson
The current exhibition, "Unveiling Texas", features Jose Vives-Atsara and Russell Stephenson
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
New arrivals at JR Mooney Galleries, Boerne 5/2014
Cody Vance
Into the Bayou
Up from the oil slick spilled Texas coast comes Into
the Bayou, a new sculpture by Texas artist Cody Vance. The title evokes
a grizzly croc creeping up from the cloudy waters approaching some sort of
unattended stroller, a lurking terror in a state known for a multitude of
environmental disasters, but never fear art lover -- the opposite is true.
A
gorgeous new twist of carved rock, Into the Bayou is a prime example of
polished Andes Onyx; a stone highly prized for its intricate grain, webs of
beauty and signature aesthetic. Sought
after by artisans of all kinds, this stone is almost obsolete with major international
mining deposits now going to large corporations dealing in home construction;
very rarely does an individual have such access to natural beauty.
Vance has displayed his craft in such a way
that we are amazed and at awe with the imperfections of the stone juxtaposed
with his craftiness that pulls out the strength and weaknesses to justify hours
of love and labor uncovering such hidden beauty.
Cody Vance / Into the Bayou / Andes Onyx / 20” x 20” / $3600
Call the gallery at 830-816-5106 to purchase
Margie Barker
Gold in the Hills
“Gold in the Hills”, a new painting by Helotes artist,
Margie Barker is a stoic rendition of an Cactus bush with a multiple of leaves
and blooming tundra greet the viewer in a cluster of desert beauty. The yellow
and red flowers give grace and joie de vivre to an otherwise prickly plant full
of stubble that distinguishes itself in many ways.
This typical Texas landscape
is an elegant sophistication in a simplistic manner, granting artistic clarity coupled
with a certain unpretentious grandiose manner that makes this painting so
striking.
Margie Barker/ Gold in the Hills / 24" x 36" /
$1500
Call the gallery at 830-816-5106 to purchase
Sidney Sinclair
Crown of Thorns
The new painting by Sidney Sinclair, “ Crown of Thorns” is a purist tie to the often subjective
suffering of the Christian savior; a spiritual, religious and personal
attribution to an iconic and symbolic epiphany.
With several interpretive suggestions as to a crossroads in Sinclair’s
exploration of the abstract, “Crown of Thorns” gives us a monotone palette,
letting the mixed media textural elements create the composition.
She shies
away from her usual host of muted landscape hues; giving us ochre that radiates
an inner luminosity. Although yellow can be a bit garish, Sinclair nails it
with a simplistic approach. Her examination of abstract sensibilities can be
found in her current body of neo-impressionistic landscapes, but as this
confidence bleeds into her geometric cross transcendences, newfound perfections
and imperfections bare light on an inner artist dialogue giving voice to bold
statements as she loosens her grip on traditional genres, hoping to marry the
two [genres] in a spiritual world of revelatory renditions.
Sidney Sinclair / Crown of Thorns / 40” x 30”/ $3075
Call the gallery at 830-816-5106 to purchase
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
NHOME Magazine article on Unveiling Texas
See the May/June edition of NHOME Magazine with a curatorial insight article on "Unveiling Texas" by Gallery Director Gabriel Diego Delgado.
Read the full article here at:
installation view of exhibition
installation view of exhibition
Unveiling
Texas
For epochs landscapes
have captured the attention of artists around the world, from the infamous
Monet lily ponds to the Japanese mountain tapestries; our world has been the
surrounding force for a driven passion in fine art. Although landscape painting
is centuries old, painters have been a constant in the field capturing the
moment , but abstract landscapes combine the artistic expressions of the artist
with the solid grounding of an intuitive understanding and cognitive recognition
of place; of geography; of horizon; sea, land and air.
Yes, impressionistic landscape
painting of the 1800’s and early 1900’s did introduce modernist tendencies
including fauvism and aspects of cubism. However, with a the standard
horizon-line foreground, middle and background composition being the main-stay
of this particular aesthetic there was always an unspoken integrity passed
through the generations. With
abstract landscapes we understand the poignant properties of the terrain, mixed
with factual element.
Texas
landscape is no different, a scenic sensibility that continues to inspire. Historic
pictorial contributions to the Lone Star State can be traced back to the late
1880’s with the Onderdonk family and the portrayal of the bluebonnet Texas
hillsides. Salinas, Wood, Arpe, and the Harrisons – all playing an important
role in Texas inspired landscape painting.
But one thing they did not conquer was the construct of abstract
reference.
Two artists
50 years apart sought to capture the timeless sensibility that we know as the
Texas, Southwest and Mexican landscapes. Through individual aspirations,
artistic interpretations and geographic assimilations, we discover that half a
century adds even more lineage to the pictorial depiction of Texas story;
brought forth between generational Texpatriots.
In the 1960’s San
Antonio painter Jose Vives-Atsara, (1919 – 2004) an internationally recognized
painter, dove into landscape abstraction during a time when Abstract
Expressionism was in its infancy. Highlights of his decade’s long artistic career include a city
of San Antonio initiated gift to the Pope John Paul II for the Vatican
presented by Archbishop Patrick Flores in 1987 to painted contributions within
the art collection of Juan Carlos, King of Spain.
His mastered palette
knife technique lent itself to bold color gestures, intuitive mark making, and
swatches of bright and colorful hues bringing the Texas, Mexican and Spanish
landscapes to life. Known for his florals, landscapes, and renditions of Texas
scenes, Vives-Atsara made a name during a
time when artistic liberties were a far reach in the genre of traditional
landscape painting.
For Jose
Vives-Atsara, one can only explore personal aspects of his life to begin to
understand a leap into a fray of abstraction. To see inside the artist’s mind,
you see a world turned upside-down –international relocation, new job, and new
house. As a thriving art career began to unfold, Jose Vives-Atsara -- already
known for his still-lifes, portraits, landscapes, and wildflowers began to
paint a series of abstract landscapes with his signature 11 color palette; a
choice one might think was reflective of the chaos of such personal upheavals
and distresses.
Abstract Landscape by Vives-Atasara, illustrates this new exploration
of intellectual abstraction. Closing in on the rocky pathway like some
overgrown Tim Burton landscape, the trees line the gauntlet, creating a
foreboding effect on top of artistic mystification. Adding to the mystery
is the fact we do not know if Vives-Atsara is painting the Guadalupe River, the
Texas Hill Country, the Spanish countryside, or the various seascapes that
captured his attention.
“My using a palette
knife, a spatula, happened accidentally. The professors that taught me
always used brushes. I experimented with the spatula and I like the
result; it added improved texture and spontaneity to my paintings. An
artist must be educated in the standard techniques of painting, but there is no
substitute for his personal daily experience and his mistakes”, says Vives-Atsara.
In
Vives-Atsara’s work we see the movement in which the work was created, the
potent and deliberate manipulation of color mixed with purposeful marks,
gestures and highlights. With quick whips with the palette knife Vives-Atsara cuts into
the paint, creating cactus needle-like textural accents in select areas.
Red, orange, blue and yellow swatches of color dance across the
composition. We begin to see the piecemeal landscape scene as our eyes
digest the familiar outlines; trees, rocks, and path.
On the other
hand, San Antonio artist Russell Stephenson gives us a collection of meditative,
romantic and warm golden-brown abstract landscapes. These paintings contrast his predecessor with
images that are minimal in bright hues; but instead continually capture the
setting sun or the dawning of a new day in a signature aesthetic that gains
ground in rich earth tones.
Stephenson
paints Mesa, Caprock, Llano Estacado, Bastrop, Lubbock, Rockport and other
locations in his Panoramic Texas
series with distinctive horizon lines, giving us familiar elements to enter the
composition; familiarize ourselves with the terrain and ingest the beautiful
quality of that specific topographical location – mountains, coast, plains,
etc.
With glazes,
textures, and a mastered control of pressure, Stephenson lays forth bountiful clouds
and atmospheres that dance across the Texas skies ~ a pictorial grandeur to the
majestic skyline; visually reinforcing the “big and bright” of the revered
Texas tune. We begin to see the role the firmament plays in relation to the
lands below; a relationship broken down into minimal strata.
Unlike
Vives-Atsara, Stephenson grounds us with bold, linear horizontal lines that
break up the special abstractions into two distinctive properties. Vives-Atsara
surrounds us in color, with surprising wicks, flicks, and wisps that create
active energies with a literal all over composition; giving respect to the
Abstract Expressionist call.
As the Fine
Art lineage of Texas landscapes continues into the new generation, we will
again see how the past affects the future.
One thing will always hold true
-- Texas acts as muse in her own stately liberties, drawing artists from all
over to bath in her Lone Star luxury; adding inspiration, tranquility and
perseverance to individual artwork –no matter the medium, genre, or aesthetic.
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