Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Geoffrey Laurence | Inheritance


Geoffrey Laurence | Inheritance
October 1 5-7pm



On Friday, October 1st from 5-7pm, Skotia Gallery will be holding the opening reception for Inheritance, new paintings by local Santa Fe artist Geoffrey Laurence. Skotia will be concurrently hosting the final American showing of photographer and Hungarian national treasure Péter Korniss’s Attachment exhibition.  Attachment was previously on view at the Hungarian Cultural Center in New York in April 2010 and Skotia Gallery will be the final chance to view these pieces in the United States.

Laurence will be showing around 25 paintings, drawings and studies exploring the very personal connection he has with the Holocaust and his feelings about growing up as the child of survivors. The show will be a powerful personal essay on the struggle for an understanding of the atrocities of WWII and its connection with his family history.
Laurence has been drawing and painting the figure for more than thirty years.  Not very interested in the pop art or conceptual art of his contemporaries, he found himself more engaged with the luminosity of the figures seen in the museums of old masters.  He works with a three-layer oil painting process known as indirect painting using glazes and color to highlight his structural forms with the intention to use classicism in a modern way.  Geoffrey’s work explores the relationship between the contemporary figure and specific classical paintings.  Though his work utilizes the knowledge of 600 years of classical painting there is an intention to maintain a connection between the old masters techniques and its relationship to the representation of the modern figure. He does not consider himself a naturalistic realist but is more concerned with the challenges of creating an emotional narrative that speaks to modern times.  Laurence considers himself more of an “emotionalist” or “feelist” rather than the typical classification of a contemporary realist.
Laurence’s work has been acquired by public and private collections including the London Borough of Camden in the UK, Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico,  Giorgio Armani, Gene Hackman  and NM Department of Cultural Affairs.  He has received awards such as the Robert Rauschenberg Award in 2004 and Walter Erlebacher Award in 1995.  He has shown his work abroad in Europe, Canada, and across the Untied States from coast to coast and continues to teach painting in academies across the nation and exhibit his work widely. 

For more information please contact us at info@skotiagallery.com or 505.820.7787 | 866.820.0113

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

SPECIAL PREVIEW: THE NEW METROPOLIS





Simon McWilliams & Valerio D’Ospina
“THE NEW METROPOLIS” August 5 – August 30 2010

On Thursday August 5th from 6-8pm, Skotia Gallery will have an opening reception for The New Metropolis, featuring Northern Irish artist Simon McWilliams and Italian artist Valerio D’Ospina. McWilliams will be showing 14 new works in the show, and D’Ospina will be showing 6 new paintings.

Both artists, though possessing very different sensibilities (McWilliams with his playful bright palette, and D’Ospina with his solemn grisaille), share a fascination with the man-made, and a curious rejection of the man himself. D’Ospina’s and McWilliams’ paintings are conspicuously devoid of humanity, and simply depict ghostly artifacts of constructed objects: giant skeletons of scaffolding, an empty room of old engines, a broken down bus deteriorating in a dusty shed. The images are ominous, and the sheer scale of the paintings leave one with the feeling that these objects have taken on a significance that one wouldn’t ordinarily ascribe to such commonplace items. A fundamental shift in perspective happens at the societal level: McWilliams seems to revel in the wonder of progress, invention, construction, where D’Ospina laments that very same progress by depicting the fossils of a more optimistic industrial era. The tension between modern activity on one hand and the detritus it inevitably becomes on the other creates a soulful, profound, and incredibly beautiful essay on the materialism and industry of modern man.

Please join Skotia Gallery in welcoming two of our most promising international emerging artists in the opening reception taking place on Thursday, August 5th from 6-8pm. Wine and refreshments will be served, and both artists will be in attendance. We will also be open on Friday August 6th from 5-7pm for the GALA (Galleries at Lincoln Avenue) District First Friday Artwalk. For images and more detailed information, please contact Leah Gallant at leah@skotiagallery.com or 505-820-7787. The show will run through approximately August 30th.

Simon McWilliams, Red Arc and Steam, oil on canvas, 64 x 68 inches



Simon McWilliams, M-Machine, oil on linen, 40 x 32 inches



Valerio D'Ospina, Abandoned Buses, oil on canvas, 62.2 x 47.2 inches



Valerio D'Ospina, Torino, oil on canvas, 69.3 x 48.4 inches

Friday, May 28, 2010

Laena Wilder

Laena Wilder: Recollections
Photographer Laena Wilder discusses her series "Recollections"


3 pieces from her "Ocularium" series are now on view at Skotia Gallery
www.skotiagallery.com


Friday, May 21, 2010

Ocularium: Laena Wilder on Memory and the Photographic Process




LAENA WILDER: OCULARIUM
Photographer Laena Wilder discusses memory and it's role in photography

Chambers of recall exist
within each person. Like the dark interior of a camera, our minds collect and
store sensual information. As light touches silver coated film, so do moments
in time etch themselves upon our psyches…

…However, unlike a photographic negative whose image is stable,
self-reflection reveals an ever-changing landscape. Accuracy is lost. We fall
prey to imagination, fragmentation and distortion. We are often comforted by
the apparition of what was
-Laena Wilder

Select pieces from Laena's Ocularium series are now on view atSkotia Gallery. Please contact us with any inquiries at 505.820.7787 | 866.820.0113 or info@skotiagallery.com. You may view available pieces by clicking here.

Friday, April 16, 2010

NEW ARTIST: Francesca Sundsten

FRANCESCA SUNDSTEN

California artist Francesca Sundsten has joined Skotia Gallery!
Francesca, originally from Hemet, CA, received her MFA from Stanford University in 1990. Since then, she has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions including the Art Institute of Southern California, the Bellevue Art Museum, and the Center on Contemporary Art (Seattle) in a show curated by internationally recognized photographer Joel Peter Witkin, winning Best of Show. Francesca has won numerous awards, fellowships and grants over the span of her career, and has taught painting and drawing in several venues including The Academy of Fine Art in Seattle and Stanford University. In 1987, Francesca studied with major international painter Odd Nerdrum in Oslo, Norway. Today, her work is held is prestigious collections including the Tacoma Art Museum and Microsoft.

Please keep an eye on our website (skotiagallery.com) to find out when Francesca's pieces arrive!







Wednesday, April 7, 2010

New Italian Artists Agostino Arrivabene & Roberto Ferri

Roberto Ferri ~ Untitled

New Italian Artists

Skotia Gallery is very proud to announce two new Italian artists to the gallery, Agostino Arrivabene and Roberto Ferri, who will be joining the roster of incredibly talented artists in our Realism Invitational (opening July 2 2010). For more information on these artists, please contact us at 866.820.0113 or info@skotiagallery.com. We will keep our website (skotiagallery.com) updated with any new works that arrive by Agostino and Roberto. Enjoy!


Agostino Arrivabene ~ Il Peso del Destino II



Agostino Arrivanene ~ L'ornitologo




Skotia Gallery| 150 West Marcy Street Santa Fe, NM 87501 | 866.820.0113 | skotiagallery.com

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

NEW WORK: Rocky Rische-Baird

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Rocky Rische-Baird, Dragonfly, 17 x 15/10 inches, oil on canvas


We have just received new work in from Rocky Rische-Baird! If you don't know about Rocky, read on...



Rocky Rische-Baird is an artist born and raised in Northern California who divides his time between the San Francisco Bay Area and a studio in the village of Putney, Vermont.  Rische-Baird’s work, beautiful and peaceful, timeless and reflective, and stunning in both vision and rendering, reflects his deep love and affinity for nature, as well as his interest in questions regarding consciousness, the self, and the unity between the human mind, wonder, and nature.                   

Fascinated and enamored with drawing, painting, and the natural world from the earliest of ages, Rische-Baird spent his every waking free hour honing his craft and exploring and observing nature, which led to a series of apprenticeships starting at a very young age with various artists and craftsmen, and eventual employment as an assistant art director in his teens at a printing and design studio. Later, Rische-Baird moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where he has shown his work in Bay Area galleries, been voted “Best of the Bay” by the San Francisco Bay Guardian, accepted commissions to be part of permanent city collections, and has frequently been featured in numerous publications, such as the San Francisco Chronicle and Oakland Magazine, as well as featured on ABC News and KCBS radio. Through all of this, Rische-Baird has continued to create technically masterful works of a unique vision all his own, inspired by expressions throughout the ages that reflect concepts of continuity within nature and/or the self and how they relate to our contemporary perceptions of the world and our role in it; works that strive to portray an eternal essence of nature through timeless and magical pieces that place the value onto the wonder of being.

In Rocky's words:





"My work explores the unity between the human mind, Nature, and wonder.
   
I do not use models or photographic reference in my work and create directly from imagination. The portraits are of no one and the scenes are of no particular place or thing. They are not records of people or things in a phenomenal world but emerge from a world within and prompt questions regarding consciousness and the self.
Analogously, my work shares strong philosophical similarities with the Chinese landscape paintings of the Song Dynasty, particularly those of the Northern Song artists. As in my work, the Song paintings did not record specific sites, but strove to portray an eternal essence of nature, whereas the painting became an expression of the desire to commune with nature. Though my work shares this motive in regard to landscape, I also apply the method to my figures, thus portraying a likeness of human essence that is too, an attribute of nature.
I draw inspiration from expressions throughout the ages that reflect concepts of continuity within nature and/or the self and how they relate to our contemporary perceptions of the world and our role in it. I am interested in the idea that what is sought may only be that which has been forgotten. My work has been greatly influenced by the Platonic dialogue, Phaedrus; whereas Plato pictures the human soul in some previous state of being, as having been able to comprehend the spiritual forms with perfect clarity, a vision in which the incarnate soul retains a shadowy memory.
A core concern in my work is that of timelessness. I want to create work that is compelling and could resonate in all three spectrums of time. The exclusion of any representation of dress frees the work from values placed upon temporal material modes. Similarly, the figures rest in a space devoid of worldly influence and human concerns, placing the value onto the wonder of being." Click for an interview with Rocky


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Rocky Rische-Baird, Woods, 11 x 14 inches, oil on panel















Rocky Rische-Baird, Sow, 11 x 14 inches, oil on panel
















Rocky Rische-Baird, Designation, 17 x 30/27.5 inches, oil on canvas


Friday, March 26, 2010

Photography Invitational: EXCLUSIVE CHAMPAGNE VERNISSAGE


Photography Invitational: EXCLUSIVE CHAMPAGNE VERNISSAGE

RSVP BEFORE APRIL 15 for special $15 entry

Exclusive Limited Entry Preview for
1st Biennial Photography Invitational

PHOTOGRAPHY LOVERS: TAKE NO
TE! On THURSDAY, MAY 6th from 6-8pm, Skotia Gallery will be offering an exclusive collector champagne preview for
our 1st Biennial International Photography Invitational opening on Friday May 7th.

This preview will be limited to 100 people, and will give collectors first choice of available pieces. If you are a photography collector, or a photography fan who prefers to enjoy the show without the crowds, this preview is highly recommended since we are expecting a large turnout for the opening night on Friday the 7th. This will allow you to sip champagne and snack on complimentary hors d’oeuvres at your leisure, while browsing the show and chatting with fellow collectors and photography lovers.

For those who RSVP before April 15th, entry will be $15 per person; if room is still available after that date, entry will be $20 per person.


Call 505.820.7787 with your credit card to reserve your space today


**EARLY RSVPs ARE ADVISED since entry is limited
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1st Biennial International Photography Invitational


1st Biennial International Photography Invitational

Skotia Gallery is proud to announce our Biennial Photography Invitational. Some of the best contemporary photographers from around the world will be contributing their work to this exhibition – this is an event that you do not want to miss out on!

Award-winning artists from China, India, Peru, UK, Japan, France, Iran, South Africa, Chile, Poland, and the US will be participating in the Invitational. Santa Fe is quickly becoming known around the world not only for its regional art, but as one of the contemporary art epicenters of the country. The Photography Invitational is a celebration of the very best in contemporary international art photography, and we hope that you will join us in what is sure to be one of Santa Fe’s most memorable events of the year. Seventeen artists from thirteen countries have been handpicked from a pool of thousands based on the quality, originality, and over-all distinction of their body of work. For approximately three weeks, Skotia Gallery will be displaying the Invitational exhibition, and we welcome you to stop in and enjoy these beautiful and compelling images.


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Click here to read our fantastic review in the Santa Fe Reporter!


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Raghava KK's TEDTalk! Watch now...



Watch Raghava's CNN Interview:

Crow Moon Grand Re-Opening and Lounge Party

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 Copyright Gabriella Marks | Triggerfinger Photography








We are ready to March Forth into a new year! On Thursday, March 4th from 6 to 8pm, Skotia Gallery threw a party unlike any art opening you’ve experienced in Santa Fe. Some of the most challenging, boldly original work from our artists were featured in a dim, loungy, club-like atmosphere; servers were on hand to serve beer and wine to go along with delicious appetizers. DJ Pablo 77 was spinning, belly dancers performed for the crowd, and an Aerial Fabric performance by Wise Fool blew the audience away.
Rarely-shown pieces from our well-known favorites Geoffrey Laurence and Daniel Sprick, along with new pieces from international emerging artists Raghava KK, Timur Tsaku, and Rodrigo Cifuentes took center stage at this exclusive Grand Re-Opening. Most pieces are still up in the gallery – so if you missed the opening, stop by and take a look!
We are pleased to announce the success of the show: A number of the pieces have already sold – Joshua Suda’s “No. 12” & “Monster”, Rodrigo Cifuentes’ “The Tobe Hooper Case” & “The Cannibal’s Burp”, Timur Tsaku’s “Ballerina”, Daniel Sprick’s “Reclining Nude” & “Skeleton Table”, Ray Turner’s “Concord Bridge”, Raghava KK’s “A Wind of Such Violence” & “The Smile of Iceboxes Annihilates Me”, and Rimi Yang’s “Searching for the Western Moon” have all gone to new homes.
Although the evening was invite only (you had to be on our mailing list to get in), the gallery was packed from wall to wall, upstairs and down. We were very pleased to see that over 120 people who attended the opening were new to Skotia Gallery. If you did not know about the event, please sign up for our newsletters to learn about upcoming events and exclusive invites!
Skotia Gallery is also now on Facebook, so become a fan and learn about exclusive, Facebook-only invites, previews and discounts!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Edible Art Tour at Skotia Gallery

A GREAT TIME FOR A CREATIVE CAUSE Now in its 13th season, ARTfeast is heralded as one of the most inspired reasons for a getaway. The weekend of festivities celebrates the City Different’s world-class chefs and restaurants, an international array of vintners, original designer fashions and unique homes, along with nationally and regionally prominent artists represented by members of the Santa Fe Gallery Association. All of this fun and food helps young people develop the skills needed to creatively respond to life.

Join us at Skotia Gallery on Friday, February 26th 5-8pm
for Edible Art Tour Santa Fe