New Mexican Man-Made Cave Migrates to NYC Exhibit
NEW GENERATION OF ANCIENTWORKS IN SANTA FE!
During November and December, I am pleased to be showing work at the Art On Barcelona gallery in Santa Fe with my fellow artist, Ken Horst. His contemporary but primitive tribal wood carvings are a complement to my AncientWorks series—a collection inspired by the art of ancient and prehistoric peoples throughout the world.
Beginning in 1990, I began creating thematic composites of petroglyphs, paintings, pottery and sculpture for silk screened “arT-shirts”—and a related line of jewelry—to market in craft shows. Later, adding backgrounds for several of the designs, I created a new gallery series for an exhibition in New York City. For Timeless Treasures in Santa Fe, I chose to re-render twelve of the most popular designs— once again giving new life to those ancient works.
TIMELESS TREASURES: Primitive Art of Now and Long Ago
November/December 2018
Reception November 18 1:00-3:00 pm
Art On Barcelona, Santa Fe, NM
Creating Abstraction for New Exhibit in NYC
Exhibiting my work at Gallery35 in NYC has always challenged me to grow as an artist. Form & Formless—an exhibit meant to contrast work which is totally figurative, totally nonrepresentational, and all degrees between—inspired me to continue to stretch my ability to work abstractly. Using the magical tools of the digital media, I chose southwest imagery of a chile ristra, a coyote and a skull, transforming them with texture and color into subjects that are still recognizable but far from realistic.
I will be joined by 14 artists in this group show and am excited to be able to attend the Closing Reception during my annual trip east.
FORM & FORMLESS
May 5 – June 9, 2018
Artists’ Reception: May 12 6-8 pm
Closing Reception: June 9 6-8pm
Gallery35
30 E 35th Street
New York, NY 10016
New Series Launched—”Women of the Old West”
I have continued to use my new technique of combining sketchbook drawings with digital imagery (described in my previous post) for an entirely new series, Women of the Old West. I again began by hand-drawing the images of three women—this time using historical photos as references— using pencil and paper. The sketches of these women, who were actual cowgirls in bygone times, were been coupled with stylized, manipulated photos of real places I snapped in and around Santa Fe and Cerrillos, NM. Only the women’s clothing (and horse) are opaque, allowing the backgrounds to be blended with the rest of the drawings.
I plan to add two more trios of women—Native Americans and Early Settlers— to complete the entire “Women of the Old West” series. I will post each as it is completed. Watch for them!.
New Style for RED Exhibit in New York City!
i-r: Reflections in Red, Viewpoints in Red
Gallery35’s newest exhibit, RED, celebrates a color long treasured by artists!
From the Venetian masters Titian and Tintoretto to van Gogh, who blended it into many shades in dozens of paintings, artists sought out the properties of Mexican red, which is extracted from the tiny cochineal insect, a small parasite that feeds on the prickly pear cactus. Carmine, van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo in 1885, using another name for cochineal, is the “red of wine and is warm and lively like wine.”—from Elisabeth Malkin’s article, “An Insect’s Colorful Gift, Treasured by Kings and Artists”, NY Times, Nov. 27, 2017
For this exhibit, I decided to depart from my usual technique of compositing, filtering and blending my photographs and instead created freehand drawings the old-fashioned way in a sketchbook. I then digitized these pencil drawings creating special artistic line effects and digitally painted the shapes a vibrant red! Reflections in Red is collection of sketches of Southwestern rock stars found in Bryce Canyon, Monument Valley and Arches National Park. For Viewpoints in Red, Viewpoints in Red was created using my drawings from four different angles of San Francisco de Asis, in Rancho de Taos, New Mexico, whose dramatic adobe buttesses make it one of the most photographed churches in the world.
Please stop by and see these pieces—and the work of 18 other artists all featuring various degrees of this wonderfully warm redness!
RED
January 14 – March 2, 2018
Artists’ Reception: Feb 2 6-8pm
Closing Reception: March 2 6-8pm
Gallery35 At Community
30 E 35th Street
New York, NY 10016
Summer in the City—Posters Take Front Stage!
Creating posters for cultural events has long been among my favorite projects! Now more than a dozen of my art exhibition posters are prominently displayed in Gallery35‘s first-ever summer pop-up show in New York City (www.gallery35nyc.com).
The posters hanging this summer were originally housed in a window as part of the gallery signage, announcing each of the 5-6 exhibits offered each season. After being taken down and stored, the posters are once again seeing the light of day. They colorfully illustrate the wide range of themes of the many art shows presented by the gallery, which has been operating as an artist collective since 2004.
Over the years I have also designed posters and other promotional materials largely for theater productions and band concerts—many of which can be viewed in both the fine arts and graphic arts portfolios on this website.
Bringing My Vision to ACROSS THE DIGITAL SPECTRUM
ACROSS THE DIGITAL SPECTRUM: 4 Artists—4 Visions
March 1 to April 30
Artists’ Reception March 23rd 5-7pm
Diversity among artists using digital media to make art is showcased in this new exhibit for which I have joined three accomplished Santa Fe artists—Karen Waters, KiP Walker and Taylor Oliver. We have put together a combined body of work which juxtaposes bright vivid colors with subdued earth tones, realism with pure abstraction.
Layoring and blending photographic images is a technique shared by Karen Waters, KiP Walker and I—but with very different outcomes. Waters adds texture to her realistic photographs while Walker’s technique creates totally non-identifiable abstractions; I composite images to create abstract realism. Taylor Oliver, on the other hand, uses the camera to convert realism into abstraction, without employing digital manipulation except for color enhancements.
Specifically I am showing 8 pieces all of which have been seen in NYC but only two in Santa Fe. I hope my local friends will stop by to meet all of the artists and to see this unique show. You will not be disappointed!
ART on BARCELONA, Unitarian-Universalist Congregation of Santa Fe, 107 W Barcelona, Santa Fe, NM
Contact art@vgasman.com for more information.
Horses on the Rocks: Sketches Create the Movement!
For quite some time I have been creating artwork by almost exclusively transforming simple shapshots via the creative use of digital art tools that include compositing, blending and filtering, finding this process highly serendipitous and satisfying. In a departure, my newest series “Horses on the Rocks” features some elements first rendered the “old-fashioned way” as hand sketches on paper—very appropriate for inclusion in a current exhibit titled Works on Paper! The pencil sketches of the horses in motion were scanned into the computer, re-drawn using a pen tool which creates very clean lines, silhouetted, and finally blended with photographs of striking clouds and dramatic rock formations including Tent Rocks and Chimney Rock in New Mexico and the red rocks of Sedona, AZ. The fantasy manes and tails were drawn totally electronically and added to the mix.
I am pleased to show these new works at Gallery35 in New York City, in a group show with 12 other artists, all members of the collective.
Works On Paper: Dec 4, 2016 – Jan 28, 2017
Artists’ Reception: December 10th, 6-8 pm
Gallery35: 30 E 35th Street, NYC
Wish You Were Here…A Group Show in Santa Fe
My digital painting, Embracing the Unknown, was recently featured with the work of 50 other Santa Fean artists in a new exhibition sponsored by The City of Santa Fe Arts Commission. “Wish You Were Here” opened on Friday, November 4, 2017 and will run through December 4th at the Santa Fe Community Gallery.
Originally created for a self-portrait show this fall at Gallery35 in NYC, the work depicts my shadow with outstretched hands cast on the walls of a slot canyon at Tent Rocks, NM—a metaphor for all the life-changing decisions I have made despite uncertain outcomes.
The piece also directly relates to the theme of this show. Artists were asked to submit work which answers the question: “When a visitor comes to Santa Fe, what is the one thing they must experience?” Since most of my Santa Fe inspired art had very recently been exhibited just blocks away in a month long solo exhibit at the Tybie Satin Davis Gallery, I chose to show this piece which was not a part of that exhibit. Tent Rocks is a popular destination for visitors and residents of Santa Fe. The unique tent-shaped rocks coupled with dramatic slot canyons are an artist’s paradise!
Wish You Were Here
November 4 – December 4, 2016.
Santa Fe Community Gallery
201 W Marcy Street, Santa Fe NM
Showcasing The Southwest — And Digital Art!
ICONS OF THE SOUTHWEST: Santa Fe & Beyond
Upstairs Gallery 145 Washington Ave, Santa Fe NM
October 1-31, 2016
Meet the Artist October 6, 5-7pm
In an “Upstairs Gallery” more than 30 of my fanciful montages can be viewed at The Santa Fe Public Library for the entire month of October!
Snapshots I have taken in Santa Fe and such nearby locations as Madrid, Taos, and Cerrillos have morphed into much more than they were originally. Subjects include the wonderful southwest architecture, iconic animals, people past and present and colorful desert blooms.
My desire is that this solo art exhibit will help to draw attention to the limitless potential of the digital media and that someday art “that comes out of a computer” will be as valued as work rendered using more traditional media. This is not some sort of mysterious, coded art. I am just as directly involved in the creative process as if I were painting on a canvas!
By The Horns, 16×20 An Unlikely Trio, 16×20 Flaming Cholla, 16×20
virginia asman • illuminage studio 