Jennifer Phillip Slack

Wonderful local artist...gorgeous colors. I finally found this artists website : http://www.jenniferphillipsart.com/>

Ursula von Rydingsvard

Von Rydingsvard�s massive sculptures reveal the trace of the human hand and resemble wooden bowls, tools, and walls that seem to echo the artist's family heritage in pre-industrial Poland before World War II. Having spent her childhood in Nazi slave labor and post-war refugee camps, the artist�s earliest recollections of displacement and subsistence through humble means infuses her work with emotional potency. Von Rydingsvard builds towering cedar structures, creating an intricate network of individual beams, shaped by sharp and lyrical cuts and glued together to form sensuous, puzzle-like surfaces. While abstract at its core, Von Rydingsvard's work takes visual cues from the landscape, the human body, and utilitarian objects—such as the artist�s collection of household vessels—and demonstrates an interest in the point where the man-made meets nature.[my emphasis] - http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/vonrydingsvard/index.html]

http://www.barbarakrakowgallery.com/exhibition/exhibition_details.php/id/1009 ArtNews January 2007

Mark Ryden

I really enjoy Mark Ryden's color palette. The color is very neutral, but not muddy.
I was hoping to see one of his paintings in person at the Roq La Rue 10th Anniversary show, but unfortunately only a small drawing of his was included. I also just learned that he had a solo exhibit at the Frye in 2003 or 2004 - I imagine it was incredible!


http://www.markryden.com

Jeffrey Ripple

From the gallery representing Jeffrey Ripple:

Jeffrey Ripple (b. 1962–) paints exquisitely beautiful and complex still life and landscape compositions that deftly capture the evanescent beauty of nature. Ripple's compositions, usually in oil on paper, sometimes on canvas, range from ambitious orchestrations of quotidian elements, such as flowers, fruit, and glass bottles, to spare, solitary plants or objects.

The artist often sets his elements against a golden-green-colored background with no specific plane or boundary to limit the image. This textured negative space, reminiscent not only of the influences of Chinese and Japanese art but also of the gold leaf backgrounds of medieval and early Renaissance religious painting, imbues the work with spiritual overtones.

Playing mass against void, and light against shadow, Ripple stages his dramatic 'portraits' for maximum impact while retaining the essence of his subjects. This construct, says critic Nancy Grimes, generates the aura of intimacy and religious space present in Ripple's painting.1 In this way, Ripple's paintings, with their meticulously rendered and placed forms; intense palette and edge (made possible by the paper ground); unusual perspectives (the objects are often seen from above); and concentrated realism transcend traditional botanical illustration and move into the realm of the divine.


http://www.hackettfreedman.com

Jean- Francois Millet

Images from : http://www.artrenewal.org

Potatoes

Images from : http://www.bbc.co.uk