In the Mood of Matisse – Afterglow

 

In The Mood of Matisse 04/04/2014

Matisse would have been proud of his namesake event that took place at the gallery on the 4^th of April 2014. Bill Lowe Gallery hosted an exhilarating evening reception that showcased the work of Parisian painter Pierre-Marie Brisson in his southern debut.  The whimsically named event, “In the Mood of Matisse,” was a kinetic interaction of the multi-faceted crowd punctuated by colorful conversations that seemed to reflect the jubilation of Brisson’s vibrant figurative and organic patterns.  The diverse crowd savored exceptional food and wine as they were enchanted by the artist’s explanation of his work and his world, which centers in the South of France.

In the words of Goethe, “Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking.” Gallery patrons inspected the meticulously crafted archaeology of Brisson’s work, only to stand in awe moments later once they comprehended the history that informed his work.  It was at this point that Brisson would connect with them and explain his inspiration behind the work.  He took great joy in learning from his admirers what they thought of the paintings, and what it meant to them.

World renowned art critic, Donald Kuspit, commetnts that “Brisson’s works have a certain classical calm and completeness even as they are informed by a modernist aesthetic. Brisson has roots in both the French decorative tradition, with what might be called its grand sensuous manner, and in modernist Primitivism, with its aggressive emotionality and forthright expressiveness.”  He goes on to say, “Brisson’s dancers are not Degas’ “little rats” nor Matisse’s naked “rustics,” not vulgar urban dancers struggling to be theatrically suave, nor percussive and perverse Stravinsky-like orgiasts; but rather figures who are not entirely at home in their white dresses – suggesting their purity and innocence – nor in their naked flesh, for they have been “corrupted,” as it were by Western ideal of dance art.”

Brisson combines various elements of life, which we have all observed in different moments. Yet, except through his art, never before have they been experienced at a single instant and place. His motifs imbue the awesomeness of the natural world and the unfinished continuum of human history, continuing to unfold.  With their well-aged patina and Mediterranean glow, Brisson’s works are reminiscent of the fresh, early frescos from Pompeii and offer viewers a site of visual pleasure, existing across time.  The harmony and vision of Brisson’s work continues to transcend modes of contemporary culture while carrying the air of  an old world aesthetic.  A master of unearthing the primordial instincts of freedom and expression, Brisson’s work will continue to fascinate and delight the fancy in all of us and grant reverence to the human spirit.  Atlanta’s euphoric embrace of Brisson’s “In the Mood of Matisse” underscored the Southern sensibility of his work as it forged a unique bridge between  the classic and the contemporary.

Kevin Archer’s Enigmatic Undulations of Color

“My paintings invite viewers to imaginatively participate; like looking at the clouds and seeing the head of a lion,” says Kevin Archer of his abstract paintings – better described as freeze frame images of moving paint.

Kevin Archer – Untitled, Acrylic on Canvas 52″x95″

Archer creates his master pieces via the exploration of liquid animation, quintessentially a process of manipulating wet paint into more wet paint. His canvases are a saturation of colors that intertwine with one another rhythmically; the actively flying and floating biomorphic forms are suggestive of human, animal, and microcosmic shapes. They are busy colliding, overlapping, and engaging each other in an imaginary landscape space, frozen in a moment of time.

Perhaps, the biggest draw to Archer’s paintings is the multiple detailed vignettes that come into play when one takes a closer look at each of his creations. Consequently, welcoming the viewer to experience the dynamic aspects of the work – the paintings also encourage engagement, making them an interactive visual coalesce.  Due to the purely abstract nature of his work, the viewer’s experience of the piece is constantly changing; this unique dialogue between the admirer and the canvas can be rightfully termed as ephemeral. The paintings can be experienced as meditations in color, form, and energy, as well as compositional arrangements of suggestive imagery. The imagery in the paintings invites an imaginative participation, a moment in which the viewer is propelled into a cosmic ultra-world of color. In essence Archer’s work serves as an oxymoronic experience – the paintings represent a freeze frame of a moment in time; however the viewer’s experience is anything but static.

Archer has taken time to master his process of creation. According to Bill Lowe, “Archer’s work has a universal appeal; his luxurious application of paint creates enigmatic undulations of color on the canvas and almost always lures the admirer in for a closer look.” Bill Lowe Gallery has proudly showcased his work for more than a year, and we are excited for our patrons to experience his work once more as it will be exhibited alongside Pierre-Marie Brisson’s on the 4^th of April 2014.

Pierre Marie Brisson – In the Mood of Matisse 04/04/14

Parisian Painter Pierre-Marie Brisson Channels the “Mood of Matisse” to Southern Sensibilities with Atlanta Debut on 04-04-14 at Bill Lowe Gallery

Pierre Marie Brisson – Welcome, Mixed Media on Canvas 59×69″

Bill Lowe Gallery is proud to present a breathtaking compilation of new works by internationally-acclaimed French painter Pierre-Marie Brisson.  Brisson’s southern debut follows the smashing success of his shows in San Francisco and New York and opens on Friday, 04-04-14, from 6PM to 9 PM.

Pierre-Marie Brisson was born in Orleans, France in 1955, and works out of his studio in the South of France. Brisson was initially intrigued by art at the tender age of fourteen.  Though he worked in a variety of non art positions, he eventually devoted his life to his passion for contemporary art.  Brisson studied with painter Bernard Saby during his teenage years, and then settled in Paris in 1979 to study with James Coignard, Antoni Clave, Joan Miro, and Antoni Tapies. These influences are apparent in his painting style, which is often compared to cave painting.

The simplicity of the images used are intended to contrast with the textured elements in his work, to give the impression of being both timeless as well as chic and current. Brisson’s work is held in the private collections of the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale Jewish Museum, New York’s George Page Museum, Paris’ Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris Musee de la Poste, Paris Pushkin Museum, Moscow’s Musee Faure, haute couture Paris Groupe Cartier, and the Argentina Musee de L’Hospice Saint-Roch, among many others.

Prominent gallerist Bill Lowe of Bill Lowe Gallery comments that “Brisson’s works capture the imagination of an immense audience that is inspired by their aura of European art history conveyed with an invigorated freshness.  The works possess a uniformly exquisite topography or surface development that underscores the classical lineage of the imagery in these icons to love and a joie de vivre.”

Atlanta Art Community’s Watershed Moment

Left to Right: Gail O’Neil, Richard Powell, Bill Lowe, Micheal David, Jeffery Pacilpan and Kelin Perry

A watershed moment in Atlanta’s cultural evolution took place in our gallery this past Friday night.   Over 1200 energized and passionate art patrons packed our Midtown gallery for the opening of our new exhibition featuring almost two dozen local artists from the Fine Arts Atelier.  This substantive and diverse audience made manifest Bill Lowe Gallery’s 25-year commitment to popularizing and democratizing the visual arts in American culture. When we opened in 1989 our mandate was to make the experience of art which expanded human consciousness accessible to anyone and everyone who had an interest; Friday night was another actualization of that vision and a further sign of Atlanta’s cultural vitality.

The gallery was a kinetic confluence of the most diverse and interactive crowd of art enthusiasts ever assembled in a commercial gallery in the city.  Actively represented were cultural institutions ranging from the Hammonds House Museum to the Fine Arts Atelier, Tin Wood Media, the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, the High Museum of Art, the Carlos Museum and more.  All merged in a euphoric embrace of a whole new generation of local artists, many making their debut; others were featured in return engagements.  They were coupled with selected works by a brilliant configuration of international titans from Egypt, Portugal, Peru, Morocco, South Korea, Italy, Canada, Nigeria – and all over the United States.

In recent years, a kind of lethargy had swept over the arts community across the world.  Fueled in large part by the Great Recession, but informed by the dilution of any real cultural focus by hyper-stimulation from digital technologies, the overarching trend was toward a dehumanization of artistic expression in the visual arts.  But that cycle has now ended.  More recently, a succession of remarkable bits of news has invigorated our community and the South as a whole.  The city’s selections as the “Best City in America for Artists” infused the entire arts community with an immense pride in our shared efforts to make Atlanta worthy of its status at the “Capital of the South”.  There is now no better place in our country for artists than Atlanta!

Atlanta, the largest city in North America ever totally destroyed by war, has arisen from its ashes.  With fervor and conviction we have arduously fought to overcome the burden of our history.  What has been forged in place is a transmutation that fueled the greatest contributions to civil and human rights in the world, a global transportation hub, the launch of the first global communications network, the aggregation of music and film industries and the first true cultural epicenter the South has ever seen. Our gallery, and many others arts organizations, have spent decades co-creating what I have described as “An American Renaissance”.

Karen Schwartz – Red Leg

We have long touted ourselves as the “Black Mecca” in the United States. Yet, until only recently, there was a stark divide in cultural interaction between the various ethnic communities in Atlanta’s growing arts community.  Our gallery made a declaration of intention years ago; we titled it “Commence: A Philosophical Détente”.  Its intention is to blur the lines between race, gender, sexual persuasion, religious creed and color.  In the past many years – in the interest of “cultural cross-pollination”, we have introduced artists from around the globe to the American market and, in turn, introduced the world to a host of American artists from across the country.  Friday night was a testament to the success of this initiative.  Visitors from around the world commented that they had never seen so many people so excited about art in a gallery anywhere they had ever traveled.

My staff and I are gratified to see such a kaleidoscopic array of remarkably informed patrons and supporters of the arts.  We are proud that so many in our community “stood ground for the arts” and kept forging ahead in spite of immense obstacles.  The breadth and scope of the artistic offering supported by Atlantans represents the “flesh and bones of a new culture”.  In contrast to world centers where art has become ironic, satirical and narcissistic, the vocabularies that engender heartfelt responses here address themes that are universal and eternal.  Atlanta is a renewed cultural capital.   Our region’s historic predisposition to an embrace of the natural world – and our relationship to it – has lent a rich new array of languages to the unfolding conversation.  These have acted as a grounding force in artistic discourse.

Bill Lowe Gallery Features 20 Artists from Atlanta’s Fine Arts Atelier

Bill Lowe Gallery is proud to showcase a stellar array of new works by artists from the Fine Arts Atelier. Included in the exhibition are artists Barbara Brenner, Karen Schwartz, Ellen DeLoach, Brenda Rehrig, Jeffrey Paclipan, Susan Moreno, Richard Diedrich, Kelin Perry and Susan Grill Joss, among others. The show opens on Friday, February 21st, from 6 until 9 PM.

Fine Arts Atelier, more commonly known as FAWS, provides classes, individual instruction, studio space, and a range of artist services designed to inspire and support artists in developing and strengthening their work. The original concept for this program was based on the Black Mountain School in North Carolina, where artists were taught by artists and worked in groups to gain, grow and hone their individual voice. Michael David launched this program and has been amazed at the pace at which it has grown, not only as a learning and teaching community, but as a family as well. According to Michael David, “it’s corny, but the Atelier is like family; sometimes we argue and sometimes we make mistakes, I am closer to some of the members than others.”

Michael David spends a great deal of time with every artist and is determined to bring out the best in each one of them. Ellen DeLoach has been a FAWS member since 2011 and she describes her immersion within a group of artists who are learning and passionate about art as “eye-opening.” DeLoach never had a formal education in art but, according to her, she feels like she is working on a Masters in Fine Art when being mentored by Michael David.

Another highly acclaimed artist, Barbara Brenner, recalls being “so excited that my hands started to shake” when she first learned of an encaustic workshop David hosted in Atlanta back in 2010. Flash forward to 2014 and her soulfully luminous encaustic panels are stopping gallery-goers in their tracks with an honesty and rawness that completely belie Brenner’s long tenure in corporate advertising at The Coca-Cola Company. The overwhelming success of her exhibition last season at Lowe Gallery has prompted Bill Lowe to schedule a second one-person show for the Fall of 2014.

According to Bill Lowe, “the FAWS show promises to be an astounding one, the accumulation of all these powerful artists in one space will without a doubt entrance the gallery’s patrons.” So bring friends, mingle with the artists, enjoy some good food and wine, and more than an anything take in the extraordinary artwork! The event is free to attend, and is a great way for the community to become involved in the thriving Atlanta art scene.

Bill Lowe Gallery has been recognized for a quarter-century as the South’s pre-eminent contemporary gallery. It is widely acclaimed for the depth and scope of its program, curatorial excellence, and concentration on content-driven work by artists with an advanced technical mastery of their media. The philosophical architecture of Bill Lowe Gallery is built upon a reverence for the alchemical nature of artistic expression. The gallery honors the profoundly spiritual nature of visual language and the role it can play in affecting paradigm shifts at both a personal and societal level.