January 2012

Our Favorite Things (and People)—Looking at the Best-of-the-Rest artwork selected by guest curator, Joyce Pommer, founder and director of Franklin 54 Gallery + Projects in the Chelsea art district of New York City, we see a month of light, color and people. Unlike the tension of the January 2012 N*des-of-the-Month calendar and the dark polish of the PhotoArt N*de calendar, the Best-of-the-Rest is outward focused, enjoying the world as it presents to our vision.

Fully 21 of the 31 artworks are about people or animals being delightfully who they are. The calendar begins the year with a glorious oil, Tribute to Madam X by David Schulz of Connecticut. The figure stands open and relaxed, a faint smile on her lips, facing the new year with confident expectation. In addition, January includes examples of exuberant happiness: Get Down Penguins! by Hannah Davis, (Brooklyn, NY), Rejoice by Donelli DiMaria (New Mexico), and Rubin by Gil Conradis (Florida). The outward-focused theme is also found in the bright green portrait of Pepo by Tony Lee (Panama), whose Spanish translates (roughly), “The fiery colors of these pets are the delight of any artist. Nice way to immortalize as a token of our affection.” Even the outward appearance of inner peace has a place here as Tracey Padron gives us the lovely color pencil drawing, Dreaming.

Not that it’s all sweetness and light; there are sobriety and other moods. From Jean Marcellino (NYC), we are treated to two impressive formal oil portraits, one severe, Nina, and the other relaxed, Portrait of Sandra Day O’Connor. There are some worried faces, many in oil: The Egyptian Girl by Bruce Erikson (Ohio); Madonna of the Pink Indian by Geoffrey Stein (NYC); Peasant Woman by Chuck Miller, (Texas); and Elin in Cool Light by Alan Appel (Scarsdale, NY). In acrylic, we see Pierre by Paul Rybarczyk of Buffalo, NY. From Jacqueline Sanders (Virginia), we have two sets of multiple worried heads — well-done studies done well, capturing personality and mood, Desi on Friday, and Band of Brothers. In mixed media, we have Cindy I by Darryl King (Florida), and in pastel, African by Taehyub Lee (NYC).

The landscapes of this calendar also seem to be filled with light and color. We see the mysterious watercolor, Forbidden Fruit, by California artist, Ione Citrin; two oils by Robert Nizamov, Balaklava, and Winter, from Moscow, Russia; a photograph, Birds at Sunset by Peter King (New Mexico); and Orchard Beach 2010.09 in color pencil by Jon Rettich (NYC). Jon also gives us a beautifully composed figure study, Maria in Black. Even Calle Melancolia (Melancholy Street) by A. Galban (Florida) is a lively jumble of a cityscape. New York watercolor master painter, Jacqui Morgan, reminds us of our delight in food with Salad & Lace. She also gives us the visually stimulating dual nature landscape with Flamingos with Sky and Water Border.

Perhaps the summation of the Best-of-the-Rest January calendar selected by Ms. Pommer is most appropriately expressed by the art of January 11, 2012, Untitled (Studies of a Break Dancer) a mixed media work by debut calendar artist Philip Gladstone of Maine. Barebrush founder and CEO, Ilene Skeen remarked when the calendar placement was completed:

[Gladstone’s work] says to me in this calendar that when the world seems to be whirling on its head like a spinning top, we don’t want to waste time moaning and groaning, we want to capture the moment and move on....Well done!

Your browser should have “alt” text turned on, to see each title and artist pop up as your cursor moves over the thumbnails on the calendar page. When you click on a thumbnail, you will link to the detail page for that art—the display of the Barebrush provenance, the color/value profile, the descriptive information and the artist’s contact info.

The 31 artists represented in January, 2012, in day order are: 1 David Schulz, 2 Bruce Erikson, 3 Geoffrey Stein, 4 Tony Lee, 5 Darryl King, 6 Jon Rettich, 7 Jean Marcellino, 8 Ione Citrin, 9 Jacqui Morgan, 10 Jacqui Morgan, 11 Philip Gladstone, 12 Jacqueline Saunders, 13 Tracey Padron, 14 Jean Marcellino, 15 Hannah Davis, 16 Donelli J. DiMaria, 17 Taehyub Lee, 18 A. Galban, 19 Chuck Miller, 20 Terry Tayler, 21 Pacifico Palumbo, 22 Malorie Shannon, 23 Paul Rybarczyk, 24 Jon Rettich, 25 Donald Kolberg, 26 Robert Nizamov, 27 Robert Nizamov, 28 Peter King, 29 Gil Conradis, 30 Jacqueline Saunders, 31 Alan Appel.

Each of the artists selected for the calendar receives two (2) complimentary listings for each artwork included in this calendar. Viewers can also vote for “The People's Choice,” a poll which includes all of the art in the calendar. The top three artworks in The People's Choice win one (1) complementary listing for their artists. Winners announced February 1st.

The Barebrush Provenance for each artwork is viewable by clicking on the calendar thumbnail (above) or on the caption under the artwork from each artist’s Barebrush Gallery page. The Barebrush program of retiring artworks which have been selected for three calendars is designed to encourage all artists to show their best new work and keep their online galleries fresh and interesting.

Click here for more about Franklin 54 Gallery

Thank you all for your interest and participation in barebrush.com, dedicated to the art of the world.

Best-of-the-Rest

January 2012

Winners below:

Congratulations all!

Daily Tweet: Follow Ilene Skeen on Twitter and the Nude of the Day comes right to you... every day!

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

Best of the Rest JAN 2012