MARIO ROBINSON’s Savvy Painter Podcast

Listen to MARIO ROBINSON interviewed for Savvy Painter Podcast HERE

Mario Robinson

June 4, 2015

Mario’s work fits squarely within the tradition of American painting. His paintings contain few references to modern life which gives them a timeless and universal quality. The subjects he chooses refer to a bygone era where solitude and reflection were abundant, also provoke frequent allusions to the watercolors of Winslow Homer.

Mario Andres Robinson is an Exhibiting Artist Member of The National Arts Club, The Salmagundi Club, NY and a Signature member of The Pastel Society of America. He is considered a Living Master by The Art Renewal Center. His work has been featured several times in The Artist’s Magazine, The Pastel Journal, Watercolor Magic, Fine Art Connoisseur, American Art Collector and on the cover of American Artist magazine. In the February 2006 issue of The Artist’s Magazine, Mario was selected as one of the top 20 realists under the age of 40. In 2014, Robinson was appointed Brand Ambassador for Winsor & Newton.

In this episode, Mario and I talk about his how an elementary school teacher noticed his artistic talents and took him under her wing. You’ll hear me get completely fascinated by a portrait he made of Spike Lee, his time in the Army and how that sort of separated him from other students at Pratt University. Mario was absolutely intent on being an artist, hell tell you all about how that pushed him to excellence, and drove him to be bold in asking for what he needs.

‘Lexie’

‘tougaloo relic’

‘sixteen broad street’

‘transition’

Contact Morton Fine Art for available paintings by MARIO ANDRES ROBINSON.

http://www.mortonfineart.com

mortonfineart@gmail.com, (202) 628-2787

Morton Fine Art, 1781 Florida Ave NW, Washington, DC 20009

 

WRESTLING WITH ANGELS, New Work by Kesha Bruce

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

For nearly a decade, Kesha Bruce has addressed issues surrounding African-American identity and spirituality in her work. The paintings on paper in her Wrestling with Angels series hint at an even deeper and more direct vein of inquiry into the nature of spiritual struggle in immediate confrontation with the contemporary world.

Inspired by the biblical story of Jacob wrestling with the angel, the 14 artworks depict two figures, of indistinguishable gender, who seem to be engaged in either an intimate dance or a violent struggle. In one work, a nearly transparent and elegantly rendered figure draws the second into a passionate embrace; while in another image, an ominous, imposing figure seems on the verge of striking a fatal blow.

With Bruce’s attention shifting more towards the exploration of contemporary spirituality, not surprisingly, the imagery in Wrestling with Angels has become more abstract. Each work is more an evocation of a psychological state than an illustration of a biblical narrative.

In stark contrast to Bruce’s past work, which combined photography, collage and text elements, these new works show real evidence of both the artist’s hand and personal impulses- intricate patterning and ornamentation collide with zones of chaotic brushwork; fluid washes of color overlap areas of stark linear mark-making, and even the paper itself literally buckles under the weight of the frenzied movement. The end result is a compelling synthesis of color and gesture, deeply informed by narrative, allegory and spirituality.

Wrestling With Angels will be up at Morton Fine Art through January 2nd, 2012

Deception in American Contemporary Art Magazine!

Stop by and see the show, the work will be up until June 12th.

Spring Blossom, oil on canvas, 72″x54″

Rosemary Feit Covey & Laurel Hausler – American Contemporary Art

New Ad for “Excavate” in the Feb/April edition of American Contemporary Art magazine. Stop by and see the show!

Get to know artist BILLY COLBERT

Take a peek at this informative video on MFA artist Billy Colbert as he discusses the inspiration for his amazing mixed media works.

 

Introducing MFA Artist BILLY COLBERT

Billy Colbert's 'Watching Something Happen When You Know You Should Stop It'

Billy Colbert has exhibited all over the country. His most notable solo exhibitions have been museum shows at the African American Museum in Dallas, Texas and the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art in Wilmington, Delaware. Colbert has used popular culture, personal experiences and cultural leveraging to serve as narrative for his 2D and 3D mixed media works.  A few of his public collections include the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the National Academy of Sciences, Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas and The African American Museum in Dallas, Texas. His work is in numerous private collections including noted actor, Jeffery Wright, prominent art collector and former NBA player and Coach, Darrell Walker.
In 1999 Colbert won the Mixed Media Purchase Prize and was chosen Best in Show at the Carroll Harris Simms National Black Art Exhibition at the African American Museum in Dallas, Texas. The show was curated by the late artist and Mac Authur  Fellow, John T.Scott.
Colbert works and resides in Washington, D.C.. He received his MFA in painting from the University of Delaware in 2000, where he was a Presidential Fellow.

American Contemporary Art, Hadieh Shafie & Art in DC

American Contemporary Art

May 2011
Letter from Washington, DC
by F. Lennox Campello

Around the District, artist Hadieh Shafie is on a good streak right now. To start, Bruce Helander, Editor-in-Chief of The Art Economist and a White House Fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts, recently picked ten artists to watch in an article for The Huffington Post and Hadieh Shafie was one of the chosen ten. Shafie is currently also nominated for the London’s Victoria & Albert Museum’s prestigious Jameel Prize 2011. She recently received the Franz Bader Award in the DC region. Finally, this talented artist’s solo exhibition titled The Sweet Turning of the Page, is currently on exhibition at Morton Fine Art (1781 Florida Ave, NW at 18th & U Street in DC) through June 3. This Iranian-born artist says that a constant element of her work has been “the significance of process, repetition and time all rooted in the influence of Islamic art & craft.” Her ink and paper paintings are the end result of tightly scrolled and brightly colored rolls of paper which often hide hand-written text by the artist. While one is initially tempted to associate her work with Op-Art, Hadieh’s intelligent and coherent marriage of pure color with a deeply personal cultural branding, pushes her artwork beyond the pure eye candy of that mode and begins to explore the process of adding a new contemporary dialogue to what can be lossely described as Islamic-influenced art. There’s something powerful in these works — the tightly coiled colored rolls hide words, much like women in the tightly coiled world of many Islamic nations are forced to hide their words and opinions, especially in the brutal theocracy of her native Iran. There’s an Orwellian aspect to these works with a touch of Washington Color School that makes them deliver an unique perspective to the spectacular artistic diversity of the nation’s capital. It is no accident that Hadieh’s works have come to national prominence originating from the DMV…
Continued on the following website: http://www.acamagazine.com/