Peter Rotter

After The Storm 48×60, 2012

Spring Greens, 36 x 36, 2013

Whale Island 36×60 Oil on Canvas

Winter Forest, 36 x 60, 2012

Winter Sunset, 36 x 60, 2013

And now we turn 180 degrees from abstract conceptualism to that most traditional of forms, the landscape painting. In this field it is not always easy to pick out the excellent from the merely good. But to me Peter Rotter's work stands out from the very very crowded field. His technique combines impressionist brushwork with a photographic and sometimes even graphic sensibility. The simplicity of his compositions accentuates the strengths of his technique and the brushwork is clearly apparent even in these low resolution digital images. The paint is used to depict both the edges of physical forms and the shifting hues of light with equal and naturalistic ease. The overall effect is a powerful evocation of the northern landscapes of Ontario where the artist lives and works.
You can see more at his website: www.peterrotter.com
And he'll be having a solo show opening March 22 in Wellington, Ontario at Studi House PEC.

Michael Paul Miller

"Steeple"
2013 - Oil on Canvas - 24 x 20

"Wake"
2013 - Oil on Canvas - 47 x 72

"Wave"
2012 - Oil on Canvas - 30 x 24

"With Teeth (elder no. 1)"
2011 - Oil on Canvas - 8 x 8

"With Teeth" (gridded 16)
Oil on Canvas - 8 x 8 each

Michael Paul Miller is an artist of the times, obsessed with the dark side of human nature and existence, depicting in detailed fascination images of destruction and chaos, both literal and allegorical. Our culture has embraced post-apocalyptic imagery like never before, not because we believe some sudden cataclysmic event is imminent but because we suspect that we are living within such an event even now, and it is us. The imagery provided by this obsession is about how we exist in such a world, what it means to survive when the very nature of survival is changing. And, of course, there is the constant reminder that we may not. The "Momento Mori" tradition in western art (literally, "remember you will die") goes straight back to the classical era of ancient Greece and Rome but it takes on a new urgency when the implications of it are not just for us as individuals, but also for us as a species. In the face of certain mortality however, we still manage to find beauty, and in even in the grimmest depictions of disaster there is something in the human spirit that responds with a visceral thrill. This strange contradictory nature of our being is the heart of what Michael Paul Miller is attempting to get at. Looking back through the work on his website you can see that it has evolved, developing and distilling his ideas and dark obsessions into works of stark and disturbing beauty.
You can see more at his website: www.mpmart.net
His work can be seen in person in Portland, Oregon at Laura Russo Gallery
or in New York city at Denise Bibro Fine Art
He currently has work on display at the Fairbanks Gallery on the campus of Oregon State University

Fabian Jean

"The Idealist's Horse"

"Last Arcadian Horse"  24" x30"  2013

"Lifeboat"  17" x30"  2013

"The Speed of Ideas"  20" x 23 3/4"  2013

"Waitress on Break"

I posted some of Fabian Jean's paintings a little over a year ago and I don't have a whole lot to add to what I said before (here). But I can't resist adding these new pieces. His work is formal, traditional, finely crafted and surprisingly alive. All too often such careful rendering and rigid compositions can result in work that fails to evoke much of anything other than recognition of the effort that went into it. But here the work radiates a quiet glow. They breathe in a way that invites the viewer into a conversation with the piece like meeting a new person who just might also be a new friend. His propensity for stylized elements that I remarked upon in my previous post has largely been abandoned. But his work continues to exhibit the same carefully choreographed theatrical feel, not in a grand or showy sense, but in a way that quietly and exquisitely renders the drama of a single image, a single moment, or a single idea.

His work can be seen in person or online at galleries in Toronto (Mira Goddard Gallery) and Montreal (Galerie de Bellefeuille) and you can see many more of his paintings at his Flickr page.

(My apologies for the long delay between posts. I had settled on posting twice a week before my interruption due to attending an art residency program. I'm not certain at what rate I will continue to post as my circumstance at home are altering slightly but I will make every effort to post new work at least once a week and hopefully twice a week as often as possible)

David Molesky

from the series "Owlpocalypse"  6" x 6"  2013

from the series "Owlpocalypse"  6" x 6"  2013

from the series "Owlpocalypse"  6" x 6"  2013

"Polar Weasel"  oil on panel  11" x 14"  2013

David molesky apparently has some big things in the works that I'm looking forward to seeing. But for now I'd like to share some small things he just finished. His series of 50 small owl paintings is subtitled in at least one place "Owls and Flame: Sentinels aloft in a warming world". It's clear that the artist has an affinity for the natural world and a deep concern for the crisis of global climate change (In case you question my choice of the word crisis, just wait). With ever increasing forest fires in the west of North America these images look less like apocalyptic warning and more and more like a response to current events. Either way, the artist creates compelling images through sumptuous brushwork. Whether he's painting flames and billowing smoke, or steam pluming from a geyser or curling waves and foaming spume at the ocean shore, he has a gift for suggesting the movement, surging energy and chaotic power of nature. That power is now shifting, altering in ways we cannot fully predict or control. We are almost certainly responsible, but we are not the only ones who will suffer the consequences.
I first posted some of his work in January, 2011.
To see more work visit his website: davidmolesky.com
Or checkout (and like) his Facebook page.
For a little while you can see a few more owls here. They are currently on display in Pacifica, California at the Sanchez Art Center.

Dina Brodsky

"Vacant"  oil on mylar on plexiglass  8x8 inches

"Living Room"  oil on mylar  6x11 inches

"Off Northern Boulevard"  oil on mylar  8x8 inches

"Golden" oil on mylar on plexiglass  8x8 inches

"Trading Post"  oil on mylar  8x8 inches

Dina Brodsky works small. I could easily imagine these paintings large, overwhelming the viewer with their brooding atmosphere of abandonment and decay. But no. They're small. Very small. Sometimes small works get short shrift in the gallery scene. Large crowds cannot gather before a tiny painting and collectively murmur their emotional responses. No. Each individual must wait his or her turn to approach the piece and experience it alone, often leaning forward slightly, perhaps squinting, as if peering into a tiny window on another world that, for a moment anyway, only they can see. How does this effect the kind of vision that Dina Brodsky presents? I can only guess having never seen the work in person. But I like small works. I like that intimacy, the personal connection small finely crafted work demands. These are worlds I want to peer into. They echo those intimate lonely parts within my own heart. Doesn't everyone have a bit of that inside them? That's what these paintings are for. To recognize that part within you that is not only lonely, but defiantly so; that part within us all that no one else can ever quite reach but helps define who we are. I look at these paintings and I can hear the crows cawing and feel the November chill. And to me they seem inviting.

Her website is alas no more. Her galleries have only older or very limited work to view:
Artana Gallery and  Mark Miller Gallery
The best way to see more right now appears to be on her Facebook page or you can see all her work from this year on a temporary(?) wordpress page dinabrodsky.wordpress.com

Elsa Muñoz

"Controlled Burn 1"  oil on panel  24" x 50"  2012

"Controlled Burn 2"  oil on panel  24" x 55"  2012

"Night Shore 1"  oil on panel  60" x40"  2012

"Burning Branch"  oil on panel  24" x 36"  2010

"At The Table"  oil on panel  20" x 25.5"  2011

The dark plays a prominent role in the finely crafted work of the young Chicago artist Elsa Muñoz. Not that all her paintings are night scenes or of dimly lit rooms, but there is almost always as much hidden as there is revealed. This is sometimes the case literally, as in her nearly horizonless night shore paintings, and sometimes figuratively, as in her still life of a burning branch upon a table in which no clues or details are offered to elucidate the inherent mystery. In "At The Table" both aspects are on display as the daylight coming through the nearby window illuminates just a small fragment of the seated figure leaving both her physical features and her emotional context in doubt. In her "Controlled Burn" paintings the fire, which we usually associate with light, is instead a source of smoke and haze, concealing rather than revealing the forest. It is this constant tension between the revealed and the hidden, between description and suggestion, that lends her work an emotionally powerful sense of drama.
You can see more online at her website: elsamunoz.com
and at Zygman Voss Gallery in Chicago.

Bill Frederick

"Two Lane Highway"  ink and watercolor  30" x 55.5"

"Beach and Vapor Trail"  watercolor  19.5" x 31"

"Migrating bird"  ink on paper  25" x 40"

"W.T.'s Gas for Less"  ink on paper  25" x 40"

"Sinking Ship"  ink on paper  13.25" x 25"

Photo realism is usually not my cup of tea as the saying goes. I prefer the artifice in art to be apparent, not disguised. But that is a big part of what makes Bill Frederick's work so astounding. While it may not be obvious from these digital images, the originals disguise nothing of the medium. Up close they are almost gestural with rich washes and broad confident brush work. The details only serve to snap the image together and create the illusion of photographic realism at a distance. Beyond that he has a terrific eye for composition, lighting and drama. While many of his scenes are of the most mundane moments, views from a car window, a random glance down a city sidewalk, etc., he is nonetheless able to capture something of those fleeting moments that strike us in some peculiar but meaningful way, but which we all too quickly flush out of our short term memory. The sinking ship above is an obvious exception. This is certainly not the kind of ordinary scene one might see just any old day. It is a moment of innately heightened drama. But the fact that his other scenes, objectively so ordinary, wield the same kind of cinematic impact speaks volumes about the power of his painting.
You can see more at his website: williamlewisfrederick.com
and there's more online or in person at Zg Gallery in Chicago.

Tom Parish

"Osteria"  66" x 72"

"La Porta Verso La Luce"  60"x72"  2009

"Wait Here"  66" x 78"  2007

"Doppo Mezzanotte"  68" x 72"  2006

"Notta Serena"  66" x 72"  2009

I've never been to Venice. Until now.
Tom Parish was born in Minnesota with an English name from French and Finnish parents but his heart belongs to Venice, Italy. He's been painting scenes from his beloved city for a decade. He's captured the place in many moods from bright sunlit days to cool quiet nights. He seems to look especially for those hidden corners that all cities possess, those small places where one can imagine that the crowds simply cease to exist. There is a kind of emotional magic in those urban spaces where one can feel alone with the massive built environment that surrounds you. How much more powerful that feeling must be in a place as old and surreal as Venice. But his paintings include moments with people as well. Again they're quiet moments, not trying to depict the hectic pulse at the heart of any city but the simple moments of individuals in their daily routines. Looking through these paintings is likely to make you put Venice on the top of your list of places you must someday see.

To see more online you can check out the gallery through the link above or look through the artist's website: tomparish.net

Kim Cogan

"Entrance"  42" x 32"  oil on canvas  2012

"Surf Motel"  48" x 60"  oil on canvas  2012

"Third Rail"  36" x 48"  oil on canvas   2011

"Bender"  20" x 20"  oil on canvas  2012

"Wave no. 18"  32" x 50"  oil on wood panel  2012

I've been a fan of Kim Cogan's work for a while now. His night scenes especially appeal to me. Well, all night scenes do, I suppose, but he has an unerring ability to capture the mood of the competing colors of various light sources. Anyone who has ever stood alone among the shadows at night observing the dramatic effect will feel drawn into these paintings as if they were somehow part of their own memories. But all of his work is compelling. The mix of careful realism delivered with loose expressive brushwork gives each piece an atmosphere more compelling (for me anyway) than any carefully executed hyper-realism. His series of wave paintings are from an artist who is deeply familiar with the way the ocean moves and breaks along the shore. I'm pretty sure I heard or saw somewhere that he is an avid surfer, which would certainly explain the intimacy of these pieces. Aside from the wave series, the vast majority of his work is about cities. Although he does include figures some of his paintings, they are more frequently about lonely streets devoid of people. Cities are of course are the most densely populated places on the planet. But there are always moments and small out of the way places where the crowds vanish and one is filled with a unique kind of loneliness that is not without it's own rewards. It is unique aspect of city life that Kim Cogan captures perfectly.
I encourage you to take the time looking through all of his work on his website:
www.kimcogan.com
If you happen to be in New York go see his work at Gallery Henoch,
and if you're in San Francisco head over to Hespe Gallery

Robert McCauley

"Meanwhile In Another Part of the Forest" 48" x 36"  oil on canvas on panel  2011

"When Worlds Collide"  48" x 32"  oil on canvas on panel  2011

"Edge of Town"  48" x 32"  oil on canvas on panel  2011

"The Discovery of Slowness"  56" x 38"  oil on canvas on panel  2008

"Don't Expect Me To Illustrate Your Fears"  30" x 48"  oil on canvas on canvas  2010

Robert McCauley's paintings are sometimes cryptic, sometimes comical, but always compelling portraits of wildlife. He often incorporates titles into the work itself, which are suggestive but never simply explanatory, allowing the work to breathe with meaning in the mind of the viewer. This is what art should do; draw you in and direct your attention without telling you precisely what to think. Rather it should prompt you to think. Like the presence of Sputnik in the piece "When Worlds Collide", it is the unexpected which often has the most powerful impact and can have the knack of interrupting our normal thought processes, forcing us to reevaluate our expectations from an image and impel us to think along new lines. These paintings will linger in my mind long after I stop looking at them. I sincerely hope they have the same effect on you.
You can see more at the artist's website: mccauleyart.artspan.com

Salvador Montó

"Manhattan II NYC"  acrylic on canvas  50 x 50cm

"NYC Brooklyn Bridge"  acrylic on canvas  50x 50cm

"NYC Rain"  acrylic on canvas  50 x 50cm

"Tanker Blue"  acrylic on canvas  120 x 180cm

"Museo MAXXI, Roma"  Acrylic on canvas  81 x 100cm

Salvador Montó is a Spanish painter whose work shows primarily in Europe even though one of his most frequent subject matters is New York City. The work is clearly derived from photographs and has a very graphic feel to it, though his rough textures and gestural brushwork offset the hard edged lines beautifully. He is a man clearly enthralled by cities and all the enormous mighty works of man. Most artists today treat urban subjects through the lens of catastrophe and decay, despite the fact that there is some evidence to suggest that cities represent the best hope for how we deal with our impact on the planet. That being said the artist in this instance is not addressing these issues at all. This work is simply about monumental man-made things and the drama of living in such artificial environments. Whether it is the skyscraper encrusted skyline of New York City, the interior of a modern museum or the lumbering hulk of an ocean liner, his paintings seem almost completely devoid of nature. The sky is just a pale patch to set off the concrete canyon walls and the sea is merely a band of steel grey-blue. These are worlds that man has made and can get lost within and I'm guessing that Salvador Montó loves it there.
You can see more at his website: www.salvadormonto-new.com
or if you prefer, you can browse through his work on his Flickr page

Here's a an interesting example of how certain images are revisited and even recombined in his work. The final synthesis in the third painting definitely improves upon the other two.

"Subway" acrylic on canvas  50 x 50cm