Welcome to Parmenter Virtual Art Gallery

Parmenter Virtual Art Gallery

Redlands, California 92374

Russell Parmenter, Curator 

Featuring Oil paintings, photography, and other fine works of art by the original artists

Exhibition Introduction

"The Great Outdoors"

Featuring Works By

• Ansel Adams
• Amrita Sher-Gil

• Liu Guosong 
• Seo Sang

•  Jacob Maris

• Charles Conder
• Partrick Willet
•  Alex Katz
• Frank Coxhead
• David Mann

The centralized theme for this virtual art gallery is " The Great Outdoors" . All the works in my gallery convey feelings and emotions based on outdoor places and activities many people enjoy today. My message and the connection I want you viewers to take away from viewing my gallery is the need for humanity to step away from all the computers, cell phones and out from under the fluorescent lights we get trapped under. There is so much beauty in nature to be enjoyed outdoors that we take for granted by being stuck inside. I chose works by artists for this gallery based on their ability to breathtakingly capture the essence and beauty of the outdoor world we often forget to enjoy.

Ansel Adams

•Artist: Ansel Adams

•Title:El Capitan

•Media: Black and White Photography

•Dimensions: 8”x10”

•Date: 1952

  Ansel Adams (February 20, 1902 - April 22, 1984) Photographer, conservationist, born in San Fransisco. A commercial photographer for 30 years, he made visionary photos of western landscapes that were inspired by a boyhood trip to Yosemite. He won three Guggenheim grants to photograph the national parks (1944-58). . Founding the f/64 group with Edward Weston in 1932, he developed zone exposure to get maximum tonal range from black-and-white film. (http://www.zpub.com/sf/history/adams.html)

 • Statement: "It is difficult to explain the magic: to lie in a small recess of the granite matrix of the Sierra and watch the progress of dusk to night, the incredible brilliance of the stars, the waning of the glittering sky into dawn, and the following sunrise on the peaks and domes around me. And always the cool dawn wind that I believe to be the prime benediction of the Sierra. These qualities to which I still deeply respond were distilled into my pictures over the decades. I knew my destiny when I first experienced Yosemite." – Ansel Adams                            ( http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/ansel.shtml  )                                                                 

• Background Information on the art: Ansel Adams made this image around 1952 with an 8" x 10" view camera. El Capitan is the largest exposed granite face in the world, drawing climbers from around the globe. Thanks to Adams' work, it's also a magnet for photographers and this image has long been a favorite of the Adams family. (http://shop.anseladams.com/El_Capitan_p/5010107-u.htm)

• Theme Connection: A visit to Yosemite is the ultimate example of the “Great Outdoors.” Thanks to Ansel Adams we are able to enjoy one of the most beautiful outdoor places on the planet. I chose this work because of my love of black and white photography and nobody did it better than Ansel Adams.

Amrita Sher-Gil

•Artist:Amrita Sher-Gil

•Title:Hungarian Gypsy Girl

•Media:Oil Painting on Canvas

•Dimensions: 82cm x 54cm

•Date:1932 (Summer)

Amrita Sher-Gil Amrita Sher-Gil was born in 1913 in Hungary from a Hungarian mother and Umrao Singh Sher-Gil Majithia, a Sikh aristocrat and a scholar from Punjabi. She spent most of her early childhood in Budapest. She was the niece of Indologist Ervin Baktay. At the age of 16, the family moved to Paris where she attended art school for 6 years before returning to Hungary. Sher-Gil married her Hungarian first cousin, Dr. Victor Egan in 1938 and moved with him to India to stay at her paternal family's home in Saraya in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.(http://www.hungarianambiance.com/2013/09/hungarian-born-indian-painter-amrita.html)

• Statement: "It always surprises me to hear that those who can recognize the good in Western art are unable to do so as regards Eastern art. To me it seems incredible. But perhaps this is due to my double atavism..." thus spoke Amrita Sher-Gil (1913–1941), the Indo-Hungarian woman artist and legendary icon of modern Indian art. (http://www.delhievents.com/2013/01/sher-gil-magyar-connection-at-hungarian.html)

•Background Information on the art:  Amrita Sher-Gil is widely recognized as the artist that rejuvenated Indian painting. Part of the exhibition was put together by art historian Katalin Keserű from the artist's works that were on display in the Hungarian National Museum in June and July.(http://www.hungarianambiance.com/2013/09/hungarian-born-indian-painter-amrita.html)

•Theme Connection: Lying in the green grass like the subject in the painting " Gypsy Girl" is another way to enjoy " The Great Outdoors." The sun , the smell of fresh cut grass , and the sounds of kids playing in the park make this such an enjoyable activity. Just being able to  get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and relax  makes for a great time.

Liu Guosong

•Artist:Liu Guosong

•Title:Heavy Snowing

•Media: Ink and Color on Paper

•Dimensions: 186cm x 94 cm

•Date:2009

Liu Guosong  Liu was born in Shandong, China and moved to Taiwan in 1949. He learned Chinese painting when he was fourteen and western painting when he was twenty. After graduating from the National Taiwan Normal University in 1956 where he studied Fine Arts, he founded the Fifth Moon Art Group and later became the leader of the Chinese Contemporary Painting Movement. Liu has taught in many universities all over the world, including the Department of Fine Arts of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Iowa and University of Wisconsin - Stout in USA where he was a Visiting Professor, and National Tainan College of Arts, where he was Dean of the Graduate Institute of Plastic Arts.

(https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/heavy-snowing/7wFQBuzlXcj4VQ?projectId=art-project)

• Statement: Liu Kuo-sung (Liu Guosong) is a Chinese artist based in Shanghai and Taoyuan, Taiwan. Liu is widely regarded as one of the earliest and most important advocates and practitioners of modernist Chinese painting.- wikipedia.org  ( https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?ei=UTF-8&type=avastbcl&hspart=avast&hsimp=yhs-001&p=+Liu+guosong+biography)

•Background Information on the art:  Liu set new trends in modern Chinese ink painting by assimilating Western art theories and Chinese ink painting with inventive techniques. Through the distinctive use of rubbed inks, sprayed inks and torn fibres, he creates fascinating surrealistic sceneries that capture the spontaneity of nature. This innovative approach in ink art allows the artist to rethink the essence of Chinese ink painting and boosts the exploration of different effects in the art of ink painting.

( https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/heavy-snowing/7wFQBuzlXcj4VQ?projectId=art-project)

•Theme Connection:The snow falling reminds me of many  winter days at a cabin my family had in  Big Bear California when I was a child. The snowball fights, building snowmen, and sledding were so much fun. Despite having cold noses we played in the snow of " The Great Outdoors"  for what seemed like hours on end. While inside, this was a common view from out of our cabin window while we got warm in front of the fireplace drinking hot chocolate.

Seo Sang

•Artist:Seo Sang

•Title:A Secret of the Forest

•Media:Oil Painting on Canvas

•Dimensions: 909cm x 727cm

•Date:2011

NO PROFILE PICTURE OF THE ARTIST FOUND

Seo Sang Seoul National University, B.F.A., Painting, and in progress of graduate studies, Painting.

• Statement: Melting Afternoon was Seo’s first solo show in which his inherent unique technique stood out. Seo represents daily life in the limited space of his studio (Time for the Lambs / 4:00 pm Sunday Afternoon), and presents an exquisite combination of a film scene and a moment of his private life (Ezekiel Chapter 25 Clause 17). Although the way of a spectacle melding of fantasy with daily life, illusion with reality is not his distinctive style, his work is particularly marked by the element of with and humor.

Facing Seo’s work we encounter the space of a new narrative through an act of ‘viewing’, like the rabbit taking Alice to wonderland, or Marcel who eats madeleine with tea and sinks into her childhood memory. The images from film, daily life, literature, or Seo’s imagination elicit new spaces and narratives. The act of viewing his paintings is like reading a fairytale, and animals and motifs popping out of his paintings are like ushers leading us into his work. Strolling through his painting makes viewers smile with his wit and humor.

( https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/a-secret-of-the-forest/ewF1Deaca_AGRw?projectId=art-project)

•Background Information on the art:  A play between dry Daily-life and Wet imagination."Daily life" is a phrase worn-out and banal that wears you out with its none-too-subtle hint of tediousness. Work place, school, computers and cell phones; the spaces and objects around us certainly seem rigid and dry when we observe them with a disinterested eye. However, we can sink in to this dry daily life, watering it with our imagination. We do not perceive our ordinary lives with perfect objectiveness (which would be impossible). We endlessly pursue the sphere of imagination while striving through our repetitive daily lives. Thus every moment of our seemingly dull and tedious lives are never repeated or replicated. We live not in the superficial and material world, but a world with imagination, or perhaps in-between of these two spheres. I combine these two worlds in my painting to show the genuinity of everyday life. The daily life that defines what I consist of or what proves who I am. My paintings become a theatrical space where daily life and imagination can coexist. I use photograph-based images when combining these two worlds in my paintings. It is to represent the 'proof of existence' through photographs, which raises tensions between imagination and actual scenes. Moreover it is a solution to create a complete world of my own. Maybe the most important points of my work is severe narcissism and attachment to my life.Sometimes my works are compared to surrealist paintings. They certainly have some similarities with surrealism in its manner of expression. However, surrealism tries to show the unconscious and destroy the value system of the material world, while I want to concentrate on the coexistence and boundary of the two worlds. The unconsciousness of the surrealists clearly has some similarities with imagination, but not without distinct differences. Currently, My paintings right are about my personal daily life. This might seem to some as personal reflections or narcissism at the extreme. However, I believe my daily life can be communicated and empathized with other members of our society who exist in the same time and space. To express the world and its context around me while sharing it with others through my painting is what I hope for, for now.

( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooCTF6Lgnh0&noredirect=1)

•Theme Connection:This work by Seo Sang reminds me of the times I spent as a young child in " The Great Outdoors" while visiting my great grandparents who lived in Washington State. They lived in a place called Orcas Island in the upper north western part of the state. Their house overlooked the waters of the East-sound while their property was amongst really tall evergreen tress and dense forest. A very beautiful place with deer running thru the yard and being at such a high latitude the days were 18-19 hours long. It seemed like I could play for days and often did in the beautiful country. Was there a secret the forest was hiding form me ? It never told me, but there was something definitely mysterious it was holding back.

Jacob Maris

•Artist:Jacob Maris

•Title: Fishing Boat

•Media: Oil Painting on Canvas

•Dimensions: 1400cm x 1600cm (framed)

•Date:1878

 Jacob Maris .Jacob Maris was a Dutch painter, who with his brothers Willem and Matthijs belonged to what has come to be known as the Hague School of painters.When he was twelve, he took some art lessons and later enrolled in the Hague Academy of Art. An art dealer recognized his talent and saw to it that Jacob was able to work in the studio of Hubertus van Hove. There he painted interiors as well as figurative and genre works. (http://www.askart.com/askart/m/jacob_maris/jacob_maris.aspx)

  

• Statement: "No painter has so well expressed the ethereal effects, bathed in air and light through floating silvery mist, in which painters delight, and the characteristic remote horizons blurred by haze; or again, the grey yet luminous weather of Holland, unlike the dead grey rain of England or the heavy sky of Paris."

- M. Philippe Zilcken   ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Maris)

• Background Information on the art: In the mid-ninteenth century the Dutch fisheries suffered badly from the embargo on herring fishing and general economic climate; by 1855 herring fishing, which had for centuries been a thriving and important trade, was continued by only 140 boats from Scheveningen, Katwijk and Noordwijk. After the embargo on herring fishing was lifted in 1871 and as the economic situation improved during the following decades, the herring fisheries began to experience a new prosperity; by the end of the century the catch was ten times as large as it had been in 1855. the fleet at Scheveningen was responsible for almost half of this. After 1866, most fishing was done from sailing luggers but Scheveningen, which had no harbour of its own until the beginning of the twentieth century, remained faithful to the older type of bluff-blowing fishing boats, which had a flat keel and could be hauled up on the beach by horses. Maris, Mauve, Mesdag and Weissenbruch immortalized these fishing boats in a series of brilliant paintings. The most classical interpretation of the theme is seen in this painting by Jacob Maris, which can also be regarded as a perfect work from the Hague School’s grey period. The blue of the pennant and a touch of red in the boat constitute the only accents of color in this symphony in silvery grey.

( https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/fishing-boat/KAHOmYO68O9E1w?projectId=art-project)

• Theme Connection: Tranquility is a feeling I take away from this painting "Fishing Boat." I can imagine being out on the vast open seas of " The Great Outdoors" baiting my hooks, casting my line, and catching fish. What a fine relaxing way to escape the rigors of everyday life by being out at sea in a big old fishing boat.