Category: Artist

Magali au Bouquet

Linda Le Kinff was the official artist for both the 1998 World Cup and the 2010 Kentucky Derby. She studied multiple techniques around the world, combining everything from traditional painting to engraving and tempera to form her own unique style.

Her portrayal of women is consistently dynamic, ranging from indescribable loneliness to silent, powerful, and elegant. Le Kinff also finds inspiration in the work of Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, and Gustav Klimt.

LE KINFF: PERSONAL HISTORY

Linda Le Kinff was born in Paris in 1949 to French and Brazilian parents. She started her career as a painter at the age of 20. In the 1970s, she traveled to India, Tibet, Mexico, and Italy.

Le Kinff lived and worked in Italy for 12 years, learning the ancient techniques of tempera, egg painting, and the gold leaf method taught by masters in Florence and Livorno. She also served an apprenticeship in wood engraving, copper engraving, and excelled in learning the modern techniques of acrylic and airbrush painting.

In Paris, in 1975, Le Kinff learned lithography, meeting the artists Brayer, Corneille, and Lapique. In 1976, she met Okamoto Taro, the “Japanese Picasso,” who introduced her to the sand and sumi technique. In 1981, she spent six months in Morocco where she worked with Chabia, the poetess of the naive abstraction movement.

Le Kinff returned to school in South Tyrol where she became interested in creating painted, polished and varnished woodwork, using a special material made of casein. She applied it to her paintings and continues to use this technique today but still employs her traditional approach of painting in acrylic on canvas as well. She began to create serigraphs in the mid-1980s and excels in the technique.

LE KINFF: STYLE AND INFLUENCES

When it comes to choosing her favorite artistic techniques, Linda Le Kniff struggles. She explains that each technique and medium depends greatly on her subject matter and she pulls from all her experiences to project the essence of what she’s painting.

When she lived in Italy, however, Le Kniff found a rare passion in painting on wood paneling, and it became one of her favorite media. Italy is the place where she truly found herself as a painter and her memories from that time are especially fond.

Le Kinff also expresses herself through watercolors or, more precisely, a mixing of greasy pastels, ink, and watercolor. She works without a model and her inspiration comes from travel, her dreams, reading, and her imagination.

More recently, her color palette has been inspired by Japan and the Scandinavian countries. Each place has its own unique set of colors and Le Kniff tries to carry this throughout her work.

Her subjects are extremely diverse and include musical scenes, poetic interpretations of people caught in an intimate moment of their lives, and couples elegantly dressed, out for a night on the town. She has fallen deeply in love with attending the circus, especially Cirque du Soleil, inspired by the amazing flexibility and movement of the performers.

She also often includes an image of a black cat in her works, sitting near the edge of the composition. When asked, the artist expressed that the cat is there for graphic purposes, balancing the colors and composition of her work. It pulls together the black hair of the women in her paintings and provides a point of reference for the other shapes.

Le Kinff’s studio is her haven. With memories of places she’s traveled posted on the walls, she is able to focus and find her creativity. Rising early in the morning, Le Kniff will work until 6 p.m. in solitude, enjoying her quiet moments to think.

Her influences include the hidden sensuality of Braque, the masterful drawing of Matisse, the elegance of Modigliani, and the precocious maturity of Egon Schiele.

 

LINDA LE KINFF: ACCOMPLISHMENTS

In 1998, Linda Le Kinff was selected as the Official World Cup Artist and exhibited in the cities where the matches took place: Montpellier, Saint-Denis, Nantes, Marseille, Toulouse, and Lyon.

For that distinction, she created a painting that was minted into a commemorative coin by the French Government, an honor never before offered to a living French artist. The medallion was exhibited at the prestigious museum, the Monnaie de Paris, where French Nemaic has been minted since the 15th century and the Euro since 1999.

In 2002, Le Kinff participated in the “Exposition of Prestige,” organized by the Ambassador of France in Japan, and her work was exhibited in museums and art foundations in Japanese cities, including the Tokyo-Bunkamura Museum, the Nagoya-Tenjin Salaria Art Foundation, the Osaka-Kirin Foundation, the Fukuoka-Loft Gallery, and the Yokohama-RedBrick-Warehouse.

In 2008, a catalog raisonné of Linda Le Kinff’s graphic works was published by Park West Gallery with an introduction by art historian, essayist, art critic and curator for several museums, Joseph Jacobs.

Le Kinff was honored to be the official artist of the 2010 Kentucky Derby, featuring her artwork on posters, prints, tickets, racing programs, and officially licensed products for the 136th Kentucky Oaks and Derby. She challenged herself by painting horses for the first time, a brand new subject which incorporated the Winners’ Circle and the guests of the Derby.

Le Kinff has been working with Park West for more than 25 years, and in that time, she has become engrained in the Park West family, enjoying every moment she has spent with her collectors and other artists

September’s Song

Pat McManus has been painting wildlife and landscapes since the mid-1980s and has received many awards for his work. His paintings are also featured in many distinguished collections.

Pat is very meticulous about the preparation and execution of any piece he undertakes. He is an avid photographer who spends innumerable hours in the field carefully studying and recording reference material for future subjects. His paintings are the result of careful observation and diligent efforts and feature meticulous detail and exceptional technical mastery.

Pat’s artwork is best known for its ability to convey the mood, beauty, and energy of the animals and landscapes he delights in portraying. The artist strives to bring to his paintings the same sense of wonder he felt when he first encountered the animal or location used in the painting. He portrays the animals he depicts in their natural environments, the same way a portrait painter references the portrait’s subject to reflect the character or personality of the sitter. His most recent expedition was to paint the wildlife in Alaska.

Pat and his wife, Mary, reside in Michigan, with their three children. Pat’s most recent awards include the Grand Prize in the 2009 Paint the Parks Competition hosted by Paint America and being selected as one of the “Mini 50” winners in the Paint America competition.

• Silent Stalker
• African Mystique

Artist and conservationist Andrew Bone captures the wildlife and landscapes of his native Africa through his exciting, photo-realistic artwork. Bone was born in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1957. It was during his studies at Falcon College – a bush school for boys aged 12-18 in Zimbabwe (then Southern Rhodesia) – that his deep love and respect for African wildlife began.

After graduation, Bone completed a mandatory assignment in the National Service, fighting in the Rhodesian war. It was during his service that he was first introduced to Zimbabwe’s Zambezi Valley, which would become an integral part of his life. The valley is home to many species of animals, including lions, elephants, hippopotami, impalas, zebras, and buffalo. When a friend established a canoeing company in the valley, Bone became a guide, helping visitors explore and experience all that the valley had to offer. During his time here he studied and photographed his surroundings endlessly.

Upon marrying his sweetheart and fellow nature-lover, Kelly, in 1986, Bone relocated to the Imire Game Ranch – also in Zimbabwe. It was here that Bone began to paint, completely self-taught, using the creatures that surrounded him as inspiration. His work became popular with local art galleries, and he soon became an artist full-time, dedicating his free time to wildlife conservation and fundraising.

Bone, his wife and three daughters live in a forest in the mountains of southern Africa. His studio is the hub of the house, filled with parts for his Land Rover and lawn mower, jaw bones from animals, hyena skulls, and dog collars. His workshop is very organized with everything at his disposal, which may come to his detriment, becoming the supply closet of his home. Although everyone seems to congregate in his studio, it still remains his refuge. Bone explains that his life in Africa is very full and always busy.

As a conservationist first and an artist second, Bone prefers to spend all of his time in the bush. The relationship between the two careers is a happy one. Bone explains that he cannot have one without the other, and he’s very pleased the way it’s worked out. To him, painting is a way to spread his message of conservation and introduce people all over the world to the species of Africa.

He also uses his art as a fundraising tool, establishing the Forever Wild Foundation, where 100% of funds raised go directly to the wildlife. Missions like, dealing with P.A.C. (problem animal control) and the general conservation of the species of Africa are important to Bone. His efforts are intensely focused on conservation, his photo-realistic style is a wonderful means to an end. Bone’s technique begins with his camera. Packing his Land Rover for the day, he goes into the wild, photographing everything – an entire spectrum of flora and fauna. He claims that he’s as excited to study a dung beetle as he is a charging herd of elephants. Each species relies upon the next and this gives him inspiration. Once Bone is back in his studio, he begins with one photograph but finds his inspiration on the easel. He does not copy a photo precisely but maintains the acute anatomy of each species. Each animal is exactly as it would be in the wild.

While Bone occasionally runs into some trouble outdoors, he wouldn’t have it any other way. He’s had to dissect giraffes and shoot animals when they were injured or overpopulated. He’s woken up to lions breathing over him, been chased up a tree by a buffalo, and tipped out of a canoe by a hippopotamus. “It’s an interesting life,” he says. Although he’s seen many good friends killed in the bush, he claims he’d rather become “hyena bait” than spend his last days in a wheelchair. “Don’t paint it unless you’ve studied it, been chased by it, or done something to save it,” he says.

There are no shortcuts in his paintings. Each can take between three and four weeks to complete, and he loves working. Never able to sit still, Bone feels like it’s therapeutic to portray a subject he loves so much. But more importantly, when his clients enjoy his art, his mission is successful. So many of his clients had never dreamed of collecting wildlife art and now they have dedicated safari rooms.

As a general rule, Bone will only paint the species of Africa. He’ll be requested to paint wolves or black bears – American wildlife animals – but will decline. He says that there are many great American wildlife artists and he wouldn’t attempt to paint something he hasn’t studied before. “You must paint what you know,” he says, “and if you don’t know it, don’t paint it.” He calls himself a “control freak” and enjoys making all of his decisions from where he’s going to travel to which photos he takes and which subjects he ultimately paints. Then it goes straight to the gallery, ultimately ending up in the client’s hand, who Bone will be able to meet. “Park West’s clients are very large and diverse,” he says, and this variety in tastes and experiences, to Bone, is the perfect way to introduce his ideas in conservation.

His work is collected by art and animal lovers around the world. The book by the artist, “Brush Strokes of Africa,” includes heartwarming and amusing anecdotes from his journey through life, along with numerous reproductions of his oil paintings and sketches.

Good Times

Yaacov Agam was born Yaakov Gibstein in Rishon LeZion, then Mandate Palestine. His father, Yehoshua Gibstein, was a rabbi and a kabbalist.

Agam trained at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, before moving to Zürich, Switzerland in 1949, where he studied under Johannes Itten (1888–1967) at the Kunstgewerbe Schule, and was also influenced by the painter and sculptor Max Bill (1908–1994).

In 1951 Agam went to Paris, France, where he still lives.  He has a daughter and two sons, one of whom is the photographer Ron Agam.

Agam’s first solo exhibition was at the Galerie Craven, Paris, in 1953, and he exhibited three works at the 1954 Salon des Réalités Nouvelles. He established himself as one of the leading pioneers of kinetic art at the Le Mouvement exhibition at the Galerie Denise René, Paris, in 1955, alongside such artists as Jesús Rafael Soto, Carlos Cruz-Díez, Pol Bury, Alexander Calder and Jean Tinguely.

In 1964, Agam wrote his artistic credo, unchanged since then.

My intention was to create a work of art which would transcend the visible, which cannot be perceived except in stages, with the understanding that it is a partial revelation and not the perpetuation of the existing. My aim is to show what can be seen within the limits of possibility which exists in the midst of coming into being.

Agam’s work is usually abstract, kinetic art, with movement, viewer participation and frequent use of light and sound. His works are placed in many public places. His best known pieces include “Double Metamorphosis III” (1965), “Visual Music Orchestration” (1989) and fountains at the La Défense district in Paris (1975) and the “Fire and Water Fountain” in the Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv (1986). He is also known for a type of print known as an Agamograph, which uses lenticular printing to present radically different images, depending on the angle from which it is viewed. The lenticular technique was executed in large scale in the 30 ft (9.1 m) square “Complex Vision” (1969) which adorns the facade of the Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.

Agam had a retrospective exhibition in Paris at the Musée National d’Art Moderne in 1972, and at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1980, among others. His works are held in numerous museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art[8] and the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.

He is the subject of two documentary films by American filmmaker Warren Forma: “Possibilities of Agam” (1967) and “Agam and…” (1980).

In 1996, he was awarded the Jan Amos Comenius Medal by UNESCO for the “Agam Method” for visual education of young children.

He designed and created the winner’s trophy for the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest that was held in Jerusalem.[citation needed]

In 2009, at age 81, Agam created a monument for the World Games in Kaohsiung, Taiwan titled “Peaceful Communication with the World”. It consists of nine 10m high hexagon pillars positioned in diamond or square formation. The sides of the pillars are painted in different patterns and hues, totaling more than 180 shades. One side of each pillar is also lined to segment the structure into sections, so that children’s perception of the pillar will change as they grow, because they will see a different pillar at a different height.

One of Agam’s more notable creations is the Hanukkah Menorah at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 59th Street in New York City, sponsored by the Lubavitch Youth Organization. The 32-foot-high, gold colored, 4,000 pound steel structure is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the World’s Largest Hanukkah Menorah. It uses real oil lamps, which are lighted every year during Hanukkah with the aid of cherry-picking machines.

In May 2014, Agam’s piece “Faith- Visual Pray” was presented to Pope Francis by El Al Israel Airlines’ president, David Maimon. The piece included significant symbols of both Jewish and Christian faiths.

Agam is the highest-selling Israeli artist. In a Sotheby’s New York auction in November 2009, when his “4 Themes Contrepoint” was sold for $326,500, he said: “This does not amaze me … my prices will go up, in keeping with the history I made in the art world.” A year later, his “Growth”, an outsize kinetic painting done in oil on a wood panel, which was shown at the 1980 retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, estimated at $150,000 to $250,000, sold for the record-breaking sum of $698,000.

• Dragonfly

Education

• In 1986, Timothy Yanke receives a bachelor of fine arts from the University of North Texas in Denton.

Accomplishments

• In 2012, Yanke is chosen as “Artist Resident” for the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts in Saratoga, Washington.
• In 2015, Yanke was chosen to be the official artist for the Amelia Island Jazz Festival in Florida, held October 8-11.

• Beaute Marine
  

Emile Bellet, born in 1941, is a self-taught artist who has aligned himself with the discipline of the Fauves (French for “wild beasts”)—a school of artists who lived at the turn of the 20th century that includes Henri Matisse, Paul Cézanne, Raoul Dufy, and Maurice de Vlaminck. They painted in vivid non-authentic color and Bellet has mastered this discipline with an impasto knife, using highly saturated colors to paint his elongated mannerist forms.

Bellet’s paintings often center on a mysterious figure, representing a timeless and ageless femininity.

BELLET: PERSONAL HISTORY

Emile Bellet was born in Provence, France in 1941. He began to paint at 5 years old and, by the age of 19, he held his first exhibition in 1960. When he was only 12, Bellet won first prize in a national art journal. In 1976, his career began in earnest when he was noticed by Galerie Guigne. Bellet completed the stained glass windows of the church “Notre Dame de Bon Voyage” (Our Lady of Happy Travels) in 1978, in Port de Bouc, France—a beautiful display of his talent. He was also commissioned by the Alpine Maritime Region to paint the work, “Travaux des Champs” (Work in the Fields).

Every morning, Bellet rises very early and eases into his activities of the day—what he calls his “second breathing state.” He arranges flowers, tends to his olive trees, and decodes the various themes of his paintings in his head. Bellet thinks about his paintings for hours, has lunch, and begins working around noon for the rest of the day.

He enjoys painting “en plein air” as the Impressionists did, choosing to paint the villages and scenery from his native France. He lives high up in the mountains, taking in the breathtaking colors of the Mediterranean that suit his painting perfectly. By painting outdoors, Bellet feels like he is bringing a small piece of Van Gogh to our time.

 

BELLET: STYLE AND INFLUENCES

Emile Bellet’s paintings are notorious for the mysterious female he includes in his compositions. His wife, his daughter, and musings on an idyllic kind of woman are all sources of his inspiration. The familiar female figure used throughout his work is symbolic of his impression of femininity. She represents all women and, for this reason, has no facial expression. She is timeless, ageless, and universal. He also paints her in stages—first in blonde, then in brunette, and finally with red hair.

The whimsical movement derived from Bellet’s impasto knife lends a sense of vision to his work, taking the viewer to a passing, momentary location. His settings are ethereal and transient, creating an atmosphere of mystery.

Patrice de la Perriere, Director of the Art Revue, “Univers des Arts” (Universe of the Arts) says of Bellet:

“Les femmes rouges de Bellet, evanescentes, s’exposent avec magnificence dans la fragrance d’une lumiere d’ete. Qu’elles soient debout, pres d’une fenetre s’ouvrant sur un paysage romantique, ou bien assises langoureusement dans un interieurconfortable, les “femmes” de Bellet n’en finissent plus de vous attirer dans un monde onirique.” Leur presence, indiscutablement, apporte au spectateur une reelle emotion.”

“The ethereal, red women of Bellet magnificently show themselves in the fragrance of summer light. Whether they are standing near a window opening onto a romantic countryside, or sitting languorously in a comfortable interior, Bellet’s women never cease to draw you into a dreamlike world. Their presence undeniably brings a real emotion to the viewer.”

Bellet delights in his work like a peasant in the fields of Provence. Both treat their labors with love and respect and his body of work reflects this feeling. While he works with Park West, Bellet has said that he feels enchanted to be able to share his work internationally with his collectors, enjoying such freedom to create.

EMILE BELLET: ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Bellet has held numerous exhibits in France: Grenoble, Aix en Provence, Cannes, Marseille, Lyon, and Megeve. He has also held numerous exhibitions overseas: Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Switzerland and Japan (Gallery Mainichi). He currently enjoys permanent exhibits in Cannes, Lyon, Salon-de-Provence, Grenoble, Toulon, and Annecy. His impressive resume also includes illustrations for “Les Cahiers d’Art, Regards vers Ailleurs, Empreintes” (The Notebook of Art, A Look Beyond Printmaking).

 

Dan and Loretta

Coming soon

• To Her Own Beat II

Anatoly Metlan was born in 1964 in Yalta, a city in the southern Ukraine on the northern coast of the Black Sea.

Metlan’s interest in art developed at a young age, the child of two parents who both experimented in art themselves.

He pursued a formal education to sharpen his skills, graduating from the local high school of the arts in 1985 and going on to study at the Krivoi Rog University in Ukraine.

Metlan began exhibiting his work while in college, and soon was recognized in the surrounding community of art and was accepted to the Artists Guild of Ukraine in 1989.

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Metlan and his family immigrated to Israel, where they continue to live.

Metlan enjoys traveling during the summer to Italy and France, capturing the warmth, light, and bold, vibrant color in the seascapes and villages of their coastal regions.

Metlan’s work has been exhibited around the world, including France, Israel, and throughout the United States. His work is eagerly collected by art lovers worldwide.

These days the artist is focusing on painting women, flamenco dancers and gypsies. The paintings are highly esthetic and full of feminine movement and passion.

• Umbrella Man on Blends
  
• Blushing Beauty on Blends 2006
  

READ MORE ABOUT PETER MAX BY CLICKING HERE

Peter Max (born Peter Max Finkelstein, October 19, 1937) is an American artist known for using bright colors in his work. Works by Max are associated with the visual arts and culture of the 1960s, particularly psychedelic art and pop art.

In 1938, Max’s parents fled Berlin, Germany, his place of birth, to escape the fomenting Nazi movement, settling in Shanghai, China, where they lived for the next ten years. In 1948, the family moved to Haifa, Israel where they lived for several years. From Israel, the family continued moving westward and stopped in Paris for several months—an experience that Max said greatly influenced his appreciation for art.

1950s

Max and his parents first settled in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn in 1953 where he attended Lafayette High School, where he was classmates with future actor Paul Sorvino. In 1956, Max began his formal art training at the Art Students League of New York in Manhattan, studying anatomy, figure drawing and composition under Frank J. Reilly who had studied at the League alongside Norman Rockwell.

1960s

In 1962, Max started a small Manhattan arts studio known as “The Daly & Max Studio,” with friend Tom Daly. Daly and Max were joined by friend and mentor Don Rubbo, and the three worked as a group on books and advertising for which they received industry recognition. Much of their work incorporated antique photographic images as elements of collage. Max’s interest in astronomy contributed to his self described “Cosmic ’60s” period, which featured what became identified as psychedelic, counter culture imagery. Max’s art was popularized nationally through TV commercials such as his 1968 “un cola” ad for the soft drink 7-Up which helped drive sales of his art posters and other merchandise.

Peter Max invited Satchidananda Saraswati to New York in 1966 for a two-day visit which turned into a permanent residence for Satchidananda, who became surrounded by many students who formed Integral Yoga International.

Max appeared on The Tonight Show on August 15, 1968.  He was featured on the cover of Life magazine’s September 5, 1969 edition under with the heading “Peter Max: Portrait of the artist as a very rich man.”

1970s

U.S. postage stamp featuring Max’s artwork commemorating Expo ’74

In 1970, many of Max’s products and posters were featured in the exhibition “The World of Peter Max,” which opened at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco.  The United States Postal Service commissioned Max to create the 10-cent postage stamp to commemorate the Expo ’74 World’s Fair in Spokane, Washington, and Max drew a colorful psychedelic scene with a “Cosmic Jumper” and a “Smiling Sage” against a backdrop of a cloud, sun rays and a ship at sea on the theme of “Preserve the Environment.” July 4, 1976, Max began his Statue of Liberty series leading to his efforts with Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca to help in the restoration of the statue.

In 1976, “Peter Max Paints America” was commissioned by the ASEA of Sweden. The book project commemorated the United States Bicentennial and included the following foreword: “Peter Max Paints America is based on works of art commissioned by ASEA of Sweden on the 200th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America, in sincere recognition of the historic bonds of friendship between the people of Sweden and the people of the United States, recalling that Sweden was one of the first countries to extend its hand in friendship to the new nation.”

1980s–present

One of Max’s art galleries, at The Forum Shops at Caesars in 2008

Max has been the official artist for many major events, including the 1994 World Cup, the Grammy Awards, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Super Bowl and others.  In 2000, Max designed the paint scheme Dale Earnhardt drove at the Winston all-star race, deviating from Earnhardt’s trademark black car. He was also the Official Artist of New York City’s 2000 Subway Series, the World Series of Major League Baseball, between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets.

Max first painted Taylor Swift’s portrait as a gift to the singer for her Grammy-winning albums Fearless and Speak Now, and has recently painted new portraits of Taylor Swift to commemorate her worldwide success.

Max is on the Board of Selectors of Jefferson Awards for Public Service.

In 1989, Max designed the cover photo – as well as the 45 (single) picture-sleeve photo – of Aretha Franklin’s ‘Through The Storm’ album.

In 1990, Max purchased a collection of Chevrolet Corvettes for an intended art project, but never used them and let them rot in a series of garages.

In 1994, Max designed the artwork for progressive rock band Yes’s fourteenth studio album, Talk. In 2012, he was chosen to paint the hull art of the New York themed ship Norwegian Breakaway by Norwegian Cruise Line.  In 2017, Max did the cover art for the Aug/Sept issue of AARP magazine.