CONTEMPORARY The Fine Arts Magazine
FREE June, 2017 Issue No. 5
Barker Museum of Western Art
Lombardi Traditional to Abstract
UTSA AN ART AUCTION NOT TO MISS…!
Heaven and Hell Salvation and Retribution in Pure Land Buddhism
Reviews/ Commentary/ Exhibitions/ News/ Events
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IN THIS ISSUE UTSA ART Auction Alumni Gala Weekend
Barker
The Fine Arts Magazine
Western Art Museum Landscape Exhibition
June 2017
PUBLISHER Gabriel Diego Delgado Contributing Writers Gabriel Diego Delgado All artwork photography courtesy of Gabriel Diego Delgado and notated contributions when appropriate
IN EVERY ISSUE A Note from the Publisher –P.10
Prices are for current artwork, and can change at any time
© 2017 Delgado Consulting and Appraising
On the Cover—P.11
Boerne, Texas 78006
Contributors— P.11
210-723-1338 Edited by Gabriel Diego Delgado, Melissa Belgara Design by: Gabriel Diego Delgado
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The Fine Arts Magazine
FEATURES June 2017 Issue No. 5 Twists: Lombardi’s new abstract work in the Hill Country
Heaven and Hell: New Exhibition Explores Pure Land Buddhism at the San Antonio Museum of Art Photo Credits: Top Left: Amida Buddha with Attending Bodhisattvas Japan, Edo period, late 18th century Wood with gold, pigment, metal, and headstones, 22 x 18 x 9 in. San Antonio Museum of Art, gift of Lenora and Walter F. Brown, 2013.38.262 Photography by Peggy Tenison Top Right: “Twist Seven”, Bob Lombardi, Image courtesy of the author, Venue– Gallery 195
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pauly tamez art
Spring Petals, Oil on Canvas, 20x24 inches
I N T E RM E Z Z O G A L L E RY 716 HIGH STREET IN HISTORIC COMFORT, TEXAS 78013 SUMMER ARTIST SHOWCASE, JUNE 24, 2017
Where the Creeks Converge, Oil on Canvas, 16x20 inches
Early Morning Field and Bluebonnets, 20x24 inches
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A Note from the Publisher June is the beginning of SUMMER! The kids are home, we are sweating, vacations are abound and the lake is calling. I hope all of you stay cool in the sweltering Texas heat. As I finish this edition of the magazine, my air conditioning is broken in the house, sweat is dripping down my arms as I type on the keyboard. Lets roll into the depths of the heat with Heaven and Hell at SAMA, while staying cool in 195 and venture in the Hill Country with a trip to Kerrville.
Contemporary Texas , The Fine Arts Magazine hopes to use its pages as a vehicle to educate, entertain and enlighten our audience on a variety of topics ranging from reviews, news, artist narratives, interviews, criticism and a cohort of other art related stories from within the gallery walls to the major metro centers. I hope you find this informative and hope you continue to follow the artistic happenings around you in your local neighborhoods.
Sincerely,
Gabriel Diego Delgado Publisher delgadoconsultingandappraising@gmail.com
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On the Cover / Contributor
“Fiesta” “The image is from San Antonio’s Mercado square as we celebrated Fiesta last month. Oh...all the parties, all the art, all the food, drink, music and so much more. It was a lot to take in. I liked this image because the folkloric dances were one thing, but the stories behind them were amazing. This troupe made me think of my grandparents who had their own folkloric dance troupe. Memories, Nostalgia, Motion, and Crowds made for a wonderful experience for all. San Antonio is great! Can’t wait for next year’s Fiesta.
Gabriel Diego Delgado is the owner of Delgado Consulting and Appraising and is the former Gallery Director at .R. Mooney Galleries in Boerne, Texas. He has spent almost a decade in Nonprofit Art Management- working as a Curator of Exhibitions at the Station Museum of Contemporary Art and ArtCar Museum, both in Houston; and as Project Manager of Research and Development at the Museo Alameda, a Smithsonian Affiliate, San Antonio. He has been an Arts Reviewer and critic for over a dozen local, regional and national publications. His artwork has been shown in Arco 2012 Madrid, Spain; New York, New York, MOCA D.C. as well as numerous galleries and venues throughout the U.S. He is competent to appraise fine art and personal property in affiliation with the code of ethics and USPAP standards for the International Society of Appraisers (ISA).
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UTSA
UTSA Alumni Gala Features Unique Art Auction BY: GABRIEL DIEGO DELGADO
O
n May 16th and 17th, the UTSA Alumni Association will host the Inaugural Roadrunner Weekend to benefit its scholarship fund. This year's festivities kick off with a Golf Scramble on Friday, May 16thth and continue on Saturday, May 17th, with the annual Gala & After Party. The Gala will once again include an art auction featuring work by national and regional artists, many of whom are included in UTSA's permanent collection.
Image credits Top Left: Portrait of artist, Earl Staley, Image Courtesy of UTSA Art Collection and UTSA. Bottom Left: Portrait of artiast, Richard Thompson, Image Courtesy of UTSA Art Collection and UTSA. Opposite Page: Couples on a Mission, Franco Mondini-Ruiz, Oil , Image Courtesy of UTSA Art Collection and UTSA.
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“This year's UTSA Alumni Gala auction will include a fantastic array of work by many great artists" states Arturo Infante Almeida, Art Specialist and Curator for the UTSA Art Collection. "Artist we are proud to say are included in the University's collection, especially given how generously these artists give of their time and talent to support the University"
This year’s Alumni Gala Art Auction, curated by Almeida include works by Franco Mondini-Ruiz, George Krause, Earl Staley, Judith Baca, Adal Maldonado, Joel Salcido, Richard Thompson, Catherine Lee, Dadi Wirz, James McGarrell and many others. Among the many notable artists included in this year's auction is San Antonio-based artist, Franco Mondini-Ruiz. A larger-than-life
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Ruiz’s exquisite moniker – a glitzy glam of golden globs.
persona, Mondini-Ruiz has captivated audiences with his signature visual language, an amalgamation of wit, skill and imagination. From elongated and gaunt patron portraits to historic painterly allegories, his art documents the rich social fabric of Texas. A singular contemporary artist, Mondini-Ruiz is a recipient of the prestigious Rome Prize and the PollackKrasner Foundation Grant. His work has been featured in the Whitney Biennial, The Smithsonian Institute, the Kemper Art Museum in St. Louis. His work has also been included in exhibitions at the Museo Alameda: The National Center for Latino Arts and Culture, the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, Artpace San Antonio, El Museo del Barrio in New York City and many other institutes and venues throughout the world.
Available at this year's auction by Franco Mondini -Ruiz is a vertical landscape painting illustrating UNESCO’s World Heritage Site: The Mission Valero (The Alamo). “Couples on a Mission”, is executed in Ruiz’s exquisite moniker – a glitzy glam of golden
globs. The painting of the historic San Antonio treasure features the front facade of the mission wall with an impressionistically rendered madam in a pink dress attended to by a vaquero. Painted along the left side of the composition in quick and expressive strokes is a
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long and lean Yucca Cactus that captures the essence of the succulent and its towering floral extension. Also, up for auction is a masterful print by Houston-based artist Earl Staley. The lithograph by Mr. Staley features sculptural elements within a richly colored courtyard wall. In the work, warm and buttery yellow cascades across the elements, drawing extended shadows and subjugating the composition in weaning light. The deeply textured garden wall, animated by a kind of graffiti hatching is painted in red, blue, and purple tones. Above it, palm leaves overhang against the rosy glow of a cerulean sky. In the background, mountains stated in a simplistic gesture leave clues of a regional demographic. Staley once said, “I paint…maps…and memories,” The gestalt of the gleaming residential plaza illustrates his mature artist demeanor.
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– warm and buttery yellow cascades across the elements, drawing extended shadows and subjugating the composition in weaning light.”
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UTSA Another unique treasure available at the auction is a black and white print by George Krause. George Krause was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1937 and received his training at the Philadelphia College of Art.
Mr Krause's contribution to the auction is a photograph from His “Qui Riposa” series. Describing the impetus for the series Mr. Krause states "…My father died before my second birthday and I grew up with a pervading sense of my own mortality. The fear was intensified when my mother would tell me, in anger, that I was stubborn and willful like my father; And like him, I would leave home at sixteen and be dead at the age of twenty-five. I did leave home at sixteen and at twenty I began to work on this cemetery series with the certainty that I had only five years left to live.”
Mr. Krause has the distinction of having received the first Prix de Rome and the first Fulbright/Hays grant ever awarded to a photographer. He is also the recipient of two Guggenheim fellowships and three grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. His photographs are included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. In 1993, he was honored as the Texas Artist of the Year. He retired in 1999 from the University of Houston where in 1975 he created the photography program. Currently, he lives in Wimberley, Texas.
The work by Mr. Krause available at auction is a one point perspective composition of a pathway dividing a cemetery. In the image, three figures, each engrossed in his own visitation and anchored by the grim reality of the cemetery, ominously stand among an infinite vista of plots, headstones, markers and mausoleums that starkly remind of mortality. Each figure faces a different direction and serves to guide the eye around the surrounding walls, structures, trees, and catacombs that metaphorically construe the viewer’s ability to look beyond the inevitable demise of worldly existence.
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Image credits Top Left: Untitled, George Krause, #8 / #30, Lithograph, (Dated 2007) 14 3/4’ x 22 1/8”, Image Courtesy of UTSA Art Collection and UTSA. Bottom Left: Portrait of artist, George Krause, black and white photograph, photographer unknown, Image Courtesy of UTSA Art Collection and UTSA. Top Right, Opposite Page: Aliento A Tequila, Joel Salcido, archival pigment ink color photograph, (dimensions vary), Series originally dated 2012, Image printed 2017, Image Courtesy of UTSA Art Collection and UTSA. Previous Page: Untitled, Earl Staley, #15 / 20, Lithograph, 22” x 29 7/8” , Image Courtesy of UTSA Art Collection and UTSA.
Another piece available at auction by Austin based photographer Joel Salcido, is a work tilted “Aliento A Tequila”. The archival pigment ink photograph created in 2012 was originally part of a series of photographs by Salcido documenting Mexico’s tequila industry. This series of photographs focused on the art of crafting tequila and explored the history and cultural influence of the alcoholic drink derived from the blue agave plant. Previously, ten of the images in the series were published in December 2013 edition of Texas Monthly. Mr. Salcido has exhibited his work nationally and internationally and his fine
art photographs are included in the permanent collections of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The El Paso Museum of Art; the Harry Ransom Humanities Center at UT Austin; The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University-San Marcos; The Permanent Art Collection of UT San Antonio; The Austonian and the Federal Reserve Bank in El Paso. “Aliento A Tequila”, was inducted into the National Heritage Art Collection of Mexico in February of 2015 and a print of the image now resides in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Mexico City.
–The artist’s photographic angel is tweaked in such a way that the only sunlight beams we see from the setting sun are through the middle areoles; creating an Eye-of-Ra sensation. “Aliento A Tequila" is a surrealist hyper-color toned landscape in which Salcido presents a wonderfully plush Mexico scene. In the center of the image, a Nopalera cactus rests nestled in the midst of an expansive blue agave field like a majestic parental figure. The artist’s
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photographic angel is tweaked in such a way that the only sunlight beams we see from the setting sun are through the middle areoles; creating an Eye-of-Ra sensation. The photographer places the viewer front row by allowing these gorgeous plants to become the dominate foreground. A trifecta of vegetation, we are forced to look beyond this selection of highlyadapted vegetation to identical crops that creep ever and ever closer to the royal mountain ridges. Bathed in a natural light, the warm tones of the photograph give a calming nostalgia of a time, of a memory, of a relaxed inebriation. Also, featured in the auction is the work of Richard Thompson. On his website, Richard Thompson states that he “began painting in the 1960’s… he has used a visual vocabulary of landscape and still life images…[and] has explored the rural, agricultural landscape of the American west with its distant horizons, far away mountains, geometric field patterns and farm buildings seen as if they are still life elements on a wide, vast table.
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In the book, 50 Texas Artists, by Annette Carlozzi, Thompson reflects on his need to depict the “nothing, the everyday, the commonplace…”. What he describes as the “simple human moments.” Reminiscent of a cross between early, turn of the century Cubist, Constructivist Russian Propaganda posters and a minimalist Thomas Hart Benton aesthetic, Thomas delivers a clean modernist air. In 1975 and 1981, Mr. Thompson's work was included in Art Biennial Exhibition at the Whitney Museum of Art in New
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York City. In 2014, Mr. Thompson was one of 15 artists selected for Portland2014: A Biennial of Contemporary Art. For the auction, Mr. Thompson has contributed a lithograph titled “Beautiful Past Beautiful Future”. Angularly divided down the middle with an obtusely dominant slice, mirrored images reveal man’s surroundings in the urban environment. Almost like night and day, the yellow ochre area on the left is lit by a candle that burns bright, while the right side is full of movement; a cloudy sky crowds a ruby red figure. Buildings,
–Almost like night and day, the yellow ochre area on the left is lit by a candle that burns bright, while the right side is full of movement; a cloudy sky crowds a ruby red figure. Buildings, birds, water, and air play a role in the inner-city mayhem. birds, water, and air play a role in the inner-city mayhem. A Ying and Yang duality haunts this print with an uncanny and un-decoded melancholy impression. Bold color choices, bold composition and bold modernist portrayals give credence to such a great work of art by Thompson.
Tickets for the Gala & After Party can be purchased online at https:// alumni.utsa.edu/gala. This year’s entertainment for the After Party is the Spazmatics. Known as San Antonio’s best 80s band, you will be breaking out your best 80’s dance moves. Because of the support of the UTSA community during the annual Gala, the Alumni Association is able to award $150,000 each year to UTSA students.
Image credits Top Right, Opposite Page: Beautiful Past Beautiful Future, Richard Thompson, #9 / #10, (Dated 1984), Lithograph, 28” x 22 1/4”, Image Courtesy of UTSA Art Collection and UTSA. Upper Right: Portrait of artist, Franco Mondini-Ruiz, Image Courtesy of UTSA Art Collection and UTSA. Bottom Right: Portrait of artist, Joel Salcido, Image Courtesy of UTSA Art Collection and UTSA.
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Image Courtesy of James Saldivar and Maria D. Garza
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lora and
Fauna Margie Barker premiers new landscapes that captivate her beloved Lone Star State – TEXAS at the Museum of Western Art in Kerrville. Written by Gabriel Diego Delgado Photography By Author Exhibition Venue Museum of Western Art
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From May 11, 2017 – May 31, 2017, Helotes, Texas artist, Margie Barker was the ‘Artist of the Month’ at the Museum of Western Art in Kerrville, Texas. Given full domain of one of the main galleries within the western institution, Barker served up twentyseven paintings commemorating the great Texas hill country. At 83 years old, Barker is a force to be reckoned with. A true…as I have coined… “Grandma Moses” of traditional bluebonnet landscape painting. She paints circles around most of the other colleagues in her age range, as well as some of the younger demographics. With a daily dose of four to six hours of studio painting, her dedication to craft drives home her true love of the Texas landscape. Yes, I must disclose that at one time, in a ‘distant past’, in a ‘former life’, I represented her as an artist when I was Gallery Director at J.R. Mooney Galleries in Boerne, Texas. I saw her ambition, motivation, skill, commitment and output, and was truly amazed at such an expertise in her genre. Plus, I have written extensively on Margie Barker over the past three years, and I am always amazed each and every time she exhibits, regardless of the venue. Her artwork can be awe-inspiring, breathtaking and at times – Majestic. Although most of her solo exhibition at the Museum of Western Art consists of medium to
small landscapes of cactus, Palo Duro Canyon scenes, bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrushes, rolling hills, budding florals and the like – two large paintings on adjacent walls help balance the size variations. “Palo Duro Canyon Mural” and “Elenita’s Flower Garden” are both over ten feet long and eight feet high; a feat to paint for any artist, much less an Octogenarian. Specifics in both of these grand paintings shows patience, attention to detail, concentration and aptitude. And, not to mention, Barker achieves this accomplishment post recent dual cataract surgeries. Much can be said of Margie Barker’s history, her switch from oil to acrylic and back again, to personal endeavors and sacrifices and everything in between, but I realize all of that; her personal journey, and more has brought us here today…to look at this presentation on the walls of this highly accredited museum of western art, a place where cowboys range and bronze is king. But yet, here on the right side of the museum, between double doors, awaits a hidden gem of timeless landscape classics. With deep and dark shadows, glowing spotlights, and warm walls, her paintings present themselves with such integrity and muse. The panoramic scenes tend to engulf you while the smaller ones, exhaustive in all the flowers, cactus petals and landscapes relish in the details, giving intimate breathing room to immerse yourself in her comforting environments. As I walk through the exhibition, let me offer a kind of prose filled guided tour infused with linguistic lavishness as we explore Margie Barker together.
“A true…Grandma Moses of traditional bluebonnet landscape painting.” CONTEMPORARY TEXAS The Fine Arts Magazine /
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Photo Credits: Front page: “Elenita’s Flower Garden”, Page 28: Detail of “Texas Bouquet”, Page 30: Top –“Rock Start”, Bottom– “ Lavender Blooms”, Page 31: “Stickers and Blooms”
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“...as the background escapes to the hills, drawing our eye past the romanticisms of country -time grandeur and scenic seclusion.”
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Phot Credits: Page 32: Top– Panoramic photograph of the full Margie Barker exhibition at the Kerrville Western Art Museum, Bottom– “The Homestead” and “ Spring Delight”, Page 33: Detail of “Rocky Outcropping”, Page 34 and 35: “Cactus Delights”, Bottom– Detail of “Willow City Blues”, Page 36 and 37: “Willow City Blues”
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The wall immediately left of the entrance doors holds an arrangement of ten small paintings; a grouping consisting of an outer band of flowering cactus, while the center of the curatorial configuration is situated with petite, but highlydetailed landscapes of Texas rivers and rolling hillsides. The far-left wall holds four paintings, a medium-sized landscape of Lost Maples, the huge “Palo Duro Canyon Mural” and a double stacked conformation with a cactus painting perched overhead an aerial scene of a flowing Texas river – one complete with a seemingly limitless Texas hill country vistas. The main impact wall of the gallery holds steady with six paintings. Centered on this wall, directly in front of the entrance door is the oversized powerhouse, titled: “Elenita’s Flower Garden”, a painting swimming in Texas flower blossoms. Yes, you can’t miss it. The bold, black frame, the magnificent number of Indian Paintbrushes and Bluebonnets. The blues, reds and oranges rhythmically vibrate across the lower half of the painting. The mid-ground captures Barker’s truest sense of nostalgic sentimentality. Rusted metal roof barns and cabins are
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nestled deep in the overgrown foliage of the once functional Texas homestead. A hazy cerulean mist engulfs the treelined ridge as the background escapes to the hills, drawing our eye past the romanticisms of country-time grandeur and scenic seclusion. Flanked on the right by “Willow City Blues”, a horizontal painting, or should I say, a purist rendition of the South Texas honed and signature genre that makes
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most ‘contemporary’ and abstract painters cringe… BLUEBONNETS! Ascending from a lengthy line of bluebonnet painters that include Onderdonk, Salinas, Wood, Arpe, Harrison, Dawson-Dawson Watson, Lazcano, Hunter, Slaughter, Wall, Duran, Greer, Peyton, McGill and others; Barker stands next in line as a living legend of contemporary, but traditional bluebonnet landscape paintings. I choose now, in this
essay to solidify her name among the giants. I pen it here first, the integrity of her bluebonnet paintings – upheld in this regionally recognized genre category, will continue to hold such impressionistic veracity. “Willow City Blues” is proof. Its undeniable! Barker’s talent to capture such essence; the live oaks with the traditional 1800’s composition and the glorious Texas hills…this painting has it all.
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Next, underneath a nesting cactus wren painting is one of the MVPs of the exhibition. “Rocky Start” is an impressionistically scenic rendition of Palo Duro Canyon, a visual delivery exclusive to Barker. A muted color palette painting with a unique composition steals the show after we are “b”bonnet slapped by the massive artworks. “Rocky Start” focuses on two distinct topographical anomalies of the Caprock Escarpment: a jutting and angular formation of shale, siltstone and sandstone on the left and a horizontally bellowed stone conglomerate on the right, sunk by the weight and burden of the Live Oak tree that has rooted itself deep in the heart of this slab. On the far right wall of the galleries rests five medium size paintings ranging from more bluebonnet fields to riverbanks and desert scenes. However, on the end of the wall at the far right corner a divine painting anchors this line. “Cactus Delights” is an up-close portrayal of a large flowering Prickly Pear cactus. Such an optimistic Opuntia, this painting walks the fine line that Barker draws between impressionistic landscapes and photorealism. Dark chiaroscuro-esque shadows define each nopal. The salmon and flavescent colored flowering tuna captures the translucent petal quality Barker has struggled with in the past; arriving at a grandiose gestalt in a small package. In my familiarity with Barker’s artwork over the past half-decade, this is only one of three I have seen her produce of this quality, with the similar aesthetic and composition. Another double stack of landscape paintings round out the exhibition on the right side of the entrance. Overall, the is in my opinion, a noteworthy solo museum exhibition by one of the living legends of Texas landscape paintings. Margie Barker has come
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a long way in her fifty years plus of painting her beloved Texas. Her presence at the Museum of Western Art in Kerrville, Texas compliments the bronze works, pictorial stories of the west and Texas’s comprehensive history. I believe this recognition, her delivery, the amount of work
“A muted color palette painting with a unique composition steals the show after we are ‘b’- bonnet slapped by the massive artworks.” and quality has elevated this 83 year old to another level of artistic credibility; one that places her in line with a place in Texas bluebonnet landscape history, mark my words.
For more information: Museum of Western Art is located at 1550 Bandera Highway in Kerrville. Hours are 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, please call 830.896.2553. Credit box
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Bob
Lombardi
“Twists” Traditional painter explores new avenue of contemporary abstraction– leaving behind the solace of an established comfort zone to reach new heights.
Written by Gabriel Diego Delgado Photography By Author Exhibition Venue Gallery 195
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“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.”
B
-Winston Churchill
oerne, Texas artist, Bob Lombardi is a resident artist at the newest Hill Country gallery– Gallery 195. His art, excluding the ones that will be discussed in the coming paragraphs have been traditional landscapes, portraits, flowers, and still life. Yes, the forgettable categories of a dime-a-dozen hodgepodge of the typical hill country genres of tourist shop tokens. Although he had won awards within the local Boerne Professional Artist association, I have often disregarded his work. In my personal opinion, most of it was not worthy of academic critique; well, I guess…up to this point.
Harsh, Yeah, I know. I get it… Boo me…Cry me a river, like...‘Who am I to judge’, Right? But I tend to lay the cards out and show my hand; asshole-ish or not. Jaded critical analysis of Sunday Painters, (the Hill Country is loaded with them) have worn a hole in my mind’s eye- visually hampered by too many ‘bad art’ renditions of blue bonnets, longhorns, and Texas landscapes. But, when I got word that Lombardi was pulling all his ‘traditional’ artwork from the gallery to inject a breath of fresh air for his solo groupings at 195…Yes, he was going to make his full exhibit all abstracts painting… I must admit I was intrigued. Here was an artist, known for a particular Hill Country art aesthetic and was taking a risk. Calculated? …. Maybe…But a risk with a complete
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change in terms of artistic schools; one that would maybe alienate his established audience. Yet, here he was throwing caution to the wind to display works that would seem not to be his forte, hoping for the best.
Insert Scooby Doo “Huh!” sound with a double-take headshake… He had my attention! Photo Credits: Cover Page– “Twist Five”, Page 44– “Twist Four”, Page 45– “Twist One”, Page 47–”Twist Seven”, Page 48– “Twist Two”, Page 49– “Twist Three”
After seeing images of the new artworks, I was charmed by the commitment he had to abstraction, and they showed a professional level of promise. So, I had to go check them out in person. With a visit to the gallery and upon closer inspection of the artistic
execution by Lombardi, I saw correlations to earlier abstract painters. Lombardi states, “While traveling to New York by air, a flight attendant passed out bags of cookies that were closed with a black wire tie.
Opening my cookies, I realized how interesting the tie was twisting and turning into unusual shapes. With that inspiration, I began to sketch with the idea that soon I would turn my sketches into paintings.�
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Here, for Lombardi, the act of opening a bag of cookies was an ‘epiphany’ of sorts…to progress into a different visual direction; while leaving behind, if only for a moment, the safety and comfortability of the traditional art genre and move… seemingly effortlessly to a new beginning without major incremental painterly adjustments. Although not every painting of this new “Twist” series was ‘successful’, I felt that there was enough selfexploration mixed with evident color theory applications, purposeful compositional queries, masterful edits, and conscious decision-making to create an air of artistic accomplishment. Seven paintings round out the series, simply labeled: Twist One, Twist Two, Twist Three and so forth. Why bog down with superficial conceptual statements as titles, which is often the case with abstract paintings? However, Lombardi’s fresh approach is reflected in his simple and direct naming. “Twist One”, by Lombardi is a 48” x 48” abstract painting on canvas. His minimal white background forces us to acknowledge the black, blue, green, red and grey ‘twist ties’. The overall composition is a kind of by the book abstract characteristic. My eye flows around smoothly as I investigate the overlaps between the red ties and the black ties, between the black ties and the blue ties; all
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the while recognizing purposeful intents of selective solo ties floating in space. “Twist Seven”, a screaming 24” x 24” canary yellow painting on canvas radiates with a bold color choice, overlaid by a four-color combination of ‘twists’. Festive in its dominate beaming sunshine, the cool white ‘twists’ add an element within the composition where the eye can rest. The black, blue and green shapes add another level of jovial celebration as they seem to dance across the picture plane; lyrical dancers that give the painting an artistic movement. Lombardi then tosses an unanticipated stroke or eight of a thicker impasto; adding depth and texture. The two paintings that seem to venture further and gain a deeper understanding of abstract identity are “Twist Two” and “Twist Three”. “Twist Two”, in first glance is broken up into two planes, one white, one black. The latter, playing the role of ‘sky’ and the previous being the ‘ground’. A blue ‘twist’, laid level where the two planes meet emerges as some sort of horizon element. The red ‘twist’ is broken up into cubist segments as it transposes itself across the median. The green and black ‘twists’ slither in the foreground. But, unlike the other paintings, the ‘twists’ in this particular one has a visual underpainting, an outline of a blueish, almost sketch-like lines. Through the artist’s execution, the outlines show process. Decisive blocking out of
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of interplanar twists, the rotation of the twist tie is defined. We understand the course of rotation from a modernist conceptuality. I cannot help be reminded of William de Kooning’s later works from the 1980’s, where the white ground plays dominate among the red and blue lines.
“Twist Three” he had arrived ‘somewhere’, but where he takes it will show his discourse in academia and a new understanding of how to un-school himself of the elements of traditionally classical art.
“Twist Three” is my MVP pick of the new series. A 24” x 36” vertical piece, “Twist Three” is the most refined abstraction of the “Twists”. Four blotches of yellow explosions intermingle with undefined markings that seem to remotely resemble the ‘twists’ from previous paintings.
I can only hope Lombardi trusts himself to continue the self-guided exploration of modernism and maybe one day venture into the undefined concepts of metamodernism…Where my good friend Rex Hausmann once told me is where there is “a return of the ‘individual’ in their local land.”
A more definitive ‘cubist’ approach gives Lombardi’s rudimental ties a mature approach. Smudges of pigment within the defined shapes, do not completely fill the designated forms. Ghost -like lines drift through the white pigment. In an outsider art quality, the black lines of this painting are a holler-back to Cy Twombly.
I dig it!
Case in point, Lombardi, originally from New Jersey, has taken a chance to redefine his persona, bringing with him elements of the ‘self’…of the ‘individual’; what I see as art historical notions that were born within this region of the East Coast via NYC…To be blunt, he has submitted to microcosmic elements of Abstraction, Modernism, Action Painting and Abstract Expressionism.
“The black, blue and green shapes add another level of jovial celebration as they seem to dance across the picture plane; lyrical dancers that give the painting an artistic movement.” Now go further! To go from a traditional genre of art that included florals to what some might call ‘unfinished’, or ‘my four-year-old kid can to do” kind of art, I comment Lombardi. It takes guts to go after the glory. Although these were only seven paintings in a new series, I would love to see where he is at when he reaches his hundredth painting. On
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Keep evolving Lombardi, keep evolving! Yes, the cliché is correct…Change is inevitable!
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San Antonio Copy of the Scroll of the Extermination of Evil (Hekija-e) and of the Hell Scroll (Jigoku-e) (detail)
Heaven
Japan, Edo period–Meiji era, 19th century Handscroll; ink and color on paper, 10 11/16 x 376 3/8 in. Museum of Fine Arts Boston, William Sturgis Bigelow Collection, 11.9186
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Photograph © 2017 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Hell: New Exhibition Explores Pure Land Buddhism Special to Contemporary Texas Magazine All Images courtesy of the San Antonio Museum of Art
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On June 16, the San Antonio Museum of Art will present Heaven and Hell: Salvation and Retribution in Pure Land Buddhism, the first exhibition in the U.S. to explore in detail one of the most popular forms of Buddhism throughout Asia. Featuring approximately 70 works—including paintings, sculpture, and decorative objects— the exhibition contrasts the visions of heaven and hell, ideas that are central to Pure Land Buddhism. Curated by Dr. Emily Sano, PhD, the Coates-Cowden-Brown Senior Advisor for Asian Art at the San Antonio Museum of Art, the exhibition features some of the most stunning examples of works created as part of the sect's devotional and funerary traditions. They are drawn from twenty private collections and institutions across the country
and world as well as the Museum’s own Asian collections. Heaven and Hell will be on view through September 10, 2017.
Featuring approximately 70 works—including paintings, sculpture, and decorative objects—the exhibition contrasts the visions of heaven and hell, ideas that are central to Pure Land Buddhism.
Originally developed in West Asia during the early years of the Common Era, Pure Land Buddhism spread across Central Asia to China and into Tibet, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, pulling in and incorporating the gods and figures of local faiths in each new culture. One figure, Amitābha, the Buddha of the Western Paradise, remained at the center of the Pure Land faith, promising salvation in his heavenly paradise to anyone who simply calls his name. This promise of salvation and an escape from the pain of hell—even to those who led less
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San Antonio
than exemplary lives—helped Pure Land Buddhism flourish and expand throughout Asia. In contrast, the more traditional Theravada Buddhism held that nirvana could only be obtained through devout study and meditation. “Heaven and Hell provides a dynamic and in-depth view of Pure Land Buddhism, highlighting the way different cultures adopted and adapted the faith,” said Sano. “Its adherents found commonality in inspiration and devotion, while also contributing their local beliefs and imagery to the practice." The result is a richness of both religious narrative and imagery that makes for compelling viewing, including in rituals that continue to the present day. The exhibition explores these different regional approaches, and the evolution of devotional art as Pure Land Buddhism moved eastwards across Asia. Lenders to the exhibition include the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Cleveland Photo Credits: Page 52 and 53– Copy of the Scroll of the Extermination of Evil (Hekija-e) and of the Hell Scroll (Jigoku-e) (detail) Japan, Edo period–Meiji era, 19th century Handscroll; ink and color on paper, 10 11/16 x 376 3/8 in. Museum of Fine Arts Boston, William Sturgis Bigelow Collection, 11.9186 Photograph © 2017 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Page 54– Top: Enmaō Japan, Monoyama period, late 16th-early 17th century Wood, lacquer, gold gilt, and glass, 45 x 40 x 30 in. Dallas Museum of Art, Wendover Fund in memory of Alfred and Juanita Bromberg and the Cecil and Ida Green Acquisition Fund, 2008.25.a-h Photo Courtesy Dallas Museum of Art Bottom: Thinking Bodhisattva India, Gupta period, 4th–6th century C.E. Afghanistan, Hadda region, Gandharan culture Terracotta, 32 ¾ x 24 ½ x 10 ½ in. Dallas Museum of Art, Wendover Fund, gift of David T. Owsley via the Alvin and Lucy Owsley Foundation, the Cecil and Ida Green Acquisition Fund, and the General Acquisitions Fund, 2010.17 Photo courtesy Dallas Museum of Art
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“Heaven and Hell provides a Art Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Philadelphia Art Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, dynamic and in-depth view of Pure the Birmingham Museum of Art, and the Dallas Land Buddhism, highlighting the Museum of Art. Curated by Emily Sano, PhD, the Coates-Cowden-Brown Senior Advisor for Asian way different cultures adopted and Art at the San Antonio Museum of Art, and the adapted the faith” former director of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the exhibition will also be accompanied by a catalog. This exhibition is generously funded by the Theodore and Doris Lee Family Foundation, the Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation of 1992, Dr. Robert Clemons, the Marcia & Otto Koehler Foundation, Thomas Edson, the Pilkington AngloJapanese Cultural Foundation, and Allen Bennett. About the San Antonio Museum of Art: The San Antonio Museum of Art serves as a vibrant forum to explore and connect with art that spans the world’s geographies, artistic periods, genres, and cultures. Its collection contains nearly 30,000 works representing 5,000 years of history. Housed in the historic Lone Star Brewery on the Museum Reach of San Antonio’s famed Riverwalk, the San Antonio Museum of Art is committed to promoting the rich cultural heritage and life of the city. The Museum hosts hundreds of events and public programs each year, including concerts, performances, tours, lectures, symposia, and interactive experiences. As an active civic leader, the Museum is dedicated to enriching the cultural life of the city and the region, and to supporting its creative community. Museum Hours Tuesday and Friday: 10:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday: 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays and major holidays Photo Credits: Page 55– Top: Amida Buddha with Attending Bodhisattvas Japan, Edo period, late 18th century Wood with gold, pigment, metal, and headstones, 22 x 18 x 9 in. San Antonio Museum of Art, gift of Lenora and Walter F. Brown, 2013.38.262 Photography by Peggy Tenison Bottom: Shrine (Butsudan) Japan, Edo period, ca. 1800 Wood, lacquer, pigment, gilt, and metal, 33 x 16 x 13 inches (closed) Collection of the Birmingham Museum of Art; Gift of Dileep and Martha Mehta, 2000.256a-d Photography by Sean Pathasema
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G
allery 195, located at 195 Main Street in Boerne
will celebrate its Grand Opening ceremony on Saturday, June 10th. There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Chamber of Commerce at 2:00. Festivities will be begin with wine and snacks at 2:00 pm and the gallery will remain open until 8:00 pm in conjunction with Second Saturday. The artist-owned-and-operated gallery highlights the works of eight area artists: Mark Holly, Jim Heupel, Linda Manning, Kim Felts, Robert Lombardi, Grady Jennings, Sharon Whisnand and Virginia Floyd. For the month of June, the gallery will also be hosting guest artists Andre and Virginia Bally. They produce 3dimensional art that is influenced by both traditional Japanese potters as well as North American Indian potters. Each piece that they produce is beautiful and unique. The members of the gallery would like to invite the public to come and help them celebrate. There will be many new works on display—ceramic artwork, photography, water color paintings, oil paintings and encaustic paintings, with many different subjects, from Texas landscapes to world wildlife to impressionist. Gallery hours are 10:00 to 5:00 Wednesday through Saturday and 12:00 to 5:00 on Sundays. For more information visit www.gallery195.com.
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