Art Week, 2016

I always look forward to the beginning of March and the buzz that comes to New York with the Armory Show, Scope, Volta, Art on Paper, the Art Dealers amongst many other events. I  have to edit the list as there is so much to see and of course I have to allow some time to people watch, sip some vino, talk art and giggle a little in good company! Here are some of my picks from the Armory Show, Art on Paper and the Art Dealers show.

Jackie Saccoccio

John Chiara at Yossi Milo Gallery

Lita Albuquerque at Kohn Gallery

Marianne Vitale (detail) at Contemporary Fine Arts

Matthew Brandt at Praz-Delavallade

Mattias Bitzer at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Norman Bluhm at David Findlay Jr Gallery

Robert Rauschenberg at Galerie Daniel Templon

Egon Schiele at Galerie St. Etienne

Enoc Perez at Galerie Nathalie Obadia

Aaron Siskind at Bruce Silverstein

Alyssa Monks at Forum Gallery

Andy Warhol at Simon Capstick-Dale Fine Art

Callum Innes at Sean Kelly

Conrad Marca-Relli at Hackett Mill

Conrad Marca-Relli (detail) at Hackett Mill

Robert Rauschenberg (detail) at Pace Prints

Robert Zandvliet at Peter Blum Gallery

Seung-Taek Lee (detail) at Mot International

Sigmar Polke (detail) at Michael Werner

Tracy Emin at Carolina Nitsch

Zheng Chongbin at Ink Studio

Follow @EleanorRahim

Vigée Le Brun at The Met

I confess I had not heard of Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun when I went to the first retrospective of her work at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, here in New York City. Born in 1755 she had an exceptional career as a portraitist supported in part by the patronage of Marie Antoinette. Le Brun painted more than thirty portraits of the doomed French Queen. I rather enjoyed the exhibition and marveled at her special skill for painting fabric. It was as if I would have felt velvet beneath my fingers had I reached out and touched a painting! Although more paintings of women than men in the exhibition, I preferred her male sitters. The women more stylized and romantic, the men less so. Exhibition through May 15, 2016.

Joseph Vernet, 1778, Le Brun's mentor

Self Portrait with Cerise Ribbons, 1782

Charles Alexandre de Calonne, 1784, Controller General of Finances

Follow @EleanorRahim

Solo Series

Solo #5, Oil on Arches Huile paper

Solo #6, Oil on Arches Huile paper

Follow @EleanorRahim

Lineage

'Lineage' 2016, Oil on panel, 14 x 11in, 35.6 x 27.9cm. Off to a new home and new collector. Always thankful, always thrilled! 

Follow @EleanorRahim

Ability to Feel

Oil on canvas, 2016, 12 x 10in, 30.5 x 24.4cm



Follow @EleanorRahim

Oil Monotypes

At the end of a painting session I sometimes use leftover oil paint to create figurative monotypes on Arches Huile paper. I love the spontaneity and the mystery of what will emerge working so fast. I strive to capture the energy and gesture of the figure this way. It doesn't always work and I have to dispose of some but here are a couple I really like.




Follow @EleanorRahim