Nigerian-American Artist Victor Ekpuk at Princeton University Art Museum

Nigerian-American Artist Victor Ekpuk at Princeton University Art Museum: Transforming an Ancient Graphic System for an Art for Today

Nigerian-American artist Victor Ekpuk sees himself as an indigene of the West African culture, which engendered Nsibidi, an ancient ideographic communication system that is both textual and performative. Native to the Ejagham peoples of the Cross River region shared by Nigeria and Cameroon, Nsibidi likely originated around 400 C.E., spreading to the neighboring Ibibo, Efik, and Igbo peoples. During the Age of Slavery, it also crossed the Atlantic, taking root in Cuba and Haiti. Ekpuk draws inspiration from Nsibidi to create dense sign-and-symbol networks that dominate his art, giving it evocative, expressive power. These networks also include signs and symbols arising from his own memory and imagination, as well as ideas from other cultures. Utilizing all these resources, Ekpuk has developed a unique, personal vocabulary that embeds in his art a symbiotic, rhythmic interplay between art and writing. He has gone far beyond the Nigerian artists who preceded him in utilizing Nsibidi as part of a merging of Western modernism with Nigerian and African ways of art-making.

*Mask*, handpainted steel, 2022 Photo by Joseph HuImage. Courtesy of Princeton University Art Museum.

Love of drawing has also pervaded Ekpuk’s journey as an artist. “I am almost always painting on my drawings or drawing on my paintings,” he says, revealing that, at core, it is drawing that drives the force of his art. This fuse manifests itself even in his sculpture, which he sees as his passion for line finding three-dimensional incarnation. When Ekpuk creates his enormous site-specific ephemeral murals for which he is well-known, his command of line is such his creation virtually flows out of him as a stream of consciousness.

His drawing fluency made Ekpuk a successful illustrator and … Click here to read more

Grimanesa Amorós

Exploring Light and Essence: The Luminescence of Grimanesa Amorós

Grimanesa Amorós, a luminary within the artistic realm, has enraptured audiences with her profound and contemplative light installations. Drawing upon her formidable background in painting and her unyielding passion for materials, she has transcended the boundaries of her medium, fashioning immersive experiences that provoke introspection and challenge the perceptual confines of our world. This evocative exposition embarks on a profound odyssey into the labyrinthine recesses of the artist’s inspiration, techniques, career highlights, and forthcoming projects, illuminating the extraordinary artistic ethos that defines her.

Grimanesa Amorós, portrait by Chiara Cussatti.

Born in Lima, Peru, in 1962 and living in New York City since 1984, Amorós is known for her large-scale light sculpture installations. She began her artistic career as a painter and studied at the Miguel Gayo Art Atelier in Lima and the Art Students League of New York. In the early 2000s, she began to incorporate light into her work. She was greatly inspired by the northern lights she saw during a trip to Iceland. Fully understanding the potential of light to create immersive and transformative experiences, the artist set on a newfound path.

She has exhibited her work in major cities worldwide, including New York, London, Paris, and Beijing. Amorós’ work has been praised for its beauty, thoughtfulness, and ability to create a sense of wonder. She has been awarded numerous prizes, including the National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowship and the Art in Embassies Program of the U.S. Amorós’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, and her work is a testament to the power of art to transform our lives. Her light sculptures are more than just beautiful objects; they are also invitations to introspection and reflection. They challenge us to see the world … Click here to read more

Lemon Sky

Lichtundfire’s “Lemon Sky” show

Lemon, or gold–in essence, yellow–brings forth connotations of brilliance, wealth, and youth. Gallery director Priska Juschka at Lichtundfire conceptualizes this powerful color, yellow, as an extreme statement in chroma–and it dominates unyieldingly. Yellow is aflame as it pierces through our surroundings and remains an unforgettable hue in our recollection of imagery. On an existentially (subconscious)unconscious level, I believe, we all revere, and yet fear, yellow, as it is the color associated with the sun. Our very existence was borne of the yellow star we know as the sun. A sun that keeps us alive but also could do grave damage to our world–and ultimately–will consume our planet: as a whole.

Yellow, in my estimation, is the primary of primaries.

The impression of the memory of a chromatic scale arranged as an emotional abstraction is what Vian Borchert’s four paintings “Lemon Zest,” “Limoncello,” “Transcendent,” and “Lemon Sky” convey. We might experience an ongoing biography in quarters, as each painting could represent a decade or so of the artist’s life–as we might see this life in its development, in the compositional shape of colors. The yellow in each picture is strategically placed, indicating the level of awareness and wisdom the artist had at that point in life. The yellow, representing the actual true self’s identity, could indicate the location of that true self within the boundaries of the artist’s perception, as manifested within the boundaries of the painting itself.

Joyce Pommer’s “Paper & Fabric,” a mixed media work with acrylic and collage, presents what could be imagined as a distorted family genealogy. The yellow circles, inhabiting what appears to be a free-hand graph, surround the subtle indications of what could resemble people’s silhouettes. The white patches within the graph make the viewer feel as if there was a deterioration of events, of memory partially lost. The yellow is a source of a resonant reference of time and familial stability (or instability)for us as well.

When juxtaposed with Philip Gerstein’s painting “Master Stroke” and Joyce Pommer’s “Paper & Fabric,” Sandra Gottlieb’s photograph “Vertical #20”, from her Seascape Series, and one of three seascapes in the exhibition, resonates of yellow at the horizon; this becomes alchemically realized when, within our outer periphery, we obliquely … Click here to read more

Roland Gebhardt

Roland Gebhardt: The Incisionary Construction of Space and the Void as Imaginary

When someone trains to become an artist, s/he or they are given a set of biases. S/he or they are told that light carries information and must come forward in space, while darkness lacks such information and must recede back into space. The person is also made to believe that the positive space positions the subject and the foreground, while the negative space carries the background. At a certain point, however, a reversal of relationships occurs in what s/he or they observe and conceive. It is a reversal of highlight to shadow, foreground to background, and positive to negative space, which breaks the rigid associations and hierarchies in how one perceives and understands the visual world around oneself. Roland Gebhardt (Born 1939, Suriname) has dedicated a lifetime honing a practice wrought from this paradigm shift, and the presence of the void is the basis of Gebhardt’s solo exhibition at David Richard Gallery, titled “Framing Perceptual Illusions: A series of wall sculptures examines presence, absence, and voids.” The viewer is presented with white, minimalistic geometric constructions that play with the concept of information in terms of presence versus absence and the real versus the imaginary.

*Untitled LV0110*, painted poplar wood, 42 x 42 x 12 in | 107 x 107 x 30 cm, 2021. Photograph by Yao Zu Lu.

Gebhardt pioneered minimal sculptural works in the early 1960s when he initially played with the concept of in-between spaces that result from the interaction of shapes. Subsequently, the artist began to make precise surgical incisions in the form of a long line or edge of a plane into objects to create “linear voids” that he equates to drawings. Gebhardt continued this trajectory by … Click here to read more

In the Flow of the Spirit

“In the Flow of the Spirit”: Iutian Tsai’s sculptures balance people’s inner souls and outer lives, bringing them back to their original intention of being human. Tsai is a sculptor who uses his art to help people find their inner balance. His oversized sculptures can be seen in many significant buildings in Taiwan. Tsai’s creations are inspired by water, which represents natural healing, harmony, and calm in Eastern philosophy. Water possesses a quiet power endowed by nature, awakening the world to return to its original pure heart.

“Flow with Spirit of Water”, mirror-finished stainless steel, 20 x 26 x 16 ft | 6 x 8 x 5 m, 2019

In the Western world, people also seek the tranquility of water. They go to lakefront cottages for vacations, suspend all distracting thoughts, and focus on the peace that water brings. Some people have ponds in their backyards; others buy Japanese-style interior decorations with flowing water. One of the most famous buildings in the United States, Fallingwater, is a Frank Lloyd Wright design that brings the waterfall of nature into the Kaufmann family home’s living room. Water energy is believed to make people most peaceful, aiding in recovering from a complicated and busy life to a state of harmonious enjoyment. There is also a power to water in Eastern philosophy, such as the power of flexibility and the magic of gentleness. When there is no way across, water finds a way around. Hence, we often see Japanese-style gardens with the tranquil sound of water flow.

Iutian Tsai is an artist hailing from Taiwan. After graduating from the Fine Arts Department at Tunghai University, he dedicated himself to public construction management. In Taiwan, the government encouraged integrating public art into building construction and development. This led him … Click here to read more

Lily Kostrzewa

Pedro Barbeito

Artist Q&A with Pedro Barbeito

Pedro Barbeito is a visual artist living in Easton, PA. Over the past 25 years, he has exhibited internationally in fifteen solo exhibitions and participated in over 50 group exhibitions. Solo venues include Basilico Fine Arts in NYC; Lehmann Maupin Gallery in NYC; Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Conn.; Mario Diacono Gallery in Boston; Parra Romero Gallery in Madrid; Galerie Richard in Paris; 101/Exhibit in LA; and Charest-Weinberg Gallery in Miami. His exhibits have been reviewed in the New York Times, Art in America, Art on Paper, The Village Voice, Artpulse, Frieze, Art/Text, Art Nexus, Examiner.com, and others publications in the US and Europe. Barbeito is currently Assistant Professor of Art and Director of Experimental Printmaking Institute (EPI) at Lafayette College.

*The Crab Nebula: Two Neutron Stars Colliding*, acrylic, pigment printout, and 3D printout on canvas, 65 x 95 in | 165 x 241 cm, 2000

Who is your favorite artist of all time?

A favorite must be Goya. I’m particularly fond of his tapestry paintings… and there’s specifically one at the Prado Museum that I love. Every time I’ve visited the Prado, I spend some quality time looking at “The Maja and the Cloaked Men.” I can’t quite figure it out, he has other similar paintings there, but this one really draws me in. There’s such a keen play between the composition, the color, the materiality of the paint, the narrative, the humor in the painting, and the skill with which he represents the landscape and figures, their scale, proportions… it’s painterly perfection. I’m glued to it every time.

How did you become a professional artist?

I knew I would be doing this as a profession when I was an undergraduate, but I didn’t start making a living from it for another … Click here to read more

Jim D’Amato

Artist Q&A with Jim D’Amato

Jim D’Amato (born 1978) is an American artist known for his elaborate biomorphic paintings and drawings that explore the infinite and unknown. He’s interested in the possibilities of spatial dimensions and intricate forms that fuse the organic and synthetic. His use of line, labor-intensive process, and bold, minimal color palette have become hallmarks of his work. Through these devices, his work pushes the boundaries of contemporary abstraction and engages the viewer in a multitude of ways. His work has been exhibited in galleries, alternative spaces, and museum stores and is in prominent private collections throughout the United States. He has been exhibited in group exhibitions with KAWS, H.R. Giger, and others.

Destroyer’s Song 6, acrylic on canvas, 12″ x 12″, 2022

Who is your favorite artist of all time?

Jackson Pollock. He cut the cord from everything that came before him, which is an incredible achievement.

How did you become a professional artist?

It was my only real interest and the driving force in my life from childhood until now. For the most part, almost everything else has been a distraction from my work. Knowing that, working hard, and putting the time in got me here.

What are the influences and inspirations in your work?

I’m inspired by the unknown and what we can’t see. Spaces that may or may not exist in the natural world or the in the mind keep me going.

How is your work different than everything else out there?

My work lives on a very sharp edge between objectivity and non-objectivity. Because of that, the viewer is asked to participate and draw their own conclusions from it.

When is a piece finished for you?

When it absolutely cannot stand one more mark or gesture, … Click here to read more

David Rufo

Artist Q&A with David Rufo

David Rufo’s paintings explore visual oscillations and pattern structures. His work is informed by the hyper-kinetic shift of the art movements from the post-war period and the viscous psychedelic imagery of the 1960s and 70s. In addition to being a visual artist, Rufo is an Assistant Professor of Education at Cazenovia College in upstate New York. Previously, Rufo was a Clinical Assistant Professor at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education at Lincoln Center in New York City. Rufo has published articles on creativity in a variety of peer-reviewed journals.

“Muscle Car”, oil on canvas, 68 x 64 in | 172 x 163 cm, 2022

Who is your favorite artist of all time?

There are too many in my favorite category from which to choose, so my response will speak to an artist’s work that I would like to own. If I could live with any painting and have the opportunity to examine it up close over the course of many years, it would be one of de Kooning’s late paintings. These works from the 1980s are significant to me in a variety of ways. Most importantly, they span the time that I was a student in art school and then as an unknown artist living in New York City while working as a bouncer in night clubs in order to earn just enough to purchase art supplies and pay the rent. To me, de Kooning’s late work distills and refines the essence and visual profundity of his earlier masterpieces.

How did you become a professional artist?

I become a professional artist because I can’t imagine being anything else. To make a living, I earned my Ph.D. and work as a college professor. I first identified as an artist when I began my nightly painting routine at 14 years of age. I … Click here to read more

Lo Ch’ing

Lily Kostrzewa interviews artist Lo Ch’ing

In the summer of 2020, I was invited by the director of Whitebox Art Center in New York City to write a piece art review for an exhibition “Nocturnal Whispers of Pan” by Lo Ch’ing and Thomas Rose. It was the first time I saw Lo Ch’ing’s paintings; I was fascinated by the exhibition. The two artists open a new artistic dialogue that begins with an interpretation of an image’s meaning and a discussion of the cultural concepts surrounding the image. Using the cultural concept of Chinese calligraphy’s reimagined scenarios, Lo Ch’ing creates images of Chinese calligraphic “playful” icons with a focus on bizarre spatial arrangements with an abstract traditional format. He also created a poem for each image in both Chinese and English languages. In my childhood, my artistic foundation was trained in traditional Chinese calligraphy/painting in Taiwan, which made me wish to interview Mr. Lo one aday. The wish was granted two years later.

*A Maple Tree’s Magniﬁcent Autumn*, ink and watercolor on paper, 27 × 54 in | 68 × 137 cm, 2018

Lo Ch’ing, who was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, was a famous poet from Taiwan; he studied comparative literature at Washington State University in Seattle and obtained a master’s degree. After returning to Taiwan, he taught at the School of Foreign Languages of Fu Jen Catholic University, later serving as the director of the Chinese Language and Culture Center (Mandarin Training Center) of the National Taiwan Normal University, taught at its Fine Arts Department and many other schools as well. He has been invited to give lectures in various countries around the world and has appraised calligraphy and paintings in well-known museums, including the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Shanghai Museum, … Click here to read more