The Joy Of Life. Medium: Oil on canvas. Size: 9.5×9.5 ft. Date: 2009.
Ben Alexy continues to live and work out of San Jose CA. Initially attending San Jose State for photography, he quickly became frustrated with the process and physical character of the medium. It was this dissatisfaction that steered him toward painting. In painting, he found a voice and a strong sense of purpose and direction. His early photographic training continues to inform his work in terms of both composition and the implication of time inherent in stop motion. Ben Alexy remains an active exhibiting artist in California.
Artist Statement
When I paint, I strive to illustrate the dynamics of the human condition. This desire is what positions the human figure so centrally both physically and conceptually within my work. These figures and their physical situations are vehicles for quickly establishing reference points to particularities of the human condition. By creating a separation between figure and ground, I am able to imply a duality within the human understanding of the world: Inside and outside, you and me. This duality simultaneously aids me in creating an analogy that is based upon the metaphorical value of the figure and the ground. While the metaphorical and symbolic meanings that I assign to my work are intensely personal, my intention is to communicate these meanings to an audience that is most likely unfamiliar with me personally. It is the shared human condition that provides the viewer with a stepping-stone to understand the work in an intimate and personal way. In this way the ideas and emotions inherent in the painting come in through the back door. My goal is to use symbolism in a way that acts upon the viewer’s consciousness discretely, as a quiet vehicle for personal and social reflection.
I believe that there is power in subtlety, yet there is also power in scale. By working on an extremely large scale, I can create an atmosphere instead of just a picture. By negotiating such enormous amounts of space, my methodology continues to challenge me as an artist. But I don’t want to rely on scale for shock value. What is essential to my work is the synthesis of ambition in scale, concept, and execution. To juggle all three gracefully and concisely is to arrive at a work that is both visually and psychologically arresting.
Agnes Derbin-Caulfield, born and raised in Detroit, was interested in art from an early age. She attended the University of Detroit where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art and Art History. Upon graduation she worked at The Detroit Institute of Arts and enjoyed being exposed to all facets of art world and world class art. She left Detroit for Chicago and received her Masters Degree from the University of Chicago and headed west.
Agnes curated exhibitions and worked in sales and design at ZYT Galerie and Your Framing Center in Los Altos. She also volunteered at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum working on the database verification inventory project and at the Cantor Art Center, Stanford University, cataloguing the Albert Elsen donation for the Docent Library.
She works primarily in oils and has studied with Jim Smyth, Brigitte Curt, Halcyon Teed, Linda Harris, Charle Muench and Alexander Zimm. In addition to oil painting Agnes has always enjoyed watercolors and attended classes taught by Manabu Saito and Richard Becker. She paints in studio from life and sometimes will use photos for reference. When not painting in her studio Agnes meets at the Baylands or other locations with a small group of like minded artists and enjoys plein air studies.
Agnes has participated in art shows and in Silicon Valley and the Peninsula Open Studios events. Her studio is located at the Citadel Art Studios.
Allen Figone was born (1949), raised, educated and currently resides in San Jose, California. Allen went to San Jose City College earning an Associate of Arts degree in commercial art and then to San Jose State University where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts in painting in 1973 under the direction of John DeVincenzi (life drawing and painting), Wendall Gates (life drawing and painting) and Raymond Brose (illustration and technical/editorial design).
Over the course of his life long career as an artist, Allen has won awards in local shows throughout the San Francisco Bay area. His paintings have been featured in galleries throughout California, Oregon, Arizona, New Jersey and Montana. Allen is currently represented by these fine art galleries: Christopher Queen Galleries, Duncans Mills, CA. and the Lee Youngman Gallery, Calistoga, CA. Admired by fine art connoisseurs, his work is proudly displayed in private collections throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.
Most recently Allen has achieved National level recognition as a finalist in “ The Art of Seeing Nature” Oakland Museum of Art, “Arts for the Parks 2005 and 2006”(triple finalist), Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and “Oil Painters of America Western Regional Juried Exhibition 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. He also was a finalist in the 2008 and 2009 Oil Painters of America National Juried Exhibitions. The Grand Canyon Association purchased Allen’s painting “Drama Along Bright Angel Trail” which was one of two paintings that were finalists in the 2008 Paint the Parks National Exhibition Top 100. In 2009 and 2010 Paint the Parks he was again a multiple finalist with paintings in the Top 100 and Mini 50 as well. Allen was also one of 66 contemporary artists selected internationally to represent Zion National Park in “A Century of Sanctuary” The Art of Zion National Park, National Exhibition (in commemoration of its 100 year Anniversary), held at the St. George Museum, St. George, Utah. Allen’s painting “Afternoon Shadows” has now been added to the permanent collection of the St. George Museum.
As an artist Allen has taken the skills he learned doing technical Illustration and combined that with what he has learned from studying the Early California Impressionists, which he has admired and studied for years, to create a unique style of painting to shape his aesthetic vision.
“My painting philosophy is simple: to capture nature as I see her and to depict the colors and values I see as exactingly as possible. Art is about seeing, interpreting and painting the performance.
Graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo School of Architecture and current practicing Architect.
Not finding enough creative expression in Architecture I came to the Citadel a little less then (20) years to share a studio and begin experimenting with sculpture. It wasn't until approximately five years ago that I took over my own space to really take sculpture seriously and teach myself how to work with metal. Thereafter I purchased all of the necessary metal working equipment and began experimenting. Have yet to take my body of work public although I hosted a personal show for friends at the Citadel Gallery in 2014.
Bio:
Award-Winning artist Daniel Huenergardt’s body of work encompasses a unique blend of design and fine art disciplines. Shorty after graduating from San Jose State with a BFA in 1994, Daniel started a small ad agency, continued painting and dabbled in a variety of art related projects. Daniel bought Silicon Valley Magazine in 2005 and his design work was nominated for five Maggie awards. Daniel explored the idea of painting in stereo where he creates diptychs that require googles to see the work come right off the wall (see samples at www.artismo69.deviantart.com)
To see more of Daniel’s work visit danielhuenergardt.com
Waves of airborne body moving sensation flow through the mind and body of traveling painter Matthew Lopez. With Live music at the root of his process, the energy exchange between a musician and the audience feeds Matt’s psychedelic liquid color fruits. The female form and their invisible lines are also inspirational sources for his work.
Whether it be canvas, paper, automobiles, or instruments, Matt paints them all with a wide variety of mixed media tricks he learned while earning his BFA at Ringling College of Art and Design. While at Ringling, Matt attended The Illustration Academy over the summers of ’08 and ’09 where he studied under some of the most talented and awarded illustrators working in the field today. Sterling Hundley, George Pratt, Gary Kelly , and Anita kunz, to name a few, opened Matthew’s mind to “personal point of view” and shape driven compositions.
Shapes described through value and color temperature vibrate through the eye, grab hold, and show the viewer what Matt wants you to see. It is the relationship between light and dark that create his illusions, and the abstraction of life drawing that make them believable. Matthew’s work is ever evolving with each new day. Check out his blog at mrlopezart.blogspot.com for new work and live painting events.
Patrick Lydon’s work focuses on examining devices of the human lifestyle both in modern and historical contexts, with the aim of informing and enlightening viewers on alternative perspectives to mainstream thought. While photography and sound are the primary tools in his current work, Patrick is not bound to these mediums; his
exhibitions are not only installations, but also often highly interactive, involving the audience whenever possible in order to create a meaningful experience for both artist and participant.
Constant travel and diverse cultural immersion in any form possible informs much of his work and as such Lydon has completed live/work stays and/or exhibitions in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Dominican Republic, Ireland, and Germany.
In addition to his own artwork, Lydon shares the stories of others’ creativity as the founder of Creative Arts Magazine, a publication for artists, technology tycoons, and art supporters championing creativity in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, and serves as San Jose Arts Commissioner.
Mary Anne Gerhardt is a native of the South Bay Area. Born in San Jose and now residing in Santa Clara, she started drawing when she was in grade school, and followed through with learning formal art techniques and various mediums, once in high school. She continued on to take more art classes in college. Since 1995, Mary Anne has been more involved in creating expressive abstract pieces in oil pastels and chalk pastels.
In addition, Mary Anne began using mixed media and collage at the start of 2012, when she joined Lori Krein’s “Expressive Collage” classes. Since then, Mary Anne has also experimented with various techniques of her own, and now uses them in her art. Mary Anne is most inspired by artists who create large, bold abstracts. She has her studio in San Jose and enjoys displaying her work in shows at various venues around the Bay Area.
Sara Cole is a nationally represented, internationally exhibited author, teacher and fine art painter with a full-time art making studio practice. Cole has placed work with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Bi-annual Auction, Hilton Hotels, the Microsoft Collection, Stanford University, the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel, the Grand Hyatt in Atlanta, Iberia Bank in Louisiana, and De Anza College in Cupertino. Cole has an extensive list of exhibition history including NYC's Asian Cultural Center Gallery and Sunset Magazine show houses and for events such as a City Year fund-raiser with HGTV's Kenneth Brown. Cole is in the private collections of many patrons including that of Actress Sela Ward.
Cole earned her BFA in ceramic sculpture and installation/performance art with a minor in art history in 2002. In 2006, she earned her MFA in painting and drawing. In 2007 she studied graduate level Non-Western Contemporary Art History for one year, all before mentioned at San Jose State University. Cole has taught at the collegiate level for more than a decade including foundations of design, color, beginning drawing, figure drawing, beginning painting and encaustic painting.
