visual art

twice as mice: Stuart Dunkel’s classical whimsy

~ jama ~ 7 Comments

“My life has been dedicated to the pursuit of beauty. It is an exciting, never ending challenge with prismatic possibilities.” ~ Stuart Dunkel

Mouse in the house! Actually many mousies, thanks to Boston artist Stuart Dunkel. Recently, I was minding my own business browsing the internet when I heard a distinctive “squeak” and could sense the animated twitching of tiny whiskers.

Oho!! There he was, my new little friend, raising a single raspberry in glorious triumph:

I have been obsessed with him ever since.

Who is he, and how did he become Dunkel’s muse?

Artist and oboist Stuart Dunkel.

Art is actually Stuart Dunkel’s second career. Born in New Jersey (1952), he’s also a classically trained oboist (Juilliard School of Music) who’s performed with top orchestras in Boston, New York, and Hong Kong. After retiring from his three-decade musical career in 2002 at age 42, he transitioned to fine art.

Up until then, he’d been painting in his spare time and had started a small company to produce reeds for the oboe. Just as he had with music, he took a disciplined approach to his craft, receiving formal training (The Boston Museum School, The Academy of Realist Art, Seattle, WA, and private study with other realist painters).

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Lisa Zador: curiouser and curiouser

~ jama ~ 7 Comments

Why hello! May I interest you in a piece of carrot cake? Perhaps you’d prefer a little fry-up from the Egg Man, or are craving a Mr. Softee ice cream cone? 🙂

If you’re a fan of anthropomorphic animals and retro food icons served up with whimsy and nostalgia, award winning artist, illustrator and textile designer Lisa Zador has you covered.

Lisa with her dog Bingo.

Originally from Philadelphia but currently based in Greenwich Village, Lisa creates “unusual artwork for the discerning eccentric.”

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roberto bernardi: sweets for the sweet

~ jama ~ 6 Comments

What’s your pleasure? Go ahead. Reach right in and grab your favorite. Is it a fruity barber pole candy stick? Or maybe a whirlypop? There are lots of gummies, rainbow bites, jelly beans and jawbreakers too.

Italian hyperrealist Roberto Bernardi’s oil on canvas still life sweet treats are vivid, colorful, intricately detailed and technically meticulous, giving new meaning to the term ‘eye candy.’

Hyperrealist painter and sculptor Roberto Bernardi.

Bernardi was born in Todi, a province of Perugia, Italy in 1974. He still lives and works there today. He began painting with oils by the age of 13, having been trained in the methods and techniques of the great Italian masters. After graduating from high school in 1993, he moved to Rome, where he worked as a restorer in the church of San Francesco a Ripa.

The following year, he shifted his focus to creating his own paintings, first doing landscapes and portraits before concentrating on contemporary still lifes, favoring a realism closely associated with hyperrealism.

He had his first solo exhibition in 1994, where he gained the recognition of both the public and local critics. He has since had over 15 solo exhibitions worldwide between New York, London, Paris, Detroit and Singapore. His works have also been included in 25 exhibitions in international museums and over 100 group shows in many worldwide art galleries.

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“My Mother’s Colander” by Dorianne Laux

~ jama ~ 42 Comments
“Christmas Morning” by June Webster (oil on canvas).
MY MOTHER'S COLANDER
by Dorianne Laux

Holes in the shape of stars
punched in gray tin, dented,
cheap, beaten by each
of her children with a wooden spoon.

Noodle catcher, spaghetti stopper,
pouring cloudy rain into the sink,
swirling counter clockwise
down the drain, starch slime
on the backside, caught
in the piercings.

Scrubbed for sixty years, packed
and unpacked, the baby’s
helmet during the cold war,
a sinking ship in the bathtub,
little boat of holes.

Dirt scooped in with a plastic
shovel, sifted to make cakes
and castles. Wrestled
from each other’s hands,
its tin feet bent and re-bent.

Bowl daylight fell through
onto freckled faces, noon stars
on the pavement, the universe
we circled aiming jagged stones,
rung bells it caught and held.

~ from Only As the Day is Long: New and Selected Poems (W.W. Norton & Co., 2019)
“Morning Light” by June Webster (oil on canvas).

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David Bromley: of birds and butterflies, pirates and playthings

~ jama ~ 7 Comments
Australian painter and sculptor David Bromley.

David Bromley, whose unique style is instantly recognizable, is one of Australia’s most prolific and innovative artists. There’s no mistaking his bold black outlines, daring colors, and striking textures and layers, all executed on a large scale with graphic intention.

I first ran across his paintings of children, which harken back to vintage picture books and magazines. The world of toys, teddies, rabbits, sailboats, paper hats, rocking horses, scooters, and red mary janes is pretty much where I live, and I appreciated the nostalgic fix without the sentimentality. 

You can see why I had to learn more about this self taught artist, who was actually born in Sheffield, England (1960), but grew up in Australia after his family immigrated there when he was three.

In addition to his children’s series, he’s most well known for his butterflies & birds and female nude portraits. Bromley is also an accomplished sculptor, working in bronze and resin. Many of these pieces also explore the childhood themes of innocence lost and found (whimsical elephants, kids playing leapfrog).

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