YOURS, JUST THE WORD AND I WILL BE THERE.

Buckling of paper

Emily Wassell

How to Fix Watercolour Paper Wariping & Buckling - 9 Tips - Emily Wassell Art

Getting bent out of shape with watercolour paper warping & buckling? This guide will help you keep things flat & easy while you paint.

Watercolour paper warping occurs when the fibres in the paper absorb moisture unevenly, causing it to expand and contract in different places. The flat surface becomes warped and it dries stuck in this position

Let’s imagine that when you paint on your paper, you’re adding water to the top of it. Those fibres will expand, yet the underneath of the paper will be dry. This causes the top of the paper to lift up as it grows, while the bottom pulls under, creating an arch.

And if you create puddles of really wet patches when you paint, the surface will be wetter and drier in different areas, creating uneven warping.

As the paper dries, the fibres will decrease in size again, but the paper may remain a little warped.

Bonus: How to stretch your watercolour paper

Prep your paper by thoroughly wetting both sides in a layer of clean water. Lay out on a flat surface like a wooden board and pull and stretch the paper tight. Tape down the edges with strong painters tape, or staple it down. Allow to dry completely before painting on it.

Some artists swear by stretching their papers, but I find it difficult and fiddly to lift them off the board. You’d probably have to just cut the edges off next to the tape because it won’t peel, and this is too faffy for my impatient brain. But if stretching works for you, go for it and enjoy warp-free painting!

Using gestural brushstrokes or stains across the medium, Benvenuto focuses on line and detail to build a narration of the life around her. She draws back to significant events, the people she’s met, or the changing landscape. Fundamentally, the artist surprises herself every day, shocking herself with what’s not familiar. From the changing seasons to the sweeping ocean — she is ever surrounded by inspiration, in awe of its beauty. 

Benvenuto found her calling within abstract works, focusing on what cannot be represented. In her artworks, the artist wants to explore and create new imagery to navigate the current world. Working from the mind, using memories to shape her composition, Benvenuto connects with her audience through visual representation; a soft curve becoming a wave, or gestural mark-making turning into long grass dancing in the wind. 

Her works narrate an exploration of textile, material and technique, probing the viewer to move closer to the works, at times leaving the linen raw inviting an organic aesthetic. Geometric shapes, sharp lines, or paint gestures activate the viewer’s eye in an array of multi-colour.

EN.MUNTHE.COM

MUNTHE ART MONDAY: MARIA JOSE BENVENUTO

My artistic journey revolves around the realm of abstract art, where I find myself constantly exploring the limitless boundaries of creativi

What would you like people to notice in your artwork?

Ultimately, I wish for my artwork to spark conversations and introspection. Whether it's the boldness of colors, the rhythm of lines, or the unexpected combinations in my sculptures, I hope my creations leave a lasting impression that lingers in the hearts and minds of those who encounter them. By capturing attention and evoking emotions, I aim to create a bridge between my inner artistic world and the diverse experiences of my audience. The interplay of vibrant colors and intricate forms is meant to prompt viewers to explore their own interpretations and connect with the stories I'm weaving through each piece. I hope that as people engage with my art, they find moments of reflection.

Christopher Wool

Gagosian

Christopher Wool

Learn about the work and career of artist Christopher Wool. Artworks, biography, exhibitions, news, museum exhibitions, press, and more.

Christopher Wool is best known for his paintings of large, black, stenciled letters on white canvases, but he possesses a wide range of styles; using a combined array of painterly techniques, including spray painting, hand painting, and screen-printing, he provides tension between painting and erasing, gesture and removal, depth and flatness. By painting layer upon layer of whites and off-whites over screen-printed elements used in previous works—monochrome forms taken from reproductions, enlargements of details of photographs, screens, and Polaroids of his own paintings—he accretes the surface of his pressurized paintings while apparently voiding their very substance. Only ghosts and impediments to the field of vision remain, each fixed in its individual temporality. Through these various procedures of application and cancellation, Wool obscures the liminal traces of previous elements, putting reproduction and negation to generative use in forming a new chapter in contemporary painting. His paintings can therefore be defined as much by what they are not and what they hold back as what they are.

Wool has forged an agile, highly focused practice that incorporates a variety of processes and mediums, paying special attention to the complexities of painting.

Untitled, 2012

Silkscreen ink on linen 120 by 96 inches

...Stupid Rabbit, 2004

enamel on linen 96by 72 inches

Give it Up or Turn It Loose, 1994

Enamel on aluminium 78 by 60 inches

Galerie Max Hetzler

Christopher Wool - Galerie Max Hetzler

The core element of Christopher Wool’s (b. 1955) work is the process of painting itself, which he explores since his early years by reducing

A central tenet of Christopher Wool’s (b. 1955) practice is the very process of painting itself. This has been explored and developed since his early years through reducing form and colour, as well as experimenting with different painting styles and reproduction techniques, such as silkscreen or pattern rollers, overlaying and erasing, covering or obscuring with paint, and adding layers on top. The range of techniques Wool has used over the years makes reference to the processes and gestures that have marked contemporary art history. The artist’s complex work encourages the viewer to reflect on the physical qualities of paint and various modes of reproduction, while honing an awareness of painting procedures and the essential elements of the medium: colour, form and line.

‘Christopher Wool’s paintings seem to capture visual urban experience, carved out of a moment for the duration of an artwork – an artwork that coverts the structures of experience into the structures of painting. Non-specific moments and impressions are lifted out of context and fixed into details of a painting that, unlike graffiti, conveys the speed and concentration of its origin only when it is contemplated over a measure of time in an art space. The dynamic of the picture’s conception becomes, very gradually, the dynamite of the thought it contains. Thought pictures.’

Christopher Wool’s paintings and prints explore the confluence of image, text, and pattern. They often feature enigmatic, confrontational found phrases or illegible scribbles, which are either stencilled or plastered in black across flat white fields. The artist occasionally covers the compositions with spray-paint marks and screen-printed elements (some taken from his previous works), erasing and relayering as he goes. His process—which focuses on the possibilities of reproduction, appropriation, and accretion—is as important as the results themselves. Wool studied at Sarah Lawrence College and the New York Studio School. New York’s vibrant 1970s downtown No Wave and punk scenes became major influences, and Wool reached his mature style in the mid-1980s. Wool has exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Paris, Tokyo, Berlin, and beyond, and his work belongs in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Centre Pompidou, and the Tate. His work has achieved eight figures on the secondary market.

The Museum of Modern Art

Christopher Wool | MoMA

American, born 1955

Untitled 1988

Enamel and flash on aluminium 96 by 72

brittanynelson.com

Mordancage — Brittany Nelson

Distorting processes from photographic history, the vibrant patterns in these reliefs are caused by violent chemical reactions. In applying

Experiment Excerpts series

Black, 2012. C-print, 60 x 50"

This series results from Nelson’s experiments with historical mordançage techniques. The patterns resembling organic matter are the outcomes ofstrong chemical reactions orchestrated in the laboratory. When combined, the molecular structures of these varying substances are dismantled and rearranged to form patterns of undulating wave-like swirls. In digitally blowing up the traces of these analog procedures, Nelson directs our attention towards the life-like features of chemicals pointing to what the writer and biochemist Isaac Asimov refers to as possibility of other worldly “life-not-as-we-know-it.” As such, Experiment Excerpts bring to mind what the feminist philosopher Jane Bennett calls “vibrant matter,” the forces and flows of materialities that can become lively, signaling, and affective; a liveliness that is swerving, buzzing, and turbulent

Brittany Nelson (b. 1984, Great Falls, MT) explores 19th-century photographic chemistry techniques and science fiction to address themes of loneliness, isolation, and distance within the queer community and its parallels with space exploration.

Mordançage Series

Distorting processes from photographic history, the vibrant patterns in these reliefs are caused by violent chemical reactions. In applying mordançage solutions to silver gelatin prints, Nelson bleaches selected areas and simultaneously lifts specific dark hues of the emulsion. This late 19th century technique is commonly appreciated for its stark contrasts, precise contours, and depths of light applied to create life-like portraits. In appropriating the historical process, Nelson suspends virtuosity and representation as photographic ideals. The works gouge a different potential application of the chemical bonds and—in continuation of feminist and queer abstraction—unfetter the constraints of resemblance to real-world referents. They call to mind Luciana Parisi’s cyberfeminist theory of microfeminine particle-forces emerging from non-linear reactions between potential and actual desires, resulting in intensifications of mutant desires.

Louise Giovanelli

https://www.whitecube.com/artists/louise-giovanelli?_gl=11mnftzk_upMQ.._gaMTI4NzU5NzM0Mi4xNzI4OTk4NzEx_ga_69SWDNXKNMMTcyODk5ODcxMC4xLjAuMTcyODk5ODcxMC4wLjAuMA.._ga_LMVZ29E0TN*MTcyODk5ODcxMC4xLjAuMTcyODk5ODcxMC4wLjAuNTkzMDY3MDk1

Reworking and often closely cropping details from paintings, photographs, classical sculpture, architecture and theatre, Giovanelli’s visual motifs traverse series, employing repetition as a leitmotif in order to achieve an augmented sense of reality. Where subjects are repeated, paintings that appear near identical are, however, rendered individual by slight alterations in composition or tone: ‘Repetition has two functions in my work. As a practical learning mechanism and as a psychological and conceptual device.’ 

An Ex IV, NYC Subway / Frankfurt am Main, 2019

Print on folded papers

20 × 27 1/2 in | 50.8 × 69.9 cm

Edition of 200

Louise Giovanelli

An Ex III, 2019

Oil on canvas

170 x 130 cm | 66 7/8 x 51 1/8 in

Louise Giovanelli

Billyo VI, 2019

Oil on canvas

80 x 50 cm | 31 1/2 x 19 3/4 in

* * *

“I’d rather risk an ugly surprise than rely on things I know I can do.”

- Helen Frankenthaler.

The Lavit Gallery

exhibition report

Annual Members exhibition

27 February- 22 March

this exhibition is of artwork by the Lavit Gallery artist members.

It includes work with; print, painting, sculpture, photography, ceramics and textiles.

it has a wide range of artists from amateur to professionals

out of the 134 artists only 69 are exhibiting.

there is not distinct theme in this exhibition

Curator: unknown

location: Wandesford Quay, Clarke's Bridge, Cork

Installation and display: the installation was very traditional, large open space with white walls and everything was hung our put on a plint. the Lavit Gallery is a commercial galllery aswell so I imagine that the works where hung in a way to not only displayed but also sold.

some artists in the show are: pauline Angew, Jo Ashby, Patty Atkinson, Patricia Beran, Toni Boris.

Paper

Muriel Napoli

Nature 391 painting

Acrylic on Canvas 100 by 140 cm

Nature 377 Painting

Acrylic on canvas 160 by 100 cm

Nature 362 painting

Acrylic on canvas 80 by 80 cm

My paintings are a tribute to nature's unwavering spirit of transformation, untouched by human intervention, from the dawn of time to the present day. The mighty oceans and their formation, the arrival of life-sustaining water, the laying down of sediment, the fiery fury of magma, the creation of coal, the birth of celestial bodies, accretion, geological wonders...these are but a few of the subjects I seek to illuminate. Through the harmonious blending of organic and mineral elements, I strive to evoke nature's symphony of change. In my art, I aspire to strip away all that is artificial, the vestiges of human tampering, and present a celestial vision of the natural world, pure and unblemished.

Artist Statement What is found in my pictures is nature's ability to change independently of the action of humanity, from its origins to today. The formation of the oceans, the origin of water on Earth, sedimentation, fire, magma, formation of coal, of planets, accretion, geological phenomenon ...I mix organic, mineral, the elements and various displays of these elements. I eliminate, as much as possible, everything that humanity has added to the world, all the changes introduced, everything which is artificial. My work tends to connect the world to beings and things, to form a whole, an entirety.

Muriel Napoli is a talented French painter whose works have been exhibited in USA, Italy and France. Seeking to remove elements of pure superficiality or attractiveness, she creates impactful abstract works marked by a unique colour combination, sweeping shapes and a striking sense of space.

What is found in the paintings of Muriel Napoli is the capacity that the nature of transforming independently of the action of man, from origin to the present. Formation of oceans, origin of water on earth, sedimentation, fire, magma, coal formation, planets, accretion, geological phenomena ... "I mix the plant, the mineral, the elements and the different manifestations of these elements. I make the most of everything that man added to the world, all the transformations brought by him, which is artificial. My work tends to link the universe to beings and things, to form a whole, a whole. "

lyrical abstraction

Passing on her emotions, feelings, transitional ideas that materialize on canvas through flat tints of the material, oil, knife directly positioned on the floor, on the frame, without any reference to reality itself.

"My ambition is to lead the viewer to think, to meditate, perhaps to dream"

Installation view 2021

Instagram

11:11 d’Artistes on Instagram: "MURIEL NAPOLI – THE DOCUMENTARY “What I look for when painting is clarity, fluidity, smoothness, fragility

14 likes, 0 comments - 1111dartistes on June 15, 2023: "MURIEL NAPOLI – THE DOCUMENTARY “What I look for when painting is clarity, fluidit

Muriel Napoli, an abstract painter with a passion for the beauty of nature, recently embarked on a remarkable artistic adventure in Vietnam. During her one-month artist residency program in Ho Chi Minh City, she was captivated by the astonishing richness of Vietnamese nature. Today, we invite you to join us on a three-minute artistic exploration with Muriel as she shares her techniques and the deep inspiration she drew from this awe-inspiring environment.

Muriel’s artistic process is a harmonious blend of instinct and technique. She meticulously selects her materials, ensuring they can capture the essence of the natural world she seeks to convey on her canvas. With a palette of fluid and vibrant colors, she sets out to create a visual symphony that celebrates the simplicity and beauty of the Vietnamese landscape.

Muriel’s dedication to capturing the essence of nature goes beyond the visual realm. She strives to infuse her paintings with the very essence of the flowers, fruits, and vegetation that so inspired her. Through texture, layering, and the interplay of light and shadow, Muriel breathes life into her art, inviting viewers to immerse themselves in the beauty and serenity of the natural world.

Painting Gallery

Muriel Napoli Abstract painting gallery | peinture

Muriel Napoli Muriel Napoli Abstract painting gallery. My paintings are a tribute to nature's unwavering spirit of transformation, untouched

Nature 326

Helen Frankenthaler

"There are no rules... that is how art is born, that is how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules, that is what invention is about."

has long been recognized as one of the great American artists of the twentieth century. 

She was eminent among the second generation of postwar American abstract painters and is widely credited for playing a pivotal role in the transition from Abstract Expressionism to Color Field painting. 

Through her invention of the soak-stain technique, she expanded the possibilities of abstract painting, while at times referencing figuration and landscape in unique ways.

Towards a New Climate, 1957

Oil on canvas 70 x 98 in. (177.8 x 248.9 cm)

The Bay, 1963

Acrylic on canvas 80 3/4 x 81 3/4 inches  (205 x 208 cm) Detroit Institute of Art, Michigan

A Green Thought in a Green Shade, 1981

Acrylic on canvas 119 x 156 1/2 inches (302.3 x 397.5 cm)

Grey Fireworks, 1982

Acrylic on canvas 72 x 118 1/2 inches (182.9 x 301 cm) Private Collection

Close up, Grey Fireworks, 1982

Untitled, 1962

Oil on paper 19 1/8 x 24 7/8 inches (48.6 x 63.2 cm)

Canal Street XIV, 1987

Acrylic on paper 24 1/2 x 39 1/2 inches  (62.2 x 100.3 cm)

Kiss, 2003

Acrylic on paper 8 x 10 inches (20.3 x 25.4 cm)

Gagosian

Helen Frankenthaler

Learn about the work and career of artist Helen Frankenthaler. Artworks, biography, exhibitions, news, museum exhibitions, press, and more.

Cool Summer, 1962

Oil on canvas, 69 ¾ × 120 inches (177.2 × 304.8 cm) (C) 9018 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation. Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Nature Abhors a Vaccum, 1973

Acrylic on canvas, 103 ½ × 112 inches (262.9 x 284.5 cm), National Gallery of Art, Washington, © 2018 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation,

Syzygy, 1987

Acrylic on canvas, 88 / X 59 ½ inches (224.2 x 151.1 cm)| © 2018 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, inc. Artists kiants society Aro. New york

A line, color, shapes, spaces, all do one thing for and within themselves, and yet do something else, in relation to everything that is going on within the four sides [of the canvas]. A line is a line, but [also] is a color. . . . It does this here, but that there. The canvas surface is flat and yet the space extends for miles. What a lie, what trickery—how beautiful is the very idea of painting. —Helen Frankenthaler

End of Summer, 1995

Acrylic on paper, 78 × 78 inches (198.1 × 198.1 cm) 9094 1een Trankentna pr rAlinearan Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Untitled, 1996

Acrylic and charcoal on paper, 40 ¼ × 60 ⅛ inches (102.2 × 152.7 cm) © 2024 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New

“I’ve always worked on paper,” she noted in 1996, “but not conceived on the scale of my canvases. . . . The shift was a tremendous move for me.”

The paintings in the exhibition reveal her exploration of the material and compositional possibilities of working on paper: new kinds of chromatic juxtapositions and painterly gestures, often set down on a smoother surface than canvas.

At several earlier moments in her career, Frankenthaler had added more visibly dense brushstrokes and applications of pigment to the revolutionary soak-stain technique she had pioneered in the early 1950s. This approach became a constant in her late compositions. After working directly on the floor during the first four decades of her career, she began painting on large, waist-high tabletops, a concession to her age; the turn to painting on paper also coincided with her increased activity in printmaking.

"My pictures are full of climates, abstract climates, and not nature per se. But a feeling. And the feeling of an order that is associated more with nature. Nature in seasons, maybe; but nature in, well, an order. And I think art itself is order out of chaos." —Helen Frankenthaler

In her pioneering work of the 1950s, inspired by Jackson Pollock, Frankenthaler had poured both linear tracks and spreading areas of thinned paint onto unprimed canvas. 

Challenged the established norms of brushwork and control. By allowing the paint to seep and bleed into the fabric, she embraced the unpredictable nature of the medium and introduced an element of spontaneity and freedom into her process. This unleashed a dynamic interplay of colours and forms, creating works that were vibrant, alive, and deeply expressive.