Janaina Tschäpe / Edwin Abbot

“Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Triangles, Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and other figures, instead of remaining fixed in their places, move freely about, on or in the surface, but without the power of rising above or sinking below it, very much like shadows – only hard with luminous edges – and you will then have a pretty correct notion of my country and countrymen. Alas, a few years ago, I should have said ‘my universe’: but now my mind has been opened to higher views of things.” 

Excerpt from novel:
Edwin Abbot
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
1884

Janaina Tschäpe (DE/US)

Flatland

2012

mixed media on canvas

305 x 914 cm 

Courtesy of Fortes Vilaca Gallery

http://www.janainatschape.net

Erin Lawlor / Titian

Titian

The Flaying of Marsyas

c.1570-1576

oil on canvas

212 x 207 cm

Quite simply because it's all about the paint!

Erin Lawlor 2013

Erin Lawlor (EN/FR)

Flagship

2013

oil on linen

162 x 130 cm

Erin Lawlor (EN/FR)
In flagrante

2013

oil on linen

81 x 60 cm

www.erinlawlor.com

Toon Verhoef / Clorindo Testa

Clorindo Testa
Untitled

1962 
oil on canvas 
59,1 x 45,1 cm

The first artist who had a profound influence on me was Clorindo Testa, an Argentine painter and architect. I saw his work when I was 15 in Buenos Aires, where I lived in the 60's. His work spoke of the city - its grey/white concrete walls, marked, stained, graffiti, endless featureless streets, sprawling disconsolate suburbs, dust, heat, courtyards with radios playing tango, echoing the words of Homero Manzi's immortal "Sur"...

Sur,
paredón y después,
Sur,
una luz de almacén...
 
San Juan y Boedo antiguo, y todo el cielo
Pompeya y más allá la inundación...

The idea that the experience of reality could be transformed into a non-representational image, with no narrative, was an astounding discovery for me. Then I knew I wanted to make paintings.
Clorindo Testa died in April 2013, at the age of 89.

Toon Verhoef 2013

Toon Verhoef (NL)

No title
2012
oil and acrylic on canvas

150 x 100 cm 
www.toonverhoef.com

T.J. Donovan / Shel Silverstein

Shel Silverstein

Now Here's My Plan: A Book of Futilities
1960

published by Simon and Schuster

My contribution is the wonderful Shel Silverstein (1930–1999). Silverstein was an American poet, singer-songwriter, cartoonist, screenwriter and author of children's books. Shel Silverstein inspired me at a very young age and shall continue to do so forever. My wife and I read Silverstein’s books to our daughter Lily every night before she closes her eyes. Silverstein speaks to both the young and the old, and most often simultaneously. He reminds us all of what’s at stake. He helps us to guide our children toward a life of dreaming, loving and standing up for what they believe in, all the while reminding us of these virtues we so often forget.

T.J. Donovan 2013

T.J. Donovan (US)

Untitled

2013

oil on canvas

123,2 x 122 x 5 cm (48.5 x 48 x 2 inches)

www.tjdonovanart.com

T.J. Donovan and his daughter Lily, Boston, MA, 2009