Thomas Scheibitz

Thomas Scheibitz  La Horde  oil, vinyl and marker on canvas  110.23"x74.8"  2012

www.thomasscheibitz.de

Scheibitz is a German artist that could be the offspring of Picasso and De Chirico. He melds cubist thought and surrealist dreamscapes into his own original style of painting and sculpture. His strong graphic compositions are rife with allusions to the figure, architecture and art history. The elegant line work and off beat color combinations are a hard to beat.

Tauba Auerbach

Tauba Auerbach  Untitled (fold)  2012  60"x45"  acrylic on canvas

www.taubaauerbach.com

Irving Petlin

Irving Petlin b. 1934  Echo    pastel on hand made paper  10 5/8"x13"   2012

www.kentfineart.net

Petlin was raised in Chicago and attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His poetic vision of the world is reflected in his etherial imagery often using pastel on paper. The narrative is always there but in a diffused manner. Still working in N.Y.C and Paris and still at the top of his game at 83. Quality has no time line.

Whiting Tennis

Whiting Tennis  Senior  2008  acrylic and collage on canvas  54"x40" 

www.derekeller.com

Whiting Tennis has work in the 2013 California-Pacific Triennial curated by Dan Cameron at the Orange County Museum of Contemporary Art. His work investigates the fertile ground between narrative and abstract painting. A multi-talented artist, he works in sculpture, painting and music.

Eugene Von Bruenchenhein

Eugene Von Bruenchenhein  Chinese Influence  Date N/A oil on corrugated cardboard 14"x17"

www.hammergallery.com

 Autodidactic painter from the Mid West. Von Bruenchenhein was sort of a mystic philosopher who walked his own path to enlightenment. His painting technique reminds me of when I was in elementary school and would do finger painting with Vano and powdered pigments on paper.

bill komoski

Bill Komoski 11.15.08  2008 acrylic on canvas 26"x30" 

www.featureinc.com

Jim Nutt

Jim Nutt  b.1938  Coursing  1966  acrylic and collage on plexiglas with painted wooden artist's frame 37"x 26"

www.davidnolangallery.com

Nutt was an artist from Chicago that became a major influence on that city's visual arts culture in the late 60's  and through out the 70's. He along with his wife Gladys Nilsson, Suellen Rocca, Art Green, and James Falconer formed what became known as the Hairy Who group.These like minded painters influences were not main stream contemporary art ideas at the time. Formalism, minimalism, abstraction, color field painting, held no interest for them. They, instead, felt a kinship with the outsider world of carny's and self taught artists that they encountered in the mid western cities and environs. The profane, awkward, marginalized world of the every man was where they gleaned their ideas. Highly crafted bizarre narratives became the staple of their world.
He and his associates were the reason I went to grad school at SAIC.

Tomma Abts

Tomma Abts  Tewes  2010  acrylic and oil on canvas  18.9"x14.96"

www.greengrassi.com

Beautiful, obsessive and exquisite work. Some paintings take months to finish.

Julian Schnabel

Julian Schnabel  Hat Full of Rain  1996  oil and marker on tarpaulin 180"x144"

www.julianschnabel.com

Schnabel is a painter and film maker from New York. He was part of the neo-expressionist movement in painting in the early 80's. His persona was a huge part of what drove his career. Although a successful film maker he considers himself a painter first and foremost.
His abstract and text filled work is the most interesting to me. The plate paintings and a lot of the figurative work seems a bit forced for my taste. Adored or dismissed, he is a force in contemporary art.

Shirley Jaffe

Shirley Jaffe b.1927  The Slanting Red 1989 oil on canvas 63"x51" 

www.tibordenagy.com

Jaffe was born in New Jersey and became part of the 2nd generation abstract expressionists. She moved to Paris, France in 1949 and has lived and painted there ever since.

Steve Gibson

Steve Gibson National Park Series 1974 water color and ink on paper 12"x15"

www.stevegibsonart.com

Oh, the excess of youth. 

James Siena

James Siena  Twirly 4 1997 enamel on aluminum 19"x15"

www.danielweinberggallery.com

Mary Heilmann

Mary Heilmann  Firey Pour 2011  oil on wood panel 40"x31.75" 

www.hauserwirth.com

Heilmann's work has a long and rich history. She has worked as an abstract painter and ceramist for over 40 years. Largely overlooked for a large part of her career, she has gained notoriety over the past decade for her bold color and imagery that alludes to elements of reality or narrative. Many younger artists are picking up on her take on painting today.

Philippe Richard

Philippe Richard Untitled acrylic on fabric 2012 78.74"x70.86"

www.galeriebernardjordan.com

I think most of my friends will know why I posted this image of Richard's. Love the obsessive quality of the imagery.

Shaun O'Dell

Shaun O'Dell Finished Blues  2012 gouache and ink on paper mounted on canvas mounted on panel  24"x20"

www.inglettgallery.com

Lisa Sanditz

Lisa Sanditz  Plastic Igloo 2009 oil and acrylic on canvas 16"x20"

www.acmelosangeles.com

Painting in the void between abstraction and figuration, Sanditz walks unique path to the resolution of her imagery.

Allison Miller

Allison Miller  Omnivore 1012  acrylic and oil on canvas 30"x26"
www.inglettgallery.com

Alan Davie

Alan Davie B. 1920 " where I would be and how long gone"  2005 oil on canvas 29.95"x39.93"

www.jameshymangallery.com

Davie is now 93 and still painting and drawing regularly. His work has a shamanistic style that reminds me a bit of Alfred Jensen's numerical/alphabetical works and Jungian symbolist work. He had some early success in the states in the 50's but has since concentrated on working and showing in the U.K. Too bad for us. Would be great to see a retrospective of his life's work some where here.

Richard Diebenkorn

Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993)  Ocean Park #79  oil on canvas 1975 100"x81"
www.philamuseum.org

Diebenkorn was a west coast painter associated with the Bay Area figurative artists David Park, Elmer Bischoff and others. The Ocean Park series of paintings done in the mid 70's were elegant tropes on abstract landscapes. His indebtedness to Matisse was obvious and his hand was just as facile as that great master. His use of horizontal, vertical and diagonal structure skeined with luscious color was mimicked by many but mastered by only him.

walter swennen

Walter Swennen  Radium  1975 oil on wood 23.6"x23.6"
www.nicolaskrupp.com