Chelo Amezcua

Chelo Amezcua  Del Rio's Filligree Sun Flower  1968  graphite, ink on mat board  28" x 22"
cavinmorris.com

Rudy Cremonini

Rudy Cremonini  The Storage  2014  oil on canvas  20" x 16.4"
rudycremonini.com

William Conger

William Conger  The Prisoner  2014  oil on canvas  56" x 36"
williamconger.com

I remember seeing Congers work in Chicago in the mid seventies when I was a grad student at SAIC. He showed at Kenyon Gallery on Michigan Av. as well as Zaks Gallery on Ontario. He has been a prolific and consistent painter for the past 40 years.  Over the years I have seen his work develop and refine itself. The last show I saw was at Roy Boyd Gallery a few years ago. I was impressed with his ability to work small or large without missing a beat. His compositions and color combinations are elegant formal studies with a hint of Chicago idiosyncratic edge to them, kind of De Chirico meets Mondrian.  It is funny how one's appreciation comes with time and looking at a lot of painting.

I hope he has many more years ahead of him. He is one of Chicago's best painters.

M'onma

M'onma  Untitled  2000 colored pencil on paper  14.57" x 20.67"
cavinmorris.com 

Carlo Zinelli

Carlo Zinelli  Untitled  1972  ink and tempera on paper  16.5" x 23.25
cavinmorris.com

The curious thing about self taught artists is their apparent lack of inhibitions in the work they do. Zinelli is a good example of using text and imagery to develop an uninhibited view of his inner world inspired drawings. The jumbled symbols and intuitive compositional style give the viewer the feeling that any thing is possible as the flow of imagination roams free.

Solange Knopf

Solange Knopf  Behind the Darkness  2013  mixed media on paper  28.75" x 31.1"

cavinmorris.com

Angkasapura

Angkasapura  Untitled  2014 ink on found paper  11.75" x 8.25"
cavinmorris.com
I thought this jubilant image would be appropriate for the day.

Kirk Hayes

Kirk Hayes  Sculpture For The Capriciousness Of Life  2008  oil on panel (trompe-l'oeil)
 48" x 32"
zsandh.com
Larry McMurtry meets Philip Guston in Ft. Worth. That was my first impression of Hayes work. Upon further review, this Texas artist has a lot more going on than that cursory description. Like other Texans, Terry Allen and James Surls, Hayes is dancing to his own tune. His collage paintings fuse an obscure narrative with blunt abstract forms to give the viewer an unsettling look inside his mind.

Peter Gallo

Peter Gallo  Qualgeist  2014 oil and wood on linen on panel  39" x 35.5"
zsandh.com

Mimi Lauter

Mimi Lauter  Portrait Of My Brain And My Studio  2014 oil and soft pastel on paper           72" x 54"
shanecampbellgallery.com
I usually do not think of U.C. Irvine in Orange Co. Ca. a hotbed of expressionist painting. They are more known for a "Cool School" attitude at their confines on the beach. However, Lauters work belies that thought as is evidenced with the above beauty. Fauvistic, rich color defines the work as it harkens to a time past and a future filled with possibilities.

Lauren Silva

           Lauren Silva  Flicker  2014  acrylic and oil on canvas  96" x 84"
          zsandh.com
Who ever is directing Zeither, Smith and Horton is doing a bang up job selecting painters. Silva is one of many that I can rave about. I really enjoy her use of different painting techniques on one painting. Illusion, diaphanous color passages and straight ahead paint handling come together to make a disquieting and captivating image.

Clare Grill

                         Clare Grill  Flukes  2014 oil on linen  48" x 33"
                        claregrill.com

The work of Clare Grill comes on like a subtle poem. Alluding to nothing and everything. Just enough said and not a bit more. No confusion just good painting.

Jesse Littlefield

Jesse Littlefield  Say Uncle  2014  silkscreen printing ink on muslin on canvas 48" x 36"
zsandh.com
I like Littlefields painting/collages. They are very well composed with just enough happenstance to give them credence and authenticity. I see Alan Davie, Robert Motherwell and Caroll Summers as antecedents. That said, they seem more than the sum of parts and pieces of past masters. For some reason they seduced me like an orchestral passage from Bach. 

John L. Moore

John L. Moore  Mirrors And Eyes  1994  oil on canvas  80" x 68" 
clevelandart.org

Steve Gibson

Steve Gibson  Music City  2008  ink, spray paint on mylar  12" x 12" 
stevegibsonart.com

Drawing is my default place. When I want to recharge and clarify my thinking I do these drawings that feel rather Zen like. They reinvigorate me and give me the freedom to move on to the next thing. I feel a sort of a contemplative constraint that is satisfying and liberating.

Angelina Gualdoni

Angelina Gualdoni  Screens  2014  oil and acrylic on canvas  24" x 28"
asyageisberggallery.com

Ciaran Murphy

                 Ciaran Murphy Holding Together 2  2014  oil on canvas  15.8" x 15.8" 
                 grimmgallery.com

Kimberly Rowe

Kimberly Rowe  Tomorrow Never Knows  2014  acrylic on canvas  12" x 9"
kimberlyrowe.net

Carolyn Case

Carolyn Case  Blue Sky  2012  oil on panel  22" x 24"
asyageisberggallery.com

Julia Schwartz

Julia Schwartz  1.9.31.24  2013  oil on canvas  12" x 12"
juliaschwartzart.com

Julia Schwartz is an artist working in L.A. whose work is layered with psychological undertones. When viewing her painting it appears very inner directed as she flows from abstraction to figuration. She is also a writer and interviewer for Figure Ground where she engages with other artists gaining greater understanding of the work they do. The work I chose to show here is part of her "Beingless States" series. Not having a background in psychology, I can't speak to the intellectual side of her work. However, I can appreciate the beauty of this piece.