antecedent au current exhibition catalog version 4

Antecedent/Au Courant

September 17, 2015-October 15, 2015

Layout and Design by Katherine Shevchenko

Edited by Gabriel Delgado, Marla Cavin

Writing Contributions by Gabriel Delgado and Katherine Shevchenko

All prices are current and are subject to change. Please contact the gallery directly for current availability and pricing of artworks.

All artworks are copyrighted and may not be used without the artist’s express permission. Copyright 2015

All Artwork Photography courtesy of J.R. Mooney Galleries

“Antecedent / Au Courant” presented by J.R. Mooney Galleries of Fine Art

September 17 - October 15, 2015

The artwork in "Antecedent / Au Courant" is deep-rooted with the artist, but fresh to the gallery as the institution explores various genres and aspects of our represented artists.As we explore the premise behind the new exhibition at J.R. Mooney Galleries of Fine Art – Boerne, “Antecedent/ Au Courant;” it is important to note the impact of change on an artist's career.

Several things can happen from life changing experiences, market driven expectations, exploration of creative aesthetics and a host of other factors that can cause involuntary change an artist's perspective on their own body of work. Shifting gears, maturing and fundamentally poising in self-reflective moments are almost universal to all artists; not to mention the disillusioned and often concealed bouts of self-doubt that govern decisions. In “Antecedent / Au Courant,” the viewer sees artists like Cliff Cavin maturing in aesthetic; Bill Scheidt mastering technique; Sidney Sinclair interchanging from portraits to landscapes; Seth Camm balancing chiaroscuro driven still-life, portraiture and landscapes and José Vives-Atsara’s 1960’s fluctuations from Spain to Texas and everything in between. The point is it’s healthy to see an artist experiment, to develop techniques out of exploration. I was once told by a renowned Texas Museum Director that an artist should make seventy five to a hundred paintings for a museum show and twenty will be good, but ten will be the crème de la crème. In essence, artists need to work through issue upon issue to make the painting successful. They do this by taking artistic freedoms, focusing on an in-depth analysis of their own responses in color, composition, intuitive stroke and other mark making. However, if they stay true to themselves, the painting will remain reflective of their respective personalities, style of painting and signature approach, regardless of genre.

In the late 1950’s José Vives-Atsara was painting with the flat brush, not having developed the palette knife techniques he undoubtedly became known for. In the after-market sensibilities, the flat brush work is less expensive than the desired San Antonio Mission paintings, the downtown river walk, and Brackenridge Park scenes, although they are earlier in his career.

Sidney Sinclair was known as a Tuscan aesthetic landscape painter, but life’s challenges morphed her style to accommodate a more impressionistic, hazy and ephemeral feeling, juxtaposed with abstract geometric symmetries. As the market drives her abstractions, an emphasis has been placed on her new body of work that does not link back to her older aesthetic. Bill Scheidt, who was one of the farriers for the now defunct Fair Oaks Ranch (eventually parceled out as an elite Boerne suburb-community), provides examples of earlier aspirations on his western and wildlife painter title. Gaining much prestige and receiving many accolades in his career, Scheidt knows first-hand the success of persistence.

Spend time within “Antecedent / Au Courant” to see how these artists’ aesthetics change over time, as they master their craft.

By: Gabriel Diego DelgadoJ.R. Mooney Galleries, Boerne, TXGallery Director

Antecedent/Au Courant Select Artists

Cliff Cavin Seth Camm

Bill ScheidtSidney Sinclair

José Vives-Atsara

Recently named Artist of the Year 2014 by the San Antonio Art League Museum, American artist Seth Camm earned his certificate in fine arts at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, the oldest academy of fine arts in the United States. The Pennsylvania Academy, known respectfully as PAFA, has been home to many of the greatest names in American art including Cecilia Beaux, Mary Cassatt, Maxfield Parrish, Charles Sheeler, John Sloan, Charles Demuth, Arthur B. Carles, architect Louis I. Kahn, James Brantley, the Cool School, and filmmaker David Lynch. After completing his study of the traditional masters at PAFA, Seth worked and studied with renowned modern masters Nelson Shanks at Studio Incammanati and Odd Nerdrum at his private studio in Oslo, Norway.

Seth

Cam

m

"Self Portrait" Oil, 14" x 11"

Seth

Cam

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"Hispanic Girl" Oil, 16" x 16"

"Woman With Scarf " Oil, 20" x 16"

Seth

Cam

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"Reclining Woman" Oil, 24" x 30"

Seth

Cam

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"Old Man" Oil, 24" x 18"

"St. Jerome" Oil, 20" x 16"

Cliff C

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Cliff Cavin was born in San Antonio, Texas and has been painting for over thirty years. He has studied under such notable artists as Warren Hunter, George Hughey, William Reese and Wilson Hurley. His paintings have won numerous awards and are collected both nationally and internationally in private and corporate collections. He has exhibited here and abroad and has participated in several cultural art exchanges, auctions and benefits for charitable organizations. Although equally talented in oils and watercolors, his primary focus is on oil painting, particularly the landscape. The immediacy and directness of his work emphasize the strength and grandeur of nature while his use of color defines the gentleness and beauty he finds in the natural world. These qualities, coupled with his keen observation, create a clarity and sensitivity in his work that truly express the emotional qualities of his environment. Cliff Cavin is a landscape purist, dedicated to the capturing of light.

"Summer Cedar" Oil, 12" x 16"

Cliff C

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"Orange Canyon"Oil8" x 10"

"Orange Canyon"

Cliff Cavin’s “Orange Canyon” is an oil painting that is saturated in arbitrary color, a fragment of a landscape comprised of luminous golden oranges and deep violets. The attraction to this piece is the audacity of the artist to use color with pure expressive intent in a manner that really sets it apart from his later works. This earlier style shows a penchant for experimentation that departs from preconceived notions of what a landscape interpretation should be. There is still a representational, impressionistic quality that is distinctly and recognizably Cavin’s; the paint strokes here are more suggestive and gestural then in his later works, which tend to become more naturalistic in their hues and a bit more precise in the rendering. It is in the intensity and pure abandonment in his color choices, that borders on a near visionary lucidity, that permeate his palette choices; the cadmium golden sky, in harmonious complement with the scarlet orange desert plateau, balance each other unexpectedly. A diagonal slope of vibrant purples leads the eye down to an emerald turquoise hilltop in the foreground, a reverie of chromatic escapism. A small scale composition that packs in a pigmented visual punch, “Orange Canyon” represents a moment in an artist’s career that reveals a process and journey, through decisions that translate between creative freedom and intuition, an offering of a tangential aesthetic that is still in the process of becoming.

© Katherine Shevchenko, Art Consultant, J.R. Mooney Gallery, Boerne, TX

Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Cliff C

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"Early Morning Light"Oil14" x 18"

"Box Canyon"Oil 11" x 14"

Cliff C

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Cliff C

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R. H

enderson

"Happy Hippo," Oil, 20" x 24"

Cliff C

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Cliff C

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R. H

enderson

"Is It Feeding Time?" Oil, 16" x 12"

"Bessie" Oil, 20" x 24"

Cliff C

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Cliff C

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R. H

enderson

"Blue Moo" Oil, 30" x 30"

"Time to Feed Me" Oil, 30" x 30"

Cliff C

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Cliff C

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J. Morgan

J. Morgan remembers becoming interested in art at a very young age, and spent many hours in his youth sketching scenes he saw around him in his home of Seoul, South Korea. Born in 1974, the artist decided that in order to further his art career, he would need to travel to America and study techniques in oil painting. At age 20, he left Korea for New York, where he attended the prestigious Cooper Union School of Art. There he was able to develop his own unique landscape style, and through his own extensive traveling, he discovered many new and beautiful scenes to depict in his work: The vineyards of Tuscany; the dry landscapes of the Midi in France; the brilliantly colored floral hillsides of Valencia. His travels opened up a world of possibilities for this emerging artist, and he continues to travel for inspiration in his work. His time at Cooper Union instilled in him a lasting love for New York, and he currently lives between New York City and his Vermont studio.

"White Flowers on Silver" Oil, 40" x 30"

Cliff C

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Cliff C

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J. Morgan

"Poppies at Sunset" Oil, 12" x 24"

"Field of Color" Oil, 16" x 12"

Cliff C

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Cliff C

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J. Morgan

"Those Red Flowers" Oil, 24" x 20"

"Flowing Hills Of Color" Oil, 12" x 24"

Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Sidn

ey Sin

clair

Sidney Sinclair's passion for her work is evident in each piece she creates. Light, romance and mystery are integral senses depicted throughout the florals, portraits, still lifes, and landscapes, which dominate her work. Sidney earned her Bachelors of Arts degree at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. She also attended the Warren Hunter School of Art. This fourth generation Texan has studied with international, national, and regional artists. Sidney studied watercolor under Darryl Trott of Australia, and oil painting with artists David Leffel and Gregg Kruetz of the Art Student League in New York City. She also studied landscape painting with Michael Albrechtesen of Olathe, Kansas and Nancy Bush of Fredericksburg, Texas. Sidney has studied still life, portraiture and landscape painting with artist Jay Hester of Boerne, Texas. Sidney`s work has appeared in Southwest Art Magazine, Western Art Collector, American Art Review, Country Lifestyle, and Food & Leisure magazines.

"Serenity" Oil, 12" x 9"

Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Sidn

ey Sin

clair

"Gypsy Secret" Oil, 14" x 11"

"Thinking Back" Oil, 14" x 11"

Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Sidn

ey Sin

clair

"Abigail" Oil, 16" x 12"

"Gypsy Spirit" Oil, 11" x 14"

"Alter Ego" Oil over Giclée Reproduction, 16" x 12"

Sidn

ey Sin

clair

Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Bill S

cheidt

Bill creates many of his paintings from his personal experiences. Influenced by his father at an early age, Bill spent much of his life hunting. He still believes responsible hunting is part of "nature's balance," an equilibrium determined by the Creator who placed us and all the creatures and plants on this planet. Bill believes that, as the intelligent species, we need to cherish as well as use the resources given to humanity. He attempts to convey through his art an awareness of his experiences in the world of nature. His portrayals of wildlife in their natural surroundings engaging in their activities without human interventions are the product of his many ventures throughout the Western United States. "I feel privileged to be the instrument of our Creator," Bill says, "to be able to execute works that bring insight and enjoyment to others." That insight -- as well as inspiration -- is evident in his use of lighting, contrast, details, and subject matter.

"Promise of Spring" Oil, 12" x 24"

Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Bill S

cheidt

"Little Brother" Oil, 8" x 10"

"Black Baldy" Oil, 11" x 14"

Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Cliff C

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"New Shoes" Oil, 16" x 12"

Bill S

cheidt

"Deadeye" Oil, 18" x 14"

Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Cliff C

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José Vives A

tsara

José Vives-Atsara was born in Vilafranca del Panades in the Catalonian region of Spain on April 30, 1919. He began painting at the age of eleven and had his first one man show at the age of fourteen. He studied art at Saint Raymond College and the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona. In his life, he often referenced nature itself as his most inspirational teacher. Mr. Vives-Atsara came to San Antonio in 1956. Within twenty years, he bacame one of Texas' most distinguished artists. His use of a palette knife in painting allowed for blending rich, pure pigments into a powerful statement of color directly on the canvas. This style produced works that are distinctively Vives-Atsara. José Vives-Atsara is represented in such collections as the Museum of Modern Art, Spain; Fort Worth Art Museum, Texas; His Royal Highness Juan Carlos, King of Spain; the Vatican; and the State Capitals of many of the southern United States. His work is also in many private collections in the United States, Spain, Mexico, and Venezuela.

Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Cliff C

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José Vives A

tsara

"Texas Still Life" Oil, 30" x 24"

Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Cliff C

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José Vives A

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"Village & Church in Catalonia, Spain" Oil, 16" x 20"

Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Cliff C

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José Vives A

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"Stormy Coast" Oil, 24" x 30"

Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Cliff C

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José Vives A

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"Pescados" Oil, 24" x 30"

Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Cliff C

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Cliff C

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José Vives A

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"Bodegon" Oil, 24" x 30"

“El Castillo en Reflejos, Catalonia, Spain,” by José Vives-Atsara is a prime example of a painting that makes you hesitate, to stop in your tracks and take a second glance; a visual shillyshally encompassed by a harmlessly dominate, watery mirror-image in a ghostly gestalt. This oil painted existential echo coerces you to ponder your existence, (well not quite), but Vives-Atsara forces you to reevaluate what we know about composition in the traditional landscape painting genre.

Yes, this vintage painting (dated 1963) of a castle in Catalonia, Spain is formulated in a way that breaks the mold of composition in the traditional

sense of an impressionistic painting. Many questions come to mind when evaluating “El Castillo en Reflejos.” First of all, our brain says, "Hey! Wait! Which way is up?" We instinctively fight to resist the awkward art museum cliché of turning our head sideways to help us formulate those internal thoughts in our ability to comprehend contemporary art; we begin to suppress an interior struggle to question its validity with an ingrained and primordial self-doubt artistic chip on our mental shoulder.

Ward off that instinctive temptation to twist your neck askew so that one of your ears is up, like a canine. It won’t help you to fathom any more of this pictorial puzzle as you unbearably struggle with this artwork like it is some cryptic but visual language presented to you with a seemingly fictional and mischievous intention by an artist aimed at sadistically avenging art by at driving us mad.When you realize it’s all about the reflection in the water, you have to reestablish the horizon line, gain your bearing as to where you are in relation to the castle in the foreground. Then, we begin to calculate the surrounding areas. What is the terrain? Where is the artist positioning us? Is it an impossible perspective or just a detail with some artistic liberties?

“River’s Reflection” by Gabriel Diego Delgado

"Castillo en Reflejos" Oil, 24" x 30"

Once we perfect our posture we begin to comprehend the whole painting is all about the small castle turrett in the water’s reflection. It mimics us with a queasy vertigo, gaunt in the subtle picture plane, like some painterly echo of times gone past, an artistic and historical capture of some medieval period, a flash in history when this structure was vital to the survival of the surrounding area.

Now it’s a cool and calm reflection in the tranquil waters below, reaching out from some picturesque grave, a kind of allegory of the John Everett Millais’s depiction of Ophelia offering herself to death in the cold water, floating down the stream in a macabre melody of ancestral auras.

Once ruled by the Crown of Aragon in the Mediterranean and complete with over 600 medieval fortresses, the autonomous region of Catalonia, Spain is a majestic territory comprised of smaller provinces that include Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. José Vives-Atsara portrays one of these numerous castles with painterly inquisition, giving us an impressionistic reflection, just enough detail for curiosity, matched only by a legion of historical prominence.

ABOUT J.R. MOONEY GALLERIES OF FINE ARTJ.R. Mooney Galleries of Fine Art is a full service Fine Art Retail Gallery, specializing in Texas Vintage, Local & Regional, and Contemporary Art; coupled with a world renowned custom frame shop.

J.R. Mooney Galleries for Fine Art was founded in San Antonio, Texas in 1947 by Joe and Adelle Mooney. Emerging as Modern Paint Company in 1947, with the largest selection of professional art-ist grade art supplies in San Antonio, the Mooney family eventually expanded their business. Modern Paint Company became J.R. Mooney Galleries of Fine Art to showcase local, regional and interna-tional artists while delving into custom framing, artist representation and other unique attributes. J.R. Mooney Galleries of Fine Art has metamorphosed again with an identity reflective of over a half-century existence; becoming custom framing experts and specializing in an array of museum quality art services. J.R. Mooney Galleries is currently providing fine art services at their signature Broadway address in San Antonio, and in their Boerne location. J.R. Mooney Galleries of Fine Art has provided framing services for every American President since John Kennedy and every Texas Governor since John Connally. The galleries have also supplied the Vatican, the Royal Palace in Madrid, Queen Beatrix of Holland, as well as major collections and collectors in Europe, Asia, South America and Australia.

J.R. Mooney Galleries of Fine Art8302 Broadway St. San Antonio, TX 78209(210) 828-8214 &

305 S. Main StSan Antonio, TX 78006(830) 816-5106

Gallery Hours: San Antonio – Mon. – Sat. 10 am – 6 pm

Boerne – Tues. – Sat. 10 am – 5 pm

Antecedent/Au CourantSeptember 17, 2015-October 15, 2015