artist bios

BAA

Information on Artists and

Artwork

Available for your

Collections

BAA [ART VIP ARTISTS AND ARTWORK INFORMATION]

H o s t e d b y B r i t i s h A m e r i c a n A u c t i o n s

FERJO

Fernando de Jesus Oliveira,, Ferjo, was born in Bahia Brazil, in 1946. Ferjo is one of the most dynamic and intriguing artists on the contemporary international scene. His surreal, even

metaphysical way with a canvas has been earlier lauded with Ferjo winning the prestigious Crescent Scholarship at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the New York Council

for the Arts Award for Excellence in portraiture and interiors. Ferjo's signature style continues to excite our imagination and perception.

Those with backgrounds in the arts will recognize Ferjo as an artist who can draw, render and

paint with an extraordinary life-likeness. Ferjo‘s ability to paint realistically and then to extend realism into a hallucinogenic surrealist vision, filled with symbolic connotations taken from the world of dreams and fantasmagoria, is one of the more startling attributes to be

found in recent painting. Whether Ferjo is representing automobiles or portraits, still life arrangements or sports events, imaginary or life-like portraits, there is convincing evidence of

his talent as a technician of painting. There is also evidence of Ferjo‘s versatile and shifting imagination, as he moves with considerable agility from one motif to another, often shifting

styles in the process.



JENNIFER VRANES

Words like brilliant and vibrant are often used to describe the contemporary paintings of Jennifer Vranes. With her extreme texture, and colors just brighter than reality, Vranes‘

paintings capture an intense energy that is both positive and uplifting.

An extensive world traveler, Vranes gets her inspiration from places she has seen from all over the world. Through her art, she transports the viewer to distant lands where poppies grow

wildly in breathtaking meadows; where fragrant Lavender is farmed in lush rows in France; where aspens quake in the Rocky Mountains. Vranes finds the secret utopias that often go unnoticed, and she captures it on canvas for the world to enjoy.

After establishing her Art career in San Francisco, Vranes returned to her roots in Southern

Oregon, where she and Matthew continue to run a successful Art Business. Jennifer spends most of her day painting in her art studio while Matt, her husband works behind the scenes,

keeping things running smoothly. Matt‘s good business sense and tech-savvy know-how, along with Jennifer‘s creative genius, make them a perfect team!

The paintings of Jennifer Vranes are celebrations of life on canvas! They are a tribute to the

beautiful world in which we live. Through her wonderful and unique works of art, she brings joy to the homes and lives of collectors all over the world.



JANE WATEROUS

A former filmmaker, Jane Waterous originally received her bachelor‘s degree in fine art from

Queens University, Ontario, Canada, before pursing a career behind the lens. Waterous‘ work has been widely shown in public and private exhibitions in Toronto, Nassau and, most

recently, at Artexpo New York 2010, where she won the highly coveted SOLO Artist Award.

In addition to networking with attendees, Jane says she gained a great deal of inspiration from mingling with other artists and exhibitors.

―Painting can certainly be a very insular activity. It was wonderful to rub elbows with other

working artists, to share ideas, to brainstorm with those with similar and diverse creative ideas, to have an audience for my work and to see other artists‘ portfolios.

She has completed commissions for collectors across North America and Europe.

Jane‘s paintings span a wide range of media, themes and subject matter. Her trademark three-

dimensional Crowds at Play series reflect the vibrant colors and unique lighting of the Caribbean, where she lives. Jane‘s innovative canvases sold well at Artexpo, and the

professional connections she made are continuing to pay off.



LONA

LONA expresses her subjects in a bold colorful pallet with a contemporary flair. Her canvases reveal exciting wines, spirits and compelling florals. The majority of her work is done in

acrylics and the subject matter of her paintings is what she coins, ―close-up realism.‖ During the year 2000, LONA moved to Paris to concentrate on her painting skills.

She spent the year traveling, drawing, painting and developing her unique artistic style, and returned to the States with over 30 paintings.

LONAʼs work has been shown in New York City, Houston, San Jose, Las Vegas and Hawaii. She has collectors from all over the world.

Additionally, LONA has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Graphic Design from San Jose

State University and has been a professional Graphic Designer for over 19 years. She is Principal, President and Senior Designer of Bluestone Studio, Inc., located in Henderson Nevada. LONA has won many national awards for her design work, including a Benjamin

Franklin Award - Best of Show, an Addy Award, and many American Graphic Design Awards.

Originals and limited edition giclées are available.

LONA also accepts commissioned assignments upon request.



LENA LUCKEY

Lena Luckey is a native of Prague, Czech Republic and has traveled the world to cultivate and develop her art. Based first in Munich, Germany, she journeyed throughout Europe, spending time in the pastoral countryside and most of the major metropolitan cities in Western Europe. While on the Mediterranean peninsula of St. Tropez, the French art and coastal inhabitants there inspired her to paint. Luckey’s desire to experience and immerse herself completely in other cultures led her south to Casablanca, Morocco. Morocco’s rich historical culture incorporates the best of Arab, Spanish, Portuguese and French art. While in Casablanca, she absorbed the spirit, flavors and textures of these influences and naturally infused them into her work. Intrigued by how her soul was identifying with a wide variety of nationalities and cultures,

Luckey next set her sights on the island of Bali, Indonesia. The time spent in Bali's spiritually rich environment culminated in a fusion of all her experiences. Her artwork reveals textures

and colors that bridge several continents and many diverse cultures. Luckey uses the artistic medium of acrylic on canvas to depict her personal experiences with people, places, and emotions. To give texture to some of her work she uses beach sand, saw dust, grass or soil on the canvas to produce a truly unique and emotive

creation from her soul.



SIMON BULL

Though he had gained early recognition for his finely worked etchings and watercolours, his

work took an explosive new direction in the early 1990‘s with vibrant colours and bold,

expressive compositions. It was this new ability to work with colour that was to bring him

widespread international acclaim and produce the signature look that was to make his work

instantly recognizable. Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, the rich and vibrant style

for which he has since become world famous began to find expression, to find a voice. It was

not until his major one-man show at Harrods in London where seventy-six of his paintings

were exhibited together, that the effect of this new work came home to him. This success has

led to many accolades.

He was the first to win the Fine Art Trade Guild Artist Print Award in 2000 (as the top-selling

print artist in England), and in 2002 he was named the official artist for the Salt Lake City

Winter Olympics. In 2003 and 2004 he became the first British artist to win the prestigious

U.S. National Association of Limited Edition Dealers Print of the Year award, first for ―The

Journey Never Ends―, and the following year for ―Bird Of Paradise―. During his career, his

work has been introduced by Randy Jackson of American Idol, unveiled in New York by

Donald Trump, and featured on ABC Television‘s Extreme Makeover Home Edition as well

as MTV Cribs and ShopNBC.

http://www.bullart.com/index.php/Biography-of-Simon-Bull/index.php/component/option,com_rsgallery2/Itemid,88/id,243/page,inline/





VADIM KLEVENSKIY

Vadim Klevenskiy was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (formerly USSR) in 1964. Throughout his schooling years, Klevenskiy was always involved in education that focused on

art and its many forms. He has received much training and inspiration through various

professors and art institutions.

Vadim has an art style unlike any other seen, though there are strong hints of styles that he wanted to bring out from his favorite masters: Van Gogh, Goya,Rubens, and Giotto. Similar

to these masters,Klevenskiy uses intense contrast in colors and shapes to astound the eye.



TATYANA KLEVENSKIY

Tatyana Klevenskiy, born in 1961 in Yaroslavl, Russia, began her career of painting at the

young age of six. Tatyana got her first introduction to art in the lessons given by her

grandfather that later soared her into the talent she is so well known for today.

After receiving her diploma in Graphic Design from the Yaroslavl College of Art and her

diploma in Art Design of Feature Films and TV from the All-Russian Institute of Cinematography, as well as working as a costume designer during this time, Tatyana took off

in her flight to becoming an established painter in Russia.

Her paintings illuminate the viewers eye by her astounding ability to capture and create light on the canvas. Be it still life study or a simple Russian village landscape, her paintings

demonstrate her enchanting ability to bring a calmness and tranquility to the viewer by the magnificence and serenity of her paintings.

Tatyana is a painter, mother of Aleksander, and wife of accomplished painter Vadim

Klevenskiy. Tatyana's work brings to life the phrase, "Your eyes will acclaim." One of her paintings from a village in Russia now hangs in the office of Yuri Lushkov, Mayor of

Moscow. Additionally, her work is collected by Ahatoly Lisitsyn, Governor of Yaroslavl. Her paintings are also displayed in the Conference Hall N.P.D. SATURN in Rybinsk, Russia.

http://www.addisongallery.com/showbio.asp?id=1911

http://www.addisongallery.com/showbio.asp?id=1911



GARDANI

Born in Quito, Ecuador, Gardani has been widely influenced by the simplicity of life. He emigrated to the United States in 1990 to attend the Center for Media in New York.

He paints mostly oils of oversized still life, and has gained quite a following in South Florida.

He uses brilliant colors and simple subjects to create extraordinary works of art.

Gardani is now without doubt one of the Contemporary most important and successful

Painters of the Human Form His oils and mix media style Paintings are instantly

recognizable. Gardani‘s art was shown on numerous Art exhibitions in NY, FL and Vegas and he held

several big one man shows in Ecuador and in the United States.



FABIAN PEREZ

From the age of nine Fabian felt at home holding a paintbrush, producing surprisingly

mature portraits of family and friends. His extraordinary parents played a huge part in his creative development; his mother was artistic and imaginative, while his father was a

fascinating figure - well known locally both to the people and the police as a somewhat clandestine character with a hand in various business dealings that operated after dark in the nightclubs and on the streets of the city.

His father‘s activities meant that the young Fabian was exposed to an interesting cast of characters, from handsome men who lived their lives on the edge to women who, as he

himself puts it, could seduce a man simply by lighting a cigarette. Add to this a world of sultry and glamorous tango dancers, flamenco guitarists and gypsy musicians, and Fabians stunning

paintings fall into context as atmospheric representations of forbidden sensuality and

unnamed desires.

After the death of both parents, when Perez was just 19, he decided to leave Argentina and travelled around Brazil, Italy and Japan before settling in Los Angeles in Spring 2001. It was

here that his work was noticed by the official artistic establishment, and before long he was holding sell out exhibitions and publishing his work to great critical acclaim.

Although he admires various schools of art including the Impressionists, Fabian is reluctant to have his work categorized. It is perhaps best to refer to his own description - Emotionalism -

which best sums up his uniquely expressive style. Having experimented extensively with watercolor, tempura and acrylics he settled some years ago on oils as his preferred medium, as

he believes they allow him to achieve the atmosphere of compressed energy and passion within his work, and allows his beautifully described figures to live and breathe on the canvas.



AMLETTO COLUCCI

Amleto Colucci uses his talents to capture the romantic vistas seen by tourist who travel to the

legendary Amalfi Coast and by dreamers who long to go there.

Born in Napoli, Italy in l953, Colucci continues to live and paint in his native city where he is easily inspired by the charming resort towns and cliff-hanging roads that blanket this magical region of Italy.

A master painter of light, Colucci captures the warmth of sunlight and the beauty of the sea. With his fine attention to detail and bold use of color he both fascinates and inspires the viewer.

His subject matter is gathered mainly from the everyday life along the Amalfi coast where fishermen diligently harvest the waters, and people gather to converse and leisurely pass time.

Amleto Colucci's works are exhibited in Gallery's throughout Europe and the United States

and hang in numerous personal and corporate collections around the world.



ERTE

Born Remain de Tirtoff in imperial St. Petersburg, Erte derived his pen name from the French

pronunciation of his initials "R.T." Over a long and distinguished career, he had a major influence on the style and design of the 20th Century.

At age 19, Erte left home and moved to Paris where he gained employment with the esteemed

coutur-ier Poiret. Shortly thereafter, he began the 22-year pursuit, which would make him famous: creating cover art and illustrations for the magazine Harper's Bazaar. It was here that his distinctive Art Deco-style emerged.

During his prolific years at Harper's, Erte designed 250 covers and numerous drawings for its pages and diversified into a variety of other artistic activities. After a fling in Hollywood designing for extravagant silent films including Ben Hur, Erte left the magazine to create sets

and costumes for theater and opera. For the next 40 years, he dressed an extraordinary roster of opera, stage and screen stars, including Mary Garden, Josephine Baker, and Marion

Davies, Lillian Gish. Mata Hari and Anna Pavlova. These achievements earned him the title "Father of Art Deco".

In 1967, the Metropolitan Museum of Art purchased and exhibited a collection of some 200

Erte gouaches. Shows in London followed, bringing Erte even more recognition. His success at these exhibitions was summarized by the noted London Sunday Times art critic John Russell (later of the New York Times) who wrote, "If Michelangelo were to come back from

the dead he could hardly have greater or more eulogious publicity than has been accorded to Erte."

At age 75, Erte began to create limited edition serigraphs based on his designs. This medium

allowed a wider audience to enjoy his work and helped satisfy popular demand for these images. International success in this endeavor led him to expand his work to a variety of

materials, most notably bronze.

The influence of Erie's style and the demand for his art live on. His work belongs to prestigious museum collections throughout the world, most notably the Smithsonian, The

Victoria and Albert Museum (London), New York's Metropolitan Museum and The Museum of Modern Art. Many books have been published on the artist's life and work, including Erte

at Ninef^-Five: The Complete New Graphics [The Extended Edition] and Erte—The Last Works. As the exclusive publisher of Erte, Chalk & Vermilion Fine Arts of Greenwich, CT is pleased to make available, through your local gallery, his limited edition serigraphs, bronze

sculptures, books and posters.

http://www.mersc-prints.co.uk/erte border.jpg

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=ERTE



MARTIROS

Even as a child, Martiros Manoukian exhibited his great enthusiasm for freedom, adventure,

and nature. Full of energy and the desire for self-expression, Martiros was already quite the

individual, rebelling against the status quo, conformity, and anything "collective" in character.

Martiros' unusually advanced artistic ability enabled him to enter the Academy of Art in

Yerevan in 1967, directly from high school.

On those rare occasions when Martiros does speak about art, his thoughts are a delight to

hear: "My style is life, and I like life very much. Martiros' motif is beauty; the serenade, music

are my life motif, I enjoy mixing media because art is freedom, my feelings, my victory, I do

not actually know what I feel when I paint; I just paint my mood, a feeling that camera's eye

cannot catch, some special, subtle angle that perhaps others would not see."

His colors combine mood and movement, key elements of his work. Some works by Martiros

reflect something of antiquity in his homeland, reflections of centuries-old icons of Russian

Orthodoxy. Others express contemporary images. All in one way or another, celebrate love of

life and freedom.

http://www.propertyroom.com/ItemDetails.aspx?l=7448771



RICHARD JOHNSON

The luminescent beauty and lyrical quality of Richard S. Johnson's work is what captivates

collectors today. "Old Masters" technical virtuosity, pre-Raphael romanticism, and

contemporary expressionism and abstraction all combine to create his unique works of

touching depth and artistry. Rick's expressive skill for capturing the human form has brought

him numerous commissions: John F. Kennedy at the JFK Memorial Library in Boston. A

commemorative painting of the presidents from Eisenhower to Bush currently hanging at the

President's Council on Physical Fitness in Washington D.C. Rear Admiral Richard S. Truly,

USN, the first commander of the NASA Space Shuttle Challenger. Limited Edition

Lithograph for the USA Olympic Ski Team Promotional poster for the Biz International

Classic Soccer Championship in Mexico. While still in grade school he won a scholarship to

the prestigious Art Institute of Chicago. He later attended the American Academy of Art and

upon graduation began a very successful career as an illustrator. Turning his attentions to fine

art after winning a competition in International Artists Magazine, Rick was invited to Japan

where his one man show was so successful that he has been invited back numerous times and

has developed an international base of collectors. He has also won many awards in

competitions here in the United States including the Award of Excellence, in the Oil Painters

of America 2003 Midwest regional Juried Competition. Perhaps the term that best describes

Rick's work is "Poetic Intimacy". His sure brush strokes, bold use of color and impasto, and

delicate rendering of the human face and form all work together in a harmony that refuses to

draw attention to themselves for their technical virtuosity, but rather to draw their viewer into

the awareness that they are sharing one, serene, contemplative moment; that the light that

pours over the subject's skin also caresses theirs.



SALVADOR DALI

As an art student in Madrid and Barcelona, Dalí assimilated a vast number of artistic styles

and displayed unusual technical facility as a painter. In the late 1920s, two events brought about the development of his mature artistic style. His discovery of Sigmund Freud's writings on the erotic significance of subconscious imagery; and

his affiliation with the Paris Surrealists, a group of artists and writers who sought to establish the "greater reality" of man's subconscious over his reason. To bring up images from his

subconscious mind, Dalí began to induce hallucinatory states in him by a process he described as ―paranoiac critical.‖ Once Dalí hit on this method, his painting style matured with

extraordinary rapidity, and from 1929 to 1937 he produced the paintings that made him the world's best-known Surrealist artist. He depicted a dream world in which commonplace objects are juxtaposed, deformed, or otherwise metamorphosed in a bizarre and irrational

fashion. Dalí portrayed these objects in meticulous, almost painfully realistic detail and usually placed them within bleak, sunlit landscapes that were reminiscent of his Catalonian

homeland. Perhaps the most famous of these enigmatic images is "The Persistence of Memory" (1931), in which limp, melting watches rest in an eerily calm landscape.

In the late 1930s, Dalí switched to painting in a more academic style under the influence of

the Renaissance painter Raphael, and as a consequence he was expelled from the Surrealist movement. Thereafter, he spent much of his time designing theatre sets, interiors of fashionable shops, and jewelry, as well as exhibiting his genius for flamboyant self-

promotional stunts in the United States, where he lived from 1940 to 1955. In the period from 1950 to 1970, Dalí painted many works with religious themes, though he continued to explore

erotic subjects, to represent childhood memories, and to use themes centering on his wife, Gala. Notwithstanding their technical accomplishments, these later paintings are not as highly

regarded as the artist's earlier works.



YAAKOV AGAM

Israeli sculptor and experimental artist born in 1928, best known for his role in the

development of KINETIC ART movement. Trained at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem, Gieldon Art School, Zurcí and Atelier dÁbstrait, Paris, Agam has been

primarily active in Paris. His first solo exhibition was held at the Craven Gallery, Paris, in 1953. In 1955, he came into limelight with the exhibition LE MOUVEMENT, at the Dense René Gallery, Paris, where he and artists such as BURY, CALDER and SOTO, were credited

for the birth of KINETIC ART. Agam´s works are typically characterized with abstraction, movement and viewer participation. He often uses sound and light with his sculptures.

Amongst his most seen pieces are Double Metamorphosis II (MOMA, New York), Visual Music Orchestration, and the design of a square in the Defense quarter of Paris.

In 1963 he won the main prize at the Sao Paulo Biennale for "artistic research", after which he gained international fame. Yaacov Agam's work is displayed in the most important museums and galleries throughout the world. In 1972-73, retrospective comprehensive exhibitions of his

work in the various areas of his creativity were held at the Musee de l'Art Moderne in Paris, at the Municipal Museum in Amsterdam, in Dusseldorf, and at the Tel-Aviv Museum. Yaacov Agam's works have been acquired not only by museums and private collectors. Public

authorities all over the world have thought it desirable to give place to his works in the decoration and design of squares, public, cultural and scientific institutions. In 1972, Georges

Pompidou, the President of France at that time, commissioned him to design a room in the Elysee Palace. He also designed the "Jacob's Ladder" in "Binyanei Haumah" in Jerusalem,

and contributed a work to the President's Mansion there. In 1975 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree by Tel Aviv University.

http://static.picassomio.com/images/art/99/96/68/yaacov-agam-artwork-large-57835.jpg



TARKAY

At the age of 9, Tarkay and his family were sent to the Mathausen Concentration Camp until

Allied liberation freed them a year later. In 1949, his family immigrated to Israel, living in a

kibbutz for several years, and in 1951, he received a scholarship to the Bezalel Art Academy

where he studied under the artist Schwartzman. Until his graduation from the Avni Institute

of Art in 1956, Tarkay learned much from many famous artists such as Mokady, Janko,

Schtreichman and Stematsky.

Tarkay has achieved recognition as a leading representative of a new generation of figurative

artists. The inspiration for his work clearly lies with French Impressionism, particularly the

paintings of Matisse and the drawing style of Toulouse-Lautrec. While summing up the

characteristics of his model subject without relying on the precise copying of natural forms, or

the patient assembling of exact detail, Tarkay's rich tapestry of form and color is achieved

through the use of silk-screen printing. Many colors are laid over one another and used to

create texture and transparency. After exhibiting both in Israel and abroad, Tarkay received

recognition at the International Art Expo in New York in 1986 and 1987 for works in several

forms of media, including oil, acrylic and watercolor. Tarkay's works sell internationally for in

excess of $75,000 and has drawn a school of artists to his form.



TOM WESSELMAN

Tom Wesselmann was born in Cincinnati / Ohio on 23 February 1931. Between 1945 and 1951 he

studied at the Hiram College in Ohio before studying psychology at Cincinnati university. One year later he was called up for military service due to the Korea war. Being discontented with his situation he began to draw cartoons at that time. In 1954 he resumed his studies and apart from this he attended the art academy. He moved to New York and attends Cooper Union School for Arts and Architecture in 1956. He earned his living by working as a cartoonist for several journals and magazines as well as by teaching at a highschool in Brooklyn. At the end of the fifties a series of collages in small format were created being regarded as precursors of the later series "Great American Nudes" and "Still life" in big format. Out of these collages he developed first nude depictions in 1960. His first single exhibition took place at the Tanager Gallery in New York in 1961. One year later he participated in the group exhibition "New Realists" at the Sidney Janis Gallery, his international career with numerous exhibitions started off. The same year his first assemblages with the title "Still Life" came into existence. In 1963 Tom Wesselmann married his girl-friend and fellow student Claire Selley, who also was his most important model. He began a series of "Bathtub Collages". In 1966 the first of many one-man shows took place at the Janis Gallery. In 1964 Tom Wesselmann began with further series, e.g. "Bedroom Paintings", "Seascapes" and "Smokers", which he continued until the early 1980s. In 1980 he published a treatise about his artistic development under the pseudonym Slim Stealingworth. In 1983 first "Metal Works" were produced, which were based on the artist's drawings and sketches and which are still in the centre of the artist's interest. In 1994 a comprehensive retrospective took place at the Kunsthalle in Tübingen. Tom Wesselmann died in New York on 17 December 2004. His choice of trivial motifs, thier monumentalisation, reduction to stereotypes, sexual embelematic as well as the use of bright colours made Tom Wesselmann a co-founder of the American Pop-Art during the 1960s.



LEROY NEIMAN

Leroy Neiman's work is ranked with the greatest contemporary examples of American Art.

For the last 30 years he has poured forth his creativity to encompass almost every sporting

activity known. His impetuous style enabled him to capture the thrill and the verve of sport

and he became a landmark for other artists. His works are in major collections as far afield as

the Heritage Museum in Leningrad, Wadham College in Oxford, England and the Art

Institute of Chicago. Neiman harnesses the power of color and form to his canvasses. His

jarring splashes of biting color, which close up remains as abstract shapes, at a distance

resolve into images of energy and action. He comes from the tradition of Fauves but has

encompassed the abstract expressionism of Pollack and de Kooning and his place in history is

assured.



ANDY WARHOL

Andy Warhol began as a commercial illustrator in New York, doing artwork for ads and

magazines in the 1940s and 1950s. Eventually he crossed from commercial work to fine art, blurring the line between the two along the way. In the early 1960s his huge and colorful silk-

screen renderings of banal objects like Coke bottles and a Campbell's Soup can were hugely popular and established him as the leader of the so-called Pop Art movement. (His multi-color, multi-image portrait of Marilyn Monroe is another famous image from this era.) By the

mid-1960s Warhol had become an icon of the psychedelic generation; he made strange and

lengthy experimental movies, held famous gatherings in "The Factory," his Manhattan studio,

and surrounded himself with a court of fellow artists and adoring fans. He also worked closely with the experimental rock group The Velvet Underground and (in 1969) founded the

influential celebrity magazine Interview. Warhol's attitude was summed up in part in his

statement, "In the future everyone will be world-famous for fifteen minutes."

Warhol was shot and critically wounded by an acquaintance, Valerie Solanas, in June of

1968. The incident was the basis of the 1996 film I Shot Andy Warhol and Lou Reed's 1990

song "I Believe"... In May of 2007 Warhol's Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I) was sold at

auction for $71.7 million, the most ever paid for one of his paintings; six months earlier a Warhol record was set with the sale of Mao for $17.4 million.

http://superflygallery.com/turquoise-marilyn-1964-by-andy-warhol/turquoise-marilyn-by-andy-warhol/

http://www.answers.com/topic/marilyn-monroe

http://www.answers.com/topic/valerie-solanas



STEVE KAUFMAN

To Steve Kaufman, 40, the ―pop‖ in Pop Art really does stand for ―popular‖ in the broadest

sense of the term. Brought up on the rough streets of the South Bronx, the artist has the kind

of common touch in both conversation and his work that indicates an instinctual disdain for

highbrow conceptualizing the bread and butter of most contemporary art.

The ironic thing about Steve Kaufman – who once assisted the genre‘s best known purveyor,

Andy Warhol, and who is looked upon in some circles as his successor – is the complete

absence of irony in his work. His brightly colored silk-screen paintings seem to celebrate

familiar icons – subjects include Warhol staples Marilyn Monroe, and Elvis Presley, as well as

Warner Bros. cartoon characters and comic book superheroes without any distancing

reservations.

―The work I do now is on the cutting edge‖ he contends ―like the Mona Lisa that‘s a standard

portrait. Even Warhol‘s portraits are a standard one-head shot. I do more of a collage and

throw things together. I just did Marilyn Monroe and put the Hollywood sign behind her and

put her star from Hollywood Boulevard on the painting so it tells a little more of a story than a

standard portrait.



ROY LICHENSTEIN

Lichtenstein grew up under no specific artistic influence - neither at home nor at school.

But at the age of 14 he attended a painting class at Parson's School of Design every Saturday morning. Lichtenstein's first experiments with popular images go back to 1956,

when he created the famous Ten Dollar Bill print. Then followed a three year period of

abstract painting. "Abstract expressionism" was the dominating art movement at that time.

Lichtenstein was then in his late thirties and an unknown artist. The drastic change in Lichtenstein's career came with his first painting in the style of a comic strip. It was a painting of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. The story goes, that he painted it for his kids

who had provoked him by saying that "daddy could not paint as well as the images in the comic books". So it may have been his own kids, who are responsible for the artist's move

into the olymp of art celebrities. Lichtenstein worked a lot with stencils, thus producing rows of oversized dots that should make his paintings or prints look like a huge mass

publication product. Although he prepared and executed his works painstakingly like the old masters, he wanted his works of art look like machine made. One of his peculiarities was, that he did not want his brush strokes to be seen. Other than paintings and sculptures,

the artist produced a number of prints for which he used different techniques: lithographs, screen prints, etchings and woodcuts. Often he combined these techniques in one print.

Lichtenstein is usually characterized as ironic, humorous and witty. He openly commented on his own works. The citations below - mostly taken from interviews - show a very

sensitive, intelligent and overt personality.



GARY BENFIELD

Gary Benfield‘s keen eye for natural details joins with his vivid imagination in his work. His

spontaneity is apparent in the dramatic pencil contours, casual brushstrokes and translucent colors, yet the forms are always classical and graceful and the compositions meticulous. The

figures dissolve in the background and move across the canvas. Benfield paints rapidly and discards most of his work, keeping only the paintings that at the moment of conception

capture the fluidity and grace of motion.

Benfield has always been captivated by human form, and it dominates his work. He paints in images, translucent and dreamlike, always emotional and intimate. His work is a dance of the

imagination, uniting precision and artistic skill to depict his 'lifelike fairytales'. He creates a unique juxtaposition of chaos and classical proportions, collision of color and line, realism

and fantasy. For Benfield the world is a continuous sequence of contained causality. Objects

and figures intertwine in his mind, they dance, they fuse, and one adopts the color and life of the other. We are drawn in to an intimate world of his imagery, where sensuality and delight

in life's form are combined in flight of frolic and fantasy. His romanticism is fearless.

Born in Birmingham, England, in 1965 Benfield studied art at Sturbridge College of art and continued later at the prestigious Wrexham College of Art.

After leaving the academic world, he set up a studio near London and embarked upon one of his most productive periods. During this time, he developed a distinctive yet natural style, and after only several years, his work became well known and widely collected throughout

Europe.



TOMASZ RUT

Regarded by many as one of the great modern artists, Tomasz Rut has become a living master. Born in

Poland, Tomasz Rut trained in Art Conservation at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

"I look for inspiration in the humanistic tradition of classical art. My canvases express the entire

spectrum of human emotions from exhilaration and cheerfulness to contentment, melancholy, pain,

and agony," explains Rut (pronounced 'root'). Encouraged by his mother, a painter herself, as a child

Tomasz Rut was introduced to the Pompeiien Frescos and the magnificence of the Renaissance and

the Baroque, which today inspire his stunning oil on canvases and sweeping murals. These masterful

illusionary works, both in scale and splendor, evoke the harmony and form of the master painters,

including the flamboyance of Rubens, the finesse of Caravaggio, and the emotion of Michelangelo.

Rut's imaginary figures - centaurs, fauns, muses, and winged creatures - colorfully burst from the

canvas with the grandiosity of Olympian Gods in active and dramatic poses. "The one element evident

in all of my paintintgs is the superficial patina or aging," which Rut creates with a variety of

transparent and semi-transparent glazes. This process creates the illusionistic and expressive beauty of

each mythical figure.

Tomasz Rut has been selected by Robb Report the Editor's Choice Award as one of the Top Five most

collectible artists in the United States of America. Who's Who in America has selected Tomasz Rut as

one of the most accomplished individuals who are leading us into the 21st century. The 56th edition of

Who's Who in America will profile Mr. Rut in its premier "living history" book which has over 100

years of profiling America's greatest achievers. In addition, work by Tomasz Rut is currently under

review by the Vatican as a possible inclusion into the Vatican Art Collection. Tomasz has been invited

to present a selection of his "Angel" pieces for consideration. This is an extreme honor, and would

become a lifetime achievement for Tomasz.



PETER MAX

Peter Max was born in Berlin in 1937, and spent his childhood in China, Tibet, Africa, Middle East,

Europe, and finally settled in the United States. His pan-cultural background has made his work rich

in artistic diversity. From the calligraphy of the Buddhist monks to the Classical statuary in Parisian

gardens, Max was inspired by the elegance of the line which gives birth to form.In New York Max

attended the Art Students League, Pratt Institute, and the School of Visual Arts. After completing his

studies he opened a design studio and in the next few years won more than sixty-five awards for

product, fashion, food, book, and poster designs.In the 1960s Max rose to youthful prominence with

his famous won style, a bold linear type of painting which employed shocking color juxtapositions and

depicted transcendental themes. As his expressionistic style evolved, becoming more sensuous and

painterly, his unique symbolism and vibrant color palette have continued to inspire new generations of

Americans throughout the decades. In 1964 he closed the studio to go into "creative retreat." It was

then that he began making the colorful, mind-expanding silkscreen. His second retreat was from 1972

until 1976, during that time he created the first "Preserve the Environment" Postage Stamp

commemorating Expo 74 for the World Fair in Spokane, Washington. In 1976, he was selected Max

to paint 235 border murals at entry points to Canada and Mexico, at the same year, he created a

painting of each of the 50 states, resulting in a book, Peter Max Paints America, dedicated to the

Bicentennial.

In 1981 he painted six liberty portraits for the America President and Mrs. Reagan, and in 1993, his

famous ‗100 Clintons‘ installation. Max has painted for five American presidents; Ford, Carter,

Reagan, Bush, and Clinton.

Max has had approximately forty museum shows internationally, and more than fifty gallery shows

worldwide. His works appear in the prominent collections of many museums, including the Museum

of Modern Art in New York.



ANH DIHN

I'm was born in Saigon, Vietnam on October 15 1966. From an early age I was always fascinated by the female figure and it‘s style and grace. Later in life being a mother and grandmother myself I experienced the bond between mother and child, This unconditional

love and bond allows me paint this subject so well. This is my way of expressing myself. When I moved to United States I started working with

fabric and designing dresses. I also opened a full services day spa, helping women to get in touch with their feelings by taking care of their nature beauty, and I owned my own jewelry

store at the age of 21 and that allowed me to understand the beauty of jewelry and the reward it gives people once they wear it

In my free time I enjoy yoga, swimming, playing Golf, working out, meditation, reading,

cooking, spending time with my family and loved ones. Life is a journey, God gave me so much in this life, my purpose is to live moment by moment,

day by day and give it all to whomever I‘m with, or whatever I do at that moment, I can only do my best at each moment, that gives me a smile, and a feeling of wholeness in

my heart. A very special friend asked me to write the book "stretching time", we are so busy, not enough time in the day to do all the thing we want to do, my answer to my

friend was ―practice being inthe moment".

Whenever Forever Designer

artist bios

Documents

e r i c

u c t i o n s page

art studio

art career

vranes paintings

baa information

jennifer vranes words

successful art business