Author Archives: Anita Rogers

BNN Spotlights Stephen Bethel

Installation view of INTERSECTIONS II (2024), Photo by Jon-Paul Rodriguez

Stephen Bethel: Blending Nature and Art in Sculptural Symphony at Bethel Farm

Stephen Bethel blends nature and art, creating unique sculptures that capture the beauty of the natural world. Experience his work at Bethel Farm.

Artist Stephen Bethel, founder of Bethel Farm Yoga and Living Arts Center in Hillsborough, is redefining the intersection of nature and art through his unique sculptural pieces. Utilizing found tree branches and adding his own mark with richly-colored plaster, Bethel’s work straddles the line between painting and sculpture, offering a 3D experience infused with a painterly quality. His creations, ranging from wall-mounted pieces to freestanding sculptures reaching up to 10 feet, are a testament to his fluidity and responsiveness to the natural world’s inherent beauty and complexity.

Inspiration Drawn from Nature

For years, Bethel has been inspired by the decaying trees and intriguing shapes of birch bark and gnarly maple trees near his home. This fascination led him to collect unique pieces of wood, which eventually became the foundation for his art. Moving away from merely depicting nature, Bethel began to interact directly with these found objects, allowing the shapes and voids within the wood to guide his creative process. His background as a professional plasterer enabled him to masterfully integrate colored plaster with these natural forms, creating pieces that are both visually stunning and deeply connected to the environment.

Exhibition and Embrace of Nature

Bethel’s work was recently showcased at the “INTERSECTIONS II” group exhibition at Anita Rogers Gallery in New York City, where he joined other artists in celebrating their intuitive embrace of nature. This exhibition marked a significant moment for Bethel, as it represented a shift towards allowing nature to take the lead in his artistic journey. The opportunity to bring his creations from the tranquil woods around his home to the bustling urban environment of Manhattan was a poignant reminder of the universal language of nature and art.

Integration with Bethel Farm

About a year ago, Bethel began integrating some of his sculptures into the landscape of Bethel Farm. These installations, set amidst flower beds and fields, invite visitors to experience the artwork in harmony with its natural surroundings. Starting April 1, guests at the farm will have the opportunity to explore Bethel’s sculptures, both outdoors and in the dining hall, as part of their visit. Additionally, Bethel plans to incorporate a yoga class that includes time for students to engage with the art, further blending the worlds of nature, art, and wellness.

– Rafia Tasleem

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Tribeca Citizen Highlights Gary Gissler

Gary Gissler, “her + her”, 2016, Linen, oil, typewriter ink on panel, 60″ x 48″ x 2″

Downtown artist Gary Gissler is featured in a group show at Anita Rogers Gallery up now called Intersections I at 494 Greenwich. Gissler grew up in the Midwest with a family that celebrated writing and language (full disclosure: his father, Sig Gissler, was my mentor at Columbia Journalism School and was the longtime head of the Pulitzer Prizes) and valued the discursive creation of meaning and interpretation. He was trained as a jeweler, which contributed to his obsessive and meticulous techniques of making art. Gissler has been reviewed in Art in America, Flash Art, Art News, The New Yorker, ArtNet, and his work is currently included at the RISD Museum and the Neuberger Museum. He has been awarded a Pollock Krasner Grant and a Chinati Foundation Artist Residency.

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Ephemeralist Features John McDevitt King

John McDevitt King, By Barcelona, 2021, Colored pencil on paper, 15″ x 11″

Intersections I, a three-person show, is on view at Anita Rogers Gallery in Soho through January 7, featuring Gary Gissler, Barbara Knight, and John McDevitt King. I’m sharing excerpts from a catalogue essay on John’s work, published on the occasion of his solo show at MERGE Stone Ridge in 2022.

Excerpts from Stealing Light

In the field of gemology, John McDevitt King has evaluated some of the world’s legendary gemstones, including the Hope Diamond. A specialty of his involves noting subtle variations in color, undetectable to most of us, as well as degrees of clarity and other qualities that factor into each stone’s evaluation. But before working with gems, John was a practicing artist. Over decades, as his professional expertise has been honed, his artmaking has evolved in tandem. The two are intertwined, creating an essential, sui generis dialogue that emerges in his artwork.

John perceives the way light is projected, filtered, or reflected, and how it clarifies or obstructs vision; gauges its ephemerality and opacity; and harnesses those perceptions for inspiration. How does he continue to find source material for subject matter? “More often, I start from something observed. That could be a fragment of a photo, something I see around me, direct observation… that goes through transitions as I being to work on it.” He often returns to objects of earlier inspiration, such as a series based on broken plates of glass and the chance patterns therein. At other times, he looks—and then sees. “Some works are reflective of being in my studio and looking at the windows… what I’m seeing on the surface, past the surface, and behind,” similar to the process of looking at a diamond. He nods at Jasper Johns: “You take an object and turn it a different way, or block something out, or twist this, or change the focus of the form—and you see it anew.”

It’s one thing to create subject matter. It’s quite another to render that in a typically two-dimensional work using traditional media. John has been experimenting in recent years with such divergent materials as 3-D printing, video, printmaking, and paper fabrication, but he continually returns to drawing and encaustic painting as the most pure means of expression. “Drawing and encaustic painting somehow embody my personality and the way I put myself in a position to make art.”

Encaustic involves combining melted beeswax with pigment, which can be layered and textured to create dimension. John notes: “I continually explore ways to handle the paint, move it around, pouring, layering, different strokes.” He most often draws with graphite on white or light paper, but he has also used white pigment on black paper. In any case, he says,”Drawing goes back to childhood. I continue to find that one of the most pleasing forms of interaction that I have in my work.” And his technical methods in grading diamonds have been put to use in painting. In a recent conversation, he noted: “There’s a certain touch that I use in diamond grading that I tend to use also in painting—a movement of the hand focused on attention to detail.”

John finds general inspiration in New York City, whether from cityscapes or simply within his studio at the Brooklyn Navy Yard; his work expresses “a specific kind of feel, but not a specific place.” One look at his Instagram feed is a glimpse of how a given visual cue can be the impetus for a new composition. Identifiable objects might become the framework for an abstraction; a lightbulb, the pinpoint focus in a drawing; a window, a mysterious portal. For a non-artist, it can help to understand how a simple walk can produce an endless array of inspiration.

—Susan Yung, 2022

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Brooklyn Rail Reviews Henry Mandell’s SUPERUNKNOWN

Installation view: Henry Mandell: Superunknown, Anita Rogers Gallery, New York, 2023. Courtesy Anita Rogers Gallery. Photo: Andrew Toth.

Henry Mandell knows the subsurface teems with vitality. In his debut exhibition at Anita Rogers Gallery, the painter draws upon the interconnected qualities of mycelium as a grounding agent for a remarkable body of work. Mycelium is the fungal network of thread-like structures that ramify and interlace a thousand-fold connection to the roots of trees and other vegetation in forests. For Mandell, there is a strong analogy between the mycelial system and the world wide web. The artist’s recent body of work capitalizes on the exploration of this interconnectedness.

There is not a wall that isn’t put to use in the gallery, though the exhibition does not feel overhung. This is because the paintings maintain a steady energetic level that gives the show an even tone, regardless of the different material characteristics of the artworks. Mandell’s colors operate on equal wavelengths: wherever they fall on the spectrum, their lightness and brightness remain consistent. It’s a necessary containment, as Mandell’s line work is supremely expansive and multilayered.

Read full review.

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Anita Rogers juries annual Art2Life exhibition

Kay Carlson glances at her painting “Sausalito Horizon” at her art studio in Sausalito, California on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023. The oil was chosen for the Art2Life annual online exhibition. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

Sausalito artists featured in international exhibition

By: Giuseppe Ricapito

Three Sausalito artists were selected for an online art exhibition that drew more than 1,800 entries.

Art2Life, a Sausalito art company that holds educational workshops and underwrites the exhibition, organizes the annual juried event, which features pieces from international artists. Anita Rogers, the proprietor of a gallery in New York, chose 54 of the submissions for the exhibition.

“I was happy to see a nice mix of figurative and abstract works in the entries,” Rogers said. “I encourage all artists to keep working, to keep experimenting, and to keep putting their work out there. It’s essential.”

Art2Life is located in the Industrial Center Building, a landmark historic space in Sausalito that contains art studios and other workshop areas.

Nicholas Wilton, founder and owner of Art2Life, said the online exhibition elevates talented local and international artists to wider exposure.

“What we do is we help artists, we help people discover their authenticity through art,” he said. “We teach them and we coach them, and one of things we do is encourage them to promote their art. It’s a learning experience for these artists while also being a self-promotion event.”

Wilton said 100% of the money goes to artists if their pieces are purchased.

Kay Carlson was among the Sausalito artists to be selected. Carlson’s piece, “Sausalito Horizon,” features the city in a heavy storm during the most recent rain season.

“I was very shocked,” she said of her selection. “I just threw the dice and applied to it. Generally, the paintings were more abstract than mine, but I appreciated being selected.”

“Sausalito Horizon” is a 40-inch-by-30-inch oil painting. The piece is priced at $4,500.

“I usually paint from a sense of place, and the waterfront is very precious to me,” she said. “My paintings used to be just about the beauty and this great light and the golden hour, and now they’re kind of shifting to being more what I feel about what’s going on, that the beauty and our way of life along the waterfront is threatened. It’s not just pretty, it’s serious.”

Another Sausalito artist, Andrew Faulkner, was selected for  “Tiffany Sky,” a 48-inch-by-60-inch acrylic and mixed media painting. Its price is $8,600.

Faulkner said he began his career in graphic design, but pivoted with the assistance of Art2Life and a workshop led by Wilton.

“Over two years, I phased out of my design business and started to improve my skills and sharpen my artistic vision,” he said. “I was fortunate to find my ‘tribe’ at the ICB art studios in Sausalito, where Nick Wilton also has a studio.”

Erika Parrino was the other Sausalito-based artist to be featured. Her piece, “Fields I’ve Seen,” is a 20-inch-by-20 inch acrylic painting on a birch panel. Its price is $975.

The exhibition opened on Aug. 29. Debbie Mueller won first place and a prize of $2,500; Lianne Yael Jedeikin won second place and $2,000; and Jeff Horton won third place and $1,500.

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Brainard Carey Interviews Henry Mandell

Henry Mandell in the studio.

In the past few years, Brainard Carey has interviewed a number of artists, writers, architects, curators, museum directors, and poets, including Flavin Judd, Marina Abramović, Mary Heilman, Robert Storr, Nancy Spector, and more.  Learn more. 

On October 4, 2023, Brainard Carey sat down with artist Henry Mandell to discuss Mandell’s solo exhibition, SUPERUNKNOWN.

Listen to Henry Mandell’s Interview with Brainard Carey Here.

SUPERUNKNOWN: The Art of Henry Mandell Sheds Light on the Unknown

Henry Mandell, Satoshi’s Garden 002F, 2023, UV polymer on linen 52″ x 50.5″

by Lidia Yadlos

Anita Rogers Gallery is delighted to unveil “Superunknown,” a captivating exhibition showcasing the latest creations by artist Henry Mandell. This marks Mandell’s debut solo exhibition at Anita Rogers Gallery, offering an opportunity to immerse yourself in a world of abstract art born from the depths of experimentation, scientific exploration, and the enigmatic aspects of the human experience.

Mandell’s artistic journey is a unique fusion of art and science, where he pioneers unconventional approaches to craft mesmerizing abstract artworks. At the heart of “Superunknown” lies an intriguing process that transforms written narratives, stories, and data into visually striking abstract compositions.

Through the meticulous manipulation of digital tools, Mandell embarks on a transformational journey, transcending words into a realm of abstract imagery.

Mandell’s process begins with a departure from the conventional use of iterative code, opting instead for a purely artistic approach. Every creative decision is a manifestation of the artist’s mind and hand, marking Mandell’s distinctive fusion of the digital realm with traditional painting.

One of the prominent series in “Superunknown” showcases intricate multilayered objects, constructed from a web of fine colored lines transformed from text related to dark matter and the universe’s fabric. Each line represents a distinct letter, coming together to weave an otherworldly tapestry.

The “Satoshi’s Garden” Series

“Satoshi’s Garden,” another series within “Superunknown,” offers a glimpse into a realm of swirling vortexes, adorned with chimerical limbs and primordial roots. These mystifying forms draw inspiration from the interconnected network of mycelium, hinting at the enigmatic creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.

Just as the Wood Wide Web connects plant root systems through mycelium fungi, the Bitcoin White Paper linked a global network of computers through blockchain technology, both shrouded in a veil of mystery.

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La Voce di New York Spotlights Henry Mandell

Henry Mandell, Satoshi’s Garden 006, 2023, UV polymer on linen, 72h x 70w in

Is there a better option than spending the weekend immersed in galleries, exhibitions, paintings and photos? New York blooms in summer when it comes to art. Here you can find those that are about to open and those about to close.

–Federica Farina

Opening on Wednesday, September 6, 2023:

Superunknown by Henry Mandell at Anita Rogers Gallery (494 Greenwich St., Ground Floor) through October 14

Please RSVP to Info@AnitaRogersGallery.com to join us for the opening reception, September 6, 6-8pm.

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ArtDaily Highlights Rachel Nicholson’s Solo Exhibition

Rachel Nicholson, 4 Objects with Pink Blue Grey, 2017. Acrylic on board, 8″ x 10″.

NEW YORK, NY.- Anita Rogers Gallery is currently presenting a solo exhibition of works by British artist Rachel Nicholson (b.1934). The painter, daughter of artists Ben Nicholson (1894-1982) and Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975), began her career in her early 40s and has since become known for her sensitive still lifes and landscape paintings. This exhibition will include works from both genres in acrylic and oil on canvas, paper, and board. This selection will be complemented by two works on paper by the artist’s father, Ben Nicholson.

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GALLERY SHOWS NYC Selected Gallery Guide: July, 2023

Rachel Nicholson, 4 Objects with Pink Blue Grey, 2017, Acrylic on board, 8″ x 10″

The best painting-centric guide to art galleries in NYC, Brooklyn, and Queens / Thanks in part to the Canadian wildfires, the hazy days of July are underway. They are perhaps not so lazy, though, as many artists are working full-throttle in the studio, hatching new ideas or preparing for upcoming exhibitions while dragging themselves away to openings at the summer group shows. I know I say it every year, but I love the off-season. Look for a listing update next week.

–Sharon Butler

Soho

Anita Rogers Gallery / 494 Greenwich Street, ground floor, New York, NY / Rachel Nicholson, A mug, a spoon and a landscape / closes Aug 26

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