Tag Archives: Painting

East Side Feed Features Mark Rothko and William Scott

Anita Rogers Gallery Presents Mark Rothko and William Scott: Continuing the Dialogue

By Bobby Panza

Portrait of William Scott (on left) with Mark Rothko (on right) at the Scott home in England. 1959. Photo by James Scott. © James Scott.

When Mark Rothko and William Scott first met in New York in 1953, both painters were at a pivotal time in their lives. Introduced by gallery owner Martha Jackson, Rothko and Scott had each evolved their artistic roots from figurative painting and were now charting new waters in the world of abstraction. The relationship between these twentieth-century masters is at the center of a thrilling new exhibition coming to Anita Rogers Gallery at 494 Greenwich Street from April 26 to June 3.

Large-scale works on canvas will be accompanied by preparatory drawings on paper as well as correspondence between the two artists. This historic pairing of Rothko (1903-1970) and Scott (1913-1989) has never been done before.

Left: Mark Rothko Untitled (Red, Yellow, Blue, Black and White), 1950 Oil on canvas 67 1/2h x 38 1/4w in 171.45h x 97.16w cm. Right: William Scott CBE RA, Abstract (Blue East), 1964 Oil on canvas, 73h x 48w in 185.42h x 121.92w cm

Similar to Martha Jackson who brought Rothko and Scott together, the female-owned Anita Rogers Gallery has been known for fostering relationships between artists, as well as collectors and lovers alike, since it opened its doors in 2016. This unprecedented exhibition will not only feature the relationship and mutual admiration Rothko and Scott had for one another, but also the influence and respect of opinion they had for one another, as both artists were also immigrants.

Rothko immigrated to New York City from Latvia in 1913 while Scott grew up in Scotland before moving to England to study at the Royal Academy Schools in 1931. Scott would eventually earn the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1966 for his contributions to art.

In the summer of 1959, the Rothko family were guests at the Scott’s cottage in Somerset, England. Both sides discussed concerns over placing art in public spaces, as well as their experiences as immigrants.

Now, the children of Mark Rothko (Christopher and Kate) and William Scott (James) will continue the dialogue at a special discussion at Anita Rogers Gallery on May 9. You can register for this free event here.

Anita Rogers Gallery is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The gallery will be publishing a full-color catalog featuring an essay by David Anfam, art historian and author of Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas.

View on EastSideFeed.com

Insider’s Edition: Art events not to miss!

Installation image of Mahreen Zuberi: Exercising the Border

Insider’s Edition: Art events not to miss!

Compiled by Avalon Ashley Bellos

Mahreen Zuberi

Feb. 1 at Anita Rogers Gallery (494 Greenwich St., Ground Floor)

Check out a body of post-modern and contemporary work from Pakistani artist Mahreen Zuberi.

Justin Cloud

Feb. 2 at George Segal Gallery (1 Normal Ave.)

Check out work from this newcomer to the art scene.

Fer Da Silva: Love is Inside

Feb. 3 at DTR Modern Gallery (458 W. Broadway)

Kick off this Valentine’s Day with a Solo Exhibition of Venezuelan/Portuguese abstract expressionist Fer Da Silva.

View More on AMNY The Villager

View on AnitaRogersGallery.com

Anas Albraehe featured in Squarekufic

Installation photo of Anas Albraehe: The Dreamer (2022) at 494 Greenwich Street, New York. Photo: Jon-Paul Rodriguez

The contemporary Syrian artist Anas Al Braehe is famous for his series of paintings depicting sleeping refugees. In his paintings, the refugees appear safe, warm, and protected, if only momentarily, from the worries and problems of everyday life. If you are in NYC, you can visit his solo exhibition at the Anita Rogers Gallery.

View more on Squarekufic

View on AnitaRogersGallery.com

The Tribeca Trib Highlights Anas Albraehe

Work by Syrian Painter Anas Albraehe’s portraits of sleeping laborers and refugees sets his dreamers amid vivid and bold colors, a sharp contrast with their temporary state of escape from the sufferings of everyday life. At Anita Rogers Gallery, 494 Greenwich St., June 29–August 27. Reception: Wed., June 29, 6-8pm.

View more on TribecaTrib.com

View on AnitaRogersGallery.com

Middle East Institute at Columbia University Shares Anas Albraehe’s Solo Exhibition

Anita Rogers Gallery is thrilled to present The Dreamer, a solo exhibition of work by Syrian painter Anas Albraehe.

The exhibition will be on view June 29 through August 27 at 494 Greenwich Street, Ground Floor in New York City.

The gallery will welcome visitors on the evening of Wednesday, June 29, 6-8pm for a reception.

You can read the poem that accompanies the exhibition here.

Albraehe paints expressive portraits of men asleep – these are laborers and refugees enjoying a brief respite from the day to day. There is a historical precedent for painting sleeping figures – and men in particular (vs the ubiquitous reclining female nude) – artists from Goya to Bacon to Van Gogh have broached the topic. Born in Syria in 1991, Albraehe is a multidisciplinary artist focused on painting and theatre. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Painting and Drawing from Damascus University of Fine Arts in Syria in 2014. After the beginning of the war in Syria, he moved to Lebanon where he obtained a Master’s degree in Psychology and Art Therapy from the Lebanese University in 2015. His recent work combines his interests in the fields of art and psychology to produce a portrait that explores the psychology of color and the gaze of the Other. Albraehe has had solo exhibitions in Paris, Jordan, Beirut, and participated in group exhibitions worldwide. The artist’s work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of the Arab World in Paris (IMA) and he is a member of the French Artists Syndicate. He now lives and works in Beirut.

View more on Columbia’s website.

View on AnitaRogersGallery.com

Artist Spotlight: The Story of Anas Al Braehe

Al Suwayda, Syria, is where the artist was born in 1991… By the time Al Braehe was old enough to be accepted into his undergraduate program at the University of Fine Arts of Damascus, the university had expanded its campus and built a branch in Al Suwayda… it was in the contained environment of his village in Al Suwayda that he proceeded to practice his painting. It was by virtue of the artist’s development in that precise habitat, that the work was able to translate the talent in its authenticity and in accompaniment of cultural values inherited by the artist from his indigenous Druze surrounding. In an article published by the Atassi Arts and Culture Foundation, which focuses on Syrian artists, the artist is asked about his thoughts on critics comparing his work to the French impressionists, most notably Henri Matisse and Paul Gauguin. Al Braehe shares that he is flattered by these comments and that perhaps it is the common affinity towards nature in both his and the impressionists’ works, that ushers the critics to say so. He adds that he had been painting, long before he had access to the Internet and discovered who these maestros are.

Al Braehe unconsciously gives elements of nature their own character in his paintings….he saw in nature something that he wanted to share. But that desire, he says, started indoors and not outdoors. Al Braehe’s mother was a seamstress for the village. While he was not allowed into the fitting rooms where his mother would dress the women, a young Al Braehe hid under the table and watched as colorful fabric unfolded. He gathered colorful woolen threads from his mother’s studio and placed them side by side in the quest to find the most sight-provoking color combinations. This was at the root of his studies in coloring and soon enough, as he describes, everyone saw trees to be green and he knew that they were much more than one color. The artist explains that there is a reason why his coloring looks patchy, almost like a pattern sown on fabric.

By Mira El-Khalil

Read the full piece on Mira El-Khalil’s website.

View on AnitaRogersGallery.com

Selections Arts Highlights Anas Albraehe

Installation shot of Anas Albraehe: The Dreamer (2022) at 474 Greenwich Street in NYC

Since we were born, we have never celebrated, we only survived, hoped and dreamed.

Stop the injustice until we wake up

Even though we are asleep, but we’re not well

We are the people of the world

– Anas Albraehe

View more on SelectionArts.com

View on AnitaRogersGallery.com

Hyperallergic Features Albraehe: The Dreamer

When: through August 27
Where: Anita Rogers Gallery (494 Greenwich Street, Tribeca, Manhattan)

Syrian painter Anas Albraehe places marginalized men in compromising positions. The laborers and refugees in his expressionist paintings appear asleep in random public spaces, speaking to the layers of fatigue and exposure that stem from immigration. Bringing the styles of Matisse and Gauguin into landscapes from the artist’s current hometown of Beirut, The Dreamer visualizes the migrant experience of lying in wait for something unknown and unguaranteed.

By Billy Anania

View full list on Hyperallergic.com

View on AnitaRogersGallery.com

William Scott on View at the Barbican

A revelatory new take on art in Britain after the Second World War, a period when artists had to make sense of an entirely altered world.

Postwar Modern explores the art produced in Britain in the wake of a cataclysmic war. Certainty was gone, and the aftershocks continued, but there was also hope for a better tomorrow. These conditions gave rise to an incredible richness of imagery, forms and materials in the years that followed.

Focusing on ‘the new’, Postwar Modern features 48 artists and around 200 works of painting, sculpture, photography, collage and installation. It explores the subjects that most preoccupied artists, among them the body, the post-atomic condition, the Blitzed streetscape, private relationships and imagined future horizons. As well as reconsidering well-known figures, the exhibition foregrounds artists who came to Britain as refugees from Nazism or as migrants from a crumbling empire, in addition to female artists who have tended to be overlooked.

Morning in Mykonos, 1960-61 is one of five works by William Scott which can be seen at the exhibition.

By Postwar Modern New Art in Britain 1945-1965

View more on Barbican.org.uk

View on AnitaRogersGallery.com

Rome Art Program Interviews George Negroponte

Art, whatever it takes – RomeArtProgram has made interviews with people involved in art, living in Italy, the USA and the UK, to know their feelings during the emergency.
– George Negroponte interview:

RomeArtProgram: What is your definition of “Art” today?

-George: I like thinking about “culture,” and more specifically, as it relates to painting: I am dedicated to the meaning of painting as a visual language: absorbed and learned over time. I write about painting a lot, and I admire Fairfield Porter as a critic and painter. He wrote intimately about it. Beautifully. Porter saw painting as a manifestation of desires, urges, and needs arising from the deepest realms of the psyche. Equally important was his belief that painting has its own terms. It is not programmed, nor can it be imposed upon.

RAP: Art is dynamic and regenerates itself… how does it change, and how did it change us?

-George: Not sure. Your question suggests an endless supply of it (art). I don’t see it as a given; it’s earned or warranted only when our highest aspirations mysteriously come together without reason. I see it as disruptive, even chaotic. The art world I know is wildly competitive and aggressive. Noisy. But the fundamental nature of art is uncompromising. It does not tolerate manipulation.

RAP: When (and how) did you understand that art was becoming very important in your life?

-George: When I was five or six, my father started to paint as a hobby. He was a weekend painter, wore a blue beret, and copied Cezanne. Eventually, it made him miserable because he didn’t think he was improving.
It was too bad because he poured his heart into painting.

RAP: What role does art play today? What are the “great figures” who have recently changed it? Do you feel close to any of these figures?

-George: I’m still grappling with what Cezanne did to painting.
Pollock gave painting gravity in every sense of the word.
Brice Marden is a painter I have always admired.

Pictured above: George Negroponte. My Rothko. 2018. Mixed Media on Canvas. 8″ x 8″

Read the full interview on RomeArtProgram.org

View on AnitaRogersGallery.com