The opening reception of an exhibition 

of  Rafael Ferran's paintings and prints.

Refreshments served 

Like Minds

Column © 2014 Rafael Ferran

My etching Column began as a plate handed over to me by an artist friend who was into making prints about plants at the time. Well she was stumped and flummoxed about this plate and couldn't nor wouldn't want to work with it anymore and so I inherited this plate with a definite design etched into it. 

Just like all artists wanting to maintain their originality, I began to remove her design by scrapping the plate and then immersing it into an acid bath, but it was etched it so deeply that I couldn't take out most of it(unless I spent a few days on it). I decided to make it part of a new image so I inked up the plate in black and wiped it down leaving only the ink in the etched parts. 

Ready for the second phase! 

I started with 3 shapes I cut out from thin plastic, and placed one shape in the center of the plate to mask out the design and produce a white silhouette. Using a small roller, I inked up the other two shapes in black and placed them ink-side up on either side of the center to function as stamps.  

Off to the press!

Once I positioned the plate, I placed a sheet of print paper on top, cranked it through the press, and pulled my first proof. That's how I came to create Column, technically speaking.

Now there's also the aesthetic and expressive side of me that shaped it. 

I chose not to use color but instead keep it black and white for consistency.
As I was organizing these shapes it occurred to me that what the picture needed was more segmentation or fragmentation. I opted for a jig-saw like arrangement to be created as a counterpoint to the sinuous and organic features behind them. 

Tension needed to be created!

I made the shapes long and tall, based on her vertical design, and cut out a zigzag pattern to achieve a freer exchange between the positive and negative space. As they evolved they also acquired a figurative appearance and were becoming more like three totem sentinels guarding the garden.

Here's a question for artists: 

Have you ever been surprised to come across another artist whose artwork is similar in concept to what you have been doing? Well I experienced that a couple of weeks ago going to an exhibition in Chelsea by the artist Jeremy Comins.

DENIS BIBRO FINE ART put on view his recent work from February 13^th –March 29^th, 2014. The exhibit consists of many free standing sculptures, and drawings.

He fabricates his assemblages from hand carved wood and shaped industrial PVC pipe into playful interlocking shapes within shells or shields that are reminiscent of a womb. The collection of sculptures express an organic quality  expanding into our space in various playful and articulate ways. His drawings are of nicely rendered tree forms with bark like textures and rich surface details that have all the soul of his sculptures.

Even though my work is two dimensional there is a familiar element in his work that I find so relative to my own. It is a good show by a master artist and I recommend seeing it.

                      
               http://www.denisebibrofineart.com/exhibitions/1502

“stop and frisk”

Reform “stop and frisk” but don’t throw it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j73tRbkgijg

U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled this past Monday that the NYPD violated the civil rights of thousands of New Yorkers, mostly minorities, with its “stop and frisk” policy. Mayor Bloomberg countered the judge's decision at a press conference saying it is a tactic police use to search anyone regardless of whether a crime has been committed. The mayor went on to say that the policy has been instrumental in drivig down crime rates to record lows and that other courts have deemed it to be constitutional in keeping city streets safe. 

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/08/12/federal-judge-orders-nypd-stop-and-frisk-monitor/

Here's a quote from Bobby Kennedy when he was the U.S. attorney general back in 1964. 

''Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is equally true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on.''

Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968), U.S. attorney general, Democratic politician. The Pursuit of Justice, pt. 3, "Eradicating Free Enterprise in Organized Crime," (1964).

I think it's still relevant today. What do you think?

Feel free to post your comments.

On-Line Exhibition

http://www.artpromotivate.com/2013/04/artists-online-video-art-show.html

My piece titled ARCADE is featured in an on-line exhibition curated by Artpromotivate. This is especially exciting news because I was included with nine other artists in the first of a series of on-line exhibits. 

Print Exhibition

Odokuro

            

         The giant skeleton stands watch over the souls of the ones it has consumed by biting off their heads when they were alive. It is a demon created by gathering the bones of people who starved to death and with an incantation brought to life with one mission and that is to destroy the enemies of it's creator. People that are targeted by this giant hear a loud ringing bell sound. It's a story in Japanese folklore probably meant to scare young children who misbehave.

Any way this is the subject of my color print which I produced using the silk aquatint. 

         Silk aquatint is a technique that produces a more painterly look than other more traditional printmaking techniques. No there is no silk involved! A silk screen material is adherred to a plexiglass plate. The values are created by using acrylic paint mixed with a gel medium. This plate is then inked and printed just like any other plate would. You have the option of printing an edition or monoprint.

Odokuro © 2012 Rafael Ferran

My print is part of an exhibition titled SQUARE DEAL at the Manhattan Graphics Center. It is on now thru the summer 2013!

http://www.manhattangraphicscenter.org/

The Art Of The Watercolor

                                                    Still Life as Self Portrait


Load up that brush with lots of colors and use the white of the paper to bring

 luminosity to your objects! 

        

Almond Delight  © 2013 Rafael Ferran

I have been taking a workshop in Watercolor for the past year.I have been painting in this medium on my own since my high school days so it's not new to me. What is new is that I get to work with a professional artist with 40 years of experience with the medium behind her. That’s a lot of paintings! Plus I get to work with a group who like me are intermediate learners but are gifted enough to bring to the table their broad experiences and talents. 

Breakfast Treats © 2013 Rafael Ferran

We didn't paint from a live model but we did paint objects of our choosing and to me this was exciting because every one came with a different object; it was to reflect everyone's different personality and where our originality showed through

                                                                     

Still Life as Self Portrait © 2013 Rafael Ferran

It also helps to possess good drawing skills, a good knowledge of color so it can be employed for one’s self-expression, to use light effectively to add drama to the painting, placing your object at the right angle of interest and crop it so that both positive and negative space work harmoniously. These five elements helped me to paint these three works successfully.

Oh, I believe there is one more thing to do as part of the learning experience and that is to look at a master of the medium and see what that artist accomplished. I am referring to John Singer Sargent, whose watercolors are now on exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum through July 28.

There are ninety-three pieces on display and they prove what a genius he was. He literally rewrote the handbook for the Twentieth Century of how one should paint in watercolor.

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/sargent_watercolors/# 

https://www.artsy.net/artist/john-singer-sargent

It is a knockout of a show and I recommend it highly!

   

PRINTED ECHOES

AN EXHIBITION OF
PHOTOGRAPHS AND PRINTS 
FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMY SCHOOL
5 East 89th Street
JANUARY 8 - FEBRUARY 2, 2013
SONIA GECHTOFF GALLERY

     

Column © 2012 Rafael Ferran

                                            
 My etching Column will be exhibited along side others and by the way it's a great looking show that was curated by the Academy's distinguished director 
  Maurizio Pellegrin. 






http://www.nationalacademy.org/art-school/student-faculty-exhibitions/