MARCH SF Archives - The Curated House

The Curated Collection | Karyn Lyons

There is always for me a quality of escape that I look for in fine art – a transcendence that carries me to a new place or experience I’ve never had, or returns me to a feeling or a memory I once knew. The truth is, it is rather rare to discover this kind of transcendence in still life, for me at least. And yet that is exactly what I find myself experiencing in the stunning work of Karyn Lyons.

Blurring the lines between photo-realism and interpretation, Lyons sweeps me away into a dream-like state with her paintings. I feel as though I have awoken at midnight and wandered out into a grove, or perhaps sat down at a table with my love to savour the succulent flavours of nature and fine wine – simple things and decadent things effortlessly married like fantasy-meets-real-life.

With obvious respect for the 400 year history of still life portraiture, Lyons reinterprets traditional motifs with a decidedly modern aesthetic, expressing them in quietly luminous, often monochromatic palettes that add a cinematic, mysterious quality and depth to her work.

Artist and essayist George Ferrandi says, “…in art, apples are almost always in some residual conversation with temptation – but Lyons makes broader use of them. Somehow, in their associations with fall and the end of summer, and in the presence of these ever-woolen skies, the apple tree carts with it a feeling of ‘after.’ Like the moon is on the wane. Like the honeymoon is over.”

Karyn’s background is also quite fascinating. Lyons is an art director in the fashion industry. She worked at Polo Ralph Lauren and J. Crew before returning to school in 2001 for graduate studies at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. After graduating in 2003, she spent a year working as a painter for Jeff Koons, where she worked on the Popeye series. Her first solo show was at the Sarah Bowen Gallery in Brooklyn, New York, in 2005. Since then, she has been in numerous group shows in the United States and abroad. She lives and works in New York City and Lima, Peru.

Lyons‘ latest work is currently on exhibition at MARCH in San Francisco through until November 23, 2013. The show includes 20 oil on canvas and oil on vellum paintings, sizes ranging between 3.5×3.5” to 44×60″. If you are in the area, I highly recommend making a point of stopping by for a visit.

MARCH

3075 Sacramento Street

San Francisco, CA

www.marchsf.com

Wishing you an inspired Monday!

The Curated Collection | Paulette Tavormina

Art is meant to elicit a response. To move you. To draw your attention to pain or beauty; to provoke thought or emotion. To filter the world into a more meaningful experience. To heighten and distill what is beautiful and unique in the world, and perhaps even make you gasp just a little bit.

“Figs and Morning Glories”

And food? Well food is sustenance. But much more than that, it is comfort. It is a means of expressing love. It is a way of showing honour and celebrating. It is the foraging and forming of nature into beauty and meaning for our bodies and our palettes. It is a way of making everyday life an art form in and of itself.

“Crabs”

Married together, these two forms of sustenance – food for both body and soul – meet in the stunning work of New York photographer Paulette Tavormina.

“Yellow Cherries and Crab Apples”

Weaving together a contemporary medium with an old world aesthetic, Tavormina’s dramatic photographs harken back to the sumptuous lighting and decadent details of 17th century Old Master still life paintings. The vibrant saturation and contrast in the images brings the masterfully styled food and flora to life, elevating the everyday to the status of extraordinary.

“Watermelon Radishes”

“Pears”

“I have long been fascinated by the magic of everyday objects, the majesty and delicacy of nature, and the world of culinary delight,” said Tavormina. “I have blended decades of photography and food styling with a love of 17th century Old Master paintings to create these still-life photographs. My greatest influences have been Francisco de Zurbaran, Adriaen Coorte and Giovanna Garzoni, in particular Zurbaran’s mysterious use of dramatic light, Coorte’s unique placement of treasured objects and Garzoni’s masterful composition and color palette. The works of these artists remind us of the irretrievable passing of time – tempus fugit.”

“Sour Cherries”

“Cranberry Beans”

Tavormina’s work can be found in museums, corporate and private collections and have been exhibited all of the world including shows in New York, Paris, London and Moscow. This current collection is showing at MARCH in San Francisco until June 1st and can be purchased by contacting owner and curator Sam Hamilton.

Wishing you a Monday filled with light and contrast and the time to drink in the sumptuous, decadent details in the everyday.

xo
s.