New Exhibition

REVIVING REALISM
Contemporary Masters of the Classical Tradition

January 22, 2010 - February 7, 2010

Exhibition Dates: January 22 - February 7, 2010
405 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich, CT

Cavalier Galleries is pleased to present a significant exhibition celebrating leaders in Contemporary Realism. The paintings and sculptures will be on view January 22 through February 7 at Cavalier Galleries, 405 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich, CT. The artists shown exemplify the skills and spirit of Classical Realism but approach their work with a contemporary perspective that allows for a fresh take on a centuries-old style.

Classical training is intensely disciplined and promotes aesthetic refinement and practiced skill. Artists such as Robert Bodem and Daniel E. Greene exemplify the style by showcasing their proficiency in form and technique while offering the viewer a fresh perspective on traditional subjects. Their creativity married with their mastery of form and skill strikes a harmonious balance that has long been absent from Modern art.

Several of the artists in the exhibition are teachers at one of the leading Contemporary Realist schools, the Grand Central Academy’s Water Street Atelier. Founded by Jacob Collins, their work embodies the spirit of the humanist tradition and places them at the heart of the resurgence of realism among young American painters. Edward Minoff, a teacher at the Academy since 2006, creates works of staggering beauty that showcase the discipline taught at the Water Street Atelier. His surf and landscape scenes are painstakingly constructed yet emotionally provocative.

Scott Waddell teaches figure painting at the Water Street Atelier. Waddell expresses his singular voice in dramatically-lit character dramas and spectacular portraits. His darkly narrative works evoke a cinematic feeling and much like the chiaroscuro painters of the past, he relies on light and shadow to create emphasis and drama in his large-scale works as well as his spectacular portrait paintings.

Douglas Flynt, Joshua LaRock and Travis Schlaht are also alumnus and teachers at the Grand Central Academy. Their still lifes put emphasis on each element of their carefully constructed arrangements and bring new life to the subject. Joel Carson Jones is the founder and Head Instructor of Truform Studio in Plymouth, PA. His small scale still life works often use contemporary objects as their focus, such as his Star Sail oil. Joel has also become increasingly popular for his amazing trompe l’oiel paintings.

The exhibition also includes paintings by the acclaimed portrait painter, Daniel E. Greene. A member of the National Academy since 1969, he is a former instructor of painting at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League of New York. He has won copious awards for his portrait and still life work and has truly taken realism into the 21st century.

Other pioneers in the movement include, Douglas Wiltraut and Michael Aviano. Douglas is one of America's foremost painters in egg tempera and dry brush watercolor. His painting, Cracked Rib, is an extraordinary example of the realism that can be achieved through mastering ones craft. Michael Aviano taught Jacob Collins at the Arts Students League and promoted classical principles and aesthetics during the height of the Abstractionist movement. His still life and portrait work are coveted among collectors and his long teaching career has produced a large following of students and admirers.

Robert Bodem and Bruno Lucchesi are exceptional Realist sculptors. Bodem is classically trained and teaches at the Florence Academy of Art. His figurative works are strikingly posed as to accentuate all parts of the body but his technical prowess in recreating the human form is balanced by a fluidity and beauty rarely seen among sculptors. Bruno Lucchesi also got his start in Florence in 1950, when he was appointed assistant professor of architecture at the Art Academy in Florence. He went on to teach at the New School for Social Research and the National Academy of Design in New York. Lucchesi’s sculptures are often beautifully crafted figures balanced precariously on either a chair leg or stand. His figures are enhanced with a sense of drama by allowing only a small point of contact between the figure and its base.

Devotion to aesthetic refinement was considered unpopular for many years among Modern artists and collectors. The return to classical training is a boon to the ever evolving art world as it allows for artists to create works of exceptional technical merit and creativity. Reviving Realism: Contemporary Masters of the Classical Tradition showcases the works of established artists who fought to keep Realism alive in America as well as the new wave of emerging young artists who are expanding the movement by creating works of staggering beauty and exceptional technical merit.

To see the exhibition online, click HERE