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Artis
Spectrum 31
Zoë Sherwood
Z
OË SHERWOOD'S SOFT, WISTFUL OIL PAINTINGS reveal
a spirited sense of mystery and wonder. These dreamlike folk
tales act as if mystical personal mythology. As a child Sherwood
taught herself to draw comic book charac-
ters­Flash Gordon on the Planet Mongo,
Prince Valiant in the days of King Arthur­
and this sense of story narration remains
a part of her work. She remembers, "one
day, wandering in a forest as a child, I
was suddenly attacked, and rescued. Since
then, forests and deserts and oceans have
been places of mystery and danger, and
they are also places I now enjoy. I'll always
love painting the human figure in a natural
surround."
Mysterious women running from pur-
suers, Sumi wrestlers and beings swimming
through the sky, these are some of the indi-
viduals who populate her pictorial world. "I want to show others the
world I love. Making a picture is opening a window, a simple enough
analogy. But the world seen through this window is no substitute for
the real world. I believe art parallels the real world, allying itself by
shapes, colors exciting our vision; by movement, texture affecting
our bodies; by emotions churning our viscera." Pat Cummings writes
Running Free, oil on linen, 18" x 24"
Leigh Rosenberg Earnest
L
EIGH ROSENBERG EARNEST PAINTING OEUVRE is abstract
expressionist. These mixed-media rolling landscapes and
constrained interiors delineate a blurred line between
inside/outside spaces. The stark
use of bright, tonal colors fash-
ion imagined, semi-abstract
worlds that are both room inte-
riors and outside arenas into a
cosmic stratosphere.
"If canvas or material
is chosen, I often draw with
bleach and place it in the sun
to change the original color."
Earnest says. "The subject
develops as the process pro-
gresses. Mixing media allows
me to develop a surface that is
out of the ordinary. The work
is designed to invite the viewer
to come closer and discover the
surface and find new ways of
mark making and describing a
space. An untraditional method
of solving artistic problems is
my intent."
A frequent art jurist whose
work has been published in
book collections and bought
for private collections, Earnest
work possesses a compositional
clarity that is rich and spatially
engaging. -Douglas Singleton
www.art-mine.com
A Long Yarn, mixed media, 43" x 58"
"An untraditional
method of solving
artistic problems
is my intent."
that in Sherwood's paintings hidden meanings are suggested by the
unusual context in which the human figures are suspended.
Sherwood began her formal study of painting and drawing while
still in high school with Jean Charlot at Black Mountain College in
North Carolina. A graduate of Radcliffe College, she interrupted col-
lege work to study at the Brooklyn Museum Art School with Manfred
Schwartz. After graduation she attended
the Art Student's League, working under
Reginald Marsh and Harry Sternberg, and
during the 50s attended lectures on art
history at the Sorbonne while working at
the Atelier Libre on Blvd. Montparnasse.
"Art parallels the real world, allied to it by
shapes, colors, exciting our vision, move-
ment, texture, touching our bodies; emo-
tions, churning our viscera. Life makes art
worth having. Life comes first."
Her lines and brushstrokes reveal
a compositional clarity befitting a career
spent honing honesty in the artistic pro-
cess. Her visceral work, of peculiar women
and mystical, fantastical tales, has been presented widely in solo and
group exhibitions throughout New York and held in numerous private
collections. The work possesses a fluidity that acts upon the viewer's
emotions from the subconscious. -Douglas Singleton
www.art-mine.com