GABRIEL KREKK
ILONA VAN HOEK
Gabriel Krekk has studied art for most of his life however his love affair with watercol-ors and photorealism began in the 1980s. Through portrai­ture and studies of the human form, Gabriel Krekk grace­fully captures the beauty of life’s simplest moments. His life-like paintings of subjects set in quiet, serene moments are intriguing and intimate. Krekk’s expert use of sim­plistic soft washes and dense color, as well his phenomenal
Born in Berlin, Germany, Ilona van Hoek has had a lifelong fas­cination with art, the tactile nature of the practice, the paint and the brushes. However, it is the psychological and storytelling capabilities in art that are fundamental to her particular style. “I try to show stories in my presentations of art,” she explains, “the paintings develop through engagement of my thoughts.”
Van Hoek’s works explore the gamut of human emotion, from love and hate to joy and despair.
ability to recreate the effects of natural light in everyday settings on canvas, make his work extraordinarily realistic. As the viewer studies the way light plays on the flesh of Krekk’s subjects, and his remarkable attention to detail, it’s quite possible to forget they are looking at a painting and not an actual photograph.
Gabriel Krekk was born in Hungary, but moved to Canada as a child with his family, and resides there today. His work has been exhibited and collected throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe. Website: www.gabrielkrekk.com
With beautiful strokes she creates landscapes of rivers, moun­tains, and endless skies and within this world plays out a specta­cle of human existence. The characters can appear like menacing ghouls or angelic innocents, and she compels her audience to take pleasure in discovering the implicit storyline.
Van Hoek’s unique style of painting has attracted the interest of the art world, recently acquiring representation in New York. She lives and works in the United States.
Website: http://homepage.mac.com/ihvanhoek
WALT BLUMENFELD
A purveyor of disparate styles, Walt Blumenfeld paints both figuratively and conceptually. He paints urban life, portraits and landscapes, and refuses to be pigeonholed. With hyperactive flashes of color
he creates movement, and with pastels and naturals he subdues. He is inspired by the Impressionists, the Dutch postrenaissance artists, and the Baroque masters, but what unifies Walt’s paint­ings are that they all reflect moments he personally observes.
In a New York minute a million things happen at once, and Walt captures these fleeting moments with his paintbrush. Hav­ing spent years looking through a microscope as a pathologist, he turns his attentive eyes toward the “microcosm of the world,” the subway, with the same level of scrutiny. His paintings depict the full range of human expression. From the anxious commuter to the lovers that pretend they’re the only ones in the train, he paints beauty into ordinary circumstances that most city dwellers are too busy or disillusioned to notice.
Website: www.waltblumenfeld.com