Tuesday, June 21, 2016

"Crowded by Beauty" Exhibit at McGuire Real Estate, Berkeley


IMG_ Crowded by Beauty, McGuire Real Estate, Berkeley - 5672

McGuire Real Estate at Elmwood, Berkeley, continues its effort to support local artists, with its new eight-person show, "Crowded by Beauty", including works in a multitude of mediums: sculpture, acrylics, ceramics, watercolor, oil and photography. The featured artists are Philip Hall, Matthew Felix Sun, Camila Valdez, Jill McLennan, Deborah Schilling, Sarah Whitecotton, Judy Wiener, and Susan Erickson.

Postcard _ Crowded by Beauty, McGuire Real Estate, Berkeley, June 2016

Four paintings of mine were included in the exhibitions are Forest Within, Birches, Net, and One Fine Day, all played a bit of optical illusion, with a bit twist of psychology.

IMG_ Crowded by Beauty, McGuire Real Estate, Berkeley - 5659
Forest Within & Birches

IMG_ "Birches" in "Crowded by Beauty", McGuire Real Estate, Berkeley - 5660

IMG_ Crowded by Beauty, McGuire Real Estate, Berkeley - 5675
Net & One Fine Day

IMG_ Crowded by Beauty, McGuire Real Estate, Berkeley - 5674

There were many interesting artworks and it was a thrill for me to be in their company.

IMG_ Crowded by Beauty, McGuire Real Estate, Berkeley - 5677

IMG_ Crowded by Beauty, McGuire Real Estate, Berkeley - 5653

IMG_ Crowded by Beauty, McGuire Real Estate, Berkeley - 5652

The turn out was quite wonderful. The place was indeed crowded by beauty.

IMG_ Crowded by Beauty, McGuire Real Estate, Berkeley - 5670

IMG_ Crowded by Beauty, McGuire Real Estate, Berkeley - 5651
IMG_ Crowded by Beauty, McGuire Real Estate, Berkeley - 5671

IMG_ Crowded by Beauty, McGuire Real Estate, Berkeley - 5669

IMG_ Crowded by Beauty, McGuire Real Estate, Berkeley - 5666 IMG_ Crowded by Beauty, McGuire Real Estate, Berkeley - 5679


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- Student Exhibits at Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley
- "Escape Into Summer" - July Theme Exhibit at Artist-Xchange Gallery
- Amazing exhibit at Kala Art Gallery, Berkeley
- Provocative Exhibits on Race: Catharine Clark Gallery & Lawrence Hall of Science
- Modernism from the National Gallery of Art in De Young Museum, San Francisco
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- Last Trip to a Museum in 2012 - The William S. Paley Collection: A Taste for Modernism at De Young Museum in San Francisco


Friday, June 17, 2016

Featured Painting: The March of Time

My recent oil painting The March of Time was a chromatic piece, masking details with broad strokes, employing repetitive patterns to emphasis the underlying messages, and exploring the deep emotions with subtle tonal variation. The painting depicted a wasted land - wreckage of houses in various degree of decay, scattered around a no-man’s land in spots where they once proudly stood but barely hanging on with ineffective supports of crutches and buttresses. This wasteland was the product of ruthless time, as manifested in the title; yet, it was hard not to think what humans, who once built and occupied those now abandoned structure, had contributed to this vast span of ruin.

The March of Time / 時光的流逝 / Der Lauf der Zeit  

The March of Time
Oil on Canvas
24" x 30"
Completed in 2016

Originally posted on matthewfelixsun.com

Other Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
- My Featured Painting "Minotaur"

- Featured Painting "Progression"
- Featured Painting "Liberation Road"
- My Featured Work - Portrait Painting "Grandma"
- Featured Oil Painting “Father and Son”
- Featured Oil Painting "The Triumph of Saint George"

Monday, June 6, 2016

My Favorite Artworks at Palazzo della Ragione, Padova (Padua), Italy


DSCN0808 _ Palazzo della Ragione, Padova, 12 October

The gracefully proportioned Palazzo della Ragione in Padova (Padua), Italy, was a unique building, which was not only enormous in dimensions, but functions uniquely as a market place in its lower level, and a civic center on the top tier.

The most outlandish thing, and my favorite, was a huge wooden horse, basked in blue light (or was it painted blue?). According to Padovaincoming.it,
"the big wooden horse kept in Palazzo della Ragione was ordered by Annibale Capodilista in 1466: it was one of the big machines - and the only one that has survived - made for an extraordinary celebration that was organized in Padua, in the squares Piazza dei Signori and Piazza del Capitanio. The parade saw the participation of all the people in town, and of more people who had been attracted to town for this exceptional event." [Source: Padovaincoming.it]
Apparently, Padova artists and civic leaders were the vanguard of flashy blockbuster installations almost mandated in today's art markets.  Cynicism aside, the horse was indeed eye-catching and exhilarating.

DSCN0854 _ Palazzo della Ragione, Padova, 12 October

DSCN0856 _ Palazzo della Ragione, Padova, 12 October

On the four walls of this gigantic hall, surrounding and contrasting the blue horse, were a series of marvelous allegorical frescoes, all in wonderfully aged colors, subtle and harmonious.  Collectively, they were my second favorite there.

DSCN0848 _ Palazzo della Ragione, Padova, 12 October

My Favorite Museum Collection Series
>> My Favorite Museum Collection Series 116: My Favorite Artworks at San Giacomo Maggiore, Bologna

<< My Favorite Museum Collection Series 114: My Favorite Artworks at Duomo, Padova (Padua), Italy

List of My Favorite Artworks in the Museums I've Visited

Other Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
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- Two Museums in Venice - Gallerie dell'Accademia & Collezione Peggy Guggenheim
- Magical Piazza San Marco in Venice
- Castello Estense, Palazzo Municipale and Duomo in Ferrara
- My Favorite Sculptures at Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Florence)
- Vasari Frescoes and Michelangeo Sculpture - My Favorite Works at Palazzo Vecchio, Firenz