"Fresh Works VII" Juried Exhibition in Pleasanton

My oil painting, The March of Time, was accepted to a juried exhibition, titled "Fresh Works VII" in Harrington Gallery at Firehouse Arts Center, Pleasanton.







The opening reception on May 6 attracted many visitors, eager to see many wonderful works, several by local artists.















During the opening reception, my work was awarded an Honorable Mention Award, by the juror Ryan Reynolds, Assistant Professor of Art at Santa Clara University. Reynolds talked about the difficulty of choosing included works and winner from many submissions, and elaborated on the criteria he used for his decisions. He was looking for works demonstrating unique and well thought-out visions or ideas, and artist's ability to execute and present such ideas.


Gallery Director Julie Finegan handed out award certificates


Juror Ryan Reynolds





The gallery sponsor, Nancy & Gary Harrington recognized a work with their special "Nancy & Gary Harrington Award" for a wonderful portrait, "Alice" by Pamela Mooney.


"Alice" and "Kitty G." by Alice Mooney

Some Merit Awards were give to these accomplished works:


"Hushed", Carolyn WarmSun


"Lake Atitlan, Guatemala Thought", Dave Peterson


"In the Garden of Time" by Karen Kramer & "Mr. Chavez" by Dmitry Grudsky


"Robin 2.17" by Thomas Cory & "FO" by David Casterson

Besides my painting, other Honorable Mention Awards winners were these wonderful works:


"Monterey Fog", Lynne Shephard


"Father and Son", Robert Huberman


"Waiting", Grant Clark


"Persephone", Leonardo Cuervo


"Bedlam (San Jose)", Jeff Ishikawa


"Samidare", Jill Stevenson Ritter


I was impressed by many works, award winning or not, such as these interesting works:


"Dr. Seuss: The Dark Side", Kurt Fehlberg (left)


"Morning Contemplation", Lisa Rigge


"One Potato", Sherri Kelcourse


"Barn Owl", Melissa Snider


"Grandmother's Reflection", Alani Susan Taira (left)


"Romeo's Siesta" Christine Bourg




"Alone with a Palette Knife", Julia Watson


Fresh Works VII ran from May 6 to June 3, 2017. In concurrence to this juried exhibition, there was a one-person show “View Beyond the Gate” in the lobby areas of the Firehouse Arts Center, featuring works by Glenn Carter (May 3 to June 10, 2017), whose work was,”rooted in the intuitive response to materials and mark making.”






Quite an inspiring exhibition and I am honored to be part of the show.


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My Oil Painting - Intense "Mackerel"

I am very proud of my 2007 oil painting "Mackerel", in which I managed to capture both beautiful and sinister elements of a daily object, fulfilling a most tantalizing pursuit of mine. With its intense colors and bold strokes, this painting economically presents a sleekly fish, intently staring upwards, as if ready to confront its captor; at the meanwhile, its eye also betrayed the fish's sad resignation to its imminent demise.

The background of the painting was plain drop cloth, hatched lightly, and dominated by sickly greenish-yellow from the left and graduated to an intense blue to the right. The intense vertical blue patch also represents the deep water being turned upright, in a disorientated world.

 
Mackerel
Oil on Canvas
28" x 22"
Completed in 2007

This painting was just awarded of 1st 2015 ArtSlant Showcase Winner.

It was also selected for exhibition at ViewPoint 2009, 41st Annual National Juried Art Competition, Cincinnati Art Club, Ohio, November 2009.

This painting was included in two-person show at Trilogy Studio, San Francisco, 2011, and it was exhibited at Artist-Xchange Gallery, San Francisco, in 2009.

Originally published on matthewfelixsun.com

My Featured Work - Portrait Painting "Grandma"

If I have to summarize my career as an artist, I would say that the biggest achievement I’ve attained was the creation of my portrait painting “Grandma”.


Grandma
Oil on Canvas
40″ x 30″
Completed in 2003

This painting, created during the time when George W. Bush was drumming up to invade Iraq, despite the series opposition from the people within and without the US.

At the time, I was reading Günter Grass’s fantastic novel The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel), and was struck by a passage depicting the a protagonist’s old peasant grandma, whose presence in the novel, though not frequent, but impressive, due to the wonderful depiction of the author of her at various phases of her long life – many layers of her skirts, her peeling potatoes, the heated bricks she used to stay warm, again, underneath her layers of skirts.

I have painted several portraits of old women.  To me, they often can be categorized as sibyl, a word comes (via Latin) from the Greek word σίβυλλα sibylla, meaning prophetess. Old women are the personifications of mysterious wisdom and deep compassion, and the grandma in The Tin Drum was the personification of just that.

To generate a working-class and wise woman, I gave her a pair of large knotting hands and wrinkled face, and emphasized her stiff posture, against the equally thinly painted menacing sky, and somewhat comforting trees, whose monumentality again gave the grandma an air of a Greek goddess, all seeing, compassionate, and formidable.

This painting is part of my ongoing Apocalypse Series and can be purchased via a trusted third party vendor, ArtSlant, which also chose it as a Showcase Winner.

Originally posted on my website: Featured Works.

Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
- "Arabesque" and Other Paintings Inspired by Literature
- A Portrait - First Painting Completed in 2012 - Matthew Felix Sun
- "Sibyls" - Portraits of Old Women
- "Diptych - Dawn" Won Another Award - Matthew Felix Sun

Oil Painting "White Dresses"

My oil painting "White Dresses", part of my on going "White Dress" series, recently had garnered several recognitions.



Last week, ArtSlant.com, the largest online art community/arbiter, just awarded this painting as one of the winners in the seventh 2013 Showcase Competition, the awards I had won five times previously starting 2010 for my paintings and drawings:



In July, this painting was also published by Wilde Magazine in their third issue, a beautifully produced magazine one can browse the preview online and purchase through MagCloud:




Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst: 
- New Wilde Magazine Publications 
- Two Figure Paintings of Mine Published by Wilde Magazine Issue 2
- Unexpected Successes of "Stringed White Dresses - An Installation"
- "White Dress" Series Continues - A New Drawing and a New Painting
- Niobe - An Installation
- "Diptych - Dawn" Won Another Award
- Editor's Choice Award for "The Song of Orpheus" - Artist Portfolio Magazine
- Editor's Award on Artist Portfolio Magazine, Published by My Art Contest
- One More Award from ArtSlant Showcase Competition
- Honorable Mentioned in A Juried Competition

"Diptych - Dawn" Won Another Award

ArtSlant, the largest art presence online just announced its 5th 2013 Showcase award winners and I was honored again, with my new painting "Diptych - Dawn"!

5th 2013 Showcase Winner

Diptych - Dawn    

Category: painting

The ArtSlant Prize is a Showcase Series designed to exhibit and promote talented artists from around the world. The Showcase has six rounds per year, and in each round artists may enter one image and compete for different stages of winning status. 

The jurors are:  Darren Jones - Artist, Writer, Curator, New York; Neysa Page-Lieberman - Director & Curator in the Department of Exhibition and Performance Spaces, Columbia College, Chicago; and Deb Klowden Mann - Gallery KM, Los Angeles.

You may see my other awards listed on Flickr. 

Thank you for your support!


Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
- Editor's Choice Award for "The Song of Orpheus" - Artist Portfolio Magazine
- Another Award for a Drawing
- Editor's Award on Artist Portfolio Magazine, Published by My Art Contest
- One More Award from ArtSlant Showcase Competition
- Honorable Mentioned in A Juried Competition