Month: July 2023

In its newest exhibition, international gallery Saphira & Ventura, presents Tones of the Earth, an exhibition showcasing a series of artists exploring tone, texture, color, and a variety of earthly elements in their work. 

The exhibition will feature six artists from the gallery’s location, such as landscape artist Bherouz Bahadoori, working with oil, acrylic, among other other mediums, highlighting a powerful breath of expression in his works. A different approach is taken by French artist Geraldine Laly, known for the subtle alchemy of her style, mixing different materials to create an elaborate picture. While the direction taken by Swiss artist Regula Margrit-Bill, a follower of the abstract tradition, captures the grace of colors while touching on strong shadows while Hijo Nam focuses on the abstract by synthesizing various materials in a three-dimensional format.

Of the figurative tradition, the gallery presents Irene Van Celestine, whose compelling figures depict fascinating stories in the foregrounds of remarkable landscapes. While earthly textures are explored by Gloria Dumit, together with the delicate nature of birds and their flight.

The free and limitless use of color shows us a new phase for Elisabeth Wortsman. It achieves its own expression, a particular language. The translation of that moment in which she shapes her internal reconstruction in color is something very beautiful, without being overwhelming in perfect harmony, free from the past, ready for a new flight. Elisabeth’s informal abstract digital work is endowed with many structural elements such as lines, planes, and color, among others, which have perceptive and emotional qualities, each with its own weight and implications that must be analyzed in order to provide its definition and description, even if the artist uses several languages in a single work.

Curated by: Alcinda Saphira
Production: Diego Ponce / Albert Valente / Liz Carvalho
Support: New York International Contemporary Art Society (NYICAS)
Design: Camila Crivelenti

From its affair with modernists such as Mondrian and Rothko, to pop icons like Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol, the city of New York’s fascination with strong tones have played a pivotal role in its growth. Continuing this tradition, Saphira & Ventura Gallery, supported by the New York International Contemporary Art Society, honors the works which experiment with this element in its newest exhibition, In Vivid Colors, curated by Alcinda Saphira.

The showing focuses on the gallery’s contemporary artists, their impactful colors, and how they work with their subjects whether abstract or figurative.  The exhibition can also be viewed online on the gallery’s Artsy page.

The Gallery has dedicated its attention to technique, color, iconography, and a variety of factors that play a role in how art is created and appreciated. The newest exhibition, In Vivid Colors, presents an artist guest of honor, Philippe de Kraan, whose recent inauguration of the De Kraan Art Museum has made its important mark on the New York cultural scene. De Kraan’s cornucopia of gentle colors in a pointillist approach captures scenes of surrealism, inviting a dream-like story to the viewer. 

Playing with geometry and its sharp tones, both in line and color, is Chicago-based artist, Roby Frankel. Linking these two forces, Frankel’s work emerges from the canvas with kinetic energy, exploring tone and space. A similar yet more fluid approach is seen in the works of Liesbeth Willaert, whose dynamic lines cross to form intricate shapes in a world where both the abstract and the figurative collide. 

For Willaert, texture plays an important role in her mixed-media works. The abstract works of Gui Calil, an artist excellent in the technique of transitions. The abstract canvas balances the art of light and darkness in a delicate union. 

Present as well in the exhibition are the ludic pieces of New York-based artist, Meagan J. Meehan, whose style evokes a boundless joviality. Meehan has also pioneered an approach entitled “Conscious Perceptionalism”  focuses on works that can rotate 360 degrees on a wall. 
Elke Schmolzer, a figurative artist, explores saturation among her picturesque figures, a panorama of stone faces telling a story with the brightness of their eyes and other features. 

In terms of portraiture and its vitality for color, multi-disciplinary artist, Adelia Clavien, marvels her viewers with the faces of iconic actors ranging from Bardot and Monroe to more universal figures highlighting the beauty in its varied form.

The gallery will also be hosting a book presentation by award-winning writer, Brigidina Gentile, and the publication of her latest publication, Tequila. 

Production: Diego Ponce / Albert Valente / Liz Carvalho
Design: Camila Crivelenti
Support: New York International Contemporary Art Society (NYICAS), Bi/Coa: Bicultural Community of the Americas.

The Art Students League of NY In its landmark contributions not only to New York but to artistic canon as a whole, the historical Art Students League has been an iconic institution in the artist’s fight for freedom of expression, beauty, and bringing the city to newer heights. In an exhibition supported by the New York International Contemporary Art Society, the Base Intercultural / Community of the Americas (Bi/Coa) and the Nueva York Poetry Press, the international gallery Saphira & Ventura, is honored to present Iberoamerican Artists, an ambitious exhibition presenting works by leading contemporary artists based in the United States with backgrounds from various nations in Ibero-America.Co-curated by the New York based curators, Alcinda Saphira and Monica Sarmiento-Archer.

In its rich history, the Art Students League of New York, founded in 1875, has been a resourceful component in keeping the arts strong not only in New York but the rest of the United States in its pioneering years. Notable Alumni include Georgia O’Keefe, Winslow Homer, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, among others. In this upcoming exhibition, tribute is paid to Ecuadorian-American artist, Hugo Bastidas, an artist dedicated to exploring engaging themes in his works ranging from history, humanity, but also elements such as water, the earth, and the impact of human civilization.

The Art Students League of NY

This exhibition introduces the work of Milagros Villanueva and Susana Aldanondo (Argentina), figurative artists who touch on memories, with her own contemporary methods, works by Luis Romero (Colombia) that capture a surge of frenzy and energy. Among these students is alumni Monica Sarmiento-Archer (Ecuador), recognized for her long dedication to the New York art scene; capturing the energy and momentum of different mediums, the multi-disciplinary artist has won numerous awards and recognition for her work. Jaime Vasquez (Peru), a painter whose hellenic influences harmonize the classics of antiquity with modern themes,  objects, towers and trains of New York city. The city as a theme also serves as inspiration for Rene Nascimento (Brazil), whose delicate strokes capture cosmopolitan life in all its vivid movements and colors. The approach is quite different when one imagines surreal worlds and fantastical objects, which is the case of Tony Rodriguez (Cuba).

Curated by: Alcinda Saphira & Monica Sarmiento-Archer

Production: Diego Ponce / Albert Valente / Liz Carvalho 
Design: Camila Crivelenti