In the course of a day, you see perhaps thousands of individual objects: a bush, a shoe, a maraschino cherry, a 1st place ribbon. You may absorb even more images via the nightly news, the cable networks, or the iPad.
All these thousands of images, all in your head. Where do they go?
For artist Denise DeSpirito, they go on the paper.
Check out the newest edition here on The Bare Square!
New York City-based emerging artist Denise DeSpirito creates active, colorful, and expressive works using gouache paint on paper. Her minimal lines spin tales of city life and of her travels.
Denise DeSpirito, The Flower of Life
This piece, The Flower of Life, grew from Denise meditation, an effort to sort through the images she considers and portray the ones that stood out to her. The piece began to take the form of The Flower of Life (after which the piece has been named), a centuries-old symbol in religious philosophies and ways of life all around the world. The Flower of Life, said to contain the Akashic Record or energetic imprint of a soul’s journey (and perhaps the universe), inspired the artist’s desire to share her journeys with the viewers of her work. DeSpirito’s work creates a dialogue with ancient philosophies while concurrently making them contemporary.
Why New York City?
“Being an artist in NYC you have access to a whole community of artists to inspire you, museums and galleries to see and people to talk about art with. I think the best thing about being an artist here is the type of feedback you can get so immediately from your peers,” Denise said.
DeSpirito has received great feedback from peers, admirers, collectors and fans alike. You, too, can sense the peaceful yet energetic tone. Bring some peace into your world this holiday season–buy “The Flower of Life” limited edition print for as little as $20 atThe Bare Square Store.
[Editor's note: Some time ago, we wrote about a Revolution in Art we call the Egalitarian Movement. Though a long time coming, this is Part II of that article. Please read to the end and share if you like it.]
The Bare Square has always been about bite-sized art news and getting people involved in art in a personal way. We love auctions, museums, public art, and major galleries, but without support for art at the individual level–this means you–art becomes the province of only the well-heeled and those with advanced degrees in art. And where’s the fun in that?!
And so, as always, we want to do our part to strengthen your connection to artwork and artist.
Jennifer Wallace, our Director of Art, hand picks the artists whose work is at The Bare Square Store. The Bare Square is their chance, and yours, to be a part of history, to experience the wonder of the world, to enjoy the beauty of every day a little more.
For the past several weeks, we’ve been sharing our love of art by rewarding readers of The Bare Square with the gift of art. For many who have clicked a Facebook “Like” for The Bare Square and have shared our contest (which runs through December 12), receiving free art is just one way to be part of this Art Revolution.
Join the movement!
This week, after you’ve bought your new HDTV and iPad 2–heck, maybe even before–we humbly suggest you reduce the six degrees of separation between you and the beneficiaries of your holiday buys to a mere one or two degrees.
The Bare Square Store features art by emerging artists. We’ve worked with these artists in some cases for years, and they love creating art you can enjoy for generations.
With that, we invite you to check out the artwork at The Bare Square Store and participate in the Revolution!
Art is not like music or movies. Even we at The Bare Square stream movies and shows on Netflix and Hulu, and download music from iTunes. (I even have YouTube playlists of music!) Thankfully, singers and actors get all the credit they deserve for bringing happiness, joy, and diversion to a mad, mad world. We love these artists.
Still, every day we see the impact and influence of visual artists. Visual artists’ work is often distilled down to the digestible simplicity of a TV commercial, a cool graphic, or a print ad posted on a billboard. Much of this visual stimuli is art, but often not in the moving, personal, and thought-provoking sense of REAL visual art, or in the same way we enjoy the music and films we all love. Most visual art in ads and commercials lack the same personal connection we feel with music, film, TV, and plays. Ads featuring visual art lack the visual reminder that THIS artist made THIS artwork. Some critics don’t even consider commercial art to be art at all.
Can this dissociation, this separation between art, artist, and viewer, be changed?
Yes! Here’s how.
Just as Smokey the Bear said “Only you can prevent forest fires,” only you can reconnect your world to visual art.
Check out The Bare Square Store. Buy a print for yourself. Buy a print for someone you love. Then suggest someone else do the same.
This is how revolutions begin.
It starts with you, right now.
To help you join the Revolution, we’ve created a special code for everyone who reads this article. This week only, through Sunday at midnight, if you buy a print at The Bare Square Store, you get 25% off. Enter the promotional code TBSWEEK at checkout to get your discount…and to join the Revolution.
Not only do you get REAL art by an actual living, breathing artist, you get to be a part of something bigger, something special, something real.
Join the Egalitarian Art Revolution now.
And on behalf of artists everywhere, thank you.
- James Wallace
(Special thanks to Mrs. Alison Bibler for her contribution!)
Now known for peace, chocolate, and neutrality in international affairs, Switzerland may soon be known for something else–an amazing New York City-based artist named Regi Müller.
Born in a small town northeast of Switzerland, nAscent artist Regi Müller trained as a textile designer which she described as the only “creative outlet” offered in Switzerland.
“The mentality in Switzerland was to learn something practical,” Müller said.
Luckily for us, her transition to being an artist resulted in artwork every bit as peaceful as the country of her birth.
One of Müller’s pieces, available at The Bare Square Store, is “Curiosity.” Müller said she went through several different looks for this piece until the final artwork “felt right.” Müller’s minimal use of soft colors and delicately shaped circles brings a sense of calmness to the viewer.
“In my early work, I used a lot of straight lines but now I like to experiment with circles and ellipses,” Muller said.
"Curiosity" by Regi Müller
How did she realize her dream? Because jobs in the textile design industry were scarce, so Müller moved to the U.S. in 1995.
Though she freelanced in graphic design, Müller returned to her passion, transitioning from being a textile designer to a professional artist. She focused her artistic efforts in print-making, sculpture and installation (while freelancing in graphic design). Müller began installations in the nineties while continuing to create sculpture and prints. Müller’s pieces contain restrained colors and geometric shapes, forming the foundation of her work.
“I like to experiment with different forms and colors and play around with my images and the layering until a design feels right,” Müller said during a phone interview. “I wanted to understand why I chose particular shapes and colors and symbolism. They helped to me to see, and thus to understand, what was important for me.”
You can see more of Müller’s curvy style in her other works such as the installation piece “Flurries” and her sculpture “Rising Mars.” Below, the artist narrates a video documenting the creation of “Flurries” at The Phillips Collection, an internationally recognized, 90-year-old museum in Washington, D.C., that features work by icons including Renoir, Rothko, and O’Keefe.
Müller shows her work mainly in Switzerland and the United States. You can bring a sense of peace to your space by buying an exclusive, limited edition print of Swiss-born-artist Regi Muller’s ”Curiosity” at The Bare Square Store starting at only $20.
Please visit the store, share, and tune in next week for another profile!
Congratulations to the winners for the first week of the “Hip To Be Square” contest!
Jennifer H. from PA
Kaitlin J. from NY
David K. from NY
Julia R. from NY
Melissa W. from OH
The winners each get a work of art from The Bare Square Store, where The Bare Square readers can find limited edition prints by select emerging artists, and show their support for emerging artists by buying their artwork.
Here are just a few of the pieces the winners can pick from. Which is your favorite?
Makers Mark and Cherries by Jack Laroux
Shibuya Crossing in Snow by Galya Kovalyova
Laundry Day by John Breiner
The Birds by Gigi Chen
The Illest by Jason Woodside
Jennifer, Kaitlin, David, Julia, and Melissa earned Square Points by registering for the contest and sharing The Bare Square with friends. Then, The Bare Square randomly drew their names to win this week’s prize. Congrats!
The entrants with the most weekly Square Points are automatically entered to win the Grand Prize of a $500 artwork at The Bare Square Store. This week’s top 10% are entered to win the December drawing. They are:
Lori B. from NY
Jennifer H. from PA
Melissa W. from OH
Lori, Jennifer, and Melissa all shared the most this week and now have a chance to win $500 in free art!
You can still win! Everyone’s points start back at zero each week (except for referral points).
Register, share The Bare Square, get Square Points and you might win the next weekly prize!
Want to win a $500 artwork from The Bare Square? Go to The Bare Square’s contest page and register now!
[Note: Sharing The Bare Square is its own reward and your friends will thank you.]
It’s been ages since we brought you a new edition. So here’s a new edition introduced by New Edition!
Musical tie-ins aside, we here at The Bare Square are sweet on Douglas Newton, a new artist to both nAscent Art and The Bare Square, and you can see why.
A full-time studio artist for 10 years, Douglas transitioned to fine art after a successful career as an art director in the publishing industry.
His work has included “suburban surrealism” paintings of the American landscape as well as still-life with subjects of food, toys and household objects. Over time, the still-life paintings have become his focus. His most recent series of candy paintings evolved out of his food still-life work.
Instead of using photographs for reference, Douglas works directly from real life. All of his works are created with oil on canvas with his main focus on capturing the effects of light on form, texture and color. He also exploits the material itself showing the paint and brush strokes in order to feel, not like photo realism, but a rich, sensuous oil painting.
A to Z by Douglas Newton at The Bare Square Store
For Douglas, these candy letters were a subject as irresistible to paint as I find them to consume!
He told The Bare Square, “I did resist the urge to spell out something with the letters, but instead relied on randomness and sense of pattern in making the final composition. The brilliant color of one candy letter glowing through a letter of a different color was the most exciting part of painting the letters. All in all, it was an enjoyable but very challenging painting.”
Want some candy? Contact nAscent Art for originals of Douglas’ beautifully executed, fun and colorful still-life paintings. Or, get your very own copy of “A to Z” at The Bare Square Store starting at only $20!
So what is the best song with the word “candy” in the title. Pick from below, or suggest your own! (Click the title to see the YouTube video.)
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