Turning Heads: A Group Exhibition at Dawson Cole Fine Art, Laguna Beach

Dawson Cole Fine Art, Laguna Beach wanted to take this opportunity to personally invite you to Turning Heads: A Group Exhibition.  The face, recorded through the eyes of the artist, truly lives forever.  Portraiture has been central to the history of art for centuries and this unique exhibition examines how we view portraiture today.  The showing will include works by leading contemporary artists:

Chuck Close - The remarkable career of artist Chuck Close extends beyond his completed works of art. More than just a painter, photographer, and printmaker, Close is a builder who, in his words, builds “painting experiences for the viewer.” Highly renowned as a painter, Close is also a master printmaker, who has, over the course of more than 30 years, pushed the boundaries of traditional printmaking in remarkable ways. Almost all of Close’s work is based on the use of a grid as an underlying basis for the representation of an image. This simple but surprisingly versatile structure provides the means for “a creative process that could be interrupted repeatedly without damaging the final product, in which the segmented structure was never intended to be disguised.” It is important to note that none of Close’s images are created digitally or photo-mechanically. While it is tempting to read his gridded details as digital integers, all his work is made the old-fashioned way - by hand. Close’s paintings are labor intensive and time consuming, and his prints are more so. While a painting can occupy Close for many months, it is not unusual for one print to take upward of two years to complete. Close has complete respect for, and trust in, the technical processes - and the collaboration with master printers - essential to the creation of his prints. The creative process is as important to Close as the finished product. “Process and collaboration” are two words that are essential to any conversation about Close’s prints.

Jian Wang - If Jian Wang is to claim a style, it lies in his approach to painting. Distinguished by his ability to reconfigure the elements of a composition to his own vision, he virtually sculpts the image using energetic brush strokes and thick, buttery oil paint. “My style involves tremendous physicality and emotion,” he says. “I have a simple palette of eight colors, which I combine right on the canvas. I’m careful with my gestures; I carry many colors in a single brush stroke.” His work, influenced significantly by realism with an impressionist inference, is influenced both by the landscape and by contemporary artists such as Fred Dalkey, Wayne Thiebaud and Oliver Jackson. “Every single painting is 90 percent experiment and 10 percent of what I’ve learned,” he says. “I cannot guarantee that every painting will turn out, because I don’t want to set up that much control. I have great admiration for historical painters who developed a style and yet, each piece remains individual.” Long before he came to the United States to pursue a Masters of Fine Arts at California State University, Jian Wang dreamed of a life of painting. A child of the Cultural Revolution in China, he experienced limited opportunities for painting and exhibition, which led him to pursue the field of engineering. And yet, he did not lack background or training in art. Upon arrival in America, his work already exhibited a serious investment in the western conventions of drawing and painting. What he lacked, was the venue this country could provide.

and Richard MacDonald - Richard MacDonald is world-renowned for artistry that reveals a profound understanding of the human experience and which celebrates the ascendancy of the human spirit. His fascination of the human form and with mankind’s broad emotional range has inspired him to create dynamic, sensitive works; each infused with a quality that withstands the passage of time, of taste, of trend. Born and raised in California during an unkind era for figurative art, MacDonald was tossed into artistic waters by his uncle, then a leading graphic designer. Primed by his childhood and formally trained in Professional Arts at the Art Center, College of Design, MacDonald forged an alchemy of experience to become an artist whose drawings, paintings and sculpture portray the passion inherent in the triumph of the human condition The inspiration behind MacDonald’s 1996 tour de force, “The Flair,” a 26-foot gymnast caught in the execution of the maneuver, actually emerged from a painting he created for the 1984 Olympics. And although he based his design on the studies he did of Kurt Thomas for the painting, The Flair’s essence lies more in the struggle, determination and hours of training, all brought to that instant when performance is everything. Therein lies the metaphor for his own artistic achievements. MacDonald went on to create, among other masterworks, “Momentum”, a 15-foot, 15-ton sculpture created in celebration of the 100th playing of the U.S. Open golf championship at Pebble Beach. When not creating art, he travels on behalf of it, extensively and internationally, forging relationships with other countries, other creators. His work is collected by such people as former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton, Linda and Stewart Resnick, William Payne, Dean Koontz, Richard Marx, Leanne Rimes, and opera legend Luciano Pavarotti. The absence of opportunity and training in figurative sculpture has created a void not only in the preservation of fine art, but in the persistence of life, which MacDonald, a natural teacher and devoted mentor, works relentlessly to fill. He works tirelessly to increase the appreciation and understanding of figurative art throughout the world. MacDonald also graciously gives of his art and his time to hundreds of charitable organizations; among those Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Make a Wish Foundation, and New York’s “Free Arts for Abused Children,” which was a charity event sponsored by Cirque du Soleil and Lincoln Automotive. His commitment to fostering the future of post-modern, neo-figurative art is realized not only in creating monuments to human triumph, but by imparting his knowledge and technique, his experience and his lessons to emerging international and national professional artists through intensive master classes on location at his own 25,000 square foot studio complex. As he passes the torch, he ensures his legacy. The artist’s international reach has now captivated Shanghai, China, which recently recognized his accomplishments with a prestigious award and invited him to install his life-sized sculpture “Three Graces” in Central Green Park, a 1,500-acre expanse that softens Shanghai’s new cosmopolitan financial center of Pudong. “China is important to the world in that they are a force and on the move,” MacDonald said. “Exposing them to figurative art opens up a potential for artistic expression far greater than anyone would ever have dreamed possible until today. It is this very spirit of the struggle and determination to triumph that inspires creative expression. This is the message, I think, that will endure through my work.”

Contact:  http://dawsoncolefineart.com