Three prominent artists will be featured in the opening exhibition: New York painter and sculptor CYNTHIA von BUHLER; New York and Miami painter MIGUEL PAREDES; and noted New York artist and illustrator SCOTT BAKAL. All three artists will be present for Gallery opening on May 21st.
CYNTHIA von BUHLER
Art & Antiques magazine, in March of 2006, named von Buhler “one of the top contemporary surrealists.” An internationally exhibiting visual artist, her work has been on the covers of New York’s Gallery Guide, Communication Arts, and New York Arts along with feature articles. Prior to moving to New York von Buhler was chosen by Boston Magazine as one of the “40 Bostonians We Love.” Von Buhler's work is in hundreds of personal collections all over the world; Howard Stern owns a portrait of himself painted by von Buhler, while Jann Wenner, the publisher of Rolling Stone, purchased von Buhler’s portraits of Madonna and Jimi Hendrix. In February, 2007, von Buhler and her interactive sculptures, were featured on television in Japan, Switzerland, and Germany as part of the exhibit, Andy Warhol: In His Wake. Her award-winning illustrations have been recognized as being among “the best and most cutting-edge” in the country. Von Buhler is the author of the popular children’s “The Cat Who Couldn’t Come Inside,” published by Houghton Mifflin. In the Steven Spielberg celebrity-written benefit book Once Upon A Fairy Tale she illustrated a story by Martha Stewart. CVB Space, von Buhler’s art studio in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, has been featured in Sex and the City, Law & Order SVU, Someone Like You (starring Ashley Judd, Hugh Jackman, and Greg Kinnear) and No Reservations (starring Catherine Zeta-Jones).
MIGUEL PAREDES
Miguel Paredes is an urban Lewis Carroll or J.R.R. Tolkien bringing the deepest and most imaginative romance and danger from the streets into vibrant, mythical battles of survival. Paredes leans toward unlikely heroes: drug addicts transvestites, peeping Toms, and children at the hinterlands. Like Jean Genet, Paredes' world is all dramatically enlarged with color and perspective, cap guns, Molotov cocktails, banner, graffiti, and the perilous shadows of transformers, animated devils, and real-life contemporary evils.
Looking at the three paintings Brownstones, Outlaw, and in the Name of America it becomes immediately apparent that Paredes' first great weapon is attitude. Without a swagger, without a style or stance, you've got no chance to emerge alive or be noticed. Attitude gives his ideas and his landscapes a voice that will not be silenced whether you want to hear it or not. It is there and there it stays. But it is a brilliant, innovative and powerful life force.
Paredes draws on the physical and metaphysical New York urban landscapes of his youth and the youthful landscapes of his own children growing up in 21st Century Miami. Tinged with hip-hop rhythms and the frenetic energy of a graffiti tagger, Paredes employs explosive colors to emancipate pop icons and in the case of Outlaw and In the Name of America, playfully constructs new icons from the joy and hope of his own children. Often splaying text across his visual and sumptuous narratives Paredes transforms the emotional and physical destinations of 21st Century art making.
Paredes' work draws the viewer into a never ending interaction with the canvas. Once engaged, it is almost impossible to stop looking, to stop seeing. Paredes paints magnificent images that create an atmosphere of questioning and mystery, immersing the viewer in a phenomenal visual experience as well as a rich inner journey. Every stroke, every pose, every shadow or thoughtfully constructed clues to the complex dialogue the artist is having with himself and what he believes will be his legacy.
Paredes is all about energy, whether it's in the form of an abstracted figurative character or shape, or in the rich graphic elements that are second nature to the world he sees. As he combines mediums, he also mixes the elements of his thoughts, ideas, and concerns. Improbable backgrounds emerge and bold surface elements seep onto his canvas from the realms of internal expression and from a powerful conviction that the inner child is both precious savior and rebel.
Paredes' paintings also include atmospheric texts. His graphic inclinations shine through, his words taking on the look of messages scribed upon the surface of a photograph. Viscous color often vertically draws down Paredes' canvas adding movement to already active planes. With white line work on the black backgrounds, and colors glowing like bright neon lights, Paredes' darker paintings register as the semi-familiarity of inverted images and the darkness of humid city nights. Paredes' approach to the canvas is boundless, frantic and always eclectic.
SCOTT BAKAL
Scott Bakal has been showing in galleries and doing commercial work for the likes of Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The New Republic, Yoga Journal and Discover. Bakal’s work also can be found in private collections throughout the world and has recently been included in the permanent collection of the Museum of American Illustration in New York City. His illustration for Me +theDevil, which recounts the story of the short life of the revered Blues guitarist Robert Johnson, has received a total of 21 recognitions and two medals. Works from the Me +the Devil series will be featured at the Dallas opening. For this series, Bakal uses simple shapes and lines to build a part fact, part fictional little known world of Johnson into something tangible for the viewer. In both the color and black and white work, he creates glimpses of life and ghostly images of what could have happened all those years ago which helped create the legend of his life and death.
Abramowitz and his wife Kristine also bring to Dallas The Gallery @Storyopolis. Called “the capital of imagination where books feed the mind, art feeds the soul, events feed the imagination and stories come to life,” Storyopolis also will be at the Fairmount Street location and will have a grand opening in June. Its original illustrations from children’s books are said to lift the stories off the pages and onto the walls of children’s rooms…. or those of the nostalgic adult who never wants to grow up. The likes of Sara Ferguson, Julie Andrews, and Hayden Panettiere have done theatrical readings at the Gallery in Sherman Oaks.
“Brad Pitt, Denise Richards, Faith Hill, and Sharon Stone shop and marvel over our fabulous art unique to The Gallery@Storyopolis,” says, Kristine Abramowitz. “We are thrilled to bring our wonderful collection of original illustrations and art from famous children’s stories to Dallas where appreciation for the arts has energy unlike any other city.”
The 4th Wall Gallery is located at 2925 Fairmount Street, Dallas, TX 75201 and is open Monday through Saturday, 10:00 am-6:00 pm; evenings by appointment; and Sundays 2:00-6:00 pm. For more information call 214/740-9400.Miguel Paredes, Scott Bajkal
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