Leslie Sacks Gallery

#FridayFeature | Sam Francis - Francis's work in the aquatint process maintains the directness of his paintings, at the same time exploring the visual and tactile sensations possible with this giving medium.  His introduction in 1985 of black as a strong element in his color etchings was a key moment, providing a dramatic foil against which myriad hues of great brilliance could be seen... Since then his etchings have seen marked by distinct swaths of color (including black) across the plate, splashes and sprays, dots, strokes, all modulated by the granular aquatint.   - Ruth E. Fine, "Patterns Across the Membrane of the Mind", The Prints of Sam Francis, A Catalogue Raisonné, 1960-1990: Volume I, Hudson Hills Press, New York, 1992 pages 30-31 - Sam Francis, Untitled, 1987, aquatint, 21 3/8 x 18 inches, unique color trial proof apart from the edition of 27, signed and annotated (at Leslie Sacks Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4DNa6iFgiT/?igshid=1du64lyve3v6a

Throwback to our last show Alex Weinstein | Power Lines and Space Oddities 💥 @vaguestudio #throwback #exhibition (at Santa Monica, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3-iTSdFLsc/?igshid=1eip5deddxfem

Marc Katano, By Chance, 2017, etching, 38 x 25 1/2 inches, edition of 17 #marckatano #etching #artworkoftheday @marckatano (at Leslie Sacks Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/B37mpBylanI/?igshid=10392g7qcsva2

#FridayFeature | Nicola Lopez - “Architectural structures become stand-ins for the body on an individual level. People often ask, "Where are the people?" It's a great question. We are in there, implied through builders and architects of this world and in there in conversation about natural cycles of decay, growth, and experience. A metaphor for the body in architecture: we recreate ourselves all the time. Through the things that we build, we visualize ourselves in so many ways and our relationship to our world. Skeletal structure-we talk about it as a skeleton and skinning. It is a skin-these prints-and it is a membrane, a protective coating in so many ways. A self-contained structure much like a human being." - Jamie Desimone, Nicola Lopez Explores the 'Life Cycle' of Buildings, MOCA, November 17, 2016 - Nicola Lopez, Phase Change 2, 2008, monotype; linocut, collograph plate and collage, 27 3/4 x 24 inches, signed - #nicolalopez #lopez #print #urban #architecture #monotype #linocut #collograph #collage (at Leslie Sacks Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3xTCQVFHh9/?igshid=ba2cp8i6zz2h

#FridayFeature | Jon Krawczyk - The synergy of Jon Krawczyk's gleaming silver surfaces, infused with an eye-popping neon palette produces quite the impact. The Malibu-based sculptor credits Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate (better known as The Bean) in Chicago as a great influence and the origin of his incorporation of polished metal into his work. Krawczyk is drawn in by the environmental engagement of the reflections, as well as the public accessibility and playfulness it engenders. The ultra-polished planes of his work brilliantly add exponential dimension both aesthetically and conceptually within the environments they reside. They possess an infinite spectrum of perception and interaction. The work is purely abstract with an emotional undercurrent. Krawczyk is interested in the inescapable conversation between viewer, sculpture and environs. The intersection of levity and design, consequence and form are central to his work. - Jon Krawczyk, White Claw, 2019, stainless steel and automotive paint, 25 x 14 x 12 inches @krawczyk_sculpture #krawczyksculpture #whiteclaw #friday #fridayfeeling (at Leslie Sacks Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3fMCVKlCU8/?igshid=2i0tpoa4ab12

White Lightning and Tabula Raza. Can you guess which one is which? @lesliesacksgallery @krawczyk_sculpture #krawczyksculpture https://www.instagram.com/p/B3ag1Pal5zx/?igshid=1es315gm1h05h

A perfect evening at The Getty. ✨🥂 @gettymuseum #manetandmodernbeauty (at Getty Museum) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3Xr23YlEpf/?igshid=qz55iu2qc6em

#FridayFeature | Ryan McGinness - ”My work is very precise; sometimes it gets out of control, but always within a very controlled system or picture plane," explains artist Ryan McGinness. “There is this element of chaos, but it is still controlled." - Acclaimed for its careful layering of pared-down symbols and iconography in intricate, brightly colored paintings, prints, and installations, McGinness's work is exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide. Andy Warhol is often evoked when discussing his practice because of McGinness's extensive use of silk-screen printing and his interest in the language of popular culture. Both artists attended Carnegie Mellon, where McGinness studied graphic design and painting. - Examples of Warhol's prints, drawings, and catalogues pepper his living space, but McGinness is quick to point out that rather than appropriating from popular culture for his own art, he uses a lexicon derived from the Virginia Beach surf and skating culture of his youth, and public and corporate signage, as well as art-historical references. - Text source: Stacey Goergen, Controlled Choas in a Celebrated Tribeca Artist's Loft, Architectural Digest, Web Exclusive Home Tour, February 27, 2019 - Ryan McGinness, Untitled, 2007, unique monoprint stenciled fluorescent and metallic spray paint on paper, sheet diameter: 12 inches, signed verso - @archdigest #architecturaldigest #archdigest #ryanmcginness #streetart #andywarhol #housetour (at Leslie Sacks Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3NHmdoFEJ_/?igshid=4em1sv87qoyq

#StaffPicks Sam Francis by Temma Nanas - Sam Francis had a voracious appetite for printmaking. He produced his first editions in 1960 and would go on to make 335 lithographs and 115 intaglios (etching, aquatint, et al.) over his career, as well as screenprints and monoprints. His mastery and affinity of printmaking was principally due to his relentless passion for investigation and process. He was prolific in the medium and relished in the infinite possibilities of experimentation and the spontaneity it afforded him. Untitled, 1990 is a jubilant, larger scale aquatint at nearly 4ft. It bears Francis's iconic aesthetic of colorful, dynamic abstraction. The layers and sheer volume of colors used elegantly yields the depth and transparent quality of watercolor. Francis would typically employ anywhere from 7 to 30 hues within a single work. He experimented heavily with a spectrum of chromatic combinations, especially during the proofing stage. The result of which was often unique color trial proofs or variant color editions from the same plate. This is the case for this work, Untitled, 1990, which bears 25 different color inks. The process of intaglio is arduous--especially the way Francis liked to do it. Given this, the edition sizes of his etchings are quite small--usually on average only 20. Determination and focus are required to successfully execute these imaginative and complex compositions in this medium. Yet Francis who was an astute colorist, along with master printer Jacob Samuel, managed to produce a vibrant and painterly result embodying the expressive vitality of the artist himself. - Sam Francis, Untitled,1990, aquatint, 47 x 28 inches, edition of 20, signed and numbered - #samfrancis #francis #aquatint #printmaking #californiaartist #caartist #california #screenprint #monoprint #colorful #abstractart #abstraction #spectrum #chromatic (at Leslie Sacks Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3FfWCwloIv/?igshid=1akbplgioo116

#StaffPicks Jim Dine by Diana McNeill - Jim Dine is a master of reinvention. His characteristic subjects (tools, hearts, robes, Venus) are explored over and over, yet each iteration feels fresh with new perspective. In Dine's personal mythology the Venus figure is the female counterpart to the robes, which serve as his self-portrait. The Venus is the ideal feminine form; she is many things at once--sexual, powerful, maternal and alluring. In the late 1970s the artist R.B. Kitaj encouraged Dine to return to a rigorous academic drawing discipline, which was critical to the maturation of his practice and thus defined the trajectory of the next several decades of his artistic output. Dine's commitment to representative figuration was a direct affront to the artistic temperature of the time. While most of his contemporaries were producing avant-garde process art and refined minimalism, Dine pressed on with his exploration of repetitive subjects and classical representation. Evident in a work like The French Watercolor Venus, 1985, palpable passion and drama is conveyed through rich inks and gestural strokes which come together to form the iconic Venus. I most admire the gorgeous combination of soft-ground etching in black with the extensive hand coloring in sumptuous hues of periwinkle, peach, cadmium and sea-foam green. The etched lines are aggressive yet meticulous and the inky black color is rich and velvety. All of this alongside the broader washes of color makes this particular Venus a lavish, voluptuous study. - Jim Dine, The French Watercolor Venus, 1985, unique mixed media with soft-ground etching, 41 5/8 x 31 3/4 inches, edition of 8, signed and numbered - #jimdine #dine #venus #aphrodite #watercolor #french #handpainted #sculpture #etching #chinecolle #aquatint #limitededition #greek #greekmythology #mythology #embodiment #goddess #goddessoflove #greekgoddess #americanartist @dianalatigra (at Leslie Sacks Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3FfPFdlyvM/?igshid=1o44owdg524y0

#StaffPicks David Hockney by Sang Lee - The Round Plate, April 1986, from the Home Made Print series exemplifies David Hockney's curiosity and inventiveness as an artist.  David Hockney has always embraced a wide variety of mediums to explore his ideas, and with the Home Made Print series, he effectively created a new printmaking technique.  The work was executed using an office color copy machine, but not in the way one would ordinarily associate with a photocopier. It was not generated using an "original" finished work and then copied on machine forty-six times (it's an edition of 46). Instead, Hockney cleverly took each sheet of high quality rag paper and ran it through the printer multiple times, each time adding a new element or object intended to comprise a color, pattern or shape within composition.  This process in many ways is similar to traditional printmaking, but eliminates the need for the time consuming mechanics often involved with it.  This methodology allowed Hockney could create the print on his own without a printmaking studio and/or master printer, lending to the series' name "Home Made Prints".  The spontaneity afforded to Hockney by this new technique he described it at the time as the "closest I've ever come in printing to what it's like to paint". His iPad and "computer drawing" editions of the last decade are the evolution his ideas of nontraditional reproduction, which he first explored in the Polaroid collages and then in the Home Made Prints.  For me,The Round Plate is a quintessential and charming work made all the more compelling by the way in which Hockney was able to produce something extraordinary by way of the ordinary and challenging the ideas of originality. - David Hockney, The Round Plate, April 1986, home made print made from office color copier, 8 1/2 x 11 inches, edition of 46, signed and numbered - #davidhockney #hockney #xerox #photocopy #printmaking #til #didyouknow #ipad #innovation #innovative #technology #experimental #experiments #masterprinter #inkjet #mechanical #newtech (at Leslie Sacks Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3FfBy8FY8C/?igshid=bmxzoluzvig0

As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of Bergamot Station Arts Center we are proud to unveil our new signage on Olympic Blvd! Whether walking, driving, biking, or taking the train, come check us out! @bergamotsantamonica (at Bergamot Station) https://www.instagram.com/p/B292KKulzHk/?igshid=8arift00i23b

#FridayFeature | Donald Sultan - Donald Sultan's generation of artists grew up when geometric abstraction was the dominant style. This inheritance is faintly echoed in Sultan's paintings by the underlying gridwork provided by the tiles and by the sense of flatness resulting from the silhouetting of shapes...What is important in Sultan's work is how he found his way to move beyond the dominant aesthetic with which he grew up. This he did, and continues to do, through a refreshing amalgam of sources as disparate as Baroque and Impressionist painting, Abstract Expressionism, and geometric abstraction. His repertory of images ranges from those as traditional as still life to others as specifically American as a "rust belt" cityscape. Also distinctive are sharp figure/ground contrasts; the exquisitely wrought silhouetted shapes, whether or not they portray immediately recognizable objects, often contrast boldly with an atmospheric envelope. - Text source: Michael Danoff, Donald Sultan, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 1987, pg. 6 - Artwork info: Donald Sultan, Wallflowers, Jan 14 2009, tempera on paper, 11 1/2 x 8 inches (at Leslie Sacks Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/B27O28ZlMl3/?igshid=qe97f5jsl9ts

Installation view of Jon Krawczyk and Spencer Finch 💥 @krawczyk_sculpture #spencerfinch #gallerylife #installation #bergamotstation (at Leslie Sacks Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2h2UkuFvMw/?igshid=ivaivou1ubca

Installation view of Jon Krawczyk and Spencer Finch 💥 @krawczyk_sculpture #spencerfinch #gallerylife #installation #bergamotstation (at Leslie Sacks Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2h12Hplk8r/?igshid=y4e8azwqgarj

#FridayFeature | Pablo Picasso ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Picasso is two things at once: he is, undeniably, the greatest single factor in the development of the artist's perception in the twentieth century, and at the same time he is a mythical figure, a fabulous 'personality', a magician almost, who holds the keys to the vastly intricate reality which confronts the man of today...Picasso considers art a process that is never completed; he studies the problem that interests him over and over again, from different angles. Thus he does not create pictures in the conventional, picture-gallery sense of the word; he does not seek, but finds. The elemental side of his talent never allows him to rest content with what he has achieved. He is always interested exclusively in the present, in the picture on which he is working....This constant creativity which has no regard for the nature of anything he has painted before, gives Picasso the freedom to move at will in the boundless spaces of free expression. It gives him the freedom to draw on all sources of inspiration for the most varied motifs, opening up all spheres of culture, contemporary, distant, or historic. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Text Source: Jean Cocteau, Picasso, The Early Years, The Shape Charmer, Tudor Publishing Company, New York ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Artwork Info: Pablo Picasso, Nu Assis dans une Fauteuil, 1923, pen and ink on paper, 9 1/2 x 6 1/8 inches (at Leslie Sacks Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2XKTd5l8cP/?igshid=16s91hjeesxrd

We had the pleasure of hosting a grandparents group from @ps1_pluralisticschool this morning. We took them around our current sculpture exhibition and gave them a behind the scenes tour where we viewed works by David Hockney and Robert Motherwell. Their enthusiasm and joy was contagious! Thanks for visiting and come back soon! #grandparents #krawczyksculpture #colorinbloom @bergamotsantamonica (at Leslie Sacks Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2XHEBulIP2/?igshid=1o0snbx10ek6i