RepreSENSATIONAL Isn’t Just a Great Name

By Jo Seltzer

The Gallery at Heartland Art Club was packed with artists and art-lovers for the opening of its national juried RepreSENSATIONAL exhibit.  Viewers enjoyed paintings, sculpture, photographs, and even fiber art of immense variety.  Seventy-nine works of art, chosen from 324 submissions, demonstrated that representational art at its best expresses the unique individuality of the artist.

Many of the pieces tell a story. A self-portrait of a young man, titled “Overgrown” shows large twigs sprouting from his body and recalls Greek mythology.  A watercolor depiction of a graffiti-covered phone booth comments on the march of technology.  An oak tree depicted in colors never seen in nature shows the power of artistic interpretation.

“We see the landscapes, buildings, people, and objects that weave through our common visual life and come away with a sense of place, affection, and beauty of the world around us”, said juror Patricia Watwood. “We also see a diversity of style, from classical and traditional to expressive and conceptual, that delight both the eye and the mind.”

All three top prize-winning paintings depicted women in non-conventional and very different ways.

Return to Classicism—Portrait of a Lady by Yeqiang Wang

First place was awarded to Yeqiang Wang for “Return to Classicism—Portrait of a Lady.”  Wang was trained as a classical painter in his native China but moved to Canada for graduate work.  There he was told to forget everything he knew about art and paint expressively.  While working to develop his individual style, he became fascinated with reflections in urban windows, and painted many of his friends as they appeared in reflection.  His Portrait of a Lady is part of a large series in which he dresses and poses his models to recreate the subjects of classical paintings.  He paints them reflected in modern city windows, creating a somewhat ghostly mood.  The lady depicted in this 48” x 32” painting is dressed as the lady in a 1460 portrait by Rogier van der Weyden.

Second place was awarded to Sara Kollig for her “Portrait of the Artist at 23”.  For this extreme close-up in very large format, Sara took a reference painting with her iPhone and a timer.  She painted her head resting on her hand.  The index finger is painted red to “represent the power of the body to turn mind’s imagination into reality,” said Kollig. A piece of red cloth around her bare arm drips some red paint that makes the viewer ponder its meaning.  In addition, she has hidden the word “Rebirth” in her painting.

The third place painting, “Sapphic Bather” by Mel Tychonievich also referenced a famous artist from the past. She said “Sapphic Bather is a piece that I wanted to reference and recontextualize imagery drawn from Degas' Impressionist bather drawing series. The original drawings represented a fantasy - my version is about empathy,” Degas’ customary pastel colors were transformed into vivid versions and applied in a distinctly modern manner.

There were four Honorable Mentions:

John Joseph Hunn for “Zoey”, Noah Olsen for “Overgrown”, Tim Breaux for “Leatherwood Lily Pads” and Jeff Chapman-Crane for “Finding the Light”.

Sara Slee Brown was awarded the David Cornell Composition prize for “Winter Kitchen”.

In addition, ten artists were given Judge’s Merit recognition and prizes.  They were Bob Thomas for “On the Corner”, Sharon Draghi for “Domestic”, Elizabeth Yarosz for “The Circus”, Jenn Peek for “Symbiosis”, John Whytock for “Rainforest Stream”, Sandy Haynes for “Choir Practice”, Lilianne Milgrom for “Sleep 1”, Kitty Harrison for “Psychedelic Silence”, CB Adams for” Barn in Landscape” and Steve Morris for “Nest & Vines”.

Judge’s Merit winners were awarded with gifts from sponsors St. Louis Art Store, Dick Blick Art, Jerry’s Artarama, Cheap Joes Art Stuff, M Graham Paints, Richeson Art Materials. Cash prizes of $9000 were underwritten by the Heartland Art Club and donations by two families.

RepreSENSATIONAL will run through October 14.  All artworks are shown on the Heartland Art Club website, www.heartlandartclub.org.