Empowering Figures
American Art Collector|August 2021
Ayana Ross, winner of the second Bennett Prize, explores the themes of race and identity in her paintings.
ROCHELLE BELSITO
Empowering Figures

Looking at Ayana Ross’ paintings it is clear she is a storyteller. Each work has a strong point of view felt through the subjects, composition, and her individual style. The works are personal for the Georgia-based artist who uses her experiences and background to compose important and timely narratives. “I like to read a lot and think a lot about context—why things are the way they are and how did we get to this point,” says Ross. “A lot of times I go back to my origins, my experiences, and my roots and I pull from there.”

The figure is the primary vessel in her paintings, and it came naturally for Ross who began her career as a fashion designer before transitioning to education and then fine art. “I’ve always drawn people, since childhood, and in particular I’ve drawn women,” Ross explains. “I gravitate to the human figure because when I wanted to say something that was the first thing that I knew I could use to say it…That was the language for when I wanted to convey a message.”

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Guardians of the Temple – Simon Dinnerstein reflects on The Fulbright Triptych 50 years later.
American Art Collector

Guardians of the Temple – Simon Dinnerstein reflects on The Fulbright Triptych 50 years later.

The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State University exhibits Simon Dinnerstein's The Fulbright Triptych haunts the visual lexicon of 20th century American representational art. Fifty years have passed since Dinnerstein completed the painting in 1974.

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9 mins  |
July 2024
A City Perspective
American Art Collector

A City Perspective

Leslie Gaduzo has always been interIested in art. Since childhood, he has been drawing constantly, from single point perspective drawings at age 10 to complex architectural drawings.

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1 min  |
September 2023
Living Legacy
American Art Collector

Living Legacy

The Butler Institue hosts Allied Artists of America's 110th Annual Juried Exhibition.

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1 min  |
September 2023
Elegant yet Approachable
American Art Collector

Elegant yet Approachable

The second edition of the RTIA Show presents even more art to explore and expanded special programming.

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2 mins  |
September 2023
Figuratively Speaking
American Art Collector

Figuratively Speaking

New York has always been an epicenter of artists on the edge of excellence, pushing the envelope and finding their voices.

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2 mins  |
September 2023
JAMES AYERS: The Importance of Play
American Art Collector

JAMES AYERS: The Importance of Play

Like many artists, James Ayers' work took a turn during the Covid-19 pandemic. Seeing the enjoyment his kids took from playing with paint in his studio and exploring their creativity inspired him.

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2 mins  |
September 2023
GINA MINICHINO: Playing with Food
American Art Collector

GINA MINICHINO: Playing with Food

Gina Minichino started her journey in visual arts because of Charles Schulz. \"He was my earliest influence for drawing and the reason I wanted to be a cartoonist,\" she says.

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2 mins  |
September 2023
Island Light
American Art Collector

Island Light

The Cuttyhunk Island Artists' Residency is held in a sprawling, 100-year-old house on an island off the southern coast of Massachusetts.

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2 mins  |
September 2023
Solitary Forms
American Art Collector

Solitary Forms

Hogan Brown has been working with Arcadia Contemporary for two and half years and is excited to be featured in his first solo show at the gallery. He doesn't take for granted the many talented figurative painters Arcadia represents and is thrilled to be among them.

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2 mins  |
September 2023
Living the Dream
American Art Collector

Living the Dream

Counterintuitively, David Gluck was a painter before taking up tattooing little more than a decade ago. While skin is a completely different substrate and ink a far cry from oil paint, the skills must be transferrable to some degree because there is a wait-time of nine months to get an appointment with him.

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2 mins  |
September 2023