Not the Normal Newsletter; a Zoom Meeting with Hal Bromm on Estate Planning for Artists
It’s not the usual newsletter because I have no new posts for you this week, but subsequent to my griping that not many members of the New York Artists Circle sent me images for the virtual show “Lost and Found,” about 15 emailed me their works, along with brief descriptions (and some even became members of the site! And, honestly, I wasn’t trolling for support). What is “Lost and Found”? It’s an online exhibition of 117 artists who have joined together to give “a wide-ranging array of personal explorations” on the theme of loss and renewal, says the website. The works offer meditations on the impact of the pandemic, and the show is divided into four subthemes, each exploring a different aspect of what it means to be lost and found—the personal, the iconographic, the societal, and artistic discoveries.
The range of approaches is downright dazzling, from inspired realism to pure abstraction, from assemblage to sculpture, all reflecting a high level of dedication and accomplishment. There’s a program of talks and panels in conjunction with the show, and the full schedule, plus the works in the exhibition, can be accessed here.
And what is the New York Artists Circle? I called it “the very model of a modern-day, generous, informative, and informed community” when I wrote about the group a little more than two years ago. From a core gathering of four, the organization has grown to more than 400, who meet monthly to exchange information, share news, and network about the business side of art (or so was the drill before Covid-19, but I'm guessing this will resume again soon). As I noted in my report, since the group has swelled in numbers, membership is extremely limited. Twice a year, however, each of the current NYAC members can invite a new artist to join and will sponsor that artist. Once the newcomer has attended three of the monthly meetings in a six-month period, she becomes a new member of the group. To find out more, check out the post from February 2019.
So here are more of the V21 members in “Lost and Found”
Cora Jane Glasser writes that she was “inspired by the many closings of beloved spots in NYC neighborhoods resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.” The work below, represents “playful ubiquities in Mexican restaurants; shadows and reflections of their shapes and patterns are emblematic of disappearances.”
Cora Jane Glasser, The Party’s Over (Fiesta Flag #1), 2020, oil and wax pastel on Arches oil paper, 30 by 22 inches
Kathleen Migliore-Newton’s painting Wrapped is in the third section of “Lost and Found,” opening on July 14 (it’s also featured in an exhibit called “Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Love” at The Painting Center in New York, opening July 20). Wrapped, she writes, “is inspired by a masked man on the subway whose figure is fashionably dressed, but his position and gesture remind me of a cocoon that could be transformed in the near future. The solid black of his figure contrasts with the gestural brushstrokes surrounding him.”
Kathleen Migliore-Newton, Wrapped (2021), oil on canvas, 40 by 30 inches
“Because I’m an abstract painter,” writes Monroe Hodder, “the meaning of this work may not be so obvious, but I intended to show a sense of loss, like a waterfall, in the bottom layer of the painting and a more joyful building of a new expression at the top.” Hodder adds that he was inspired by a quote from Albert Camus: “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me lay an invincible summer.”
Monroe Hodder, Both Sides Now (2020), oil over acrylic, 36 by 34 inches
“Embrace of the Tiger, from Tai Chi, means hard and soft, full and empty, fire and water ferocious and gentle,” says Gail Winbury. “Embrace all those aspects within and we may find strength, stability, and peace after living in a deluge of uncertainty.”
Gail Winbury, Embrace of the Tiger (2020), oil and pigment stick on Arches Huile, 51 by 33 inches
“This scarf represents the healing found in nature, in botanicals and garden spirits,” writes Lois Bender. It commemorates her “lost year” in 1987, when she was an art director in her prime who was diagnosed with leukemia. It was also a time when she was charged with taking care of her parents, who had their own afflictions (Alzheimer’s and kidney cancer). “I looked to the past for the reassurance of Finding Order (Cabinet) in the Chaos (curiosities, fractures, pauses, losses).”
Lois Bender, Cabinet of Curiosities, Botanicals, and Recoveries (1998), alcohol dyes on a silk scarf, 44 by 44 inches
“I spent 2020 struggling with feelings of helplessness in the face of fear, isolation, health threats, political turmoil and climate disasters,” Marianne Barcellona says. “The unstoppable fires that left innocent animals with no food or water and burned them alive still haunt me.”
Marianne Barcelona, St. Francis in the West (2020), ink and acrylic on paper, 26 by 40 inches
Sheila Hecht sent a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt: “You have to accept that whatever comes, the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.” And she offers a poem of her own:
From being frightened and standing still
I was motivated to move and
Pick up the pieces from my walks,
And find pieces from my past—
And a story evolved.
“Discovery brought me tremendous tranquility and peace,” she adds. “I was suddenly living in the present moment and let go of fear.”
Sheila Hecht, Transitions (2021), mixed media, 10 by 8 inches
Francine Perlman’s In the Beginning relates to a series called “Drawings on Black,” which depend on “the simple beauty of colored pencil on a black background.” She adds: "I found equilibrium in renewed respect for my love of solitude. Vessels stand balanced on an illuminated labyrinth, perched on a token made of the second letter of the Hebrew, Arabic, and Phoenician alphabets, each symbolizing House. I am home."
Francine Perlman, In the Beginning (2020), colored pencil on black board, 40 by 32 inches
“Ruth Bader Ginsburg inspired me in many ways, and her departure in the darkest of the Trump years felt like losing the only pillar holding up the roof, especially right after the demise of John Lewis,” writes Eleni Mylonas. “This portrait keeps her indomitable spirit alive.”
Eleni Mylonas, RBG (2020), oil on book cloth, 27 by 22 inches
"The painting below, titled Marble Eggs, besides the two eggs, has a toy rabbit from my daughter, who is now grown up,” writes Douglas Newton. “The glasses refer to Dutch still life traditions, which often have fallen glasses or other disorder to show some of the inherent chaos of life. My mother collected marble eggs during her travels with my dad in Europe and Mexico. She displayed them on a table in their living room and I associate them with her and always liked looking at them.”
Douglas Newton, Marble Eggs (2007), oil on canvas, 40 by 50 inches
The restrictions imposed by Covid-19 on Melissa Rubin provoked some inventive recycling: “During the pandemic, I had limited access to my studio. I began creating monotypes using melted wax and pigments. The prints began piling up. I began shredding them, reconstructing them, weaving them together into new, ‘essential’ fabrics, working into them with more wax, pigments, oil stick and metal leaf.”
Melissa Rubin, Weaving Sadness (2020), encaustic, pigments, gold leaf, oil stick, masa paper, 15 by 13 inches
“The UN Environment Emissions Gap Report, 2019, compares world greenhouse gas emissions now and where they need to be to prevent catastrophic global warming,” writes Marcia Annenberg. “This artwork documents that 12 national and international news companies that printed the report. The Fox News Network failed to report this news at all. Does anyone still think that Fox News is a news entity?”
Marcia Annenberg, What the….Gap? (2020), digital media on Duralar, 56 by 56 inches
“I came upon this abandoned object on one of my walks during an art residency at Fundación Valparaíso in Mojacar, Spain,” says Elisa Decker. “It spoke to me then, in the summer before 9/11. It resonates still. And she sends a quote from Ovid: “Travel in the middle course, Icarus, so that the waves may not weigh down your wings if you go too low, and so that the sun will not scorch your wings if you go too high.” Metamorphoses, VIII
Elisa Decker, Icarus Lost and Found (2001), archival pigment print, 18 by 12 inches
Alice Zinnes writes: "The loss of my mother has forced me to find hope, to channel her belief in love, poetry, and life into hope for a better world, truthful searches within my art, and personal inner strength. My painting reflects this hope." She adds that the work was made in response to the ancient Roman novel The Golden Ass, by Apuleius."
Alice Zinnes, Here from the Never Was, oil on canvas, 36 by 44 inches
“This painting interrogates Lost/Found by reflecting issues of both despair and discovery,” writes Carolyn Oberst, who then quotes the Country Western singer/composer Della Mae: "For life is more than yesterday, more than ties that bind, some roads lead on from what you've known to what you need to find."
Carolyn Oberst, From What You Know to What You Need to Find (2019), oil on canvas, 48 by 60 inches
What’s coming up….
Several members have asked me about estate planning for artists—specifically, What’s going to happen to all my work when I am gone? To be honest, this was not a topic I really cared to devote much time to during the pandemic. Things were already depressing enough, and it is hard to find experts on the subject, as I discovered when I put out tentacles about a year ago. So I thought, Why not ask dealer Hal Bromm to do a Zoom meeting on the topic (and talk about his 40-year career as well). He’s smart, he’s knowledgeable, and he’s handled the estates of several artists of note, including Rosemarie Castoro. So we are planning a Zoom event for mid-June. Please stay tuned and let me know if that interests you.
And next week we return to our usual programming.
Jolly cheers,
Top: a group meeting of the New York Artists Circle
