Work
Georgia is a green and golden tropically lush environment for most of the year. All this— when juxtaposed against a changing coloured sky, calm reflections, and the sound of content animals— connotes peace and tranquility in the visitor’s eye and sense of dreamy well- being.
48”H, 36”W, acrylic on canvas, 2023. Price on request.
36” square, acrylic on canvas, 2022. Price on request.
36” square, acrylic on canvas, 2022. Price on request.
36” square, acrylic on canvas, 2023. Price on request.
9”H, 12”W, acrylic on canvas, 2023. Price on request.
9”H, 12”W, acrylic on canvas, 2023. Price on request.
9”H, 12”W, acrylic on canvas, 2023. Price on request.
Since the advent of the Coronavirus—-so obviously generated by those who will eat animals at any cost—it comes to mind that Veganism, which benefits humans and the earth in a myriad of ways, is one of the keys for the prevention of further pandemics of this nature. The first painting, Corona, represents a young Vegan who is standing health-tough admidst one of CDC’s SARS-CoV-2 EM image. This 2020 acrylic on canvas painting’s dimensions are 36” H, 24” W. The second painting, of the same size and medium, created in 2021, is a commentary about Covid and its probable source (eating animals). The painting promotes veganism, with its emphasis on diseases. The image’s background are a variety of edible plants that are derivate of the Brassica genus. The shaped spiral on her chest represents the growth of a plant, with its female and male components. (Dedicated to my father on Father’s Day, 2021, Robert J. Gallagher, who passed away from of Covid of the same year).
The third painting, The Adventures of Princess Piccoli, evolved from a real experience: Cats are normally carnivores, but when abandoned in the wild, they are left to scrimmage for whatever nourishment they can find. One of my indoor cats kept peering out the window that leads to an enclosed mountain garden. The garden was comprised of a myriad of Mediterranean plantings: roses, daisies, coneflowers, lavender, coreopsis, foxglove or more (some are considered toxic). I never knew what my cat was watching, but one morning, I saw a small grey ball of fur sleeping against a terraced wall. Tiny and malnourished, I called neighbors to see if they were missing a pet.
No one claimed her, and one stated that she had seen the small creature living in the woods. I could never find her during the day, and then I discovered she was hiding deep under the garden deck and when I saw small greenish excrements here and there, I realized she was eating plants to stay alive. Soon after, I’d sit outside daily for a hour or so with small bowls of food and water, waiting to meet her. Once, she came forward making gurgling sounds of joy (which were startling) for the sight of food. When I was able, I took her to a doctor and found she was free of disease (although badly groomed) and I could take her inside. Five years later, I painted her portrait among the plants and flowers that kept her alive.
The fifth piece, Piccoli Inizi, means “small beginning,” and represents my early childhood and love for nature and thoughts about spirituality and the making of art about it at an early age. And finally the sixth painting, Triskeles, represents the ancient universal sign named the same, as an internal connection to nature via all living beings.
Note: I’ve been a vegan for eighteen years. In the beginning stages of my transition from eating animals, I solely did it for health reasons. I started to realise the cruelty and dislocation of what many religions tell one: animals are for us to consume. I remember cringing at the sight of my mother cutting up a whole chicken; I could almost feel its pain, suffering, and death. In full circle, Covid could be seen as a sad revenge and had the potential of teaching us consciousness concerning health as well as respecting the spiritual network of living beings, but we choose to ignore it.
36” H, 24”W, acrylic on canvas, 2020. Price on request.
36”H, 24”W. Acrylic on canvas. 2021. Price on request.
Acrylic on Canvas, 36” X 24”, 2022. Price on request.
36”H, 24”W, acrylic on canvas, 2021. Collection of the artist.
36”H, 24”W, acrylic on canvas, 2023. Collection of the artist.
The Fortune Teller (I Hear You) is the newest painting of the new in-progress series of paintings that addresses the behavioral affects of American politics on the learning exposure of children. The Fortune Teller (I Hear You) is an acrylic on canvas painting that measures 60”H, 44”W. The focus of the work evolved out of the “Listen” Series, which contain images of children listening to the damaging rhetoric of American political leaders. Floating images of “fortune teller” origami game pieces punctuate the work as metaphors for the children’s future as adults, and hence, our culture.
The installation photographs document the inclusion of The Fortune Teller (I Hear You) in the 2019 exhibition, IDEA/MEDIA/PROCESS, at the Jacki Headley University Art Gallery, California State University, Chico, Arts and Humanities Building, Chico, California from March 5-30.
A series of small acrylic on canvas studies that appropriate images from public domain that signify a child’s emotion of being either sad or concerned. These small portrait studies portray children listening to the negative rhetoric of politicians verbally demeaning Americans and the affects of that language on their future behavior as American adults. 2016-present.
Famiglia is the italian word for “family.” Mine—largely Marchese and Lentini by name on my mother’s side—celebrated much of life with flowers. These painted flowers are metaphors for life events; birth, death, marriage, and more.
Sunrise, 36”H, 36”W, oil on canvas. Collection of the artist.
Pour, 36”H, 36”W. oil on canvas. Sold.
Enrapture, 30"H, 40"W, oil on canvas. Price on request.
Orchids, 40”H, 36”W, oil on canvas. Sold.
Rose Lentini of Lipari, 40”H, 30”W, oil on canvas. Sold.
Dream, 48”H, 24”W. Oil on canvas. Sold.
Grace, 36”H, 36”W. Oil on canvas. Price on request.
Garden, 40”H, 36”W. Oil on canvas. Sold.
Moon and Moonflower. 20”Round. 40”H, 36”W. Oil on canvas. Collection of the artist.
Sunflower Triptych. L: 24”H, 10”W; Ctr: 26”H, 12”W; 24”H, 10”W. Oil on canvas. Sold.
Influenced by Color Field stain painters of American mid-twentieth century painters—in particular, Morris Louis—these paintings are produced in layers of transparent and translucent color. Superimposed on these fields of color, are hard-edged shapes that are either minimal and flat or decorative and floral.
Peach Lillies, diptych: 48”H, 72”W, oil and acrylic on canvas.
Home. A concept that embodies place, time and activity. These paintings investigate the building process of the making of a sculptural architectural space that allows the freedom of choice of geographical location and orientation, materials—organic and inorganic—as well an interior space that reflects color, light and tranquility. The paintings are a puzzle piece of areas of textural acrylic paint juxtaposed to areas of rendered images in oil paint.
Moonflower Revisited, 46”H, 70”W, oil/acrylic on canvas. Price on request.
Copper Garden, 48”H, 48”W, oil/acrylic on canvas. Price on request.
Red Tulips, a series of 18” x 18” acrylic on canvas paintings, was created to honor those who suffer and perish due to disease. (Dedicated to the passing of James A. Lewis).
Red Tulip Series, 18”H, 18”W, acrylic on canvas.
Red Tulip Series, 18”H, 18”W, acrylic on canvas.
Red Tulip Series, 18”H, 18”W, acrylic on canvas.
Red Tulip Series, 18”H, 18”W, acrylic on canvas.
The Japanese haori is a light jacket for women or a shirt worn by men. It is, in fact, a shortened kimono. Visually, it usually mixes decorative flower imagery on its exterior with minimal transitions of color in its interior lining. Red, blue, peach and white haoris mix staining techniques from the American Color Field School of the mid-twentieth century with decorative embellishment reminiscent of haori fabric adornment.
The second Haori Series focuses upon artists who’ve greatly impressed me as artist: Ingres, Sargeant, O’Keeffe and others. These works mix cropped appropriated paintings (as cited under each painting) and flower symbols that allude to each of their lives.
Red Haori, 28”H, 52”L Triptych, acrylic on canvas. Price on request.
Blue Haori, 28”H, 52”L Triptych, acrylic on canvas. Public art collection of UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA.
White Haori, 28”H, 52”L Triptych, acrylic on canvas. Public art collection of UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA.
Peach Haori, 28”H, 52”L Triptych, acrylic on canvas. Public art collection of UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA.
John Singer Sargent, diptych 18”H, 42”W, 18”x18”, oil/acrylic on upholstery and/or canvas. Price on request.
This piece symbolizes Sargent’s love of flowers and the innocence of children. Lillies symbolize purity and/or virginity. Cropped copy “Garden Study of the Vicker’s Children” (1884).
Georgia O’Keeffe, diptych 18”H, 42”W, oil/acrylic on upholstery and/or canvas. Price on request.
This piece symbolizes O’Keeffe’s imagined grief concerning the infidelity of her husband, Alfred Steiglitz. Steigllitz had an affair with photographer Dorothy Norman in the late 1920s, O’KEEFFE began her exodus to New Mexico in 1929. Yellow Roses symbolize infidelity. Copy of O’Keeffe’s “Cow’s Head on Red (1951).
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, diptych 18”H, 42”W, 18”x18”,oil/acrylic on upholstery and/or canvas.
Ingres painted women of royalty, and favored fabrics of satin for their ability to reflect light. When the wearer of this satin dress passed away, her husband (Jacques-Victor-Albert de Broglie) recalled her in his memoires: “La lumiere de ma vie,” and deeply mourned the loss of his beautiful wife and princess. Irises symbolize faith, wisdom, promise in love, hope, wisdom and valor. This piece symbolizes loss of love. Cropped copy of Ingres’ “Josephine’Eleonore-Marie-Pauline de Galand de Brassac de Beam, Princess de Broglie (1853)
Balance is a thirteen foot length oil on canvas triptych measuring six feet at its longest height. Side panels are 48”H, 36”W and the center panel is 72”H and 96”’W. The center of the panel depicts a Japanese '“haori”, a unisex shortened kimono. In this painting, the “haori” stands for gender equality between men and women. Sold, private collection.
Balance, triptych: Side panels are 48”H, 36”W and the center panel is 72”H and 96”’W. Oil on canvas.
My grandmother Rose, a native from Capizzi, Sicily who was born in 1899, lived with my family for twenty-eight years. At family gatherings, she would sometimes initiate a few dance steps, happily humming a tarantella tune. There are two types of tarantellas—one that is a courtship dance, and a second that is a result of the tarantula spider. The first type is considered a folk dance and is usually done by couples accompanied by tambourines in a fast tempo as a traditional Italian dance popular at weddings. The second stems from the region of Taranto in Southern Italy, and is usually performed by a woman who has become hysterical as a result of a wolf spider (tarantula) bite who cures herself through a musical exorcism or tarantella. This hysterical condition is known as Tarantism, and persists today in contemporary music as Neo-Tarantism.
Sicily Revisited, 48”H, 36”W. Oil on canvas. Collection of the artist.
Sicily Revisited, 48”H, 36”W. Oil on canvas. Price on request.
Sicily Revisited, 48”H, 36”W. Oil on canvas. Price on request.
Sicily Revisited, 48”H, 36”W. Oil on canvas. Price on request.
California Fire is part of a 2017 series of acrylic on canvas paintings that metaphorically dealt with my personal experiences with the extreme weather conditions in Northern California. Living in the Sierras, many fires had developed but were successful put out by either CalFire or local firemen. As global warming and drying of the forests progressed, fires were becoming more frequent and larger. I was concerned that a larger fire—one which was difficult to extinguish—would develop. It did; on November 8, 2018 the Camp Fire, the most catastrophic fire in California history developed and burned down the adjacent mountain ridge town of Paradise, CA as well as killed eighty-five people.
California Flood is also part of a 2017 series of acrylic on canvas paintings which describe the extreme weather in Northern California that I experienced and is still presently continuing, in part, due to global warming. California Flood metaphorically refers to the breaking of Oroville Dam in Oroville, SC in February, 2017 when 180,000 people had to evacuate to safety.
diptych: 36”H, 60”W, acrylic on canvas.
diptych: 48"H, 24"W, acrylic on canvas.
From 1977 until the early eighties, my work was focused upon a feminist concern to include pattern and decoration in formalist painting. As like many other artists influenced by the Conceptual Art movement, I stopped painting. From 1979 to 1999, I used the indoor gallery site as an active conduit to mix social and aesthetic issues in the form of temporary multi-media installations, by using a combination of computerized slide projections, paint, sound, and sculpture. The work began as personal reactions to experiences of alienation, sexual harassment, and violence. Progressively, the work began to address larger themes: animal rights, human discrimination, censorship, dogmatic art criticism, society’s misuse of technology, and the environment. Focusing on current issues, this work longs for peace, healing, and beauty. (Special thanks for a range of technical help: Instructional Media, SC Arts Commission, Instructional Media, California State University-Chico, and Jim Lewis of Lewis and Clark).
Moondial, multi-media installation, 1999. Redding Museum of Art, Redding, CA. Sundials connect humans to a specific time in a specific place. When viewed in an older country garden the sundial afforded the visitor a glimpse into the past: a place where technology had not yet rooted itself. Time seemed to move more slowly, and garden visitors could relax and meditate upon the beauty of the garden. Yet the moon--the sun’s counterpart--moves slowly, in rhythm with the sun, and transforms the garden into a quieter, more introspective place. Ghostly white flowers that are either white or light in value glow with a magical presence.
The city of Redding is in anticipation of Santiago Calatrava’s Pedestrian Bridge, which contains a sundial within its architecture. The bridge makes its visitors more aware of the natural habitat of the Turtle Bay River. Moondial, symbolically connects a moondial to the artist’s personal garden, thus setting a parallel between the two geographical sites.
Moodial, detail of opposite view.
Six Tulips, multi-media installation, 1996. Lane Community College, Eugene Oregon and the University Gallery, California State University, Chico, CA. According to gardening manuals, a tulip is considered a perfect bulb, e.g., a "bloom that contains both male and female reproductive organs (stamens and pistils)" and is capable of self-fertilization. As a novice gardener, the artist was pleased to learn that this flower would continue to reappear every spring. Eager to find more self-sustaining colorful plants, she sought out texts that would allow her to identify a myriad of perennial flowers. She bought dozens of plants, using the plastic flower markers (usually inserted in planters) as bookmarkers to identify information about major characteristics and maintenance needs. One of the most interesting books the artist located was called Flowers in Colour, published in 1948. The photographic illustration of each flower is large and the color printing seems awkward, yet compelling. Funded by the California State University, Chico and Lane Community College, Eugene, Oregon.
In and Out of the Garden, multi-media installation, 1997. Cabrillo College Art Gallery, Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA based on the artist’s new experiences of working with the land. The piece consists of an architectural site (house) and a minimal garden represented by pine needles that fill the gallery's floor and work its way into the interior front of the house. This area's floor contains six text-engraved river rocks nestled into the pine needles. The six river rocks are engraved with Buddhist and Shinto words which act as metaphors for the artist's newly developed insights into her relationship with nature: hito, kami, kensho, sunyata, and uruwashi). Two hundred and twenty-two slides of close-ups of plants (both food and flowers) taken by artist of her garden as it undergoes the cycles of the seasons are projected on a large disc floating in front of the house. The interior room holds numerous 11"x11"x3" monochrome acrylic paintings on wood that represent the surfaces of some of the artist's plants hung at different heights (according to each plant's potential growth height). These paintings serve as forms of meditation for the viewer. The metamorphosed house, as a whole, asks the viewer to contemplate their relationship to nature as an integrated experience rather than a separated one. Funded by Cabrillo College.
Lost Sight, multi-media installation, 1992. exhibited at the Institute of Design and Experimental Art, Sacramento, CA. This installation was created in direct response to the April 1992 L.A. riots (the artist was in Santa Monica building PERVERTED ISSUES (evaded answers) when it occurred). It addresses society’s misuse of technology and its questions: Was television media a catalyst to the tremendous rippling of the rioting? Was the looting that occurred during the riots the direct result of television’s persistent communication that we need to be consumers of technology to be happy?) The piece consists of three Stonehenge-like chairs centered around stalactite-like positioned pipes sparingly dripping water located in a circular cave-like room. Crudely cut into the wall, is a television-shaped hole containing slide projections of video stills from various recent television shows. It was partially funded by the California Arts Council, SMAC, and the Sacramento County Cultural Awards Program, Sacramento, CA.
The Social Moralists, multi-media installation, 1992. Exhibited at the University Gallery, California State University-Stanislaus, Turlock, CA. As the gallery’s first installation, the piece addressed dogmatic art criticism argued by Donald Kuspit (copies of his essays were given to viewers). Kuspit believes (as stated in his essays: “Art and the moral imperative, analyzing activist art,” and “Regressive Reproduction and Throwaway Conscience”) that artists should not base their art on political issues. He contends that they do it for a variety of wrong reasons: they are covering up Pluralism’s loss of self identity and present-day fragmented state, they desire a voice of authority in society, and, when using electronic media (such in the work of Kruger or Holzer) they are jealous of its use as a form of mass media entertainment. Kuspit insists that artists should concentrate upon aesthetic development. As a satirical rebuttal to Kuspit’s opinion, the piece consisted of a 12’x12’ aesthetically-pleasing sculptural gallery containing a faux marble floor in which four paintings dealing with issues commonly dealt by artists: war, AIDS, minorities, and art-as commodity are nestled into each of the room’s corners. Centered in the room was a copy machine, when activated by the viewer, ejected a marbleized sheet of paper containing the word: CULTURE. Funded by the California Arts Council and the Instructional Related Activities Fund, CSU-Stanislaus.
Perverted Issues (Evaded Answers), multi-media installation. 1991-2. Exhibited at HIGHWAYS’s, Santa Monica, CA., Womankind Festival (May 1992), WORKS/SAN JOSE San Jose, CA and 1078 Gallery, Chico, CA. The multi-media installation addressed the immediate problems posed by our society concerning censorship. In a sculptural environment including computerized slide projections of computer generated imagery, painting, sound, and light, the audience is reminded of issues that politicians and religious leaders choose to rant and rave about: abortion, flag burning, homo-eroticism, and other issues; so as not to deal with issues that need immediate attention: poverty, racism, aids, the homeless and more. It is my belief that this manipulative action keeps our so-called leaders from thinking and arriving at solutions about important issues. The masses are emotionally distracted enough to continue to financially support these leaders, without receiving results from their tax dollars. A copy of NAAO's Chronology (of artistic censorship) was placed on a sculpture stand near the entrance of the exhibit). It was partially funded by the Fine Arts Commission of The City of San Jose and 1078 Gallery, Chico, CA. where it was partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, and the City of Chico.
Aftermath, multi-media installation, 1987. Gallery One, Spirit Square Center for the Arts, Charlotte, NC. The walls of the 40' x 17' exhibition space were painted to become a grey field in which large stylized violent brushmarks were presented. Two hundred and forty slides were projected upon three sets of three 8' x 4 1/2' free-standing wooden frames supporting a fiberglas screen. Altered with color, the slides documented participants in the 1986 Halloween parade in the West Village in New York City as well as a montage of blurred images of figures. The soundtrack used a repeating gunshot sound that was progressively distorted during the viewer-activated eight minute program. Aftermath addressed contemporary America's apathy towards violence. Funded by a New Works Grant made possible by the North Carolina Arts Council with assistance from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Kam E Flazh, multi-media installation, 1988-89. Exhibited at Nexus Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA. and Pyramid Arts/Center for Visual and Performance Art, Rochester, NY. Two hundred and fifty composite slides (computer graphic and color photography) were projected (six projectors) onto three layers of suspended 7' x 14' fiberglas screening in a darkened exhibition space. The piece was viewer-activated and lasted for a duration of eight minutes. A soundtrack containing sampled animal sounds and noise along with synthesizer sounds provided an aural narration for the experience of Kam e flazh. The piece explored the psychological state of animal and human behavior involving the use of camouflage as a protective survival device. Funded by the Interdisciplinary Arts Program grant from Nexus Contemporary Art Center and the National Endowment for the Arts, and the South Carolina Arts Commission.
Kam E Flazh, detail.
Jean Marchese Gallagher © 2024
