Black and White 2017 Show

This show will run July 1-31, 2017. Artists from around the world were called to submit their work. There were 118 accepted entries and they came from 17 different states in the USA and 12 other countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Ukraine. A variety of styles and mediums were entered including, acrylic, charcoal, digital, gouache, graphite, markers, mixed media, oil, pastel, pen/ink, photography, and watercolor. Other factors, such as the clarity of the images provided and their ability to be viewed online, also contributed to our decision. “Best of Show”, “First Place”, and “Second Place” winners received a monetary award in addition to special recognition.

We were very happy to donate 10% of all entry fees from this show to Heart to Heart. HHI strengthens communities through improving health access and providing humanitarian development worldwide. For more information about them, please visit their website http://www.hearttoheart.org/. Colors of Humanity Art Gallery, LLC is not affiliated with Heart to Heart. It is our hope that this small act of kindness will blossom and grow to help someone else.

Thank you to all the artists who participated! Your talents and skills gave us a diverse body of work to create this attractive show.

Buyers- Please contact the artists directly for sales. Colors of Humanity Art Gallery does not handle any part of the sale or collect any commission, it is solely between the buyer and artist. You may find a link to the artist’s website or email address below their work.

I remember enjoying drawing with pencils as a child, but for some reason I stopped around the age of ten years old. A quarter of a century had passed in June of 2013 when I took my first drawing lesson from renowned Canadian artist Michelle Grant (http://michellegrant.ca/) which I will always remember for being the same night as the major flood in my home city of Calgary, Canada. An injured hip had brought a halt to an active and athletic lifestyle, so my goal was to fill the void with a new hobby by taking one or two informal drawing classes. What followed over the two subsequent years of lessons was a deluge of interest in human portraiture, striving for photorealism.

While still aiming for a high degree of realistic portrait detail, my recent work has shifted to having subtly surreal effects. This is often achieved by merging two or more reference images into the final composition, or manipulating a single reference image prior to starting the piece, as was the case with 'Non Sum'. My recent work has also included subjects who are notable to me not only for their visible characteristics, but for the inspiration and impact of their character. Caitlin Bodewitz is a fellow Canadian artist (http://www.caitlinbodewitz.com/) that I am proud to call both a friend and a mentor, so it was an honour to get to collaborate with her as a (role) model. What emerged with this piece was a weaving of some philosophical, psychological, and political threads that I have been contemplating in recent years.

While it appears that there are two separate subjects with one standing in front of the other, they are in fact situated at the exact same depth, although standing impossibly close to one another. Furthermore, “they” are in fact the same single subject. This suggests that the notion of the Self - the sense of “I” - is less concrete than we often realize, and that it could even be considered an illusion. The title 'Non Sum' alludes to an entity being distinct from the sum of its parts, but was also selected for its Latin translation: 'I Am Not'.

The compositional split down the middle reflects a division between left and right, and to me this represents the struggle trying to find unity and balance amidst an increasingly polarized political spectrum. Conversation surrounding gender and identity is also quite prevalent today, and this image in part attempts to capture the complementary nature of - and contrast between - our masculine and feminine sides. This piece has the spirit of a promotional poster for a pugilistic clash, and as Caitlin was formerly a competitive wrestler, it is fitting to have her in this portrayal of the grappling we must do within our ”selves”.

I see the art world as not only a means for expression and self-improvement, but as a vehicle for supporting both local and global communities, and I feel quite lucky to have stumbled (or limped, to be precise) into it. For this reason, I share this good fortune under the umbrella of a project that I named 'Drawings Without Borders', wherein I donate a portion of limited edition print sales to Doctors Without Borders. The Colors of Humanity Art Gallery shares this ethic of merging art with positive change, so I am especially proud to have been included here, and truly honoured to participate with so many wonderful and talented artists.

Biography

Eugene Kuperman was born in Kharkov, Ukraine in 1987. He now resides in Southern California. Since childhood, Eugene enjoyed drawing anything that inspired him. Eugene has been sketching since he was three years old and painting since he was seven. He has created over four hundred pieces and thousands of sketches. His works are in many private collections including in a private collection of Robert Harris Rothschild who has many notable works in his collection by artists like: Rembrandt, Chagall, Dali, Ernst, Lichtenstein, and many more. An art catalog came out in 2012 featuring many of those artists in Robert Rothschild’s collection, as well as the work commissioned from Eugene. From 2010 till his passing in 2014, Eugene Kuperman studied with a renowned Russian artist Leonid Steele, whose works are in many museums around the world, including pieces in the notable Tretakov Gallery in Russia. One of Leonid’s former teachers was a student of a famous Russian landscape painter: Isaac Levitan and another teacher he had, was a student of the famous Russian artist: Ilya Repin. Eugene Kuperman is a listed artist and his work has been published in various art books, magazines, and newspapers.

Artist Statement

For me, art is about inspiration. I have been exhibiting since 2006. In 2008, I traveled for a study abroad trip to Paris, France to study the old masters from life at the Louvre. I was very much inspired by the Rubens room at the Louvre as well as the two Michelangelo sculptures; Dying Slave and Rebellious Slave. Another piece that left an impression on me was Theodore Gerricault’s The Raft of the Medusa. Since late 2014, early 2015, I took a new direction in art. I took upon myself to create works of social commentary, which to any extent educate, enlighten, and promote a positive change in society.

"Never Again" (30 x 40)

During turbulent current times we see a lot of turmoil in terms of various discriminations taking place. I did this painting to remind the world what happened just a little over 70 years ago when the Jewish people were being systematically murdered by Hitler and the Nazi party. Unfortunately anti-Semitism is nothing new. The Babylonians persecuted the Jews after they destroyed the first Temple of Solomon and the Romans nearly wiped out the Jewish population during the destruction of the second temple.

In 2016 when I finished this painting I saw what has been happening in the world with anti-Semitism on the rise in different communities worldwide and on college campuses. Being a Jew myself it concerns me for the future of my people and culture. I did this painting to bring awareness to this tragic event so events like this never happen again, not just with the Jewish people but any group of people. Among victims of the Nazis were also Romani people, homosexuals, Jehovah’s witnesses, Poles, people of African descent, Soviet prisoners of war, and the disabled.

I created this piece to bring awareness of the evil that can happen if people don’t speak out and are indifferent towards horrific current events. If Hitler was stopped when he annexed part of Czechoslovakia, his ambitions may have been thwarted and the Holocaust would have been prevented.

I did this painting from an old 1940’s photograph because I wanted viewers to connect with a real life event that took place, as opposed to staging it with models. This was a very low-resolution, gray scale photograph. I cropped the composition as well as changing some distracting elements because essentially my plan was to create a painting and not aimlessly copy a photograph. My plan was to bring this event back to life with as much detail as I could possibly represent in this image. (This painting is much more detailed than the photograph, which is very pixelated.) This shows Holocaust victims getting off of a train to march to their deaths in Birkenau concentration death camp, which is the part of Auschwitz where they executed prisoners. I worked closely to show the facial expression of each person that were present at the moment this photo was taken, they had only moments to live. I am sure they all knew what was going to happen soon, even the toddlers. I made this painting with a graphic element in mind. Everything painted in gray scale except for the yellow stars of David, which pop at the viewer. May all of the Holocaust victims rest in peace.

Biography

Catherine Miller is from the United States. She was born and raised in Owensboro, Kentucky and currently resides in the St. Louis, MO area. She has four children who are her world. She spent five years in the United States Marine Corps, and she earned her Bachelor’s from Brescia University in Owensboro, KY. She is currently starting her third year at Savannah College of Art and Design, where she is pursuing her MFA in photography in their online program.

Artist Statement

“Snow White,” is a photograph that takes a look at our Disney-inspired culture from a different perspective. It separates the outward appearance of prosperity and consumerism and replaces it with the stark reality of children living in poverty. This image is set in the city of St. Louis where poverty levels are significantly higher compared with the rest of the state. If only life was truly like a Disney fairy tale, but for most the reality is quite different. There is not always a “happily ever after,” or a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Colors of Humanity Art Gallery

"Black and White" 2017 Show

Best of Show

First Place

Second Place

Honorable Mention

Noteworthy

"Black and White" 2017 Show

Photos