East West Encore

Last April's "East-West" show at Murphy-Hill Gallery
was so exciting,
Mary Qian and Miguel Malagon
decided they would mount it again
at the Palette and Chisel.


Here's some of the pieces
that were also shown
at Murphy-Hill:



Zhi Wei Tu









Sherrie McGraw
(Jessie believes that she was the model)





Sherrie McGraw






David Leffel






David Leffel












Yan Shi Zhong




detail




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As before,
the concept of the show
is a little fuzzy.


Since the traditional
Chinese brush painters,
like Andy Chan,
have been left out,
this time it seems to be
mostly about
Chinese social realism
and its European roots
with an emphasis
on the Russians.


While the artists
who are neither Chinese, Russian,
or social realists
seem to have been included
only because the organizers like their work,
making this a motley conglomeration
like every other
Palette and Chisel group show.

And like almost every other P&C show,
no attempt was made
to publicize the show
beyond an email
to the membership.






Zhi Wei Tu


Here's my favorite,
a portrait of Jerry Ruiz
done at the weekly
3-hour members' portrait session
late Sunday afternoon.










Mary Qian





Miguel Malagon




Liu Kairong





Moissei Liangeleben





Moissei Liangeleben




Helen Oh






Nicolai Fechin (1881 - 1955)

(the three Fechin pieces come
from Val's collection.
It's a real shame
that the Art Institute of Chicago
does not have a single piece
by this important Russian-American artist)





Nicolai Fechin





Nicolai Fechin





Danaya Zakharava






Andrew Conklin





Andrew Conklin






Clayton Beck III




Clayton Beck III






Bo Zhang







Bo Zhang

Exhibit: Ali Hasmut

The appeal of the Palette and Chisel
to artists from around the world
has always fascinated me.


In the beginning,
it was mostly men from Germany and Austria


More recently,
we've had our share
of Russians and Chinese.





But, so far as I know,
Ali Hasmut is our first member from Iraq.








And, as noted in my post
about this year's Gold Medal Show
I really enjoy his work.












It may be in the ongoing tradition
of American Impressionism
championed by Richard Schmid and Jeremy Lipking,
but there's a kind of sensuality
that also feels very Middle Eastern to me.






Let's hope he can find good market
for his work here in Chicago
so his next show will be in a commerical gallery.

(My review of his show can be found here .)