Rosemarie Beck

 

Rosemarie Beck (1923–2003) emerged from the second generation of Abstract Expressionists, though her tenure as an abstract painter was brief. By 1958, she had moved completely away from non-objective painting into figuration, a decision that would alter the course of her career."Rosemarie Beck’s work was first and foremost formal. Always forming, constantly composing, she respected the whole.  Every stroke or spot changed and challenged what had gone before. Choosing as themes the great classical narratives, she remade them as contemporary dramas of color and light." /Martha Hayden, The Rosemarie Beck Foundation/'Beck's determination to keep "everything moving to and through everything" enabled her to orchestrate large and spatially complex compositions while keeping a vitality of stroke and play of light rippling over the entire surface. In this way she has become one of the few painters of recent years to treat grand themes in ambitious multi-figure compositions while satisfying a need both for abstract structure and for an execution that embodies energy without being gratuitous."/Martica Sawin in "Never Form, But Forming" (2001) /rosemariebeck.org/

Donnamaria Bruton

 

 Donnamaria Bruton (1954 - 2012) was a painter and faculty member at the Rhode Island School of Design, known for her mixed media paintings and collages.
Bruton's style, described by The Providence Journal as "a loose free-flowing style.... but with a strong realistic streak," makes use of her drawing, painting and collage skills.Many of her collages employ mundane objects as the key to getting at a deeper memory or concept.Her first solo exhibit was in 1993 in Austin, Texas, and was well-received.
"Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Donnamaria Bruton grew up in Detroit, and graduated from Michigan State University in 1976 where she earned her BFA in Graphic Design.  After graduation, Bruton continued her art career by studying art with her uncle, painter Edward Loper, Sr.  in Wilmington, Delaware.  During this time,  Bruton often visited the collection of art in the famous Barnes Foundation to study the collection.  Founded by Albert C. Barnes in 1922, the collection holds some of the most seminal works by Matisse, Cézanne, Renoir and Modigliani as well as important examples of African sculpture.  Bruton's entree to the Barnes resulted in a lifelong reverence for the work of Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse and are among Bruton's greatest influences along with abstract painter Cy Twombly.
In 1993, she joined the Painting Department as Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design.  Donnamaria Bruton's work has been included in numerous one-person and group exhibitions throughout the United States, including an early solo exhibition at Woman and Their Work, Austin, Texas as well as exhibiting abroad in Canada, Japan, France and Korean Biennial.  Donnamaria Bruton's work is in the permanent collection of the Black Studies Gallery, University of Texas, Austin, Newport Art Museum, RISD Museum, Yale University Art Gallery and many private collections."(cadetompkinsprojects.com)

 

Michael "Mike" Kelley

 

 Michael "Mike" Kelley (1954 - 2012) was an American artist. His work involved found objects, textile banners, drawings, assemblage, collage, performance and video. He often worked collaboratively and had produced projects with artists Paul McCarthy, Tony Oursler and John Miller. Writing in The New York Times, in 2012, Holland Cotter described the artist as "one of the most influential American artists of the past quarter century and a pungent commentator on American class, popular culture and youthful rebellion
Kelley gained recognition in the 1980s for his work with children's soft toys and other found materials. With these materials, he examined popular culture, memories and fragmented narratives.
Children's toys also function in Kelley's work as a satirical metaphor. Deodorized Central Mass with Satellites (1991–99) consists of suspended balls created from discarded, brightly coloured toys. By transforming children's toys into serious sculpture, Kelley visualised a darker side to the American dream's endorsement of excessive consumption and reckless luxury collecting, and intermingled the 'low' and the 'high' of American culture. He also deodorised his suspended sculptures, mocking America's selective amnesia of unpleasant realities.

 

Beverly Pepper -Contemporary Sculpture

 

 Beverly Pepper (1922 - 2020) - American sculptor known for her monumental works, site specific and land art. She remains independent from any particular art movement.
All of Pepper's sculptures from the beginning of her sculptural career were displayed outdoors. Eventually, she began her experiments using earth to contain a sculpture. "In the seventies I developed the concept of "Earthbound Sculptures", that is sculptures seemingly born in or rising up from the earth."Becoming more involved with her native New York in the 1970s, her progressive ideas became realized in commissions such as her seminal work Amphisculpture (1974-76). Furthering her vocabulary in steel, throughout this time period she used Cor-ten steel. While working at a U.S. steel factory in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, she was given Cor-ten steel. Relishing in the exposed rusted surfaces of Cor-ten, she made pieces like Dallas Land Canal (1971-75). She was, in fact, one of the first artists, if not the first, to incorporate Cor-Ten steel into sculpture.Beginning in the 1970s, and to the present day, she has lived a bi-continental life traveling between Europe and the United States. Wikipedia