Every week, curate1k creates a collection of work under $1000 with the best artwork around. Norah Guignon, the writer and art hunter of curate1k, finds Ryan Pickart’s paintings (and prints!) worth the splurge.

curate1kblog:

I find Ryan Pickart’s paintings completely mesmerizing, so it’s no surprise he was one of the first artists I bookmarked when I decided to start curate1k. The glow and patterns in his work are reminiscent of Klimt, as is the quality of being caught between a dream and waking life. With many of his originals hovering around the $1000 mark, they are a splurge in the realm of possibility. But if prints are more your speed, I’m happily featuring one on curate1k this week. Enjoy!

Greetings Art Lovers,

Last week, the UGallery team went vegan. We enjoyed nut cheese and other veggie delights at a local restaurant and that is one reason why this week’s Paperwork is “Meat Hooks” by Jonelle Summerfield.

Unlike the busy dishes we received at lunch, Jonelle Summerfield’s “Meat Hooks” is simple, clean-cut, and raw. Jonelle uses muted colors and a drybrush effect to create an endearing charm that borders on the grotesque. Inspired by Van Gogh’s “The Potato Eaters,” “Meat Hooks” depicts the mundane scene of Jonelle’s grandmother cutting a ham with her tough hands. 

Despite the subject matter, this print suits any diet. “Meat Hooks” exposes a universal desire for authenticity. For Jonelle, “We are most ourselves when we are indoors at our own dinner tables or working in our kitchens.”

“Meat Hooks” invites us to tear down façades and connect with inner appetites. You won’t know if you like it till you try it. 

Artfully yours,

Kurt 

Want the inside scoop? Sign up for our Paperwork newsletter to receive our Paperwork collector’s message via email. Just add your email address to the nifty little the envelope icon on the right side of our Paperwork header to get involved.

Greetings Art Lovers,

Don’t want to get your hands dirty? Try hanging this flower instead of planting one. 

Carolyn Schlam’s “Sunflowers” explores the concept of illusion. Instead of creating an exact copy, Carolyn works to capture the flowers’ essence. Each petal is outlined with varying degrees of thickness. Some petals are lined with deep red while others are brushed with thin orange. Carolyn translates the flower’s strength with her sundry strokes. 

If you lean towards powerful colors and icons of summer, this print is a great alternative to potting soil. Hanging a sunflower print ensures that color will shine on your wall far beyond gardening season. 

Artfully yours,

Kurt

Want the inside scoop? Sign up for our Paperwork newsletter to receive our Paperwork collector’s message via email. Just add your email address to the nifty little the envelope icon on the right side of our Paperwork header to get involved.

Greetings Art Lovers,

Why have one print when you can have two? These Paperwork prints make a perfect pairing.

Hal Robert Myers explores the constant desire for human contact in “Just Married” and “Rosita’s Grandparents”. “Just Married” captures a newlywed Cuban couple dressed in Western attire. “Rosita’s Grandparents” shares a similar Latin root as “Just Married,” but shows an older Mexican couple wearing colorful tunics known as jorongos. Each photograph, although different in many ways, depicts the universal emotion of love.

Like Hal Robert Myers, you can honor romance and culture by coupling these two prints on a wall that needs a little love.  

Artfully yours,

Kurt

P.S. Rosita’s grandfather recently passed away. May he rest in peace and love.

Want the inside scoop? Sign up for our Paperwork newsletter to receive our Paperwork collector’s message via email. Just add your email address to the nifty little the envelope icon on the right side of our Paperwork header to get involved.

Greetings Art Lovers, 

Welcome to the jungle.

Alexandra Henry’s “São Paulo Color #1” invites Paperwork to witness the concrete environs of a bustling, tropical city.

In São Paulo, Alexandra stumbled upon the charm of an ever-growing urban scene. Along the Av. Paulista thoroughfare, urban sprawl thrives. To heighten the affects of this phenomenon, Alexandra tweaked the photograph’s color. The violet and purple abstraction makes new patterns emerge, increases intensity, and turns mundane buildings into something glamorous. These side-by-side cement buildings create the upper layer of a true urban jungle.

“São Paulo Color #1” aids Alexandra in her artistic mission. She sets out to shed light on global issues through the lens of architecture, graffiti, and urban environments. São Paulo, Brazil allows her to focus on structural and social transformation in a country emerging as a global economic power.

Artfully yours,

Kurt

Want the inside scoop? Sign up for our Paperwork newsletter to receive our Paperwork collector’s message via email. Just add your email address to the nifty little the envelope icon on the right side of our Paperwork header to get involved.

Two of our artists are having shows across the Atlantic. One in London and the other in Ireland. Go figure. If you are in either country at the time of their show and you have a hankering for some art, check them out and let Ugallery know how they did!

Carlos Saladen Vargas was born in Venezuela and moved to London to explore photography. He is the co-founder of Photo-soup, a group project giving artists the tools needed to show their work internationally. Carlos’ artist profile describes his work as “informed by an interest in the socio-political functions of photography and critically engages with issues attaching to spectatorship and installation of large-scale photographic projects.” Visit Unit 24 Gallery to and see his brain child in action. 

UNIT 24 GALLERY PRESENTS PHOTO-SOUP

April 21 - May 12 2012

Unit 24 Gallery

20 Great Guildford Street, London SE1 0FD

Private view April 20th 7-9PM

Mario Sughi’s opening exhibition “Interiors and Exteriors: Contemporary Realist Prints” is bound to please. Mario draws inspiration from the light and airy Milan Kundera as well as Francis Bacon and David Hockney. RSVP by emailing acostine@waterfordcity.ie

Greetings Art Lovers!

Ugallery is proud to announce that tomorrow we will take our new sister site - Paperwork - live to the public. (Blog special: to see the site before the masses, visit paperwork.ugallery.com!)

Paperwork is about bringing sustainable, affordable art to the people. We’ve gathered some of our finest works and printed them in limited editions that you can take home for as little as $20. All of our archival pigment prints are produced on the world’s first eco-friendly fine art paper - a smooth, natural white bamboo paper. Each piece is shipped with information about the artwork as well as a certificate of authenticity that is numbered and signed by the artist. 

Every Tuesday, we release two new Paperwork pieces. All you have to do is pick a size and within seven business days artwork will appear at your doorstep. Simple as that!

Make sure that you never miss out on an edition by signing up for a weekly newsletter (top right corner of the page) that discloses each print 10 minutes before it hits the site.

On behalf of the Ugallery team, we hope you enjoy Paperwork and thank you for being a part of the Ugallery community!

— Bailey