The original work of two French artists Isabelle Vanhecke, David W. Whitfield and Horacia Leal will be on display at Agora Gallery, NYC. The exhibition is scheduled to run from January 14, 2014 through February 4, 2014. The opening reception will be held on Thursday night, January 16, 2014 from 6-8 pm. Entrance is free and all art lovers are encouraged to attend, enjoy and meet some of the artists whose works make up this delightful show.

Event URL:
Isabelle Vanhecke - http://www.agora-gallery.com/artistpage/Isabelle_Vanhecke.aspx
David W. Whitfield - http://www.agora-gallery.com/artistpage/David_W._Whitfield.aspx

About Isabelle Vanhecke

Isabelle Vanhecke was born in the Val de Marne suburbs of Paris, and from a young age has been interested in the history of portraiture as a means for bringing the underlying psychology of the subject to light. Her work is inspired by possibilities in rendering human expression, as well as paint’s relationship to the cadence and fluidity of music.  Drawing from a wide array of musical influences from Jimi Hendrix, Mozart, David Bowie and Sting, Vanhecke creates celebrity portraits and other unique narrative scenes that insightfully illuminate her subjects, while also maintaining an air of mystery.

Through this combination of applications, Vanhecke both articulates and abstracts the figures in her paintings, creating a visual sampling of the possibilities of an image dictated by the expressiveness of paint. The current of unrestrained mark-making that runs over the more defined imagery in loosely applied strokes of color breaks the soft tension of her mystifying scenes into rhythm and psychological resonance – creating a contemporary vision for the tradition of portraiture.  

About David W. Whitfield

David W. Whitfield says that his goal is not to “create a picture,” but to “create a painting within its own right, to stand alone without a great dependency on its subject matter.” His watercolors achieve that goal, existing as both patterns of line and color, and as portraits of a wide range of people. The artist cites Cézanne and Francis Bacon as influences, and while it is easy to see echoes of those masters in Whitfield’s balancing of color for dramatic effect and his ability to peel back the layers of the human body, he moves past his sources to assemble a unique body of work.

Working in watercolor on paper gives his compositions a delicacy that contrasts with their saturated tones, while placing his figures in positions that come across as both natural and highly formal lets the artist bridge the worlds of representation and abstraction. The resulting works are, in Whitfield’s own words, “not mere journalistic findings but a reaction presented in the form of the aesthetic compositions of a painting."

About Agora Gallery

Agora Gallery is a contemporary fine art gallery located in the heart of Chelsea’s art district in NYC. Established in 1984, Agora Gallery specializes in connecting art dealers and collectors with national and international artists. The art gallery’s expert consultants are available to assist corporate and private clients in procuring original artwork to meet their organization’s specific needs and budget requirements. With a strong online presence and popular online gallery, ARTmine, coupled with the spacious and elegant physical gallery space, the work of our talented artists, who work in diverse media and styles, can receive the attention it deserves. Over the years Agora Gallery has sponsored and catered to special events aimed at fostering social awareness and promoting the use of art to help those in need.

E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of New York in French to add comments!

Join New York in French