Anya Tish Gallery is excited to present, Strike the Match!, a summer pop-up exhibition of emerging Texas-based female artists presenting large-format works in a variety of media. Size matters when it comes to these bold women, who empower themselves to make compelling massive works that speak to the visual language of contemporary art. Branching from diverse backgrounds and finding common ground in Texas, Kristen Brashear and Heather den Uijl redefine and break the rules of traditional painting, whereas Marcella Colavecchio and Tatiana Escallon confront the viewer with provocative forms and brilliant self-authored texts. Challenging society’s conception of the delicate female, these works will dominate the gallery and dwarf the visitor, immersing them into a world full of ideas, color, texture, and sensual forms – a woman’s world.

Oh!ESTE: Latinx & PoC Artists of WEST, a Collective Exhibition presented by La Peña Gallery.

La Peña's mission is to support artistic development, provide exposure to emerging local visual artists, musicians, poets, and other performing artists, and offer Austin residents the full spectrum of traditional and contemporary Latino art.

La Peña has become a cornerstone of cultural life in central Texas. Its many exhibits feature local artisans and youth. Yet, its annual Toma Mi Corazón silent auction fundraiser and exhibit is La Peña's signature event showcasing an array of original art and pieces generously donated by artists, community members, and youth of all ages. Funds raised through Toma Mi Corazón help support La Peña's exhibits and community outreach programs.

Buy Your Tickets

Join us for our September Open House!

Shop art, dance to tunes, enjoy complimentary drinks and support local.

Don't miss the unveiling of Marcella's retrospective work and view our Hispanic Heritage Month Exhibit!

A portion of proceeds from our September Open House will be donated to Latinitas in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. Learn more about Latinitas below.

Experience Austin's largest local women artist collective, atxGALS, in a one-of-a-kind setting to shop over 200+ original works by Austin's emerging women artists and thousands of prints.

Works from the collective include abstract, figurative, landscape, mixed media, collage, watercolor, etc. leaving something for everyone to love.

About the featured artist:

Marcella Colavecchio is an Italian-American contemporary visual artist best known for her representational paintings and drawings. Pulling inspiration from her own life experiences, as well as those of the people she depicts, Colavecchio’s work is defined by it’s bold narratives, often grounded in themes of sexuality and identity. Her aesthetic favors unnatural and exaggerated light sources, leaning into artificiality to create synthetic worlds, using lighting as a means of expression. While her paintings are momentous in movement and saturated with color, they are still silent, and create a voluble visual narrative on the relationship between people and their bodies.

Colavecchio studied classical drawing at Lyme Academy of Fine Art under the master draftsman, Deane G. Keller. Her work has been shown nationally with notable exhibitions most recently at Commerce Gallery in Lockhart, TX. She was a finalist for Jonathan Ferrara Gallery’s No Dead Artists exhibition in New Orleans, LA. Her work has also been featured in notable publications such as, Sight Lines Magazine, Almost Real Things Magazine, The Austin Chronicle, The Austin American Statesman, and Split Lip Magazine.

IG: @marcellaispainting

Saatchi Art is proud to present Major Figures, a survey of contemporary figurative painters highlighting artists who approach their subjects and mediums in bold ways, with reference (or reverence) to the art historical canon combined with fresh perspectives.

A long-standing painting subject, representations of the figure were largely considered passé by the 20th century, at which point avant-garde artists opted for abstraction as a means of challenging tradition. Pop art brought figures back to the fore through stylized portraiture and appropriated images from mass media that functioned to reflect and critique consumer culture. Then, Neo-Expressionism saw the reemergence of the emotive dimension of figuration, with artists using crude and gestural painting techniques to paint evocative characters.

By the late 20th century, many artists outside of these movements returned to the canvas to represent the figure, and with it, contemporary issues, through the tactility and expressiveness of paint. Today, artists use figurative painting to explore personal identities, relay new narratives, and push the formal boundaries of representation—drawing on the visual culture and color palettes of the digital age, as well as visual traditions past.

As such a time-honored tradition, figurative painting’s place in the art historical canon—and its history of exclusivity—cannot be ignored. In turn, many of these artists draw on and critique historical modes of figuration to speak to the present. Painter Kaili Smith draws on the gravitas of history painting to portray children growing up in impoverished inner cities as resilient and determined, and Benjamin Stephenson deconstructs Colonialism and notions of the exotic as a driving force of figurative art in the Western canon. Meanwhile, others such as Jennifer Warren and Abigail Albano-Payton use large-scale canvases, portraiture, and realist conventions as a means of bold self-exploration.

Co-curated by Aurora Garrison, Associate Curator, and Bethany Fincher, Assistant Curator at Saatchi Art.

The Clever Tiger is proud to announce the opening of TAKE UP SPACE, a solo exhibition featuring the work of Austin artist, Marcella Colavecchio.

TAKE UP SPACE is a powerful exploration of the female body and its representation in our culture. The exhibition will open on May 1, 2021 at The Clever Tiger in Elgin, TX.

Through her large-scale, brightly-colored paintings, Colavecchio explores timely concepts of gender and identity, creating a space for dismantling large-scale societal and cultural systems of oppression. Appropriating techniques associated with male masters, Colavecchio shows her own point of view as a woman and subverts traditional norms of female beauty and femininity.

PROVOCATEURS

MAR 13 - MAY 09

West Chelsea Contemporary’s white walls and bright lights are transformed into an immersive reverie of glamour, fame, romance, and mystery in this new exhibition. Universal symbols – like beauty, fame, and conflict – are refreshed through a contemporary lens.

VISIT: HTTPS://WWW.EVENTBRITE.COM/E/145911712861

THE CONNOR BROTHERS | DALI | FAIREY | GARNER | GORTNER | GRUEN | LONGO | HAMBLETON | HIRST | HOLZER | HOOPER | MALTZMAN | MAZZUCCO | PETERSON | PHOEBENEWYORK | RETNA | RISK | YOUNG | RUSCHA | SHRIGLEY | CIANCIULLI | TEAGUE | THOMAS | TRUJILLO | WARHOL | WATSON | WESSELMANN | YUSKAVAGE

A high-impact, immersive exhibition that serves to introduce and establish West Chelsea Contemporary’s two-part mission: producing dynamic, engaging, museum-worthy shows and making its expansive collection of exceptional art accessible to both new and established collectors.

Censored is a body of work that engages in an intense exploration of the body and its representation. The work focuses on timely concepts of gender and identity, creating a space for dismantling large-scale societal and cultural systems of oppression. By borrowing patriarchal influences from a long tradition in figure painting and combining them with bold colors, these silent, but towering large-scale paintings, create a voluble visual narrative on the relationship between people, their bodies, and their freedom.

These figures represent my desire to tackle issues around the push and pull of being a woman and the depiction of women in our society and popular culture. The female nude is traditionally painted under the male gaze. I appropriate techniques associated with male masters to show my own point of view as a woman and subvert traditional norms of female beauty and femininity. By painting myself in the nude, I challenge traditional dynamics by becoming both the artist and model, reclaiming power as the author and subject of my work.

The exhibition can be viewed online at roaringartistgallery.com from January 17 - February 28.

This Saturday, October 3rd from 11AM to 7PM Jonathan Ferrara Gallery and Arts District New Orleans will be kicking off this month of art appreciation and community engagement with "Art BEYOND Arts’ Sake." 

From the gallery: "As part of Art Beyond Arts’ Sakes’ mission to highlight the power of art to transcend, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery will be donating a portion of its October proceeds to HOUSE OF TULIP, a nonprofit collective creating housing solutions for trans and gender non-conforming people in Louisiana.⁠ According to the US Trans Survey, 1 in 3 trans people in Louisiana reports experiencing homelessness at some point in their lives. House of Tulip provides zero-barrier housing to trans and gender-nonconforming people in need of a safe place to stay while growing the supply of affordable housing in New Orleans.⁠"

House of Tulip is an amazing organization that needs our support. If you're in the market for new artwork, I urge you to consider making your purchase during the month of October to not only support living artists, but members of the community in need!

You learn more about House of Tulip's mission and donate to their cause here: https://houseoftulip.org/our-vision⁠

1 August 2020 (New Orleans, LA) JONATHAN FERRARA GALLERY proudly presents the 24th Annual NO DEAD ARTISTS International Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Art. For the 2020 installment of the exhibition, the gallery will host works by numerous artists hailing from across the world. The exhibition will be on view from 1 to 30 September 2020, with an opening reception on 5 September, 6-9 pm in conjunction with the Arts District New Orleans’ (ADNO) First Saturday Gallery Openings.

The NO DEAD ARTISTS exhibition was founded by Jonathan Ferrara in 1995 to give a voice to emerging artists. The exhibition's name is derived from the old adage that artists never achieve success until they are dead. NO DEAD ARTISTS turns that notion on its head and often gives emerging artists their first break in the art world. In the 90's, the exhibition was open to New Orleans-based artists and subsequently grew to include artists of Louisiana, then becoming a national juried exhibition in 2010. And in 2014, the exhibition went international.  Now in its 24th iteration, the exhibition has been a springboard for numerous artists; leading to national press coverage, recognition, gallery representation and acquisitions by museums and other prominent collections.

https://www.madweare.com/votehere

Smile, Bitch
2020. 60” x 48” acrylic on stretched canvas.

I completed this 48" x 60" beauty today for my Send Nudes collection. I've been so excited about this piece and continuing exploring what dismantling gender oppression means in my work. A lot of my thoughts around the perception of my artwork is defined by the belief that it must both transform and challenge both myself and society.

Big Dick Energy
2020. 48” x 48” acrylic on wood panel.

Another new release! This is the second painting I’ve completed in quarantine. Due to the inability to secure models, I’ve decided to use this time to explore using myself as reference. Self love is the best love.