S. P. Harper Art

Acrylic on masonite. This is a pivotal work in deep and radiant cobalt blue from 1950. It dipicts calligraphic and hieroglyph structures over a grid and pyramidal base by the first generation abstract expressionist. Provenance: Skinner: November 13, 1992 [Lot 00219}, The entry in the Skinner catalog indicates that the painting came directly from the artist to the family of the consignor to Skinner. Kaminsky Auctions. There is an unbroken paper trail that traces the ownership of the painting from the current owner, through two auction houses to the artist. Perfect unbroken provenance. Pousette-Dart was among the most inventive of the Abstract Expressionist generation, His uncanny talent was to expand the nature of abstraction and still make each mark each element very much his own; a reflection of what he called   "the concealed power of the spirit," he said, “not of the brute physical form."   His was not aiming for a singular, realized aesthetic formula but to expand the possibilities of painting; the transcendental in painting. Typical of such invention and exploration is this  painting  Untitled 1950 when the artist was only 34 years old and represented by one of the champions of the new American painting, Betty Parsons.  
A banner year for Pousette-Dart, the Museum of Modern Art acquired their first painting by the Minnesota born artist.  He worked on easel size works such as this painting an oil on masonite. At the same time Pousette-Dart was also working on larger scale works such as Path of the Hero, running over ten feet in length now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Both contain fields of color articulated by a highly sophisticated white hieroglyphic vocabulary. Rather than demonstrate an expressionist sensibility, Pousette-Dart harnesses his more cerebral ideas transforming thick areas of paint into a more refined composition of geometric forms akin to the pattern and forms of say a stained glass window. In a way he is looking back at Fugue, 1940 a black and white composition which makes use of a similar format of painting albeit smaller. Color and form are minimal, but what Pousette-Dart has maximized is the rhythmic and syncopated character of painting casting his ideas into purely symbolic terms that one might link to the pictograms of Adolph Gottlieb. Nonetheless, nature is always at the core of Pousette-Dart’s thinking and dreaming. Here he has transformed the local Ramapo Mountains—where he will eventually move with his family to live and work— into a complex series of articulated fragments linked by style, scale and color.  The painting’s imagery built on two large triangles and reduced to just two colors, cobalt blue and white all outlined in black.  Pousette-Dart symbols stacked in horizontal and vertical rows:  blue is ground, white is language, symbolic of light, consciousness and awareness . The painting maintains a mystical character images compounded that formulate a secret code and linked to the series of white paintings Pousette-Dart authored in the first half of the 1950s. Get up close to the picture and you discover images within images a kind of picture puzzle...

Ruz. Vertical. horizontal lines. Interior Landscapes - Abstract Acrylic on canvas . Perfect condition. RUZ, Rafael (Barcelona 1956) While contemplating the painting of Ruz, we are i...

A Poodle Pair, this stunning large minimalist black and white painting of Poodle dogs, is a contemporary portrait in acrylic on canvas. Ian Mason's portrai...

Daniel Fiorda in this new series of sculptures, continues in many ways the themes that have infused his previous work. For the last several years, Fiorda has dealt with technology, obsolescence, with the trail of discarded tech that humanity leaves behind and what it says about us. The new work takes this thematic one step further. These new wall pieces feature barely concealed found objects, almost fully engulfed by concrete, and yet still eerily discernible: industrial gears, computer keyboards, objects that evoke industrial post-digital eras. This piece is a set of 3 artworks that showcases a video editing keyboard on a white background, embedded in resin and they can be arranged for display in a variety of layouts. They come ready to hang with hanging hardware and they are signed by the artist on verso. Art measures 7 x 7 x 1.75 in (each) The overall sense is dystopian rather than apocalyptic. In Fiorda’s previous work, found objects were displayed as if unearthed from a bed of clay by a tacit anthropologist, perhaps decades into the future. A typewriter would be partially buried by dry soil and weathered by the passing of time. The underlying narrative was that of a future civilization unearthing the objects left by ours. Destruction or extinction was implied. In the new work, the obsolete technology is not found but rather engulfed by a new technology. Concrete, as a material and as a technology, has the capabilities to fully encase and envelope. In Fiorda’s new work, uniformity and the appropriation of old/new technology into new structures suggests a historical and technological challenge right around the corner, mirroring the ones in our recent past: the digital age fully replacing the analog world. These astounding sculptures, with embedded objects, are here to examine closely, and make connections between theme, material, and shape. Daniel Fiorda was born in 1963 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Of Italian ancestry, his lineage includes a grandfather highly respected as a wood craftsman, also his father was a craftsman in addition to being a musician and poet. Because a privileged life was not his, there was no university for Fiorda. In the Old World tradition of passing on knowledge from parent to child, he learned about machinery form his father, who recognized his son's talent and encouraged it. With some private tutoring, he began sculpting in high school using found objects. The press reviews of his first exhibit, at age 20, stated that Fiorda had a definite “poetic feeling”. With this encouragement, he continued to pursue his art. After leaving Argentina, he arrived in Miami Beach via a circuitous route and set up his studio in the South Florida Art Center. He has exhibited widely throughout the US including the OK Harris Gallery, Allan Stone Gallery in New York as well as the Heriard Cimino Gallery in New Orleans, Lélia Mordoch Gallery in Paris France and Lilac Gallery in New York City. Daniel was one of the winners in the 7th Annual Sculptures Competition (2003) held at Washburn University in Topeka , Kansas. Selected on the inaugural 2006 Palm Beach International Sculpture Biennale, and exhibited for the 3rd time in Sculpture Key West. He is an alumni Artist of ArtCenter/South Florida. Two Pieces from his “Convertible Couch projects...

Bloodhound, this stunning large minimalist black and white painting of a Bloodhound dog, is a contemporary portrait in acrylic on canvas. Ian Mason's portr...

Pink and orange abstract figurative mixed media painting by Houston, TX artist Margaret Nobler. The painting features a figure of a female against a pi...

This is a two-part wall mounted painting / sculpture this integrates found objects and photographs into an acrylic painting on the top, and a wooden shelf with bullet casings and coins below. This is a conceptual, abstract work of art that is a powerful homage to lives lost through calculated gun violence in American cites. signed by the artist. PROVENANCE: Exhibited in "Portals + Revelations: Richard J. Watson," the African American Museum in Philadelphia, Oct 2021 - Mar 2022. "Most of my works are supported by memories of the past and suggested realities. Issues of social politics, ancestral references, and astral projections are presented with fragmented elements...

This is an abstract collage / painting created from acrylic and found objects. It is framed in a wide, dark wooden frame with gold accents. It includes several manipulated historic photograph of figures in many guises, arranged as if on stage. It is signed and dated by the artist lower left. PROVENANCE: Exhibited in "Portals + Revelations: Richard J. Watson," the African American Museum in Philadelphia, Oct 2021 - Mar 2022. "Most of my works are supported by memories of the past and suggested realities. Issues of social politics, ancestral references, and astral projections are presented with fragmented elements of 'real life' collaged and collapsed, as dreams are prone to do. If connections are made, all the better. I feel that life should remind us of our dreams." - Richard J. Watson Richard J. Watson is an icon in the Philadelphia art world. Much of his work relates to his experiences as a Black African American man. He is a graduate of Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1968), has taught at his alma mater, and has served in the Exhibitions Department at the African American Museum in Philadelphia since the 1980s. He has been exhibiting his work for decades, and has an extensive bibliography. His work is held in the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; the Uniworld Corporation; Sony; the Federal Reserve Bank; the City of Philadelphia; Sprint; the Church of the Advocate; the poet Dr. Sonia Sanchez; and the Woodmere Museum...

Guinovart. Josep Guinovart i Bertran (Barcelona 1927-2007) was a painter, draftsman and engraver from Catalonia, Spain. After studying at the School of the Lonja and the Promotion ...

Mitzy Renooy Yellow Roses 50 x 40 cm Frame included in price, size with frame: 55 x 45 cm Dutch artist Mitzy Renooy, a former camera woman for national television, did follow art ac...

Ismail Ozgur Soganci was born in Turkey in 1974. After graduating from the department of art education at Gazi university in Ankara, capital city of Turkey, he worked as an art teach...

This is an 3-part painting / construction (assemblage) created from acrylic paint, wood, glass, and found objects. It includes several historic photograph of figures as well as many scenes from Black African American cultural history. Each piece measures 23" x 7.75" x 2.5", and they can be hung close together or far apart, depending on the buyer's preference. All pieces are wired with the appropriate hanging hardware and are ready to install, no additional framing needed. PROVENANCE: Exhibited in "Portals + Revelations: Richard J. Watson," the African American Museum in Philadelphia, Oct 2021 - Mar 2022. "Most of my works are supported by memories of the past and suggested realities. Issues of social politics, ancestral references, and astral projections are presented with fragmented elements of 'real life' collaged and collapsed, as dreams are prone to do. If connections are made, all the better. I feel that life should remind us of our dreams." - Richard J. Watson Richard J. Watson is an icon in the Philadelphia art world. Much of his work relates to his experiences as a Black African American man. He is a graduate of Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1968), has taught at his alma mater, and has served in the Exhibitions Department at the African American Museum in Philadelphia since the 1980s. He has been exhibiting his work for decades, and has an extensive bibliography. His work is held in the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; the Uniworld Corporation; Sony; the Federal Reserve Bank; the City of Philadelphia; Sprint; the Church of the Advocate; the poet Dr. Sonia Sanchez; and the Woodmere Museum...