Jane Waterous, Pop Artist

Jane Waterous, pop and semi-abstract artist works out of the Bahamas. She is formally trained, having a B.A. in Fine Arts from Queens College, and a degree from Ontario College of Art, Toronto. Waterous started her career as an art director at a Toronto graphic design firm in 1986. Then went on to graduate from New York University's professional film program.

The gallery websites' that represent her artistically talk about how enormously popular and widely collected her work is. It is a little boastful, and it sounds like she is selling her painting's on the QVC network, but Andy Warhol was also influenced by graphic design and had the power to turn Campbell Soup into an art form. If it is true that Waterous is an internationally noted artist and widely collected, then it is not boastful, it is just fact.

Waterous uses many vintage cultural symbols and sometimes words to create her art. She creates pink lip paintings and here below she uses the originally designed 1958 peace symbol as her subject. This painting entitled "Peace" is from her "Resination" collection.

Her "Resination" paintings have an unforced plasticity quality as the paint adheres to the canvas. It is like she uses latex paint with a spontaneous gesture that allows for soupy images. The paint commingles into a rainbow liquid abstract that is configured into the peace symbol. It is amazing that the drippy colors don't turn into a muddy mess.

Many collectors love her paintings. They don't require the viewer to contemplate the larger universe. Instead they are happy paintings, that provide joy when looking at them, which reminds us all that it takes a great imagination to create capitalist kitsch. It is always more difficult than it looks. Like Warhol, she uses her graphic background to put her new artistic twist on long honored symbols and images.

Gallery Tag on the Reverse

Framed Painting: 26 X 26 Inches

Signed lower right

Comments

Japanese Wooden Dolls: Kokeshi-Ningyo "こけし－人形"

This article is dedicated to my Japanese (nihongo) Sensei, Atsuko Kuwana, who helped me learn to speak Japanese. Collectors come in all varieties, some plan their collections, others start by chance. I saw my first kokeshi（こけし） wooden doll in 2005 while participating in a grassroutes exchange program between the U.S. and Japan. I was staying with a family near Nagoya and the couple’s young daughter had one. Years later when I was named a Mike Mansfield Fellow from the U.S. government to the Japanese government, and was living in Japan, I would see them frequently at flea markets and souvenir shops next to the natural hot spring resorts in the area known as Tohoku. Before leaving for Japan, I studied all things Japanese at the George Shultz Foreign Service Institute (FSI), including a professor that covered domestic and family life and some short statements on kokeshi. After arriving in Japan, the National Personnel Authority ( jinjiin ) was responsible for...

MARCEL (Marcella Anderson) Torpedo Factory Artist

Marcella Anderson and/or Marcy Anderson (1946 - 2015) was better known as "MARCEL", a popular serigraph/silkscreen artist, at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in historic Old Town Alexandria, VA. She maintained a gallery and work space at the Torpedo Factory from 1976 to 2015. At the top of the stairs on the 3rd floor was this large light filled studio with a charming blonde woman surrounded by her silkscreens. In the early 80s, her work consisted mostly of water reptiles, fish, birds and environmental scenes. She kept with nature themes during most of her time at the studio. Her obituary stated: "Marcel was known for her bold, yet sensitive, use of color and design. Her images in all media reflected her love of nature. Her glowing color, both intense and delicate, was achieved through the use of transparent layers of color." Marcel was born and raised in Seattle, Washington and studied at the Cornish School of Allied Arts. Before arriving in the DC area, she had ...

Walter von Gunten - Scherenschnitter Artist

In the 1990's R. A. Baumgart, wrote an article for the Journal (Wisconsin Newspaper) entitled: Scissors Art: the Lace That Takes a Million Snips. The subtitle was: For Sheer Intricacy, It's Hard to Top the Delicate Folk Art of Long Ago Europe. Baumgart's knowledge was helpful in creating this blog. Scissor cutting art has been practiced in much of Europe for centuries, but the work has now faded. It reached its peak about 200 years ago. It was the people's art, and when done by the Germans and Swiss it is called scherenschnitte. When accomplished by the these two groups, the work tends to be more delicate and more detailed in design. Scherenschnitte was cut from single sheets of paper and pasted on a contrasting paper background. Common subjects were fantasies of trees, elves or rural scenes. "Bird in the Bushes" Cut Black and Gold Paper on White Mat Board Framed: Approx. 20 X 16.5 Inches Signed Lower Left:...

Waller-Yoblonsky Fine Art

Search This Blog