american society of contemporary artists NUMBER 36 FALL 2009

BERNARD KASSOY “FLIGHTS OF IMAGINATION”

The following article appeared in the September/October issue of Gallery and Studio magazine and focuses on

Basha Maryanska's Art, her curatorial job and about the group of international artists she is promoting and Lubomir Tomaszewski, new ASCA member and

founding father of "Emotionalism"

At New Century: Exploring the Emotive Element in Contemporary Painting

by Byron Coleman

"We feel like we are all connected internationally by the same idea, the same feeling about art and the world," says Basha Maryanska, an artist who curates exhibitions under the auspices of The Art of Emotionalism, and whose latest venture, "Climate & Environment: International Show" will be on view at New Century Artists, 530 West 25th Street, from October 12 to 31. (Opening reception, Thursday Oct. 15, from 3 to 6 PM). "We connect with our feelings and emotions very consciously," she continues, and the works by the Polish and American artists that we previewed back up her claim. Maryanska's own landscape paintings, for example, take up where pointillism left off, albeit from a more subjective angle, adopting a pointillist technique but eschewing that movement's scientific color fusion in favor of a more intuitive approach. Rather than attempting to replicate the optical effects of nature, Maryranska emphasizes her emotional response to the landscape, achieving in the sparkling colors and tactile surfaces of paintings such as "Whispering Memories" and "Morning Dew," a harmonious synthesis of outer and inner reality. In general, one can only assume that the terms "climate and environment" appended to the title of this exhibition are meant to be taken in the broadest possible sense, suggesting the psychological cllimates and emotional environments, within us, as well as the other Continued on page 2

The Smithy-Pioneer Gallery presented a memorial exhibition of the works of beloved ASCA member, Ber-

nard Kassoy. The exhibition, “Flights of Imagination”, was on view in the Pioneer Gallery from July 20th to Au-

gust 12th. The following passage is taken from the Smithy-Pioneer Gallery press release.

K assoy was an extremely ver-

satile and talented artist. He attended City College of New York by day and Cooper Union by night. Upon graduation in 1937, he was admitted to the Artists’ Union and then to the Works Progress Ad-ministration (the WPA Arts Project). Bernie gave up the WPA when appointed to the NYC school system at DeWitt Clinton High School as a Teacher-in-training. He taught an adult course at Clinton on the appreciation of cinema. Kassoy became officially qualified as a teacher and was appointed to Morris High School. At that time he was an active member of the Teachers’ Union. He made weekly editorial drawings for the Teacher News, about 150 of which are now in the Theodore Kheel Labor Library at Cornell University. Kas-soy took photos of the 1937 May Day Parade, which are in the collections of the Fenimore Museum, Coopers-town, and the New York Public Library, main branch. In 1941, Kassoy designed stage sets for the Teachers’ Union revues, and in 1942 he joined the US Army, where he became a photographer for the First Special Service Force, which he had to leave due to a broken leg. For the remainder of the war he was a mapmaker at Lord Louis Mountbatten’s Headquarters in Ceylon. Upon returning from the war, he went back to Clinton, married fellow artist and teacher, Hortense( Honey Gar-land) Blumenkrantz, was excessed from Clinton to the Continued on page 3

NEW MEMBERS: BASHA MARYANSKA & LUBOMIR TOMASZEWSKI

―Morning Dew‖ Acrylic

BERNARD KASSOY “Flights of Imagination”

Oil stick

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BASHA MARYANSKA Continued from page 1

ones in which we live, since at least two of the artists take as their subject the female figure. One is Helena Szawlowska, whose painting of a young woman with a long braid dangling down her bare back, as she wraps a blue curtain around her lower body, has a wholesome quality akin to the full figured milkmaids of Renoir. However, Szawlowska's colors are less sunnily naturalistic, tending toward subtle blue and purple hues that strike a more melancholy note, and that the model's face is hidden from the viewer heightens the mood of introspection, suggesting that she may be unaware of her own natural beauty. Quite the opposite seems true of the bodacious young woman in the work of Agnieszka Szyfter. Painted in a style combining sinuous outlines and flat areas of vibrant color, seemingly inspired both by Art Nouveau and Pop, these female figures exude an athleticism and confidence that comes across in Szyfter's image of a lissome young woman wearing nothing but an ornate primitive necklace, as she crouches like a feline about to pounce, appearing utterly at home in a rugged mountainous terrain. Indeed, her pose is similar to that of the tigress crouching on a rock in a characteristically powerful sculpture by the Lubomir Tomaszewski, the founding father of "Emotionalism" and that the only male artist included in the exhibition. Born in Warsaw, Tomaszewski immigrated to the United States from his native Poland in 1966 in search of greater artistic freedom, and has since become world famous for the formal economy and grace of his animal sculptures which, like this one, often combine metals such as bronze or copper with found boulders or fallen tree trunks to dramatic effect. One of the more fanciful artists in the show is Agnieszka Opala, whose compositions in pale yet luminous hues are notable for their poetic qualities, as well as for their painterly vivacity. Particularly appealing in both regards is a painting of triangularly stylized purple fish swimming in a milky sea of vigorously brushed gestural strokes further enlivened by skeins of dripped diluted pigment. Opala's approach appears spontaneous in the manner of Abstract Expressionist "action painting," as though she improvises freely, making "process" a feature of the finished work. Even more abstract are works by three other Polish artists: The paintings of Uzia Ograbek, who resides in Venice, Italy, are possessed of a striking purity. While stylistically allied with Color Field painting for their amorphous compositions and chromatic luminosity, with expansive areas of translucent greens, reds, and other

luminous hues suggesting spiritual auras, Ograbek's compositions are animated by the energy of a subjective vision. The artist's individual sensibility shines through the shimmering veils of color, speaking to the viewer on a level of subliminal understanding beyond the reach of words, symbols, or specific imagery. Then there is Joanna Banck, who lives in Krakow and makes color and gesture the primary focus of her compositions, with bold, fiery hues laid down in aggressive strokes that make emotional energy manifest in dynamic layers of pigment. Banck has evolved her own unique approach to Abstract Expressionism, proving that spontaneity, physicality, and untrammeled energy can still provide a visceral/visual jolt for the viewer. By contrast, the abstractions of Barbara Frankiewicz employ variegated areas of vibrant color to create vertically streaked surfaces with a hot/cool quality comparable to a jazzy dance of neon lights reflected in a rain puddle. Indeed, Frankiewicz's compositions have an elegance and sense of movement which seems comparable, in visual terms, to the structured yet fluid piano solos of jazz musicians like Art Farmer and Thelonious Monk. Two other artists take inspiration for their abstract flights from watery expanses: Along with other nature subjects, Barbara Walter, who works in both oils and encaustics, captures the vitality of an aqueous flow in paintings shch as "Pristine Seas," a sumptuous study in brilliant blue mediated by foamy whites and deeper, darker color areas, painted "wet into wet." By contrast, Carla Goldberg, who lives and works in the Hudson Valley area takes a startingly contemporary view of that artistically historic region in works such as "Mother Goddess of the River, " with its swirling aquamarine shapes texturally enhanced by patterns of beads and sinuous linear elements. The final three artists all, in their own very different ways, take highly subjective approaches to nature: Painter/printmaker Stephanie Joyce, who grew up in Virginia but now lives in London, creats delicate visions in which bare, ghostly trees appear muted by pale washes of color, as though seen through mists of memory and nostalgia, Joyce makes landscape resonate with an underlying sense of yearning, as if, like precious keepsakes in a jewelry box, each element in her compositions contains a wealth of personal meanings. In both her oils and pastels, Linda Bayer Domanoski employs a refined technique and an exquisite sense of color to evoke atmospherically poetic landscapes. In dreamlike natural vistas, such as "Dawn Glow," Domanoski's softly stroked land masses appear within dark borders, like paintings within the painting, adding a sense of distance to her moody imagery and simultaneously calling attention to her work's formidable formal qualities. Veryal Zimmerman evokes a sense of primal mystery with earthy forms and shadowy shapes that hover somewhere between representation and abstraction. Suggesting various elements of nature, while remaining elusive in a manner that allows the Continued on page 3

Lubomir Tomaszewski ―Before th Hunt‖

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BASHA MARYANSKA Continued from page 2

viewer a wide range of imaginative interpretations, her work has a haunting resonance, its darkly looming forms harking back to prehistoric cave paintings. Before the liberalizing influence of postmodernism took hold, openly emotive art was often dismissed by critical theory as sentimental and unworthy of serious consideration. Fortunately, this taboo has fallen out of fashion in recent years, largely due to the emergence of artists such as the ones in this exhibition, whose insistence on a passionate engagement with their feelings has broadened the scope of contemporary culture.

Hail Tworkov, Farewell UBS Gallery by Leslie Shaw Zadoian

M y introduction to Jack Tworkov was seeing RWB #3 at the Michael

Rosenfeld Gallery’s Abstract Expressionism show this summer. I liked the painting very much and made sure to attend the comprehensive exhibit of Tworkov’s work. It ran from August 13 to Octo-ber 27 at Manhattan’s UBS Gallery, the last show before its closing. Congratulations to the gallery, which certainly went out on a high note, and to Jason Andrew, the cura-tor who made this an extraordinary occasion—a choice selection of paintings interspersed with excerpts from the thoughtful, intelligent journals that Tworkov kept all his life. The work was arranged chronologically, starting with the 1930s and 1940s, where the influence of Cézanne is apparent (especially in a wa-tercolor of Provincetown). Tworkov, an English major at Columbia and aspiring poet, ―drifted into becoming an art-ist‖ after seeing a Cézanne exhibit and in one way or an-other referred to Cézanne throughout his life in art. [Quoted material from Journals] In the 1950s, his work included figures from mythology (from The Odyssey, in particular) and gestural land-scapes. With ―House of the Sun,” (1952), ―Pink Missis-sippi,” (1954), and ―Blue Cradle,” (1956). Tworkov is confidently in Abstract Expressionist country. Veils, Screens, Grids and Barriers—this was the sign-age in the section given to his 1960s paintings where he used paint to mask, but not hide elements beneath. A good example of this is the painting from the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, RWB#3 (1961), where areas of white swoop over blue and red stripes making them barely—but effectively—visible. Tworkov had a love of mathematics and began in the mid-1960s to apply elements of geometry to his paint-ings. He continued to use and refine this mathematical technique to determine the structure of his work from then on. Interestingly, a white line delineating the plane replaced the black line that he used many years earlier in his figurative work, later in the gestural paintings. Continued on Page 4

JACK TWORKOV AT THE UBS GALLERY

BERNARD KASSOY Continued from page 1

Bronx High School of Science and then went to the High School of Music and Art. There, in addition to teaching painting, he was the major graphics instructor and initi-ated a course in cinematography. His film on teaching of watercolor, ―Birdiness‖ is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art. He was invited to teach lithography at CCNY and the National Academy. At the same time, he was an active member of NY Art-ists Equity, having served on the Board and as Treasurer for many years, and he handled their onsite exhibition program, ran the life drawing class, took photos at all the meetings and events, worked on the Ball committees and did illustrations for the Ball Brochures. He was an active member of many exhibiting groups, including the Ameri-can Society of Contemporary Artists (ASCA). He won seven fellowships to the Virginia Center of Fine Arts. Kassoy lived at the Amalgamated Houses, designed and painted stage sets and panels for their productions and balls, helped organize life classes and children’s art classes, held ―open studio‖ annually in his own studio, helped organize and hang exhibitions. As a poet, he worked to critique, design and edit a group of poetry magazines for many years Twin careers in art and teaching followed, and as re-tirement approached, the Kassoys saw an ad in the New York Times for a property upstate and purchased a small white house perched on a hill in Butternut Valley. Since that time, 1973, Kassoy’s paintings, pastels and prints have been exhibited regularly at the Pioneer Gal-lery in Cooperstown, including the current exhibit, and the Hilton-Bloom and Stahl Galleries in Gilbertsville, as well as in numerous galleries in New York City. Last night I dreamed you were gone. I searched everywhere. The grains of sand refused my tears -Bernard Kassoy From Coop Voices, Vol. 1, #2 Spring 1992

RWB #3

―House of the un,” (1952)

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Reprint from the Women in the Arts Newsletter

S omeone asked me why I, an enamel-

list, became a calligra-pher. I really don’t know the answer. It is a big surprise to me how my life developed. One day I happened onto a Chinese brush painting demonstration, I was fascinated. That fascination became the guiding principle of my life. I painted bamboo, orchids, plum blossom and pine trees for years until my teacher told me my painting could be enhanced if I study calligra-phy. I did not like calligraphy, but when I went to China and studied at Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, something happened in my heart. I don’t know what but now I love to do calligraphy. I am an award winning calligrapher and bring to it a deep appreciation. The brush, the ink, the paper and I have become one spirit. I have fulfilled my destiny.

JACK TWORKOV Continued from page 3

Crossfield I (1968) is built under (and over) a white grid of parallelograms, triangles and rectangles on a pink ground with gray-green strokes. This method increasingly became his own: the counter-point of ex-treme meas-urement containing random ac-tivity within its bounda-ries. In Idling II (1970), Partitions (1971), Knight Series #2 (1975), Indian Red Series (1979), Romans XI (1981), and his last paint-ing Compression and Expansion of the Square (1982), one can see the architectural structure becoming stronger, surer, and the discrete brush strokes and drip more and more free. The Jack Tworkov show, ―Against Extremes‖, was a notable event, a comprehensive survey of the art and an appreciation of the artist. Neither rebel nor crowd-follower, Tworkov was a thought-ful and contemplative man, always searching and questioning his own aesthetic. In fact, the exhibit’s title comes from one of his jour-nals: “In art then I am against ex-tremes.... I am for the extreme of the middle, the creative mid-dle.”[Journal entry, March 15, 1959] Tworkov’s Journals have been published by Yale University Press. I look forward to reading them with as much pleasure as I had seeing this exhibit.

ROSE SIGAL IBSEN

W e need volunteers to help continue the survival of our ASCA Newsletter. We welcome art-related articles, reviews

of exhibitions and your upcoming shows.

Send your material to: Hank Rondina

209 Lincoln Place, Eastchester, New York 10709;

Telephone (914) 793-1376; or email it to artist@hankrondina.com

“Compression and Expansion of the Square “

Romans XI (1981)

―Untitled #56‖ Sumi Ink on Rice Paper

MIRIAM WILLS

W hen I paint, in a sense I am responding to a kin-

esthetic dance-like impulse that drives my arm and hand around the canvas. The painting’s structure is guided by my attrac-tion to Cubism and Surrealism, reflecting my sensibility to the world around me whereby color/value, with strong movement, feeds my expression. When I take a fresh canvas, I quickly map out the general terrain of my forms. In dance like fashion, the areas move around, as though pressure is pushing them up and against other shapes that are forming as color and value is added. After a while, the painting speaks to me as it reacts to these Continued on page 5

MIRIAM WILL ―Play Again”

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D OROTHY KOPPELMAN, painter, became the founding director of the Terrain Gallery in 1955, and

is a consultant on the faculty of the Aesthetic Realism Foundation. She has shown at the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Atlantic Gallery and her work is included in the collections of the National Mu-seum of Women in the Arts. Dorothy is the recipient of a Tiffany Grant and a member of the Ameri-can Society of Contem-porary Artists (ASCA). She has taught at the National Academy School of Art. Her pa-pers and sketchbooks are in the Archives of American Art. She writes about her early study and how it led to the opening of the Terrain Gallery in 1955: "After more than ten years of study, including Eli Siegel's lectures on the poetry of the world, lectures on English and French literature and the lives of authors (consider his brilliant literary achievement of explaining the meaning of all of Shakespeare's 154 sonnets) as well as an in-depth study of the relation of art and life, defined as "The resolution of conflict in self is like the making one of opposites in art," I came to have a conviction and an impelling emotion. I saw Aesthetic Realism as true about art, about my own life, and about the lives and work of artists I knew and read about. I also saw in the circumstances of his weekly lectures, lessons of my own and others, personal and friendly meetings on various occasions, a person, a teacher, a man who, in every situation was always honest, always true to his own philosophy. He did not flatter, he did not pander, he did not compromise. He rated the desire to know, the desire to see, the achievement of that seeing and knowing as true success… Seeing Eli Siegel's desire to know a person, any per-son, was the deepest and most beautiful experience in my life. In Aesthetic Realism lessons, which were cultural events based on the Socratic question and answer method, and to which many persons were invited as par-ticipants or guests, there was ―the aesthetic criticism of self…‖I was understood and that understanding included my purpose, and the direction of my life's ambition as an artist. With the encouragement and support of my colleagues-poets, artists, and intellectuals in various fields-I decided to open what came to be called the Terrain Gallery, where Aesthetic Realism in its variety and scope could be presented to the public.‖

I had seen that the basic structure of opposites was the foundation not only of the visual arts but was a new and unprecedented means of relation of all the arts and hu-manities. I saw that the principles of Aesthetic Realism were indisputably true. The Terrain Gallery opened in 1955 with the publica-tion of the great 15 Questions, “Is Beauty the Making One of Opposites?‖ and exhibitions and public presenta-tions essentially based on these true-seeing-of-art-and-beauty-in-the-world questions continue to this day. Much has happened in these fifty years and every event in my varied life and in the events of the world has solidified and widened my conviction…It is every person's ambi-tion to be able to find something in the outside world we can wholeheartedly respect intellectually and count on. That has been my life's good fortune."

C HAIM KOPPELMAN, printmaker, b. 1920, is a

member of the National Acad-emy Museum and School of Art, the Society of American Graphic Artists (SAGA), and is on the faculty of the Aesthetic Realism Foundation. He was formerly Chairman of the Print-making Department, School of Visual Arts. His papers and sketchbooks are in the Ar-chives of American Art. Mr. Koppelman began his study with Eli Siegel in poetry classes in 1940. He attended the American Artists School, Art Students League in NYC, Brooklyn College, the Art College of Western England, Bristol, Ecole des Beaux Arts, Rheims, Amedee Ozenfant School in NYC. Teaching: Dept. of Art Education, NYU, New York State University at New Paltz, Graduate Extension Division Instructor, School of Visual Arts, NYC, including Head of Printmaking Section l959 - l969), National Academy of Art and Design.

THE ART OF DOROTHY AND CHAIM KOPPELMAN

―Intaglio Angel‖

Conversation With Red Pots

MIRIAM WILLS Continued from page 4

additions and collage that may follow, and I respond to these aesthetic demands. Rhythms begin to appear, echoing throughout, and when they all come together in a satisfying manner, the work is complete. My use of collage, along with the acrylic painting, brings me into contact with sundry images that, surrealistically, cre-ate an avenue for invention. This free association can pull ideas from me relating to the floral, to outer spatial dimen-sions or scientific speculations. I am fond of the fantastic trips I experience in the process of creating my works on canvas.

(Miriam is currently recovering from knee surgery!)

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ASCA ART GALLERY

T he ASCA ART GALLERY presents examples of art by ASCA members selected from the Gallery Album.

Please send photos of your recent work, and if space permits, they may be included in upcoming editions of the Newsletter. Remember to include your name, the title of your work, the medium, and an arrow showing which side is UP. Mail your photos to Hank Rondina, 209 Lin-coln Place, Eastchester, New York 10709, or e-mail your jpegs to artist@hankrondina.com

MARGO MEAD ―Bryce Sentinel‖

Watercolor, ink on rice paper

BONNIE ROTHCHILD ―La Speranza” HARRIET FEBLAND

―Ask ” Wall-relief miniature construction

painted wood

MARCIA BERNSTEIN Untitled #27

KELLEY STENGLE Untitled

LESLIE SHAW ZADOIAN “What If”

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ELVIRA DIMITRIJ “Formation”

Oil-Acrylic-Pencil

GERDA ROZE “In Orbit, Opus III”

Acrylic-triptych

ESTELLE LEVY “WAI 036”

FLORENCE KEVESON "Woman With Screen"

Oil

ELINORE BUCHOLTZ ―Transitions 5”

LEA WEINBERG “Together”

Wire mesh on Plexiglas

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The American Society of Contemporary Artists presents

“Password: Art‟s Secret Symbols,” its 92nd Annual Art Exhibition,

November 10 -21, 2009 at the Broome Street Gallery, at 498 Broome St., NY, NY 10013.

The ASCA boasts of close to one hundred active mem-bers, and this year, it celebrates its 92nd anniversary of bringing new art to public view. During this current historic crisis of global proportions, the ASCA continues to assert the need and satisfaction of creating art as an affirmation of life. It continues to provide oppor-tunities to artists of merit, selected by peer review panel, to display their works to the public. It is the dedication of its volunteer officers and of its devoted members and friends that has enabled the American Society of Contemporary Artists to contribute to the dynamic world of American art. A majority of its members participate in the annual exhibit, and ASCA gives over a dozen awards in recognition of superior achievement and meritorious work. Winners are selected by an independent panel of jurors composed of museum curators, art histori-ans, and acclaimed artists from prestigious institutions.

Awards and artists’ reception will be held on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009, 2-5 pm.

Gallery hours at the Broome Street Gallery are Tuesday to Sunday, 12-6 PM. Telephone at the Broome St. Gallery is (212) 226-6085.

“PASSWORD: ART‟S SECRET SYMBOLS”

Anita Adelman ―No Parking Anytime‖

Imelda Cajpe Endaya “Spoliarium and Agnes‟ Carcass Cornucopia”

Mina Myer ―ASCA Series II ‖

Barbara Browner Schiller ―Afterglow‖

Ray Shanfeld ―Flight‖

Ray Weinstein ―Nocturne #7‖

marble

IN MEMORIAM BEN INDICK

T he American Society of Contemporary Artists was deeply saddened by the news about the death of Ben

Indick, husband of ASCA member Janet Indick. We wish to extend our deepest condolences to Janet and her family. Contributions in Ben’s memory can be made to The Dramatists Guild Fund, charity which supports emerging playwrights. The Guild, of which he was a lifetime member, is a group that was dear to his heart. Each contribution will be acknowledged. Checks should be sent to:

The Dramatists Guild Fund 1501 Broadway #701 New York, N.Y. 10036

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W e need volunteers to help continue the survival of our ASCA Newsletter. We wel-come art-related articles, reviews of exhibi-

tions and your upcoming shows. Send your material to: Hank Rondina

209 Lincoln Place, Eastchester, New York 10709;

Telephone (914) 793-1376; or email it to artist@hankrondina.com

Robert Kaupelis was a long time member of ASCA. He passed away on June 12, 2009. The following article appeared in ASCA „s Spring 2003 Issue.

WHY DO I MAKE ABSTRACT PAINTINGS Some Random, Very Random Thoughts By Robert Kaupelis

T his is the question posed to me by

Bonnie Woit, who is going to have a panel discussion on the topic at Silvermine’s Insti-tute. My response to her was: I don’t make abstractions, I paint. I like this response but it is bit glib and I will try to explore the question in a bit more depth. An abstract painting is not something I ever encountered in the many art classes that I took in High School. For that matter, I don’t recall ever having seen a reproduction of a painting of any import. William Seitz, who later became a curator at MOMA, was one of my first teachers in an introduction to Art Class. He spent the entire semester trying to discover the ―x-factor‖ in works of art. His lectures were way above everyone’s head and all had trouble keeping awake. I may have been more confused than most, but feeling that there was some-thing important here, I sat in on most of his classes the following semester. Imagine how fortunate this class was when he was able to bring David Smith’s ―Hudson River Landscape‖ to class! Neither my classmates nor I had the slightest inter-est in it! When he showed a huge Matisse, (none of us had ever heard of him), and spent thirty minutes talking about a giant foot that Matisse had stretched down into the corner of the work ―to fill an otherwise empty space‖ we had all we could do to restrain our laughter and utter incredulity. Poor Mr. Seitz…it had to be like trying to push a thumbtack into solid steel. Unbelievably, by our senior year most of us had learned to appreciate much of what we encountered at the Albright Art Gallery, but that guy Pollack’s paintings, (if one could call them that), that my wife to be and I ran into on a trip to New York continued to elude us. Art had been so simple before college, it simply meant to copy something, usually from a photo or someone else’s illustration. That art was expressive and creative rather than imitation, narrative or literature was a new and wonderful discovery!

Seeing could be exiting! My eyes are attached to my toes, and there is all that heart and guts stuff in between. Finally, paintings were making me feel. Mysterious, sen-suous, unidentifiable feelings, (aesthetic?) from just color, shapes, spaces and from that incredibly scrump-tious, delicious, edible PAINT! This is what it’s all about. All painting is abstract-try biting into a painted, perfectly rendered ap-ple, it’s not even ―abstract,‖ it’s canvas and paint. Go ahead, you may spit it our! Or, perhaps, at me! I just love all good art- realistic, abstract or nonobjective. Guess I’ve seen more bad abstract art than bad realistic art. When realistic art is bad art there is always the subject matter to hold onto (although that’s not art.) When ab-stract art is bad you’ve had it, there is nothing to hold onto. We use the term abstract very loosely to mean most of the ―stuff‖ that doesn’t fit nicely into our concept of realis-tic. (Photography enters here in a big way). There are many degrees of abstraction, from photography to non-objective, at what point do we start calling something abstract? We get no place in terms of enjoying art, by nitpicking over these terms. I like the ambiguity and di-rectness, two wonderfully opposing terms, of abstract art. The thing or event depicted is not aesthetic; it’s what we do with it. Abstract art demands, yes demands empathy in order to ―get it.‖ When people ask, ―What is it?‖ you can be sure that their empathetic juices are not running. Right or wrong, I like to say that aesthetic experience demands that the viewer empathetically re-create the work to some degree. One may not even realize that they are doing so. Among the thousands of viable paintings and draw-ings left by Picasso there are only a handful of small sketches that are totally non-objective. Continued on page 10

THE WORLD AROUND ROBERT KAUPELIS

“Hocus Focus” mixed media

“Round Square Dance” acrylic on canvas

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KAUPELIS Continued from page 9

DeKooning is a super hero to me but given my choice of only one work, it would probably be one of his early self-portraits. Are they more realistic or more abstract? Silly. Very often, the skill and/or technique of an artist will knock me right on my behind. This in no way means that I have had an aesthetic experience. It may mean that I have a bruised be-hind. More than any other philoso-pher, Suzanne Langer’s “Problems of Art,” 1957, has been most helpful in trying to understand what it is that I think, do and feel when I paint. I might ask the viewer why it is that they call my paint-ings abstract- can’t they see that most of the time the space of the work is landscape space? Can’t they see the endless array of sexual references, both phallic and yonic? Would they believe me if I told them that I never set out to paint anything sexual? The fact is that the sex-ual; overtones or blatant symbols are never predeter-mined, they are found, discovered, usually much to my surprise during the act of painting. “The act of painting.” This is really all it’s about for me- showing and selling are simple by-products. I love to show and I love it when some-one rolls out their hard-earned greenbacks to live with one of my crea-tions. The art part ends when I decide to put a work aside and glance over at the barren, extremely frightening empty space of the next canvas. I asked my friend, an illustrator of national repute, what the difference was in his very realistic illustrations and his abstract paintings, "My illustrations, to be suc-cessful, must be immediately ―read‖ by one and all.‖ That is not at all true in my paintings, even though they are much more difficult to execute. As soon as I put a title (another whole topic) on a painting, I have contradicted most of everything I’ve said, which once again indicates the incredible difficulty of try-ing to put into words something that has almost no corre-lation with verbiage. It has to do with sentience, with see-ing, with the most obvious and the most clandestine of feeling… ―I have a pain in my stomach… ―Oh, a sharp pain, dull pain, constant, throbbing pain?’… Well no not

any of those. This seems much, much worse than that.‖ Damn! It could be very difficult next week. What if I start paint-ing the flowers that I’ve been thinking about- how disap-pointing when one puts their nose next to it, and all they can smell is PAINT! ARTIST’S STATEMENT I want my paintings to offer a perceptual parade of multi-ple and diverse visual confrontations at once obvious and ambiguous, paintings that surprise me, which make the viewer say “WOW”! Hopefully, they are found beauti-ful and emotionally imperative. Frequently there are rich, painterly areas, which contract with hard edge stripes and other geometric forms, and impacted color that is dynamic, seductive, lyrical, loud, brash, beautiful and hopefully, beguiling. Building/destroying, finding/losing/finding.

W e need volunteers to help continue the survival of our ASCA Newsletter. We welcome art-related articles, reviews of

exhibitions and your upcoming shows.

Send your material to: Hank Rondina

209 Lincoln Place, Eastchester, New York 10709;

Telephone (914) 793-1376; or email it to artist@hankrondina.com

“Neat Place” Acrylic on Canvas

“What” Acrylic on canvass

Two by Ten From

American Society of Contemporary Artists Lawrence Alboum, Maria De Echevarria, Harriet

FeBland, Rose Sigal Ibsen, Jessica Iwamoto, Sueyoshi Iwamoto, Basha Maryanska, Gerda

Roze, Joanne Beaule Ruggles, Barbara Browner Schiller

Reception: Wednesday, Oct. 21sg, 4:00-7:00pm The Interchurch Center

475 Riverside Drive, New Yonk, N.Y. Closed weekends and holidays

TWO BY TEN

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ASCA‟s INDIVIDUAL ANNUAL AWARDS MEMBER EXHIBITS AND NEWS

ASCA 92nd ANNUAL EXHIBITION “Password - Art’s Secret Symbols”

November 9th – November 22nd. Broome Street Gallery, New York, NY,

SYNAGOGUE FOR THE ARTS

“Spiritual Horizons in Art” December 1st—January 7, 2010

49 White Street, NYC

Georgiana Cray Bart-Conversations: Images from an

Artists' Retreat"- Group exhibit at the Broome Street Gal-lery from Sep. 21st – Oct. 10th.

Marcia Bernstein- Works On Paper one-person

show. At Sabay Thai Restaurant, Jackson Heights NY. 23rd - Nov 30th.-ALSO- Icons of The Desert an exhibit of Australian Aboriginal Work. Sand paintings transposed to permanent surfaces. At the Grey Gallery, New York Uni-versity, 100 Washington Square East, Sept 1st - thru Dec

5th 2009. Elinore Bucholtz-Featured in the fall issue of Artist Advocate -ALSO-Exhibiting (see gallery page) at the

ICO Gallery, 606 West 26th St., NYC Oct. 2nd – 25th-ALSO-Buchanan Center for the Arts 64 Arts International Juried Competition Monmouth, Il. Aug. 22nd – Sep. 26th -ALSO- ASL outreach program show at the Bronxville

Public Library. Bronxville, NY. Aug. 3rd – Aug. 29th. Elvira Dimitrij- Exhibiting in the 113th Annual Open

Juried Exhibition, the Catherine Lorillard Art Club, Oct., NYC-ALSO- at the 18th National Juried Show at the Art Center of Northern New Jersey-ALSO- in Layers at the

Center For the Creative Arts, Fredericksburg, VA. Sept. 2009-ALSO- In July in the National Juried Exhibition at

the Center For the Creative Arts, Fredericksburg, VA-

Imelda Cajipe Endaya- Art Exhibit and Book Launch

Stitching Paint into Collage, the Art Exhibit and Book Launch will open with an artist’s reception on Friday, Oc-tober 9, 2009 at 6 pm. at the Kalayaan Cultural Commu-nity Centre (KCCC) located at 5225 Orbitor Drive, Suite 3, Mississauga, ON L4W4Y8 This art Exhibit and Book Launching is a joint project between The KCCC, Univer-sity of the Philippines Alumni Association in Toronto, Col-lege of the Holy Spirit North America Foundation, Can-ada Chapter and the Philippine Artist Group of Canada.

Harriet FeBland- Lots Of Little Art Link Gallery, Fort Wayne, IN,. Oct 8th – Dec. 2nd 2009 -ALSO- Invitational

Salon Exhibit of Small Works" New Arts Program Kutz-town, PA May 22nd – Jul. 11th, -ALSO- Visual Art Center of NJ. International Juried Show Feb. 13th-Mar. 27th, -ALSO- NAWA 120th Annual Exhibit at the Salmagundi Club, New York City 11th – 29th, -ALSO- Spiritual Hori-zons In Art ASCA Synagogue For The Arts New York City. Dec. 3rd - Jan 9th, 2010 -ALSO- Interchurch Center Two By Ten ASCA New York City Oct. 15th - Nov. 17th.

T he American Society of Contemporary Artists (ASCA) presents Individual Annual Awards, Memorial Awards, College Student Awards

and Grants, as a means of recognizing superior achievement in art. These awards are presented in honor of your name, a fellow artist, friend, family name or family member. The awards to different artists each year are honors mentioned in their re-sumes during their entire careers, which means the name continues to be honored during the lifetime of the artist, and is an outstanding, ongoing tribute. Please note, your heartfelt gift is 100% tax free and will be presented in a fitting ceremony and re-ception on November 14th, 2009 at 3:00 pm during this years exhibition celebrating ASCA’s 91st Birth-day at the Broome Street Gallery, 498 Broome Street, NY.

S o far this year, donations to the Individual Annual Awards Fund have fallen behind the amounts donated last year.

Please donate NOW, time is of essence!

This Fund consists of the following categories:

BENEFACTORS: $500 to $999; SPONSORS: $100 TO $499;

DONORS: $10 to $99 (Smaller gifts are combined).

We wish to thank all members and friends who

have made donations in 2008. The following is a list of donations to ASCA in 2009:

SPONSORS: Elvira Dimitrij, Gerda Roze, Neva Setlow DONORS: Rose Marie Cherundolo, Helene Erenberg, Harriet FeBland, Rose Sigal Ibsen, Erin Johnson,

Please make out your check to ASCA and mail it to:

Gerda Roze, Chair: Fund Raising

3 Park Lane, 1-B Mount Vernon, NY 10552

“ I have found, that among its other benefits giving liberates the soul of the giver.”

Maya Angelou

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ASCA OFFICERS President Barbara Schiller President-Emeritus Harriet FeBland Vice-President Raymond Weinstein Vice-President Raymond Shanfeld Vice-President Frank Mann Treasurer Allan Simpson Recording Secretary Imelda Cajipe Endaya Corresponding Secretary Lisa Robbins Social Secretary Olga Kitt Historian Frank Mann Board of Directors: Harriet Regina Marion, Elinore Bucholtz, Hank Rondina, Fred Terna

ASCA NEWSLETTER Publication Director Hank Rondina,

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Byron Coleman-Gallery and Studio, Joseph Lubrano, Hank Rondina, Gerda Roze, Smithy-Pioneer Gallery, Miriam Wills

Women in the Arts Newsletter, Leslie Shaw Zadoian

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Hank Rondina

COPY DEADLINE FOR THE NEXT ISSUE December 15, 2009

Send your material to:

Hank Rondina, 209 Lincoln Place, Eastchester, New York 10709;

telephone (914) 793-1376; or email it to artist@hankrondina.com

ASCA Newsletter is published 4 times a year.

Copyright ©2009 by ASCA Permission is required to reprint any portion of this newsletter.

Bernard Kassoy- Solo exhibit, July 20th - August 12th

The Smithy Pioneer Gallery, NY Flights of Imagination). Featured were a group of oil stick paintings, sculptures that he completed in the last ten years of his life.

Estelle Levy-Exhibiting at Gallery 225 at 225 West 14th

Street, NYC

Gerda Roze -Featured at the Homage to the Circle

(see gallery page) exhibit at the Whitney Gallery 511 West 25th Street, Chelsea; acrylic paintings Nov. 6th - Dec. 1st, 2009. Gala Champagne Reception: Thursday, Nov. 12th 6:00 - 8:00 pm.

Maria de Echevarría- will present more than 15 of her

oil and acrylic paintings at the 2/20 Gallery (220 West 16th Street, Chelsea) from Oct. 22nd to Nov. 5th, 2009. The opening receptions for the show, entitled Under The Blue Sky, is Thursday Oct. 22nd and Saturday Oct. 31st, from 6-8 pm. Gallery hours: Tuesday-Sunday from 2-7 pm. -ALSO- at a group show at the International Immi-

grants Foundation, 7 West 44th St. 2nd Floor, NYC. The exhibit features the works of Latin American artists.

Rose Sigal Ibsen- Invited to become a member of the

North America Chinese Calligraphy Association. Rose is the only non-Chinese artist member -ALSO- Women in the Arts foundation, Inc. presented Rose Sigal Ibsen a demonstration of Chinese calligraphy and Japa-nese Sumi Brush Painting Thursday, September 3, 2009 7:00 P.M. at the Salmagundi Art Club 47 Fifth Avenue NYC

Jessica Iwamoto- exhibiting in Grand Gestures exhibit

at Broome St. Gallery in. 27th - Nov.8th,

Basha Maryanska –Emotionalism in the art of

Lubomir Tomaszewski and Basha Maryanska at the resi-dence of Joseph and Lee Mayfield, Greenwich, CN., Sep. 26th

harriet regina marion- Exhibited in the Audubon Art-

ists 67th Annual at the Salmagundi Club, NYC. and was awarded the Atlantic Papers Award for Works on .

Hedy O'Neil- received a grant for painting from The

Pollock-Krasner Foundation The American Institute of Arts & Letters-ALSO-Curated and exhibiting in Grand Gestures exhibit at Broome St. Gallery in. 27th - Nov.8th -ALSO- Exhibited at the Andre Zarre Gallery in Chelsea in Aug. Lubomir Tomaszewski- Emotionalism in the Art of

Lubomir Tomaszewski and Basha Maryanska at the resi-dence of Joseph and Lee Mayfield, Greenwich, CN., Sep. 26th Lea Weinberg- Exhibiting at the Salmagundi Club 67th

Annual Juried Exhibition Audubon Artists Sept. 14th - Oct. 2nd -ALSO-at the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club

113th Annual Open Exhibition Oct. 1 - Oct. 23rd ,at the National Arts Club 15 Gramercy Park South, NYC Doris Wyman- exhibiting in Grand Gestures exhibit at

Broome St. Gallery - Nov.8th,

JOSEPH MICHAEL

ANABILE 323 Blauvelt Road

Pearl River, NY 10965 arbteadel@yahoo.com

BASHA MARYANSKA

485 Route 9D Beacon, NY 12508

bashasart@yahoo.com

LEANNE MARTINSON 305 West 28th St. (9C) New York, NY 10001

MARGO MEAD

41 West 96th St. ( 13C ) New York, NY 10025 meadart@verizon.net

LUBOMIR TOMASZEWSKI

26 Rocky Ridge Rd Easton, CT 06612

ltomaszewski@sbcglobal.net

LEA WEINBERG

21 Sparrow Circle White Plains, NY 10605 leaweinberg@gmail.com

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS