The Poetry of Igor Medvedev

Poetry written by Igor Medvedev

From "The Serigraphs of Igor Medvedev" / Published by Park West Gallery / 2002

WHERE I HAVE BEEN...
Doors, windows, entrances,
I draw and paint for pleasure,
but also -
in some degree and measure,
because they represent
a sign of the women;
not literally,
but as a numen;
a symbol of a receptacle,
container, holder, bin,
where I have been,
as larva, pupa, embryo;
and will return
to mother womb,
as grave, to which
I am foredoomed...

Igor Medvedev "Magenta Canopy", 2005

MY BLISS
You ask me what is my bliss?
Conscious to be of what is -
God's little miracles
I seek in nature
in the cityscape
(while walking by at times
completely unaware) suddenly
I see a synchronistic interplay,
when something looking rather ordinary
is all aglow, alive and is extraordinary;
that is the magic moment
I am looking for,
when form is brought to life
with the spirit of the light -

I try to walk a narrow line
between the subject/form
keep balance
not to turn.

Through observation,
I try to integrate,
objectivity,
express -
the yearning for what has been,
that is my theme...

Igor Medvedev "Shimmering (Large)", 2005

TRANQUIL
In shimmering, silvery splendor
my bride and beloved so slender,
awaits me to come and possess her
and gently, assuredly lead her
from barely felt innuendos
to heaving and throbbing crescendos
til both of us thoroughly spent
exhausted and tranquil we lay.

Igor Medvedev "Into the Rising Sun", 2005

Simple Elegance: Itzchak Tarkay

Park West Gallery proudly unveils a new website featuring one of the most influential artists of the early 21st Century, Itzchak Tarkay.

Cynthia, Blanche, Penelope, Margaret, Debbie and Donna...just of handful of the women in Tarkay's repertoire that showcase his contemplative depiction of the female figure.

As well as being a painter and watercolorist, Tarkay is a master graphic artist and his rich tapestry of form and color is achieved primarily through the use of the serigraph. Tarkay has certainly inspired dozens of artists throughout the world.

"Itzchak Tarkay is a refreshing anomaly in today's art world, and perhaps it can even be said that his work, which seems to stand outside of the mainstream, nonetheless anticipates the direction of art in the near future." ~ Joseph Jacobs, Curator of Painting and Sculpture at The Newark Museum

Itzchak Tarkay "Tranquility", 2006

Click here to enter the sophisticated world of Itzchak Tarkay

Check out the Tarkay videos on the Park West Gallery YouTube channel

Olympic Action, In Artwork?

Alfred Gockel

"USOC Olympic Celebration"

2005

The intensity, the excitement, the action.

True, these expressions could easily be used to describe the heroic efforts of athletes currently competing at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. But in reference to artwork?

Famed pop artist and "action painter", Alfred Gockel, was commissioned by the United States Olympic team to create an official piece of artwork for the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy (available exclusively through Park West Gallery). His art work was inspired by the greatness of winter Olympic sports including skiing, bobsledding, and hockey. His use of amazing style, flair, and color help to depict his vision.

"Painting is like tennis. You have to practice a lot and you have to practice everyday. With my artwork, I cannot get a feeling or idea and keep it for four weeks. I work on it and don’t stop. I leave the studio when it’s ready.

Because of my strong use of color, people get a positive feeling about my work. It's fun and exciting. There is a degree of energy in my brushwork that people can relate to. I like to think of it as work that will recharge your mind every day. . . Art both influences culture and imitates it. I am influenced by the colors, symbols, textures, fibers and designs used by different cultures around the world." ~ Alfred Gockel

Alfred "Alex" Gockel in action at Park West Gallery

Visit Park West Gallery to view artwork selections and to read more about "action painter" Alfred Gockel

The Leisurely Contemplations of Artist Peter Nixon

*Peter Nixon's artwork is available at Park West Gallery, home to the largest collection of fine art in the world*

Peter Nixon "Odalisque I"
2007
30'' x 22''
Acrylic painting on canvas

"When formulating an idea for a painting, my memory plays a vital role as I bounce the idea around looking for connections and echoes. Often an Old master painting will emerge in the equation as an indicator of the direction to be taken.

I was reminded of this intrinsic quality of memory and contemplation in painting when completing a series of pictures called ‘Odalisque I & II.’ These paintings were inspired by specific paintings by Matisse and Picasso who were themselves returning to a classic theme immortalised by old masters such as Ingres and Delacroix; namely pictures of idealised women in eastern dress couched in lavish surroundings.

But what was of interest to Matisse, and also myself, was not the exoticism of the subject matter, but the expression of a feeling of leisurely contemplation, of allowing the mind to expand, of time compelled to stand still. The extravagance illustrated in these paintings; the marble, the gilded drapery, the lush silks, represent the richness of the imagination when explored at a measured pace." ~ Peter Nixon

Peter Nixon "Odalisque I"

2007

30'' x 22''

Acrylic painting on canvas

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~ About the Artist ~

Born in Lytham St.Annes Lancashire in 1956, Peter Nixon's direction in a career art was first realized as early as the age of four. At nine years old Peter visited his first museum, the Royal Academy of Art, London England. Here he would see Di Vinci's "Virgin and Child" which would have a profound effect on young Peters Artistic development.

At seventeen Peter was accepted into Blackpool's fine art academy where he was schooled in the study of the human form and the discipline of drawing that is the foundation of many of his creations today. Peter finished out his artistic education at bath Academy of Art where he extended his skill in graphical art.

The main themes of Nixon's paintings are primarily idealized and stylized figures in states of joy, exhilaration and ecstasy. They share moments of tranquil elation, feeling lighter than air, reveling in being just pure spirits - in love, dancing, listening to music in celebration of their most vivid collective memories. That time that we are truly alive, ecstatic, positive and living in the moment.

*Click here to read more of Peter Nixon's biography and to view additional artwork available for purchase at Park West Gallery*

2008 Olympic Dreams

Hua Chen,

"Olympic Dreams" 2008

Click here to view available selections by Hua Chen from the Park West Gallery collection

ART WORLD NEWS, Fall 2007

"Painting for Hua Chen is as important in his life as breathing. The act of putting a brush heavy with oil paint to canvas is how he makes a sacred connection with the world. 'I have always considered art to be spiritual. Painting is a process in which I practice my spirituality and express myself,' he says.

Recently, [Hua] Chen was invited to be an official Olympic artist by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the 2008 games. The organization was looking for artists from the host country of China, and after having seen Chen's series of paintings featuring dancers, they thought he would be a natural fit." ~ Koleen Kaffan

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"Hua Chen is renowned for capturing the beauty of motion that is unique to an Olympic athlete on his canvas.” ~ Jack Scharr, President of Fine Art, Ltd (Official Licensee of the United States Olympic Committee)

What's In a Name? Maybe Everything, for an Artist.

Artist signatures are often as coveted as the artwork they create. After all, in terms of authenticity an artist's signature is sometimes the ultimate seal of approval. So have you ever wondered where some of your favorite featured Park West Gallery artists got their monikers?

• François Ledan / aka “Fanch”: a Breton nickname for François

• Picasso / birth name: Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso (imagine signing that to a canvas!) - a series of names honoring various saints and relatives, with Ruiz and Picasso for his father and mother, respectively, as per Spanish custom

• Yaacov Agam / birth name: Yaacov (or “Jacob”) Gipstein

• Rembrandt / birth name: Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn

• Erté / pseudonym derived from French pronunciation of R.T., the initials of his birth name: Romain de Tirtoff

• Goya / birth name: Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes

• Marc Chagall / birth name: Moishe Shagal, a dialectal North-Eastern Yiddish variant of the surname “Segal”

• Salvador Dalí / birth name: Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech (say that five times fast!)

• Peter Max / birth name: Peter Max Finkelstein

• Csaba Markus / Csaba: ‘he who leaves his country’ and Markus: a traditional Hungarian surname derived from Mars, the Greek god of war

Click here to read the complete biographies of these and your other favorite Park West Gallery artists!

VICTOR SPAHN: Painter of Movement

Since the 1980's, Victor Spahn has demonstrated his unflagging passion for sports in the contemporary French pictorial landscape. To the point of being named "the painter of movement". Meet him here.

Victor Spahn has always been obsessed with sketching. Since childhood, he has drawn everything, all the time, to the great distress of his teachers and his parents of Russian origin. "If I was a very mediocre student, on the other hand, I never worried about what I was going to become. I have always had the impression that something outside of myself was pulling me...". At the time, of course, no one spoke yet of talent! That would have been incongruous.

The principal of the school where, after a fashion, young Victor bounced along, had tried to reassure the anxious father, "Don't worry, your son will be a painter." Premonition or a simple answer? "It's true, I drew all the time. Last in my class and continually punished, I knew of nothing else to do. School for me was not an essential thing on condition that I felt that I had something else. Today, I live for my painting, and every day I tell myself it is magic. You must realize that for fifty years now, the only thing of interest to me is drawing, and selling my drawings."

Training at the Ecole Superieure des Arts Modernes, supported by several small jobs here and there (waiting tables, groom at Claridge's) Victor Spahn begins by designing mosaics. Moreover, in 1970 he wins first prize in New York City for a mosaic table. But finally, through the influence of the Russian master Andre Lanskoy, he finds his style: oil based painting, figurative, luxurious, simple. He is barely thirty years old and the adventure is beginning. At top speed. Very quickly, the painting of this artist is noticed.

(Translated from a magazine article titled "Victor Spahn: le peintre du movement" : The Best in the World, No. 70)