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My Paintings Are On Display for Chicago Artists Month At Ravenswood ArtWalk This Weekend

by Leon Sarantos in New Exhibit
     

Chicago Artists Month at At Ravenswood ArtWalk – Sept. 30 to October 2

The featured event to kickoff Chicago Artists Month was at Ravenswood ArtWalk, 4011 North Ravenswood, with art, food, music and more at the Opening Night.
Ravenswood ArtWalk Reception for Chicago Artists Month featured:

  • $10 Open Wine and Revolution Brewing Beer bar (cash only)
  • Free food from many of our local restaurants
  • Live music by Chicago musician Musikanto
  • Awards ceremony featuring Emily Rapport and Bruce Robbins
  • Artists Salon and Silent Auction
  • Art installation by the Red Thread Project
  • Hundreds of your closest friends and neighbors!

My painting, Three Potted Geraniums, was displayed at the opening reception.  It portrays a scene from my Chicago apartment with a vintage feel and is available for purchase.

Three Potted Geraniums

 
Central Gallery

Many Ravenswood ArtWalk artists displayed one artwork each at the Central Gallery at 4021 N. Ravenswood over the weekend.

My non-objective painting, Mexican Roadtrip, was on exhibit there.  The painting captures the feeling of the life and colors of Mexico using bright primary colors with heavy textures, washes and linear overlays.

Mexican Roadtrip

More of my paintings were on display for the weekend on the first floor at 1802 West Berteau Avenue (- on the Northwest corner of Berteau and Ravenswood).  So far I am planning to display two paintings from my Organic Creatures series, and Still Life With Mannequin Hand.  Organic Creatures Going to the Beach is a whimsical abstract painting with soft colors in pastels of green orange, yellow, and pink with strong, vertical,brown lines. It suggests to me a strange family of beings on an outing.

Organic Creatures Going to the Beach

Organic Creatures Taking the White House Tour is another abstract painting in this series.   Much of my work is very planned, deliberate, and slow to evolve.  At some point, I like to stop work on such a piece and do another painting that I almost attack with energy and colors, with none of the deliberation of my usual approach.  This abstract, Organic Creatures Taking the White House Tour  was one of these quick paintings in vivid primary colors.  I actually envisioned it in an instant behind my eyelids as I was rubbing my eyes after some tiring work.  I tried to apply the image to canvas quickly, adding all kinds of color and quick composition, while keeping the main figures true to my vision. When finished in about 2 hours, I looked at the finished piece and felt that here were some strange creatures doing something, and sensed that they were on a sightseeing tour. I picked the title with a sense of humor.  I would enjoy doing more oils of this same family of creatures moving about in different settings.

Organic Creatures Taking the White House Tour

Still Life With Mannequin Hand is one of a series of paintings in which I am developing an artistic approach that combines abstract and representational art.  The objects and shapes in this still life are readily recognizable, but are portrayed in a stylized manner with outlines in strong black lines.  An atmosphere of tension pervades the painting.  The globe is perched unsteadily on a pile of books, while the mannequin’s hand leans somewhat precariously over the edge of the table.  This painting won Best of Show award at Cornerstone Art Center & Gallery for the Value, Volume and Variety Exhibit in Whiting, Indiana in May of this year.

Still Life With Mannequin Hand
 
There may be space for another painting or two at the Berteau Avenue building.  If you’d like to check my other paintings out and make suggestions, I’d be interested in hearing from you.  Hope you come and visit.

RAW Street Fair

There were many events at Ravenswood ArtWalk this weekend, but I’m especially pleased that my brother, John Sarantos, entertained the crowd by playing Native American flute music at the main stage.

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