“The power of what we see and how it alters our ability to find what we consider ‘happiness’ is something I find challenging and worth exploration.” – Margaret Archambault

In her 6th solo exhibit, In Ten's; A Single Century to Live, which opens on October 6th at Tim Faulkner Gallery, Margaret Archambault examines perception and mortality: “In essence, we measure our lives in 10 decades of experience. Some of us don't reach that 10th decade, but we all see our ‘life-time’ as potentially 100 years. Our personal perspective evolves through these years and our expectations related to happiness and fulfillment either becomes satisfied or we are left perpetually wanting. It is my goal with this new series to demonstrate the fallacy of the world being sold to us and focus on the world we can create within ourselves.”

Illusion versus reality is a frequent theme in art, but does it challenge our sanity to question the perception of our own existence. Archambault posits the opposite, that we are already inured from reality by the insulating cocoon of mass media. Her busy, kinetic compositions emulate in analog fashion the unyielding assault of visual information that we weather on an almost constant basis in our daily lives.

"We Are What We Were" by Margaret Archambault, 60x84in, oil and spray paint on canvas (2017)

In “We Are What We Are,” Archambault breaks the pattern of dense collage slightly with the placement of one dominant figure, a 1920’s style woman representative of a pre-digital culture, but in a posture bent under the weight of 10 years of technological development.

“Regardless of our desires and often in direct defiance of our ‘plans’ the revolutions of time and the changes that come with it lead us to the revelations that alter our paths. My newest collection, the Silk Screen Series has a universal message about how our lives are affected by the world around us. More often than not, we make decisions based on what we think is expected of us, or what someone else wants us to do. These decisions often lead to destinations we never expected and only after we have arrived do we recognize the folly.”

Hometown: South Bend, Indiana
Education: BA, Interdisciplinary Humanities with Art Focus, Summa cum Laude, Spalding University, 2007
Gallery Representation: Tim Faulkner Gallery (Louisville)
Website: http://www.archambault-art.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/margaretarchambault

*"A Book of Life" by Margaret Archambault, 60x84in, oil and spray paint on canvas (2017)*

"It's What You See, Not What You're Shown" by Margaret Archambault, 32x23in, oil and spray paint on canvas (2016), $850 | BUY NOW — *"It's What You See, Not What You're Shown" by Margaret Archambault, 32x23in, oil and spray paint on canvas (2016), $850 | BUY NOW*

*"Celebration" by Margaret Archambault, 60x84in, oil and spray paint on canvas (2017)*

Are you interested in being on Artebella? Click here to learn more. — *Are you interested in being on Artebella? Click here to learn more.*

Digital

Vignette: Joyce Goldin

Josh Jenkins · August 22, 2017

“The dog is the perfect portrait subject. He doesn’t pose. He isn’t aware of the camera.” – Patrick Demarchelier

*"Murphy" by Joyce Goldin, digital painting (2013)*

Drawings of domestic animals may not reach the loftiest heights of fine art, but they connect with the wider population in important ways. Dog lovers are famous for commissioning portraits of their beloved companions, and, in her latest work, Joyce Goldin has been rendering them digitally.

Goldin has been drawing and painting most of her life, but her love of dogs has led her into a series of digital canine portraits rendered with the plasticity of paint. After layering color in loose, organic fields reminiscent of watercolor, Goldin applies a very kinetic line to define the shape and give the image some detail. A translucent aspect lends the images the quality of having been painted on glass, which makes the warmth and expressiveness given to each individual canine all the more striking.

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Education: BS, Occupational Training and Development, University of Louisville
Website: http://www.fineartamerica.com/profiles/joyce-goldin.html

*"Beagle" by Joyce Goldin, digital painting (2017)*

*"Frenchie" by Joyce Goldin, digital painting (2014)*

*"Starr" by Joyce Goldin, digital painting (2000)*

*"Tom" by Joyce Goldin, digital painting (2000)*

Drawing

Vignette: Patricia Watson

Josh Jenkins · July 27, 2017

“All my art is in some way about other art, even if the other art is cartoons.” — Roy Lichtenstein

Patricia Watson is a highly motivated educator with a successful track record for teaching art to elementary, middle, high school, and undergraduate students. She is also experienced in coordinating and managing arts programs. As an artist, she has most recently concentrated on illustrations of famous faces.

“I have always enjoyed portraiture drawing and painting. I decided to try high contrast portraits using sharpie markers as my choice of medium. It is permanent - with no margin for error.”

The technique invests even the most ordinary pictures with an iconic sensibility. Some of the subjects lend themselves very easily to this quality – it is arguable that ANY picture of Muhammad Ali or Salvador Dali is inherently iconic and, the portrait of 1970’s songwriter and musician Leon Russell, represents the moment he transitioned from session musician to Pop Star. Watson is affecting a deliberate layer of affectionate kitsch on images of individuals who have risen to a certain status in the Pop Culture firmament, harkening back to a period in which illustration dominated the media. In an age when such things seem all but forgotten, it would not be at all difficult to imagine these images on magazine or album covers. Ask your parents.

*"Ali" by Patricia Watson, 11x14in, sharpie on paper*

Watson also paints traditionally, and has recently been experimenting with abstract painting, but these sharpie portraits are popular with the public, and she is often asked to do commissions using the technique.

Watson is currently teaching at Meyzeek Middle School in Louisville, and she is a former Elementary and Middle Grades Art Instructor, Louisville Visual Art’s Children’s Fine Art Classes (CFAC).

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Education: BA with a major in visual communications, Kean University, New Jersey; MAT - Teaching Art K-12, University of Louisville
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artchikdiva/

*"Chris" by Patricia Watson, 11x14in, sharpie on paper*

*"Dali" by Patricia Watson, 11x14in, sharpie on paper*

*"Gregg" by Patricia Watson, 11x14in, sharpie on paper*

*"Leon" by Patricia Watson, 11x14in, sharpie on paper*

Painting

Vignette: William Pichette

Josh Jenkins · July 7, 2017

What portions of our self do we edit, manipulate, and hide from view for the greater good of likes and followers? – William Pichette

"Under Control" by William Pichette, 8x20in, acrylic on printed canvas (2016), $210 | BUY NOW — *"Under Control" by William Pichette, 8x20in, acrylic on printed canvas (2016), $210 | BUY NOW*

William Pichette is a painter who sees the inherent qualities of his medium as integral to expressing the themes in the imagery. In his own words: “The thrill of the acrylic paint medium comes from how quick you must work to create. The paint dries very fast but each attempt at progress easily hides the previous attempts. Hiding ourselves proves more difficult. Once we reveal our truths through action and speech, it is not so easily undone. In a world where compliance and filtering our daily expression is the norm, muting the brilliance of our emotion is preferred, and it would be an outrageous offense to demonstrate weakness, vulnerability, honesty—humanity—I cherish in sight of visibility.”

Pichette often sets his figures against patterned backgrounds, the human a silhouette initiating a conversation with negative space, full of emotional suggestion, signs and portents.

“My pieces are inspired both by how we see and how we are seen. How do we see ourselves behind closed doors, looking in vanity mirrors, and through the lenses of our Instagram and Snapchat feed? What portions of our self do we edit, manipulate, and hide from view for the greater good of likes and followers? Those raw bits; the understanding of ourselves we hold so true that we would hate for others to see. Those nuances draw my focus; typically not blemishes and physical flaws of our outward appearance, but parts of our body none-the-less. They are the fights with mental illness and turmoil of thought, our agitation and need for direction, the imprints of the souls of others and the scars of love lost.”

Pichette just participated in 2017 Group Exhibition, Queer Voices, at Open Community Arts Center, Louisville, KY.

Age: 25
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Education: Bachelor of Liberal Arts in Ethnic Studies (Asian-American Studies), University of Texas
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Shquiggles/

"Impressionable Young Minds - Christine" by William Pichette, 8x10in, acrylic and ink on canvas (2016), $140 | BUY NOW — *"Impressionable Young Minds - Christine" by William Pichette, 8x10in, acrylic and ink on canvas (2016), $140 | BUY NOW*

"Wanderlust" by William Pichette, 8x10in, acrylic and ink on canvas (2016), $140 | BUY NOW — *"Wanderlust" by William Pichette, 8x10in, acrylic and ink on canvas (2016), $140 | BUY NOW*

"Impressionable Young Minds - Will" by William Pichette, 8x10in, acrylic and ink on canvas (2016), $140 | BUY NOW — *"Impressionable Young Minds - Will" by William Pichette, 8x10in, acrylic and ink on canvas (2016), $140 | BUY NOW*

"See and Be Seen" by William Pichette, 8x10in, acrylic and ink on canvas (2015), $110 | BUY NOW — *"See and Be Seen" by William Pichette, 8x10in, acrylic and ink on canvas (2015), $110 | BUY NOW*

"Turbulent Thought" by William Pichette, 18x18in, acrylic on wood board (2016), $375 | BUY NOW — *"Turbulent Thought" by William Pichette, 18x18in, acrylic on wood board (2016), $375 |* *BUY NOW*

Painting

Vignette: Michael Victor Troutman

Josh Jenkins · March 8, 2017

"I didn't choose art. I was born into it." – Michael Victor Troutman

"Amber" by Michael Victor Troutman, 6x6in, acrylic on canvas (2017), $25 | BUY NOW — *"Amber" by Michael Victor Troutman, 6x6in, acrylic on canvas (2017), $25 | BUY NOW*

Michael Victor Troutman claims that his work contains no “pretentious message,” and that he just hopes to provoke an individual emotional response in each individual viewer. His unorthodox use of color and a deliberately unsophisticated approach to mark making give us paintings that might be more accessible to a broader audience for exactly their lack of “airs.” There is skill in the line work but a liberating lack of concern for what is academically appropriate in compositional choices.

Troutman’s work is reminiscent of mid-20th century art that included connotations from the past. “Amber” is quick and spontaneous, but cannot help but recall Andy Warhol’s portrait of Marilyn Monroe, while the sense of decadence with a hint of depravity found in “Cessation” seems to cite Toulouse-Lautrec as a part of its ancestry.

"Cessation" by Michael Victor Troutman, 24x30in, acrylic gesso varnish on canvas (2016), $123 | BUY NOW — *"Cessation" by Michael Victor Troutman, 24x30in, acrylic gesso varnish on canvas (2016), $123 | BUY NOW*

The artist is self-taught and has been exhibiting since the late 1990s. He primarily paints portraits but has experience with other mediums such as sculpture, found art, collages, drawings and the written word. He credits much of his artistic talent to his family, “especially, my father, Victor, & my brother, Aaron. Many other relatives—including my mother, who worked in the Culinary Arts & created edible sculptures, etc., and my sister, who worked in crafts & home décor, fabric/fashion, etc., & and uncles, grandparents, etc. who made swank furniture and kinetic art—are also influences/inspirations to my creativity.”

*"A Self Portrait" by Michael Victor Troutman, 24.5 x 18.5 in, acrylic on canvas (2012)*

“I took advantage of the situation and used the tools, instruments & materials I found in my vicinity. Art is not a science, thus I did not continue formal training. Everyone is born an artist, but somewhere along the line most children morph into adults—they're too self-critical and judgmental.”

When Troutman expresses his aesthetic he tends to the poetical:

Some cold souls see art as an excessive luxury; one of them even said to me that “art is one thing that the world could do without.”
But to that bastard, I reply, I retort that never has the world done without art.
Art is ancient and as continuous as circles.
I find that when something “does not matter” is when it/something matters the most
because it's done as a thing/act in itself,
alone, clean & pure
& done because it needed or wanted to be done
& it was not done to seek rewards in heaven
& it was not done to evade punishment in hell;
it was done because it was the R—> thing to do regardless of the consequences/effects.

"TRS 3.0" by Michael victor Troutman, 20x24in, acrylic gesso varnish on canvas (2015), $138 | BUY NOW — *"TRS 3.0" by Michael victor Troutman, 20x24in, acrylic gesso varnish on canvas (2015), $138* *| BUY NOW*

ART is about AIM:

Attention

Influence

Manipulation

- so please let me con you. Feel! ENJOY!

Troutman’s latest exhibition started March 3 at Open Community Arts Center in Louisville.

Hometown: DePauw, Indiana
Age: 28
Education: BA, Spanish; BA, Political Science & Minor in International Studies w/ concentration in Latin America (& a brief period of graduate school MAT Spanish program)
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TroutmanArt

"Girl Stepping Out of Shadow" by Michael Victor Troutman, 16x20in, acrylic on canvas (2012), $169 | BUY NOW — *"Girl Stepping Out of Shadow" by Michael Victor Troutman, 16x20in, acrylic on canvas (2012), $169 | BUY NOW*

"Private Eye" by Michael victor Troutman, 24x30in, acrylic varnish on canvas (2015), $222 | BUY NOW — *"Private Eye" by Michael victor Troutman, 24x30in, acrylic varnish on canvas (2015), $222 | BUY NOW*

portrait

Vignette: Margaret Archambault