Art Around Town
Beth McNeill at the newly completed McNeill Art Group Project Space in Tribeca
McNEILL ART GROUP OPENS IN TRIBECA McNeill Art Group of Southampton, New York opened McNeill Art Group Tribeca Project Space (143 Reade St., Tribeca, New York) October 21st with the inaugural exhibition Plastic, Rubber + Wood. Curated by founder Beth McNeill, Plastic, Rubber + Wood is an exploration of material, through content, subject, and form. The exhibit challenges our conception of the industrial materials of which our man-made world is comprised. Incorporating several processes, including photography, sculpture, painting and installation, the exhibition unveils the materials’ inherent beauty and alters our conscious perception of them as elements. Exhibiting artists include Americans Tapp Francke, Mike Solomon, Bob Schwarz, Rob Fischer, Jeff Muhs, Soraida Bedoya, Tyrome Tripoli, Edward Lightner, and Samantha Thomas, Korean artist Ji Yong-Ho and Turkish artist Esma Pacal Turam. McNeill Art Group began as an art consulting and acquisitions company in 2005. After establishing a presence as a private dealer and exhibiting artists at international art fairs around the world, McNeill began seeking exhibition opportunities in alternative spaces in an effort to continue the global movement towards enhancing the visibility of contemporary art while not conforming to the traditional gallery structure. 34 • Fine Art Magazine • Fall 2009
Sans lendemain, 34” x 48”
The Artist - André Desjardins
ROCCIA GALLERY’S MONTRÉAL DEBUT Nestled in the heart of eXcentris, a multidisciplinary and multimedia arts center Roccia Gallery owner Hélène-Bélanger Martin unique in Canada, The Roccia Gallery is committed to capturing the heartbeat of the visual arts in Montreal—and anywhere in the world—and to share their discoveries with the public. On the menu are surprising and diversified exhibitions where different artistic disciplines coexist, such as painting, sculpture, photography and video. The ROCCIA gallery is managed by Hélène Bélanger-Martin, filmmaker and graduate in the history of art. The first exhibition, Secret World, is devoted to André Desjardins’ new painting collection. This Montreal based artist is experiencing tremendous success in North America as a result of his presence at the New York Artexpo in March 2008, and subsequent relationship with Masterpiece Publishing. Desjardins’ passionate work explores sensual depth through a unique technique which brings together the pigment and oil on the canvas, allowing him to set in a fascinating perspective in the paintings, to give them a soul. It is then that his “Visual Emotionism” was born, a fusion of the figurative and abstract which translates the inner state of the subject. Painting more than often directly with his bare hands on the canvas, he sculpts his subject searching for an emotion. Roccia Gallery is located at 3536 boul. Saint-Laurent, Montréal, Qc, CA H2X 2V1 and via e-mail at info@galerieroccia.com; 514.803.7977 —MÉLANIE BRUNET