#discoverbergamot

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🌲🌲🌲 Bergamot Station's annual Winter Open House is right around the corner! Join us for a day of ART + FOOD + ENTERTAINMENT!🌲🌲🌲 Come and join the festivities! Support your local galleries!🌲🌲🌲 @theotherreindeercarolers @apolloscoffee @breakersroadshow @bestfriendsanimalsociety #visitbergamot #discoverbergamot #bergamotstation #freeevent #eventsnearme #santamonica #samo #buylocal #supportlocalart #artsy @buylocalsm @cityofsantamonica @bergamotsantamonica (at Bergamot) https://www.instagram.com/p/BrTgrNRgkwA/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=2lrzdald3n7f

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🌲🌲🌲 Bergamot Station's annual Winter Open House is right around the corner! Join us for a day of ART + FOOD + ENTERTAINMENT!🌲🌲🌲 Come and join the festivities! Support your local galleries!🌲🌲🌲 @theotherreindeercarolers @apolloscoffee @breakersroadshow @bestfriendsanimalsociety #visitbergamot #discoverbergamot #bergamotstation #freeevent #eventsnearme #santamonica #samo #buylocal #supportlocalart #artsy @buylocalsm @cityofsantamonica (at Bergamot) https://www.instagram.com/p/BqvH9IOF80P/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1vr6ns1xr3bwo

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#StaffPicks | R.B. Kitaj, Self Portrait (After Freud’s Second Painting of Me), 2000-2004 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I’ve always been enamored with this particular drawing by R.B. Kitaj, Self Portrait (After Freud's Second Painting of Me). It was a personal favorite of Leslie Sacks'--he had it hanging in his home for as long as I can remember. There is an intimacy and vulnerability to Kitaj's portraits, he does not idealize or embellish, which lends a kind of honesty and authenticity to them. This is one of those enigmatic portraits where the sitter feels like he's staring right into your soul (or following you around the room). ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Normally it's a somewhat unsettling quality, but in this instance coming from the artist himself, I find it to be a sincere, disarming gaze. There is a quiet power to the work, which is deftly rendered with short linear strokes and soft smudges of charcoal and color pastel. Utilizing a 'less is more' approach, Kitaj conveys a robust presentation of self in a subtle, restrained manner. The American born artist studied at Britain's Royal College of Art and would go on to become a significant figure in the London art world and beyond. He coined the term 'School of London' to describe himself and his peers, among them David Hockney, Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and Frank Auerbach. —Temma Nanas, Managing Director ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Artwork info: R.B. Kitaj, Self Portrait (After Freud’s Second Painting of Me), 2000-2004, charcoal on paper, 30 3/4 x 22 1/2 inches #visitbergamot #discoverbergamot #rbkitaj #kitaj #schooloflondon #american #british #charcoal (at Bergamot)

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#StaffPicks | Robert Motherwell, Robert Motherwell, America - La France Variations IX, 1984 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Robert Motherwell's series, America La France Variations, was developed over the course of two years and published in 1984. It comprises nine lithographs, each image featuring the packaging material from French paper company, Arjomari. Creating compositions with torn and cut fragments of paper, these lithographs are in keeping with Motherwell's fascination with collage and repetition. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The referential nature of Variations IX is very compelling to me. Here, Motherwell draws influence from other artists, as well as from his own experiences and imagery. The work nods to early 20th century still life collages by Picasso and Braque, while the glued, torn paper elements bring to mind the paper cut-out works of Matisse. The fragments comprising Variations IX were pulled directly from Motherwell's "collage box", in which he kept pieces of various materials--from sheet music to cigarette boxes, wine labels, and packaging material to elements from his prior works. The Arches paper that the collage edition is laid on is also made by Arjomari, furthering the self-referential nature of the piece. Moreover, each successive image in the series serves as source material for the following work, again adding to and building upon the idea of reference and repetition. —Sang Lee, Special Projects ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Artwork info: Robert Motherwell, America - La France Variations IX, 1984 , lithograph and collage, 28 1/2 x 21 3/4 inches, edition of 60 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #visitbergamot #discoverbergamot #lsg #motherwell #robertmotherwell #stafffavorites #faves #fromthecollection (at Bergamot)

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New map and sign for Bergamot. @bergamotsantamonica #discoverbergamot #bergamot #artgallery #contemporaryart #losangeles #santamonica (at Bergamot)

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#StaffPicks | Sam Francis, An 8 Set-3 (Variant II), 1963 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Sam Francis produced his first editions in 1960 printing an ambitious series of sixteen lithographs. He would go on to make 335 lithographs and 115 intaglios over his career, as well as screenprints and monoprints. His mastery for printmaking was largely due to his relentless passion for exploration and process. He was prolific in the medium and relished in the breadth of experimentation and spontaneity it afforded him. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ In the mid-1960s he embarked on a complex project entitled, Pasadena Box. The edition of 100 comprised a set of 8 single lithographs, a lithograph printed on a scroll, a folded screen in three lithographic panels and a small postcard-sized gouache painting on paper. An 8 Set-3 (Variant II), 1963 is one of the 8 single lithographs from the set typifying Francis's iconic and vibrant corpuscular style of the period. The suite was published by the Pasadena Art Museum (now the Norton Simon Museum). He wrote a poem to accompany the box, which I think aptly encapsulates his perspective on making art and process: This real Box does not exist/except in your imagination. I haven't seen it. This is an exploration of itself. Can you invent your own reality thus? Everything is here. Date conceived =work date finished =sleep date of Birth--Now ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ —Temma Nanas, Managing Director ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Artwork info: Sam Francis An 8 Set-3 (Variant II), from Pasadena Box, 1963, lithograph, 15 x 11 1/4 inches, edition of 100, signed and numbered #discoverbergamot #samfrancis #pasadena #nortonsimon #lithography (at Leslie Sacks Gallery)

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#StaffPicks | Jules Pascin, Hermine Cousant, 1916 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Jules Pascin (born Jules Mordecai Pincas) was an integral figure of the École de Paris (a community of non-French artists living in Paris during the first half of the 20th century). His style is romantic, expressive and bohemian, a direct result of the influence of his free-spirited surroundings. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Before coming to Paris in 1905, Pascin had studied and worked as an illustrator in Austria and Germany. His work evokes a intrinsic struggling, also evident in the work of his contemporaries Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Pascin was a fixture at the Café du Dome, where members of the Gare Montparnasse met to inspire one another and wax romantic about philosophy, art and literature. He held rollicking parties into the wee hours of the night and was fondly dubbed the "Prince of Montparnasse." ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I am particularly drawn to this image of his wife, Hermine David, as it provides a glimpse into his home life away from the bustling cafés and the raucous parties of bohemian Paris. This sensitive portrait of his wife sewing is characteristic of his sketches. In Pascin's renderings, Hermine was almost always depicted clothed, with downcast eyes. The sepia line work adds subtle depth to this quick, pencil rendering. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Interestingly, Hermine was also a notable artist in her own right. She successfully worked as a painter, miniaturist and printmaker and her grandfather was the iconic French nationalist, Neoclassical painter, Jacques Louis David. - Diana McNeill, Gallery Coordinator, @dianalatigra ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Artwork info: Jules Pascin, Hermine Cousant, 1916, sepia drawing, 12 1/4 x 8 1/2 inches #discoverbergamot #sepia #pascin #paris #montparnasse #julespascin (at Leslie Sacks Gallery)

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#StaffPicks | Willie Bester, Willie Bester,  Hlathi Bhobhotyani, 2007 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Willie Bester is a self-taught South African artist known for incorporating found objects into his work. The various discarded materials Bester uses to construct his compositions are gathered from the very townships he depicts. His oil paintings are are often framed in an unconventional scrap metal collected from local junkyards and flea markets. The themes of his works are heavily influenced by his experiences growing up in an Apartheid state. He uses his art as a vehicle to speak on the political and social issues of racial segregation, poverty, corruption, and the experience of everyday life in the townships and the people living in them. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Because of this highly personal and intimate relationship between the artist, subject and materials used, Willie Bester's art permeates an appreciable authenticity, which successfully immerses the viewer into his world. Bester's portraits perfectly capture this innate truth as in Hlathi Bhobhotyani, 2007 depicting the weatherworn visage of an old man. Unlike many of his other portraits, which are more generally titled like "Man with Cap" or "Portrait of an Old Man", this painting is titled for a particular individual, giving further personalization to Bester's South African experience. --Sang Lee, Special Projects ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Artwork info: Willie Bester,  Hlathi Bhobhotyani, 2007, oil on canvas in painted metal frame, 15 x 11 1/4 inches #stafffavorties #discoverbergamot #williebester #southafrica (at Leslie Sacks Gallery)