18/100 Southern Artists: The if ART Contingency: October 28 - November 17, 2012

18/100 Southern Artists

The if ART Contingency

October 28 - November 17, 2012

@ if ART Gallery
1223 Lincoln St. 
Columbia, SC

1 new book about Southern artists
100 artists in the book
18 of 100 artists from if ART Gallery

ARTISTS' RECEPTION & BOOK SIGNING
Sunday, October 28, 2 - 4 pm

To view works featured in 100 Southern Artists available at if ART Gallery CLICK HERE

For more information, contact Wim Roefs at if ART Gallery
(803) 238-2351/ wroefs@sc.rr.com

Columbia/Kaiserslautern: The International (Mural) Project, October 5-16, 2012

Jeff Donovan in "Fantastic Reality" at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios

FANTASTIC REALITY

Introducing: Diane Kilgore-Condon & Bob Trotman

Featuring: Jeff Donovan, Janet Orselli, Peter Lenzo, Philip Morsberger, Dorothy Netherland, David Yaghjian, Kees Salentijn & Marcelo Novo.

August 24 – September 4, 2012, 

@Gallery 80808/Vista Studios, 808 Lady St., Columbia, SC

Artists' Reception: Friday, Aug. 24, 5 – 9 pm

Gallery Talk Diane Kilgore-Condon: Sat. Aug. 25, 2 pm.

Artist Salon Series Talk Bob Trotman @ Columbia Museum of Art: Friday, August 31, noon.

For installation images CLICK HERE

Fishing Hole, 2012, ceramic, paint, wood, metal,
16 x 22 x 8 in., $1,600
For additional views CLICK HERE

Mental Floss, 2012, ceramic and floss, 16 1/2 x 18 x 7 in.
$1,600
For additional views CLICK HERE

Vessel I, 2012, ceramic and paint, 14 1/2 x 19 x 5 in.,
$1,600/SOLD
For additional views CLICK HERE

JEFF DONOVAN: Gray Matters

JEFF DONOVAN 
Gray Matters


An if ART Gallery exhibition 
@ Gallery 80808/Vista Studios
Columbia, S.C.


December 9 – 20, 2011
Artist's Reception: Friday, Dec. 9, 5 – 10 pm
For more information, CLICK HERE.
Scroll Down for a PREVIEW of the exhibition
To see installation images CLICK HERE

Glad Hand, 2011
Charcoal on canvas on panel
14 x 10 in., $600

Headrest, 2011
Charcoal on canvas on panel
 11 x 8 in., $450

Tile Job, 2011, charcoal and pastel on canvas on panel
7 1/2 x 10 1/2 in., $450

Tourist, 2011, charcoal on canvas on panel
8 x 10 in., $450

Working Late, 2011
 Charcoal on canvas on panel
10 1/2 x 13 1/2 in., $585

Long Distance, 2011, pastel and charcoal on canvas on panel

 10 x 10.5 in., $525

Hand Mouth, 2011, charcoal and pastel on canvas on panel

10.5 x 10.5 in.

$550

Pull, 2011, charcoal on canvas on panel, 8 x 8.5 in., $350

Tall Order, 2011,

Charcoal and pastel on canvas on panel

19 x 8 in., $625

Timeless Do, 2011, charcoal and pastel
on canvas on panel, 11 x 8 in., $450

Shy Guy, 2011, charcoal on canvas, 9 x 10.5 in.,
$500

Bad Hair-Less Day, 2011, pastel and charcoal on canvas on panel

9 x 12 in., $525

Figure Cites Background Color As Reason For Leaving 
Composition, 2011, charcoal and pastel on canvas on panel,  
8 x 11 in., $450

Head Down, Chin Up, 2011, charcoal on canvas on panel

10.5 x 13 in., $585

I Mean To Tell You What, 2011

Charcoal on canvas on panel, 9 x 6 in., $350

Man Startled by Own Ear, 2011, 

Charcoal and pastel on canvas on panel

9 x 6 in., $350

Study Hand, 2011, charcoal on canvas on panel, 8.5 x 8 in., $350

New Work by Jeff Donovan

Long Distance, 2011, pastel and charcoal on canvas on panel
 10 x 10.5 in., $525/SOLD

Chin Guard, 2011, charcoal and pastel on canvas on panel
8 x 9 in., $400/SOLD

Hand Mouth, 2011, charcoal and pastel on canvas on panel
10.5 x 10.5 in., $550

Pull, 2011, charcoal on canvas on panel, 8 x 8.5 in., $350

Tall Order, 2011,
Charcoal and pastel on canvas on panel
19 x 8 in., $625/SOLD

Timeless Do, 2011, charcoal and pastel
on canvas on panel, 11 x 8 in., $450

Bad Hair-Less Day, 2011, pastel and charcoal on canvas on panel
9 x 12 in., $525

Figure Cites Background Color As Reason For Leaving Composition
2011, charcoal and pastel on canvas on panel,  8 x 11 in., $450

Head Down, Chin Up, 2011, charcoal on canvas on panel
10.5 x 13 in., $585/SOLD

I Mean To Tell You What, 2011
Charcoal on canvas on panel, 9 x 6 in., $350

Man Startled by Own Ear, 2011, 
Charcoal and pastel on canvas on panel
9 x 6 in., $350

Study Hand, 2011, charcoal on canvas on panel, 8.5 x 8 in., $350

NEW PAINTINGS BY JEFF DONOVAN

Coach, 2011, oil on canvas, 24 x 24 in., $1,800

Cowl, 2011, pastel and gouache on canvas, 16.5x 18 in.
$950

Girl In A Green Room, 2011, pastel, charcoal, and gouache
on canvas, 20 x 24 in., $1,500

Inner City (1), 2010, pastel and gouache on canvas
12 x 12 in., $600

Inner City (2), 2010, pastel and gouache on canvas
 12 x 12 in., $600

On Pointe, 2011, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 in., $3,000

Sight Seer, 2011, oil on canvas
36 x 20 in., $2,200

The Neighbor Lady, 2011, pastel, gouache, and charcoal
on canvas, 16 x 18 in., $950

Inner City (4), 2010, pastel and gouache on canvas
 12 x 12 in., $600

Jeff Donovan and the Eureka Moment

         JEFF DONOVAN AND THE EUREKA MOMENT

         By Wim Roefs

         Quite regularly, painter Edward Rice will walk into if ART Gallery and stop in his tracks, make a beeline for a particular painting, stare at it and proclaim “Wow, look at that!” Then he asks: “Who did that?” The answer usually is: Jeff Donovan.

         Both Donovan and Rice work their surfaces and work them and work them to achieve specific colors, tones, textures and spatial effects. But where Rice mostly restricts himself to paints, Donovan’s experiments run wider. “He’ll use everything he can get his hands on,” Rice commented after seeing paintings from Donovan’s Inner City Series.  

         Donovan spends considerable time making things difficult for himself and better for the rest of us with never-ending experiments that result in exquisite works of art. His many Eureka moments, related to which materials to use and how, typically come with some declaration about having found the perfect way to do thus and such and achieve this or that. Until he finds the next perfect way.  

         In one of the paintings Rice was looking at, Inner City Series 5 (Depot Man), Donovan used wax, pigmented wax, construction paper, watercolor paper, sandpaper, index card, tile, graphite, litho crayon, prismacolor pencil, charcoal and gouache. In another, Inner City Series 11, he also used wood veneer. Rice commented on dense surfaces, vertical marks, warmth coming from underneath grays and greens, raised surface establishing the pattern of roof tiles, tobacco brown interiors, sandpaper emulating newly surfaced tarmac and thickness suggesting the passing of time. “The work seems to be some kind of early Italian ­– Modernist hybrid,” he said.

         Donovan’s initial impulse is to talk about the geometric compositions rather than surfaces of the Inner City Series, which he began with four paintings in 2010 and continued this year. Only one of the paintings references the human form, which is unusual for Donovan. He first moved his figures from nature-based, organic settings to geometric environments. “Geometrically defined space provided a more interesting contrast to the organic form of the figure than the equally organic forms in nature,” Donovan says. “Then I decided to explore the compositional possibilities of the geometry of architecture without the human form.”

         “The dryness of strictly straight lines and the rigorous limitations of basic geometry were offset by the fantastic spatial distortion that I achieved through especially isometric perspective but also one- and three-point perspective and by not separating them as strictly as you would in actual practice.”

         But the shift in materials in the current work gets Donovan excited, too. “I used wax as both an adhesive and a paint, which allowed me to employ two new techniques, collage and encaustic. The universality of wax as an adhesive allows for a nearly limitless choice of materials. So far, I have restricted myself to various papers, both regular ones, such as watercolor paper, and more unusual ones, such as sandpaper.”

         “With the pigmented wax, I have to my great surprise and delight been able to use most of the dry media such as graphite, charcoal and pastel as well as some water media such as gouache. That has enabled me to achieve an even richer and more varied surface than I can get with a single medium for the entire composition. I am generally pleased with the results, but I am even more excited by future possibilities.”

                                    Wim Roefs is the owner of if ART Gallery