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artstartart · 4 years

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Erik’s Picks - January 2020 (Parts 1 and 2)

Our Picks From The January Collection (Part 1)

Humor us with a quick thought experiment.

Where do you think Google looks to hire from when they’re trying to find the next great minds in computer science? Or how about Tesla when they need a new batch of brilliant and youthful mechanical engineers?

If you guessed from universities across the nation, you're correct. Universities cultivate the next generation of great minds, but while there are professional outlets for business and engineering, what happens to the raw creative talent that is developed in art schools?

The honest truth is that this talent largely never sees the light of day as students graduate and have difficulty translating their skills to the market. At ArtStartArt, we strive to bring this creative talent to light and provide our audience the opportunity to access it in an unprecedented manner.

The work in our January Collection is a great representation of this talent, and it goes so deep this month that we need to break this email into two parts. Read on below for our first batch of picks this month, and as always, thank you for the support.

Erik & Alok | ArtStartArt Co-Founders

Andri Kidd is a recent graduate of the prestigious School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an ASA Select artist. There are only a few artists we've run across as an undergraduate that have such a strong sense of the type of art they want to create, and Andri is one of those artists. Andri claims to "love the playful, the wholesome, and the unapologetic," and when we look at Andri's art and descriptions on the site, we are quickly transported into a whimsical headspace. At $180, this small painting on wood panel is of immense value.

Nathan Sing is a native Texan and an ASA Select artist. As an undergrad, Nathan exhibited with us at East Austin Studio Tour and his work was purchased by a prominent collector here in Austin. Nathan's work leverages iconic landscape scenes and modernizes them in a way that doesn't feel forced. Nathan makes the type of art that is guaranteed to make a statement and start a conversation regardless of where it is placed and at 3 feet by 4 feet, this succulent-themed painting has universal appeal.

Rachel Parnell is a recent graduate from UT Austin and an ASA Select artist. We haven't seen Rachel's work since 2017, when ArtStartArt was just a pilot at 3 local schools and not a national marketplace. Even at that time, Rachel sold almost all the work from her senior portfolio that she listed on the site and we're beyond excited to be able to showcase her work again. In this latest body of work, Rachel continues her tradition of storytelling through layering; the covering, uncovering, scratching, and drawing on top of previous layers in order to arrive at a final composition. All of Rachel's work is large scale, ready to hang, and a couple of her listings this month even include an artist frame in the price.

Katerina Vasquez is an undergraduate artist showcasing work for the first time on the platform. This figure study is deftly created and is a harbinger of success for Katerina if she keeps up this trajectory. If you don't already own a figurative work, we challenge you to take the leap in 2020 (consider it a resolution) and this piece is a great place to start.

Lizeth Terrazas is a recent graduate from UT Austin and an ASA Select artist. You know, sometimes our audience dings us for featuring too much figurative work, but to be honest we can't help ourselves. Artists at this stage make so much good figurative work that we'd be remiss not to showcase it. Lizeth's work fits in that vein and this intaglio titled "Cuerpos Bailando" would look stunning matted and framed. Heck, at $125, if someone doesn't grab this piece we may have to ourselves.

Yiming Sun is an undergraduate artist showcasing work for the first time on the platform. We're addicted to this painting and it’s the one this month we can’t take our minds off of. From the otherworldly color palette, to the rendering of the skin, to the divine tiling in the foreground and background, this is a masterpiece without question. Yiming has the rare talent and vision to follow in the footsteps of the greats artists she references as influences and this is a rare opportunity to own something of this caliber before is it inaccessible for most of us.

Our Picks From The January Collection (Part 2)

You know, everyone collects art for different reasons. Some collect art to support artists or their local community, some collect as an investment, and others collect to beautify their spaces.

When you're in the early stages of collecting (as most folks are), you've got a ton of wall space for new work, but once you get the bug, and have been collecting for several years you start to run out of space. At an art fair recently we meet some serious collectors who described this exact situation to us, and it turns out there's a few terms when you've got a collections that's outgrown your walls: Leaners and Cullers.

Leaners refers to the fact that your walls are so filled that a good portion of your art is leaning against a wall and is not hung.

Cullers refers to the fact that you have so much art that you've been forced to reduce your collection at one point or another.

You may not have any Leaners or Cullers yet, but our January Collection, only available for two more weeks on the site, is chock-full of great art to fill your walls. If you're already a serious collector, well then, what's another Leaner?

Below is part two of our picks this month and I hope you enjoy adding to your collection!

Erik | ArtStartArt Co-Founder

Dario Buchelli is an MFA student at Texas Christian University. Dario recently exhibited a painting with us at East Austin Studio Tour and his current body of work is our favorite yet. Dario's work "involves appropriation of images of other artist’s works as they are found in the internet" and these pieces in particular are inspired by 17th century Dutch landscape painters. I can't speak highly enough of these sublime and uniquely modern paintings and this is another piece this month that I am scheming to add to my personal collection if it's not acquired in the next couple of weeks. This series of paintings by Dario also happen to be some of the most exceptional values on ASA this month. It's hard to articulate how rare it is to have an original painting, of this caliber and uniqueness, by an MFA artist, of this size, available for around $500. If you like this piece, you'll regret not getting it now, trust me.

Josh Barish is an undergrad at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. For a couple months Josh only submitted a single piece to the site each month (even though we urged him to submit more as his talent was immediately obvious to us). However, now that some of his work has sold, he's listed a handful of gems for January, and this painting, Inside Us, takes our breath away. In some ways, this painting looks like it could have been plucked from the wall of a Byzantine monument. It has that timeless symbology and impact, and the glow of the red and gold radiate a powerful mystery. We're in awe of how simple and impactful this stunning composition is, and if you're drawn to it - wait until you see in person.

Alexander Lozano is a Texas-based sculptor and an ASA Select artist. Over the years, we've visited dozens of studio arts facilities in person and the scale and quality of the facilities at the UT Arlington Studio Art Center are some of the best we've ever seen. As a product of the UT Arlington glass program, Alexander had access to exceptional facilities that have allowed him to excel at his craft, and as a result he's created truly exceptional glass pieces. If you've never owned a piece of hand blown glass, then you should know it is entirely different from any other glass vessel you have seen or touched. The weight will surprise you and the feel is buttery. The way the milky glass flows in this form and mirrors the wavy edge and sculpted base are just a couple of details that transcend this form into the finest of art. Also, this piece is wonderfully large. You could put fruit in it as a center piece, or leave it empty and elevated on a shelf. Whatever you do with it, you'll find yourself coveting it - I guarantee it.

Nickolas Holden is a Texas-based photographer and an ASA Select artist. This mystifying and perhaps ominous image was produced by a 4x5 large format camera (an incredibly high fidelity way to produce images that many of the world's greats use today) and is printed at a very large scale. When framed, this piece can hold its own on almost any sized wall. I can tell you as someone who spent 4 years in school studying and practicing photography that Nickolas has the eye and intuition of a true photographer. He's drawn to scenes and people that seem to hold the beauty and enigma of the natural world, and then he's able to capture them with his camera in a way that lets us sense them too. His work is of the kind that I urge people to own, because when framed and hung, these photographs create the transformative experience in a person that opens a new way of seeing in the world.

Miranda Terry is a recent graduate from Texas State University and an ASA Select artist. We've watched Miranda's work evolve over her last 2 years of college and now post-graduation and it's been entirely fulling to watch her development as an artist (just take a look at all her previous sold work on her profile). I actually met Miranda in person a couple of years back after one of her early sales (when I did a little of the packaging couriering myself), and I knew then she embodied the type of artist we wanted to support. Motivated, sharp, visionary and uniquely talented, Miranda is a creator I deeply admire. This new body of works on paper are flat out spectacular. The absolute sophistication (and playfulness) in color and composition complimented by the natural deckled edge and slightly irregular paper shape make these pieces crave-able. I feel strongly someone should purchase more than one and display them individually framed as a collection, and by golly at this price there isn't a good reason not to. Also, did I mentioned Miranda and her colleague Onix (also a Select artist) were recently commissioned to paint a mural at Texas State University? They are going places.

Zachary Brock is an undergrad photographer at Trinity University. We've featured Zach on numerous occasions and it's because he keeps producing work that moves us to the core. This modern interpretation of Michelangelo's fresco is wonderfully fresh and a bit surreal. This is one of those photographs that tens of thousands of people over the years may have tried to make and only a couple get it right. Zach did. The subtle bow of the figures arm and the clarity of focus in the folds of the hand. The divine distance between the branch and the finger and the small bud that's perhaps taking life at the end of the limb. The sense that both are stretching towards one another. These are only a few surface observations of what make this photograph magic and to the owner, more will reveal themselves over time. Zach's work is destined for a gallery at some point, and we're honored to be able to feature it at this stage in his career.

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