realism – Circle Foundation for the Arts

Eugene Kuperman was born in Kharkov, Ukraine in 1987 and now lives in Southern California. Since childhood, Eugene enjoyed drawing anything that inspired him. Eugene has been sketching since he was three years old and painting since he was seven. He has created over four hundred pieces and thousands of sketches. Eugene’s work is in many private collections including in a private collection of Robert Harris Rothschild who has many notable works in his collection by artists like Rembrandt, Chagall, Dali, Ernst, Lichtenstein, and many more. An art catalog came out in 2012 featuring many of those artists as well as the work commissioned from Eugene. From 2010 to his passing in 2014, Eugene Kuperman studied with a renowned Russian artist Leonid Steele whose works are in many museums in the world, including pieces in the notable Tretakov Gallery in Russia. One of Leonid’s former teachers was a student of a famous Russian landscape painter: Isaac Levitan and another teacher he had, was a student of the famous Russian artist: Ilya Repin.

For Eugene, art is about inspiration. He has been exhibiting since 2006. In 2008, Eugene traveled for a study abroad trip to Paris, France to study the old masters from life at the Louvre. He was very much inspired by the Rubens room there as well as the two Michelangelo sculptures; Dying Slave and Rebellious Slave. Another piece that left an impression on Eugene was Theodore Gericault's The Raft of the Medusa. In October 2017, Eugene Kuperman traveled to Italy to study the great Italian Renaissance and Baroque masters. He’s witnessed the greatest works by Michelangelo first hand, such as Statue of David, St.Peter’s Pieta, Sistine Chapel, Tomb of Pope Julius II, Doni Tondo, Pieta Palestrina, the unfinished Slave sculptures, Dome of St.Peter’s Basilica and more. Michelangelo serves as his greatest inspiration for his incredible sense of design and composition. Since late 2014, early 2015, Eugene took a new direction in art. He took upon himself to create works of social commentary which to any extent educate, enlighten, and promote change in society. Eugene Kuperman is a listed artist and his work has been published in various art books, magazines, and newspapers.

Celia Carl Anderson

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Celia Carl Anderson, Associate Professor of Art (Retired) grew up in the Willamette Valley in Oregon and moved to Alaska in 1979 where she maintains a studio in Kenai. She holds a BA Degree in Fine Arts from Oregon State University, an MA in Interdisciplinary Studies (Fine Arts, Arts Education & Anthropology) from Oregon College of Education and an MFA in Illustration from Syracuse University. Anderson taught Visual Arts for 10 years at Mat-Su College and for 10 years at Kenai Peninsula College, both in Alaska. She then directed the Visual Art Program at Kenai Peninsula College and campus gallery from 2002 until her retirement in 2013. Anderson’s great love is figurative painting in any medium or mix of media. Her work is infused with intense energy and always expressive.

Jose Luis Quinones

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"I was born in Yauco, Puerto Rico and moved with my family to Ohio as a young child. My passion for realism lead me to pursue my career in fine art. I completed my Art Education at Cooper School of Art and the Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, Ohio.

My oil paintings were originally based on a series of objects from my father’s small grocery store. I was fascinated with painting objects, and soon the backgrounds became unimportant to me, so I let the gallery walls serve that purpose. I shaped the canvas to fit the contour of the object involved.

Like Rosenquist, I had painted mural size billboards for an outdoor media company for many years. Constantly painting on such a large scale had influenced the size of my artwork. I found that size was a significant factor on the impact of the viewer. I was also captivated by the abstract quality of something so large when observed up close. My paintings are done in oils and hand brushed to look like it is created with an airbrush technique.

Recently, I am in the process of investigating paintings shaped in a circular format. I still strive for a three-dimensional feeling even though the painting is a flat surface. My fascination with realism and the shaped canvas will enable me to envision many new and intriguing paintings. It will be interesting to see how far I can manipulate the shaped facade to create a two-dimensional surface into a three-dimensional illusion of genuine excitement!"

Jocelyne Deschamps-Kus

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French artist, Jocelyne Deschamps-Kus was born in 1948 and lives in Lyon. She has been drawing from a young age and never gave up. Jocelyne received her Bachelor's of Fine Arts and a Diploma in Graphic Art. She exhibits regularly in France and abroad but in her own words, what she likes best is "to stay every day in my atelier, working hard on different topics and depict the common world. Art is my passion, I am constantly creating and inventing new themes and paths. Add a passion of color and a touch of humor and sensitivity and you will get the full and deep meaning of my work."

Jingfeng Li

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Kexin Di

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Full-time fine artist at Wuhan Art Institute Kexin Di is a member of China Artists Association; Fine Art Society of Zhejiang Province, China; ArtSpace; and Wuhan Artists Association. Kexin is the Ambassador of Mondial Art Academia and a member of the American Artists Professional League, the National Oil & Acrylic Painters Society and World Wide kitsch(Odd Nerdrum).

Kexin's resume includes exhibitions in association with the following institutions, First China's Art College Teachers' and Students' Oil Painting Exhibition held by China Artists Association, China's Ministry of Culture, the National Exhibition of Art Works: Commemorate of the 30th Anniversary of China's Reform and Opening held by China Artists Association at the the Guangdong Museum of Arts, National Art Museum of China and Sichuan Art Museum, recipient of the Earl of Cromier Scholarship Awards and exhibited in Sichuan Art Museum, the International Figurative Art competition in Barcelona, held by MEAM museum and ARC Gallery, a Best in Show Award at 39th annual international figurative art competition in Salmagundi, Club in 5thAve. NYC, First Place in Figurative Oil at AMERICAN ART AWARDS and the Ridgewood Art Institute Award.

Atom Hovhanesyan

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Atom Hovhanesyan was a New York-based artist working in oil and ink. Atom lived a life not many would understand. To this day, his family and friends still don't understand the struggles and depression he faced for nearly the past decade, but his art speaks volumes. In his abstract works, Atom's goal was to create a unified atmosphere and sense of luminosity. Bits and pieces of forms from memory were utilized as building blocks for constructing the composition. Atom was trying to create a complex space compelling enough to act as a point of departure while retaining the often accidental mystery and painted energy.

As a faithful and respectful learner, Atom loved traditional media and ground his own colors. He committed a colossal dedication to his art, beyond any imaginable passion or love. Sometimes spending 72 hours nonstop working on a painting or drawing, Atom unintentionally, or maybe subconsciously even, created a unique and unprecedented style and technique in post divisionism and ink drawings never observed before.

Atom's own statement about his art: "The goal here is to utilize the whole surface of the support, challenging the viewer's perception of negative space. Essentially divisionist, the figure/composition is woven into the fabric of the plane and the space warps into the figure. In the painting process, repetitive, almost automatic, application of the cross-hatched lines allow the subconscious the opportunity to direct the composition. There is a tension between the desire to hide vs. the need to reveal, conflicting within the human mind. As far as drawings, I worked with ink with the same approach, because of the fine lines unique to this medium and the texture that arises from multiple built-up layers of cross-hatched lines, allowed me to focus on light and texture and the feel of the drawing ended up being quite different from the paintings."

Francesca Falli

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Francesca Falli began painting as a child, under the guidance of her maternal grandfather, and made arts her professional sphere. She studied at the Art Institute, the European Institute of Design and the Academy of Fine Arts.

In 1983 she began her career as a freelance graphic designer, carrying out graphic projects for public bodies and private companies, while she devoted herself to painting. In 2010, she began working with digital techniques. She is the creator of numerous editorial-artistic publications: in 2000 she designed and created the "International Peace Prize" assigned to the Holy Father Pope John Paul II. In the 90s, she attended the studio of Fabio Mauri.

Falli's works are exhibited in several contemporary art museums and she has received prizes and awards in Italy and abroad. She is a member of the Interdisciplinary Center for Contemporary Landscape. She exhibited her "Pollage" in the large galleries section of the main Italian contemporary art fairs alongside the works Warhol, Festa, Angeli, and Schifano. She is documented within the Catalog of Modern Art Mondadori and the Atlas of Art de Agostini. Falli exhibited her "PollArte" at Palazzo Albrizzi Capello to coincide with the review of the Guatemala Pavilion, present at the 16th Venice Biennale.

Her attitude to experimentation has pushed her towards the creation of an innovative mode of "artistic work" in which painting and decoration are contaminated with the possibilities of new digital techniques. Continuous research has led her to the production of "Pollage" which are gaining interest from critics and historians and are spreading in the world of collectors. The chaotic, distorted and emphasized landscapes we find in her mirrored artworks are an expression of the mental and visual chaos caused by the earthquake that struck her city in 2009.

Mathieu Nozieres

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"Mathieu Nozieres was born in Grenoble, France in 1988. Growing up as a free-spirited and inquisitive individual, Mathieu soon discovered his love for comic arts and drawing. For him, the most interesting way to spend his time was observing and experiencing the world - telling stories, through his drawing.

Graduating from the St. Lucas School of Arts in Belgium at a young age, and armed with a basic comics drawing background, Mathieu then pursued and graduated with a Masters Degree in Fine Arts (Painting) in Belgium in 2012.

His oil paintings developed around a deep interest he has for humankind and the world; his topics often feature protagonists accompanied by a horse or a bird, symbolizing a certain kind of freedom that surges within our desires. Mathieu's artworks are often inspired by Jean Giraud (comics), Rubens, Delacroix and Géricault (painting) and Rimbaud (poetry.) Combined with a certain sense for contemporary themes, Mathieu has cherished the opportunity to bring forward the lust for the co-existence between past and present, imbuing a lingering continuity in his artworks.

Mathieu has also begun to specialize his art experience and culture by teaching European art across countries like China, Belgium, France, and Morocco for the last five years. His extensive travel has enriched his creative viewpoint and experiences, extending his main field of exploration, reflection, and experimentation in his artworks.

Mathieu's paintings have been selected for showcase throughout France, Belgium, Austria, Germany, England, The Netherlands, and China, including his solo exhibition “Nouvelles Peintures” in La Louve Gallery, Belgium, Mobil'Art 2019, 9th Biennale of Contemporary Arts, Belgium, Art Karlsruhe with Galerie Charron, Germany. His works also have won several awards, like the Artslant 2017 showcase (1st place), Nominee of the Louis Schmidt painting prize 2018 and Nominee of the Montaigne prize 2017, Culture category."

- Written by Ashling Aileron, 2019

Martha Espinoza

Martha Espinoza is a bird, marine life, wildlife, and botanic illustrator. On every artwork she wants to show the beauty that can be found at national parks, wildlife refuges and biological center of her home country, Costa Rica and other countries.

Eugene Kuperman

Celia Carl Anderson

Often with sociopolitical overtones, Anderson uses images, particularly the human form, to express ideas, emotions, and to make people think.

Jose Luis Quinones

Contemporary artist's Jose Luis Quinones' passion for perfection and artistic ability combine for an exciting blend of dazzling colors and the illusion of a three-dimensional surface. His oversized paintings are shaped on the outer edge to conform to the object which enhances the idea of realism.

Jocelyne Deschamps-Kus

"My aim is to draw thoughts and feelings of everyday life. I paint current events in their beauty as well as in their darkness, and various themes such as global warming, exodus, joys and sorrows, and I like to add a touch of humor to everything."

Jingfeng Li

From Beijing, China, JingFeng Li graduated from Shenyang Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts and is a member of American Portrait Society, a contractor of the Sena Art Gallery in France, and a representative painter of modern Chinese painting.

Kexin Di

"For me painting is more than creating a picture; it is about telling a story from the heart and expressing past experiences. In my work necessity and chance converge into new possibilities."

Atom Hovhanesyan

After refining and continuing to develop the post divisionist technique by painting not so much in a narrative sense, Atom painted bits and pieces of thoughts or emotions/memories, at times incidental, at times directed consciously, unified in one mood or an atmosphere.

Francesca Falli

"In my art, there is an exercise in thought that blends with visual communication. I love new digital techniques, even if for me the computer is only a mean; the ideas come first in my mind. I combine technology and painting techniques inspired by Pop Art."

Mathieu Nozieres

"I'm inspired by humanity and its various cultures. Through my artworks, I aim to create a bridge between the past, the present, and hopefully, the future."