Sordoni Art Gallery at Wilkes University

Time for another #MelanatedMonday ! Today we want to highlight Trenton Doyle Hancock! Hancock was born in 1974 in Oklahoma City, OK, but spent much of his upbringing in Paris, Texas. As a child, his stepfather was a minister and going to church was fundamental in Hancock’s life. As a result, religious tropes and themes appear often in his works, as well as cultural ones. . Hancock attended Texas A&M University - Commerce for his BFA, and as an undergrad, he worked as a cartoo...nist for the school newspaper. He planned to become a professional cartoonist after graduation, and his love of cartoons, comics, and graphic novels, continues to influence his work to this day. . In an interview with BOMB Magazine from September 2020, Hancock gave more insight to his artistic goals and discussed his plans to write and illustrate a full-length graphic novel intended for publication. He states, When I began... I had a goal or manifesto to bring to the gallery setting at least some echoes of my love of comics. I wanted this idea to come across in the display of the work and in the format. I started to see my work as a graphic novel that you could walk into. I steered clear of doing a traditional graphic novel, because for me it was all about making this new, hybrid formbringing in painting, performance, and printmakingin a different way than the traditional panel-by-panel thing." . His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions including Locust Projects, Temple Contemporary, and Contemporary Art Museum St. In 2019, a major exhibition of his work, Mind of the Mound: Critical Mass, opened at MASS MoCA in Massachusetts. Trenton Doyle Hancock was such a fun artist to talk about for Melanated Monday, and we sure are looking forward to that graphic novel! . #monday #TrentonDoyleHancock #comics #graphicnovel #cartoons #blackartist #sordonigallery #sordoniartgallery See more

Welcome back to another meme masterclass where we lovingly poke fun at an artist you should know to help you learn more! This week-- Camille Pissaro! . Pissaro (1830-1903) was a Danish-French painter who is considered the Father of Impressionism. His expressive paintings caused quite a stir in art institutions upon premiere, but his influence has carried on to this day. He is the only artist to have shown his work at all eight Paris Impressionist exhibitions, from 1874 to 18...86. Indeed, Pissaro "acted as a father figure not only to the Impressionists" but to all four of the major Post-Impressionists, Cézanne, Seurat, Gauguin, and van Gogh. . So how do I recognize a Pissaro? Well, this checklist of objections by his early critics might help: the subject matter is too commonplace, the people too vulgar and unkempt; the expressive style feels sketchy, almost incomplete; and there are odd colors, shadows and unseen objects that come together in a new anti-versimilitude. . Source: Wikipedia #sordoniartgallery #memes #artmemes #arthumor #fineart #funny #impressionist #impressionism #pissaro See more

It’s been a few weeks since HBO’s whodunit ‘The Undoing’ concluded but we are still thinking about it here at the SAG. Were you as hooked as we were? Art figured prominently throughout the show. According to Susan Bier, director and executive producer of the show, it was meant to be a window into the characters. Donald Sutherland’s character, Franklin is the patriarch of the show and the art aficionado. His home is filled with lesser known paintings by Willhem De Kooning..., Diego Rivera, Henri Rousseau, and Juan Gris. (slide two and three) But probably more striking is the lush museum we often find Franklin contemplatively sitting in front of two JMW Turners. Bier says I felt that Turner was right for him, because it’s magical, but it’s not about people, it’s about atmosphere, Bier says. They are the kind of paintings that you can keep looking at. This museum, The Frick, is an actual location in the upper east side of Manhattan right on Fifth Avenue, where they filmed directly on location. The Frick houses the collection of industrialist Henry Clay Frick. It is known for its distinguished Old Master paintings and outstanding examples of European sculpture and decorative arts. (slide one) Grace, Nicole Kidman's character, has a home also filled with painting.(slide four) Her character is clearly her father’s daughter and has a great love of art, although has a bit more modern taste. In the first episode, she and her husband (Hugh Grant) attend a private event in a home that has two Hockneys but clearly, as seen in slide five, has other impressive selections to signify wealth and status. But overall, Grace’s home is unique in the series as it is cozy, vibrant, and a place a family uses whereas places and people she visits are clearly about showing their wealth. ‘The Undoing’ is a great way to visit art spaces while many public spaces are closed to the public. Check it out and be transported to the pre-pandemic NYC art collecting world. . . #sordonigallery #sordoniartgallery #theundoing #thefrick #nicolekidman #donaldsutherland #hbo #nycart #artmuseum #artplaces

Although the #sordoniartgallery has been focusing on art history while our doors are closed, we are always delighted when our members take art into their own hands! When we asked everyone on the #SAG team to send in art that put them in the holiday spirit, Alyssa told us she was working on one of her own. . Practically the first thing my mom asked me when I got home from Wilkes for the break was if I would do this project for her. She’s obsessed with her garden, and also un...controllably obsessed with garden decorations almost to a fault. She had been looking for a set of posts of Mr and Mrs Claus to put out front with our Christmas lights and couldn’t find anything that wasn’t ugly or overpriced Soooo, she asked me to do it! It’s for my mama so of course I said yes, and I was actually kind of excited. I used acrylic paint on 2 large pieces of wood that my Dad cut out for me after I sketched them out, and I think they turned out pretty cute! . Couple goals, am I right?! Do you take art into your hands? Show us your holiday projects! . #winter #christmas #mrclaus #mrsclaus #santaclaus #handpainted #SAGmakers See more

This #TBT is from the year 1997 and is from the art gallery’s exhibition Contemporary Realist Art From the Collection of Mellon Bank. . . This exhibit included a selection of contemporary American paintings and prints from Mellon Bank’s collection. The collection, which initially consisted of a small body of 19th century paintings, was carefully supplemented in the early 1980s with British and American works of the same period. The contemporary works were added to bring the... collection into the 20th century and reinforce the connection between Mellon Bank and modern innovative ways of doing business. The exhibition was meant to share an important part of the collection of Mellon Bank with the community and to celebrate the achievements of a distinguished group of artists. . . Images: Vija Celmins’ Constellation-Uccello; and Wayne Thiebaud’s Downgrade . . #sordonigallery #SAG #paintings #prints #mellonbankcollection #americanart #britishart See more

Since the weather outside is getting frightful, and the #sordoniartgallery is closed for the holidays, we thought we'd bring you some of our staff's seasonal favorites. First up is Outreach Coordinator Karley's favorite: Winter Landscape by Wassily Kandinsky (1909). . "When I saw this painting, it immediately reminded me of Christmas time as a kid. My parents' house is backed by a forest that used to be coal mines. So when all the trees were dead and it snowed on the hills o...f shale deposits, this is what golden hour looked like. I love how Kandinsky used this intense rainbow palette instead of plain white to create a cozy effect with the light. It makes me feel warm from running up the sledding hill in the sun even though my toes are numb with cold ugh, now I need a hot chocolate." . . #winter #christmas #snow #fineart #abstractart #landscape #landscapepainting #kandinsky #sordonigallery See more