LC ARMSTRONGISLAND PAINTINGS

LC ARMSTRONGISLAND PAINTINGS

| AUGUST 7 - 16, 2017 |EXHIBITION CONTINUES THROUGHOUT AUGUST 6 - 16, 2017

BELLONIO CULTURAL CENTER

84700, FIRA | SANTORINI, GREECE

+30. 22860. 24960 | BELLONIO.GR

ISLAND PAINTINGSL. C. Armstrong

Magical Realism is most often connected to the literary and film genres, however, the term was coined by German art critic Franz Roh in 1925 to describe the return to verisimilitude, known as Neue Sachlichket, (“New Objectivity”). Ordinary subjects were rendered with such intensity of color, and faithfulness to detail, that they were imbued with a magical force. For over 20 years I have painted landscapes that incorporate figures, and objects, that expand upon Magical Realism by presenting everyday objects as both fantastic and hyperreal. My paintings feature outsized flowers over sunrises, sunsets, and seascapes; and tiny creatures, both human and animal, populate the middle ground, and add to the disorientating scale shifts of the scene. A stage is set for the dream to commence, a dream of a “Peaceable Kingdom,” that we long to return to, a dream of Eden.

My paintings are hypnotic re-presentations

of the world as I choose to see it; lit by the light of long ago, by the original light of the sun, or the moon. The flowers seem backlit, or lit from within. The artists I admire all use light for spiritual effect. When painted and observed, light is transformed into a tangible object with spiritual properties. The light of the halo, the light of Vermeer, of de La Tour, the light of Van Gogh, the light of O’Keeffe. The German Romantic painters, especially Caspar David Friedrich found the spiritual in nature. This was also the guiding light for the 19th c. American Hudson River School painters and the Luminists. The light shone through John Ford’s Westerns (riding off into the sunset), Rothko, and the Californian neon and light artists, Irwin, Sonnier, Nauman, Flavin, Turell.

I grew up in Southern California, working

summers in my father’s neon shop. I painted signs and airbrushed vans to pay my tuition

through Art Center College of Design. This early training helped develop highly disciplined brush skills which are still evident in my work today. My choice of materials, portrait linen, gessoed and sanded to a silky-smooth finish, layers upon layers of thin acrylics or oils, (along with some airbrushing), allows me to achieve an almost ethereal atmospheric background upon which I add my high definition flowers and figures. This tendency to present everything in sharp focus, rather than using a one point selective focus, adds to the heightened experience that the paintings strive to create.

The “realistic” part of Magical Realism is

the snake in the garden, the tornado on the horizon, the fiery smoke from the fuse, the bird on the barbed wire. However, my paintings are primarily about focusing on the good, and on the resilience of people and nature, and most importantly on finding magic in the everyday. The viewer is invited to recover the symbols that can enrich our increasingly virtual lives, and to embrace the beauty of reality.

Isles of the Night Bloomers, 2011oil on linen on panel30 x 24 in., 76 x 61 cm

Flowers Over Flow Ers, 2016acrylic on linen on panel20 x 16 in., 50.8 x 40.6 cm

Roses, Ruby Throats, and Razor Wire, 2017acrylic on linen on panel24 x 18 in., 61 x 45.7 cm

Sunset, Over Cybidium, 2016acrylic on linen on panel20 x 16 in., 50.8 x 40.6 cm

Flowers on a Fuse Paphiopedilum, 2014acrylic on linen

14 x 11 in., 35.6 x 28 cm

Night Bloomers Over Lawndry, 2016acrylic on linen on panel36 x 28 in., 91.4 x 71.1 cm

Fiery Phalaenopsis Over Butterfly, 2014,oil on linen on board,

28 x 22 in., 71.8 x 56.2 cm

Blossoms Over Bow Bridge, 2014oil on canvas on board

48 x 96 in., 121.9 x 243.8 cm

Spotted Palaenopsis Over Hummingbird, 2014acrylic on linen28 x 22 in., 71.1 x 55.9 cm

Orchids and Irises Over Oracles, 2008acrylic, bomb fuse and resin on linen on birch panel

60 x 48 in., 152.4 x 121.9 cm

Cattleya Over Couple, 2010oil on aluminum panel30 x 24 in., 76.2 x 61 cm

Poppy Blooms Over Moths and Moon, 2014acrylic on linen on birch panel

36 x 28 in., 91 x 71 cm

Sunrise in Paradise, 2011oil on birch panel28 x 24 in., 71.1 x 61 cm

Sunrise in the Garden, 2011oil on linen on panel

28 x 24 in., 71.1 x 61 cm

L. C. ARMSTRONG

1954 Born in Humboldt, Tennessee1982 BFA from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena,

California1987 BFA from San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco,

CaliforniaThe artist lives and works in New York, New York.

AWARDS

1991 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Inc., New York, New York, United States

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2017 Signals at Sunset, Marlborough Gallery, New York, New York, United States.

2014 Recent Paintings, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, New York, United States.

2013 L.C Armstrong: Central Park Paintings, Marlborough Gallery, New York, New York, United States.

2009 L.C. Armstrong: Flowerscapes, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, New York, United States.

2008 - 2009 L.C. Armstrong: The Paradise Triptychs, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida, United States.

2007 L.C. Armstrong: New Paintings, Marlborough Gallery, New York, New York, United States.

2005 L.C. Armstrong - Paintings, Galerie Hübner, Frankfurt, Germany.

2003 Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, D.C., United States.

2001 L.C. Armstrong: New Paintings, Postmasters Gallery, New York, New York, United States.

2000 Galerie Hübner, Frankfurt, Germany.2000 Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, D.C., United

States.1999 Postmasters Gallery, New York, New York, United

States.1999 Angles Gallery, Santa Monica, California, United

States.1998 L.C. Armstrong: Paintings, Hofstra University,

Hempstead, New York, United States.1998 L.C. Armstrong. Mall Flowers, Galerie Hübner,

Frankfurt, Germany.1997 Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, D.C., United

States.1997 Bravin Post Lee, New York, New York, United States.1995 Making and Unmaking, University of Southern Florida

Contemporary Museum, Tampa, Florida, United States.1994 Angles Gallery, Santa Monica, California, United

States.1994 Bravin Post Lee, New York, New York, United States.1994 Phillippe Rizzo Gallery, Paris, France.1993 John Post Lee Gallery, New York, New York, United

States.1993 Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, D.C., United

States.1992 White Columns, New York, New York, United States.1992 Galerie Sophia Ungers, Cologne, Germany.1991 Galerie Sophia Ungers, Cologne, Germany.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2016 The Conference of the Birds, Shirley Fiterman Art Center at BMCC, New York, New York, United States.

2014 Sargent’s Daughters, Sargent’s Daughters, New York, New York, United States.

2011 Drawing , Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, D.C., United States.

2011 Garden Paradise, Kathryn Markel Gallery, Binghampton, New York, United States.

2011 FireWorks, Hunterdon Art Museum , Clifton , New Jersey, United States.

2011 Art for Africa, Sotheby’s , New York, New York, United States.

2009 Works on Paper, Marlborough Gallery, New York, New York, United States.

2009 Summer Exhibition, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, New York, United States.

2009 Summer Exhibition, Marlborough Gallery, New York , New York , United States.

2009 Selected Works by Gallery Artists, Marlborough Gallery, New York, New York, United States.

2008 Summer Show, Marlborough Gallery, New York, New York, United States.

2008 Transfigure, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, United States.

2008 Blumen/Flowers, Galerie Hübner, Frankfurt, Germany.2008 Art Basel Miami Beach, X, Miami, Florida, United

States.2008 Summer Show, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, New

York, United States.2008 Modern Love: Gifts to the Collection from Heather

and Tony Podesta, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., United States.

2007 Summer Show, Marlborough Gallery, New York, New York, United States.

2007 Wit and Whimsy, Marlborough Gallery, New York, New York, United States.

2006 Garden Paradise, Arsenal Gallery, Central Park, New York, New York, United States.

2006 Revising Arcadia, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida, United States.

2005 Group Show, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, New York, United States.

2005 Image of Time and Place: Contemporary Views of Landscape, Elaine L. Jacobs Gallery, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.

2005 Artistic Entropy, Weiss Pollock, New York, New York, United States.

2005 - 2006 POPulence, Blaffer Gallery, The Art Museum of the University of Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio; Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

2004 Open House, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, United States.

2004 Flower Power, Musée des Beaux Arts, Lille, France.2003 Cologne Art Fair, Galerie Hübner, Frankfurt, Germany.2003 After Matisse-Picasso, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art

Center, Long Island City, New York, United States.2002 Life is Beautiful, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne,

England.2001 Between Earth and Heaven, PMMK Museum Voor

Moderne Kunst, Ostende, Belgium.2001 Fleurs du Mal, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts

Center, Santa Barbara, California, United States.

2001 Burn: Artists Play With Fire, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, United States. Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, South Carolina, United States

2000 Full Serve, 547 W. 27th Street, New York, New York, United States.

2000 Greater New York, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York, United States.

2000 Twisted: Urban and Visionary Landscapes in Contemporary Painting, Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

2000 Gardens of Pleasure, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, United States.

1999 Art Frankfurt, Galerie Hübner, Frankfurt, Germany.1998 Cornucopia, Winston Wachter Fine Art, New York,

New York, United States.1996 Pittura Immedia, Neue Galerie/Landesmuseum

Joanneum, Graz, Austria.1996 Group Show, Angles Gallery, Los Angeles, California,

United States.1996 Bild verkundt: gesehen, Provinzial, Düsseldorf, Germany.1994 Psychic Borders, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania, United States.1994 Jet Lag, Martina Detterer Gallery, Frankfurt, Germany.1994 Laissez-parlez les petits papiers, Galerie Rizzo, Paris,

France.1993 The Young Americans, Galerie Sophia Ungers,

Cologne, Germany.1993 Reverberations: L.C. Armstrong, Michele Blondel,

Suzan Etkin and Lisa Hoke, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., United States.

1993 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, a modest proposal, Galerie Jousse Seguin, Paris, France.

1993 Standards, Galerie Sophia Ungers, Cologne, Germany.1993 7 Rooms 7 Shows, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center,

Long Island City, New York, United States.1993 A Lure, Jan Kesner Gallery, Los Angeles, California,

United States.1993 The Ninth Biennale of Sydney, Australia.1992 Technorama, Barbara Toll Fine Arts, New York, New

York, United States.1992 Standards, Galerie Sophia Ungers, Cologne, Germany.1992 Letter S Road, Omi International Arts Center, New

York, New York, United States.1992 Transparency and Shape, Elga Wimmer Gallery, New

York, New York, United States.1991 Prospectus, Sandra Gering Gallery, New York, New

York, United States.1991 Home for June, Home for Contemporary Theater and

Art, New York, New York, United States.1991 Gulliver’s Travels, Galerie Sophia Ungers, Cologne,

Germany.1991 From Sculpture, BACA/Brooklyn Arts Council, Brooklyn,

New York, United States.1991 42nd Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American

Painting, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., United States.

1990 Group Show, Sandra Gering Gallery, New York, New York, United States.

1990 Group Show, Galerie Sophia Ungers, Cologne, Germany.1989 Group Show, American Fine Arts Co., New York, New

York, United States.

PRIVATE AND PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

• Wellington Management, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

• Sony Corporation, New York, New York, United States• Progressive Art Collection, Cleveland, Ohio, United

States• National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington,

D.C., United States• Morris Multimedia, Savannah, Georgia, United States• Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City,

Missouri, United States• The Body Shop, Littlehampton, West Sussex, England• ABN-AMRO Bank N.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands• Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park,

Florida, United States• The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., United

States• The Contemporary Art Museum, University of South

Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States• Harvard Business School, The Schwartz Art Collection,

Boston, Massachusetts, United States• Fidelity Mutual Funds, Boston, Massachusetts, United

States• Neuberger Berman, New York, New York, United States

L. C. Armstrong at her studio, 2017Photo courtesy of Celeste Sloman

L.C. Armstrong is represented by Marlborough Gallery, New York.

PRODUCTION / Vandiri ArtCURATOR / Irene Vantaraki

PHOTOGRAPHY / Bill Orcutt, Dallas RaleighDESIGN / Asia Lipovetckaia, Chakra Graphics

SPONSORS /

COVER IMAGE: Cattleya Over Couple (detail), 2010, oil on aluminum panel, 30 x 24 in., 76.2 x 61 cm. Photo by Bill Orcutt

Vandiri Art would like to thank Marlborough Galleryfor its assistance in making this exhibition possible.

© L.C. Armstrong, courtesy Marlborough Gallery, New York