ArtHouse 429 Private Inaugural Exhibition Reception Draws Art Aficionados and Legendary Figures

Jan. 22, 2013 - PRLog -- ArtHouse 429 Private Inaugural Exhibition Reception Draws Art Aficionados and Legendary Figures with Impressive Roster of National, International and Local Artists
Proceeds from Gallery and Sculpture Garden Opening Sales benefit Autism Speaks

(West Palm Beach---) ArtHouse 429 celebrated the opening of its Inaugural Exhibition with over 200 guests at a by-invitation-only reception on Thursday, January 17. Founded by William Halliday, artist and director, and investor Scott Blust, the gallery located within West Palm Beach’s burgeoning Northwood district specializes in exciting, innovative exhibits of contemporary paintings and sculpture.

Arriving guests walked the red carpet and donned blue puzzle piece pins in support of Autism Speaks, the charitable organization ArtHouse 429 has chosen to donate a portion of sales from the inaugural show. TY KU Sake & Spirits donated a generous amount of their products for the event in support of the charitable cause. The roster of attendees included such art aficionados and well-known figures as Emily Fisher Landau, Beth DeWoody, Mayor of West Palm Beach Jeri Muoio, Suzanne & Bob Wright (founders of Autism Speaks), Eleanora & Michael Kennedy, Carlos & Renee Morrison, Tommy Morrison, Jim Pappas, Bruce Helander (guest curator),and Melinda Trucks, among others. Among the exhibiting artists who attended were Edwina Sandys, Alyssa di Edwardo, Cheryl Maeder, Cameron Gray, John Martini, Carole Munder, Donna Long, Raul Vega, and sculpture team, Luis Montoya/Leslie Ortiz. Other highlights of the exhibition were featured works by Nancy Graves and Eric Fischl. Guests appreciated the opportunity to mingle with the artists, some of whom had flown in from around the nation for the opening of the two-story gallery and unique sculpture garden, which was created by Claudia Helander Garden Designs. Passed hors d’oeuvres were provided by the neighboring Thai café, Malakor and catering by Ann Z.

Curated by Bruce Helander, the inaugural group exhibition presents a variety of outstanding mid-career and emerging artists. Among them are Robert R. Zakanitch, the legendary American painter who is considered the founder of the pattern and decoration movement, Cameron Gray, representing Los Angeles and whose eye-popping square grid paintings of art about art have a clever and provocative secret as the viewer gets closer to the engaging and narrative surfaces. Sergey Fedotov, a rising star from Moscow, will display his unusual paintings that are both abstract impressionist and color field works with narrative subject matter such as flowers and faces.  Edwina Sandys, a New York-based painter and sculptor, will show pieces from her Frolic series. Artist Raul Vega will exhibit new works inspired by the environment that surrounds his historic Pennsylvania studio.  Also included in the exhibition are two more prominent New York artists, John Torreano and Dan Rizzie. Director Halliday, who also is an artist, will present his polished and surrealist based steel sculptures, and the exhibition will include works by curator and artist Helander.

Local artwork from South Florida in the inaugural exhibition includes John Martini’s towering welded figures fabricated in a converted theater in Key West; and Palm Beach County artists include Donna Long, who presents eccentric portraits of animals; Luis Montoya/Leslie Ortiz’s collaborative sculptures; photographer Christopher Leidy, who investigates the underworld at the bottom of the sea; Asif Hoque, the youngest artist in the group show, whose dazzling images from astronauts to hand guns have enabled him to begin his studies at Pratt Institute; Alyssa di Edwardo, with abstract impressionist-based paintings that take a cue from Joan Mitchell, Curtis Kelly, who creates abstract interpretation of urban architecture; Beverly Myers, who resides in Manalapan, portrays landscapes that have been influenced by Wolf Kahn; and  Cheryl Maeder, who experiments with photography and prints in a soft, out of focus observation of life on the beach.

ArtHouse 429 will feature a selection of these artists at ArtPalmBeach, Booth #403, in the Palm Beach County Convention Center, January 24-28, 2013.  

About William Halliday

William Halliday, gallery owner and director of ArtHouse 429, is first an artist specializing in sculpture. His artistic vision is founded in early creative design work, but his first entry into the business world was in the late 1980s as the owner/operator of a “small-crappy-dangerous-punk-rock-live-music nightclub in Melbourne, Florida.” Despite this not-so-auspicious beginning, he went on to establish a prominent and successful design company in 1988 after moving to Washington, D.C. While there, he and his business partners established themselves as creators of unique and outstanding artistically built environments, which among other projects created fascinating restaurant and commercial interiors and exclusive night clubs. Throughout his career in the design business, Halliday also has designed and built custom motorcycles, planes, race cars and motor boats and the resultant fabrication skills that he developed are continually evident in his artwork. He currently works on metal sculptural objects in his Northwood studio, which adjoins the gallery space. Halliday enjoys the challenges of urban areas that inspire innovative solutions and ingenious renovation with a pioneering spirit, which the Northwood Village area offered.

About Bruce Helander

Helander is an artist whose specialty is collage and assemblage. He has a master’s degree in painting from the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, where he later became the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs of the college. He is a former White House Fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts and has won the South Florida Cultural Consortium fellowship for professional achievement in the visual arts. His work is in over fifty museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Smithsonian, Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art and Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles. His collages appear in The New Yorker and Palm Beach Illustrated magazines, among others. He has written extensively on contemporary art and has an enthusiastic following for his regular blogs for The Huffington Post. His bestselling book, Learning to See—An Artist’s View on Contemporary Artists from Artschwager to Zakanitch, featuring forty of his favorite reviews, was an Indie Awards Finalist for excellence.

As a curator, Helander has coordinated over eighty exhibitions of contemporary works. He has organized one-man shows for Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, John Chamberlain, Duane Hanson, Larry Poons, Jules Olitski, Dale Chihuly and Kenneth Noland, among others.

Helander recently exhibited his work at Corzine Fine Art (Los Angeles) and Peter Marcelle Gallery (Bridgehampton, New York). Helander also serves as a consultant to several art fairs, including the LA Art Show.

About Autism Speaks

Autism Speaks is dedicated to increasing awareness of autism spectrum disorders, to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and cure for autism, and to advocating for the needs of affected families.  It was founded in February 2005 by Suzanne and Bob Wright, the grandparents of a child with autism.  Bob Wright is Vice Chairman, General Electric, and served as chief executive officer of NBC for more than twenty years.
www.AutismSpeaks.org.  

For additional information, please contact Gallery Manager Karene Telesca at karene@arthouse429.com or by calling 561-231-0429.

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