Thunderstorm Over the Santa Fe Mountains by Jeff Aeling |
Jeff Aeling
“I’m attracted to times of high transition,” says Missouri painter Jeff Aeling about his dramatic oils of thunderstorms rolling across mountains or dusk darkening a valley. Aeling began painting at art school in the mid-1970s but primarily focused on figurative work. He moved into landscape painting a few years ago as a result of producing work for a show on millennial anxiety. “I started thinking about what is out there for us in the future to make life interesting and worth living, and I thought that as far as a quality-of-life experience, nothing is better than viewing nature and the landscape.” Thus inspired, Aeling began experimenting with painting the landscape and discovered a new artistic passion that has drawn a large number of new collectors to his work. Aeling is represented by Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, IL; Charlene Cody Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; Sandy Carson Gallery, Denver, CO; and Elliot Smith Contemporary Art, St. Louis, MO. —MB
Sunflower by Bill Inman |
Bill Inman
Bill Inman lives at the base of the Greenhorn Mountains in south-western Colorado, where his subject matter pops up around him in fields of wildflowers and snow-capped hills. Having grown up in California, Inman says he loves seascapes and the ocean but is equally drawn to the mountains of home. He also enjoys taking to the road with his wife and five children, where he’s likely to do more observing than actual driving. “I’m constantly studying,” he says. “I never see road signs when traveling because I’m looking at the landscape.” The works that result from these trips reflect his appreciation for nature’s beauty. “I believe in having a firm grounding in the basics of art,” he says, “but in the end I just want to make a beautiful painting.” He is represented by Scotch Mist Gallery, Tucson, AZ; Joe Wade Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM; Hayden-Hays Gallery at the Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, CO; Turner Art Gallery, Denver, CO; and Pam Driscol Gallery, Aspen, CO. —LB
Early Chinese Miner by Jove Wang |
Jove Wang
Jove Wang studied art at the prestigious Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in Zhejiang, China. Born in Jilin, China, he immigrated to the United States in 1990 in search of greater opportunities. Today Wang, 37, makes his home in Pasadena, CA. Recently his landscape, still-life, and figurative works have attracted attention and garnered awards in major competitions. In 1998 he won first place in the figure category of the California Art Club’s Gold Medal Exhibition. This year his work Early Chinese Miner won the American National Award of Excellence, the top award at the eighth annual Oil Painters of America exhibition in Scottsdale, AZ. For Wang, the painting reflects the life of Chinese immigrants in pursuit of the American Dream. “When we judge a piece of art, the most important thing is not technique but does it have the deepest of feeling,” Wang says. He is represented by the Collection of Fine Art, Arcadia, CA. —BG
Featured in “Artists to Watch” September 1999