Mango Tango Art Gallery opens the “Endless Flowers” and “Plenty Plenty Nudes Show” from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 2. The parking lot will have appetizers, spirits and music by DJ Neko Crush while the gallery is brimming with dynamic art.
The floral part of the show is called “Endless Flowers,” but it also could have been named Timeless Flowers. The show includes both paintings and ceramic sculptures to reflect upon both their natural beauty and fragility. Floral creations allow us to bring their allure into our living spaces.
Gallery owner Jane Coombes remembers a couple from St. John many years ago stopping by Mango Tango on their way to New York, where they would celebrate the 80th birthday of the woman’s mother. Brian Murphy had just completed and helped display his latest painting of a bouquet of yellow roses a few hours earlier. The couple fell in love with the painting and purchased it for the birthday gift. The mother has passed and now the painting lives with the couple. They often remark on how well it was received as a gift, how it evokes nostalgia and now gives them great joy. Their painting has a timeless beauty.
The show includes a few of Brian Murphy’s engaging plein air oil-on-canvas and oil-on-paper paintings. The plein air technique appeals to Lisa Etre in two small stunning works on canvas and a few watercolors on paper.
Both island favorites, Don Dahlke and W.B. Thompson display several contemporary florals. Kathy Carlson uses color in a very compelling way in her flower works. Renowned artist Max Johnson loved creating floral compositions in gouache on paper and oil on canvas.
Kat Stevens presents small works in oil on canvas and one remarkable large painting of century plants.
Phyllis Charles’ stunning paintings showcase the beauty and vibrancy of each flower, lacking only their aromas.
Mary Rodriguez paints stylized and abstract florals on canvas, both styles captivating the viewer.
The ceramicists Sara Lee Hayes and Jess Rosenberg pay tribute to the beauty of flowers in both functional and one-of-a kind ceramic pieces.
The body is also an interesting subject to capture. Artists study, admire and depict the human unclothed subjects as the greatest connection to our world. A nude sculpture, drawing or painting communicates our appreciation of the human form in its purest and most natural state. Some artists exalt its beauty, while others examine diverse perspectives of the human body. Some embrace imperfections. Others celebrate diversity. Most artists become better figurative artists by mastering portraying models naked.
This show presents the diverse mix of nudes. Shari Erickson’s communicates in drawing a Navajo Indian woman. Both she and Mace McDowell also draw women posing in studios.
W.B. Thompson presents naked women against a dynamic graphic setting in a mammoth oil-on-canvas painting.
Lisa Etre’s watercolors quite simply evoke thought and incite conversation.
Leo Storch playfully presents his gals in acrylic-on-canvas paintings.
Both Denise Kurg and Cuban-born Juan Lopetequi pay homage to the beauty of the female human form in oil-on-canvas works, as does Karen Bertrand in a drawing on paper.
Katie O’Neil uses pastel sticks on paper to capture her feelings about her naked subject in a winning unrealistic style.
Sculptor Courtney Devonish celebrates the beauty of the human in mahogany.
The show includes many artists not mentioned, some well-known and some unknown. Their art will talk to the gallery-goers.
To view the show, visit mangotangoart.com.
The show continues for one month. For more information, contact 340-777-3060.
Mango Tango Art Gallery at 4003 Raphune Hill, St Thomas, VI 00802
