More Elder Kinder News!!

We here at Like the Spice simply can't get enough of Jason Bard Yarmosky's show, "Elder Kinder," and it seems that we aren't the only ones! Check out Culture Catch's most recent write up here. And stay tuned for more LTS news, we have a lot coming up including "Senior Prom," the monthly artist dinner for "Elder Kinder" on Friday, February 25th at 8pm. There are still tickets left to this RSVP only event, click here to reserve your spot!

Senior Prom at Like the Spice Gallery

Like the Spice requests the pleasure of your company at the Senior Prom on Friday, February 25th, 2011 at 8pm.
Join us for our Monthly Artist Dinner series with our current solo artist Jason Bard Yarmosky.

Concurrent with "Elder Kinder", Senior Prom will be our most festive dinner yet! Yes the punch will be spiked! Bring a date or come stag, tuxedos are not necessary but will be applauded.

Our dinners always offer you a night that's positively soaked in art, as well as food. As you dine you'll enjoy a discussion with a Jason Bard Yarmosky as he tells you all about his new body of work featuring his eager Brooklyn-born grandparents as endearing characters in a vulnerable world.

Served family style in the gallery itself, our dinner series is designed to let you enjoy a scrumptious meal while having a thoughtful conversation with strangers. Let yourself be inspired together by the beautiful work covering our walls. Just $50 per person covers dinner, drinks and entertainment. Dinner is served at 8:00pm. RSVP BY CLICKING HERE

Grandparents not for sale: a success story!

On Friday, February 11th 2011, Jason Bard Yarmosky had his first solo show with us at Like the Spice you will be happy to know it was amazing! We had a full house Friday night which might have been due to the plethora of great press that Jason has received. The Huffington Post referred to Yarmosky's work as "totally endearing", Trend Hunter thinks Yarmosky is "surprisingly insightful and delightful" and Cool Hunting said "intriguing" with "raw sincerity". I 'm sold!
Yarmosky's work makes the viewer want to get up close and personal. His nearly life-size humorous portraits of his grandparents hold so much detail it seems as they are in the room with me right now. Fun surprises such as toy guns, cowboy hats, leather vests, bunny ears, and tutus compelled the crowds to study each one. His grandparents seem to stare, fixed on us from their drastically lit rooms. His smaller scale graphite drawings so intense, I have a hard time looking away. Paper and String explained it best by saying "they are stunningly life-like and show an extremely mature, dexterous hand".
The crowd was buzzing with chatter over Yarmosky's "Elder Kinder", which features his two wonderful Brooklyn born Grandparents in an array of costumes that make your inner child laugh out loud. Everyone wanted to meet Jason's grandparents, and yes they are just as lovely in person as they are on canvas. The L magazine agrees that Jason was blessed with the "Coolest grandparents ever!", if you had met them you would most definitely agree. Jason Bard Yarmosky was more than happy to walk the crowds of people through the exhibition. Jason's charisma kept the Gallery- goers, young and old alike, educated and entertained.
All- in -all it was a great turnout and a another great opening for us here at Like the Spice. If you missed Jason Bard Yarmosky's opening show this Friday it will be up at Like the Spice through Sunday March 6th, 2011. It's definitely worth taking a closer look and guaranteed to bring a smile to your face so come through!
Some of Jason's works are still available for sale (unfortunately his grandparents are not, trust me I inquired), a list of pieces still available can be found here. if you require further information email Marisa at marisa@likethespice.com

Please join us for our Monthly Artist Dinner with Jason Bard Yarmosky "Senior Prom" on February 25th 2011 at 8pm catered by Gite. Your RSVP to the event is required here.

Coming up in February...

We know, we know, January isn't even over yet and we're zeroing in on February already. Well, it's just because we are so darn excited! We have such a beautiful January show up right now, it's true, "You Make Me Warm" definitely heated up January even on the coldest of nights, but what's the harm in making sure that everyone has something just as beautiful to look at when February comes? February 11th from 6:30pm-9:00pm we will be celebrating the opening for Jason Bard Yarmosky's first gallery solo show, "Elder Kinder", click here for the full press release. Jason has been working extremely hard on the works for this upcoming show which addresses the innocence at both ends of the generational spectrum. Yarmosky recruits his eager Brooklyn-born grandparents, two models very close to him, to pose in an assortment of playful costumes. Whimsical yet grounded in their age, each portrait finds a balance between vulnerability, empowerment, and pride. Using multiple layers of oil paint, Yarmosky employs dramatic lighting to create depth, literally and metaphorically. Each character's stark pose accentuates the inconsistencies of age and appearance. Ranging from a shirtless cowboy to a pensive pink bunny rabbit, Yarmosky's subjects explore the intersection of jaded seniority and the audacity of youth. Check out some examples below...

See, now you know and there's no harm done...Now come and join us at the opening of "Elder Kinder," Friday, February 11th at 6:30pm!

Jenny Morgan in New York Times Magazine! Applause! Applause!

Make sure you save all of your quarters and spare change, maybe even take a look between the seat cushions because tomorrow you are going to want to go out to your nearest news stand and pick up a copy of the New York Times because this Sunday's Times Magazine is a collectible one! Our very own Jenny Morgan was commissioned to create a portrait of WikiLeaks leader, Julian Assange for Bill Keller's feature article, "The Boy Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest: Dealing With Julian Assange and His Secrets," for tomorrow's New York Times Magazine. So cool! For now, you can check out the online version of the article and get a sneak peak at Jenny's work until the hard copy comes out tomorrow. Congratulations to Jenny for really capturing Assange and for the publication of your work, up up and away!!!!!!!
Many people have contacted the gallery in the past few days requesting available Jenny Morgan pieces, so we have decided to add them to this glorious post! Please contact marisa@likethespice.com to request any further information on these works. xo Like the Spice

Trendsetter

Oil on canvas

23 x 20, 2010

Sisterhood

Oil on canvas

45 x 34.5, 2010

All this Time

Oil on canvas

77.5 x 51, 2010

Let go

Oil on canvas

36 x 26, 2010

From the Valley to the Stars

Oil on Canvas

51 x 30, 2010

Inner Island

Oil on Canvas

43x28, 2010

Attain

38 x 28.5 inches

Oil on canvase, 2009

In Your Absence

46 x 37

Oil on canvas, 2009

Done

Oil on canvas

19" x15" , 2008

Middle Ground

Oil on canvas

25 x 19, 2008

Don't Leave Me Mother

Oil on canvas

19 x 15.5, 2008

Don't Leave Me Father

Oil on canvas

19 x 15.5, 2008

Beside Himself

Oil on canvas

22 x 16.5

Hot Plates: Hot Food and Hot Topics with Anthony Michael Rom and Sarah Palmer!

Well folks, we did it again, another wonderful and satisfying artist dinner hosted by Like the Spice and catered by Gite! It was a cozy event for sure as the 13 of us sat around the table enjoying the work and company of Sarah Palmer and Anthony Michael Rom during "Hot Plates," the artist dinner for their current show, "You Make Me Warm". We even had a special guest appearance by Jason Bard Yarmosky who offered up a few words about his upcoming show, "Elder Kinder," opening February 11th. Both Anthony and Sarah really opened up about their work and inspirations; Anthony spoke of his eye on the human experience and how people react when familiar and sentimental things are staged in harsh and unfamiliar environments, and Sarah focused on the idea of her work as visual text or poetry inspired by the writings of her father.


The weather gods smiled upon us yesterday as they threatened snow early on but by supper time the flakes were no where to be seen and we could all relax and enjoy the hot plates that were put before us! Now, if you are not familiar with the fabulous food of Gite catering, please, let me enlighten you. Gite (pronounced jeet), combines the gourmet stylings of three sisters, Chelsea, Sam, and Bettina Sheridan, who pride themselves on creating sophisticated food that never loses the comfort and fresh tastes of home-cooking. As Sarah and Anthony discussed the visual language of their respective works we manged on a delectable four course meal.




















What did we have? So glad you asked! We started out with a warming winter vegetable soup topped with home-made pesto-butter croutons, almost like a Tuscan minestrone but thicker and sweeter. This was then followed by a beautiful tricolor salad of arugula, endive, and radicchio with a sprinkle of Gite's sweet balsamic vinaigrette (side note: this salad dressing is so divine I would be more than content sipping on its garlicky sweetness or even just dipping a crunchy piece of ciabatta in it). With lasagna Napoletana and eggplant au gratin as the main courses both the carnivores and vegetarians alike were very pleased. The scent of the oozing mozzarella di bufala and simmered San Marzano from the eggplant au gratin tomatoes filled the gallery. Wow, I am making myself hungry, ok time time stop talking about the food! Anyway, Gite's contact info is at the top of this blog post just in case you and ten of your friends get hungry!

What's this? We have footage of an artist at work? Gasp!

Ladies and gentleman, it is my pleasure to present to you a lovely little video of Eric LoPresti working in his Brooklyn studio and preparing for his Spring show at Like the Spice which opens on April 8th. Eric was nice enough to share the video with me so that I might, in turn, share it with all of you! Now, for me personally it's hard not to think about process and technique when it comes to the production of art (surprise!), but that is most likely because it is my business to know all about respective processes and techniques; however, I do know that for many the enjoyment of a piece is mostly inspired by the end result, the finished product. This of course is all fine, more than fine really, if you like something you should like it, love it even, just for what it is. I promise not to call on any of you and put you on the spot asking you what your favorite piece of art is and then follow up with the dreaded query, 'why'? Whether process and technique are your bread and butter (I myself have the Scientific Method tattooed on my inner arm, *ahem*), or you are more focused on the end result and enjoying the polished product post production, I am certain that the following video of Eric LoPresti preparing a canvas by working on the underpainting for a new piece, along with it's explanation will be interesting to you (and don't tell me you don't have time, the video is only 1:30)...Enjoy!

Just to give you a bit of a background on Eric's work, his subject matter is made up of three important elements: color gradient, landscaps, and sharp black lines inscribed across the top of a piece. His work portrays desolate portions of the American landscape, with references to the aftermath of past conflicts such as the Cold War. A clear example of all three elements can be found in "Hatchet," (2010,

Oil and India ink on linen), which is posted below.


In the video, Eric lays down the color gradient first, then the landscape is painted on top, almost floated on the surface, and then lastly the black lines are added. This way of working is almost a backwards way to do grisaille (pronounced griz-ai), the traditional practice of using a monochromatic or burnt umber toned outline as the under-layer and then glazing color over it. A grisaille may be executed for its own sake, but is most often used as underpainting for an oil painting.

Eric's reason for laying down color first is to use the color gradients as an optical effect, "like seeing through a rainbow or the chromatic distortion of a camera lens." For him, color sets the tone of each piece. And, since he takes color quite seriously, Eric rarely uses his oil paint straight out of the tube, instead pre-mixing his colors on a paper palette (seen laid out at left in the video). With the paint mixed he then brushes the gradient onto the canvas in broad, light, loose strokes. His left hand holds a digital sketch outlining roughly where we would like the colors to go, in many thin layers of paint.



See, now wasn't that cool? Even I learned a few things (example: those blue gloves protect Eric's hands from turpentine and other chemicals used to thin out oil paints, and are NOT a fashion statement). Keep your eyes out for more news on Eric's show and more studio peaks to come!