“The Back Room” Spring Celebration!

Featuring Alberto Murillo, Anja Van Herle, James Verbicky, Pedro Bonnin, Robert Mars, and Stallman

Month after month, JoAnne Artman Gallery exhibits new work in our front gallery spaces by our featured artists in a thoughtful and thematic way.  However, each month many of our viewers are enthralled by the “Back Room” in our gallery which is why we have decided to unlock our hidden treasures and feature our “Back Room” artists including Alberto Murillo, Anja Van Herle, James Verbicky, Pedro Bonnin, Robert Mars, and Stallman.

Born in Belgium in 1969, Anja Van Herle combines a European sense of high fashion in her artwork with an American sense of wonder. Her childhood years were devoted to exploring the fundamentals of her art using crayons, pencils and watercolors. In 1987, she enrolled in Belgium’s Higher Institute for Art Education where she earned a Master’s of Fine Arts in Painting. Anja now concentrates on figurative paintings that are inspired by both classic and contemporary fashion while exploring issues of identity, emotion and human interrelationships. As timelessly chic as Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Anja’s women are playfully sexy, and their expressions and eyes tell stories that go far beyond the simple exhibition of fine fashion. In Anja’s masterful hands, fashion becomes alive. “These women—they feel.”

“I was born in 1967 in Cuernavaca, the city of eternal spring as people call it, 50 minutes south of Mexico City. I studied philosophy, so when I’m not painting I spend most of my time reading impossible books about truth, being, perception, meaning, reality and so on. Art captivates us, seizes our minds, our bodies and souls, and makes us fall in love with it. Art can only be understood at the risk of our own lives. I don´t mean that we need to die to understand a masterpiece but we definitely need to be shocked by it and changed by it, which is a way of dying and being born again. So art can be dangerous. Picasso, who was a very smart man, once said that  "Art is a weapon" and also that "Art is a lie that speaks about the truth". What kind of truth is for each one of us to find out. For my part, instead of talking forever, I would like to leave you with a very modest bunch of lies hanging from these virtual walls. I hope you enjoy them,” Pedro Bonnin.

Seattle based artist team STALLMAN, Jason Hallman and Stephen Stum, partners in art and life, are pioneering an innovative technique using canvas and paint as sculpture, taking a traditional medium and turning it on its head giving canvas the leading role. They sculpt in separate locations within the piece simultaneously, then switch places and respond to each other’s movements creating a dynamic dialog within the composition. This union of minds dissolves the boundaries of possibility turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. This process reflects their lives as partners, with each individual bringing something new to teach, learn and respond to.

These artists will inspire, provoke, engage and mesmerize. With visual perceptions always changing, peek behind the stories told and you're sure to find the right artistic expression!