“FAIRY TALES AND MONSTERS” Featuring New Works by Patrick Maisano. Additional Works by Shannon Richardson

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                     

JoAnne Artman Gallery, Presents in the Main Gallery:
“FAIRY TALES AND MONSTERS” Featuring New Works by Patrick Maisano

Additional Works by Shannon Richardson

June 7, 2012 – June 30, 2012
Opening Reception: June 7th, 2012 from 6-9pm to coincide with Laguna Beach ArtWalk  
Please RSVP: 949.510.5481 by June 1st, 2012

JoAnne Artman Gallery
326 N. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, 92651

Contact:  JoAnne Artman
Telephone:  949-510-5481
E-mail: joanneartman@aol.com
Web site: www.joanneartmangallery.com
Open Wed-Sunday, 11-5 & by appointment; First Thursday of every month 6-9pm

Fairy Tales & Monsters

A fairy tale is a type of short story featuring fantastic forces and beings, such as goblins, elves, giants and mermaids that carry magical enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies.

A monster is a fictional creature, often of a threatening force, producing fear or physical harm by its appearance or its actions. The word "monster" derives from Latin monstrum, an aberrant occurrence, usually biological, that was taken as a sign that something was wrong within the natural order.

With the current trends in television and film that explore our childhood fables, we thought who better to capture these storybook characters through Contemporary Art than Patrick Maisano!

Once Upon a Time…

PATRICK MAISANO

Born April 1964 in New Haven, Connecticut, Maisano graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1986. He was about to enter graduate studies in pursuit of a fine art teaching credential when a compelling force drew him in a different direction. Maisano spent a year contemplating a religious vocation at a Franciscan Community in New York City. During this period of deliberation over a religious life, a reading of Otto Rank's Art and Artist resonated with personal truth and Maisano decided that his intended path was that of an artist rather than a priest. In 1992, Maisano left New York for California where he constructed a reclusive lifestyle devoted solely to his art. Since 1992 Patrick Maisano has shown his work annually, and his paintings have been placed in distinguished American collections. The enchanting imagery found in Patrick Maisano's paintings tells a universal story in the timeless language of myth. This is art that elicits a response from our most basic level; pure, instinctual, spiritually primal. Mythical beings, mystical beasts and religious iconography combine to create magical compositions that are joyful, haunting, metaphysical, and very beautiful. His work is transcendental and immediate, masculine and feminine, testimonial and celebratory.

“In my new body of work "Fairy Tales and Monsters," classic children's stories and dark more menacing characters of the imagination ("monsters") serve as inspiration. My intention is to go beyond the duality that exists at the surface of these enduring allegories and portray their deeper transcendent nature,” Patrick Maisano.

SHANNON RICHARDSON

Shannon Richardson’s work reflects her honesty to the severity of life and an undeniable sensitivity to the human condition. She has experienced an exceptional story-filled life, which enables her to produce intense and honest work at an early age. These dream-like works are derived from real life anecdotes, although the reality of the circumstance is portrayed as a fairytale. Shannon transcends the boundaries between reality and memory with an element of the fantastic. Each painting becomes a template through which we can imagine our place in the world. While using her art to both define and obliterate her past, she is able to take some of the severity of life and turn it into something beautiful and tangible. Through her art she has learned to accept and even relish her own eccentricities and imperfections, so much so that we are made privy to the idea of the irregularity of life through the sometimes grotesque beauty in her figures.

"Each painting is like a private fable, a story from real life disguised as an imaginative child’s dream.    The true catalyst of inspiration becomes buried beneath layers of paint, which creates a narrative between reality and fantasy.  Like an infinite parade of characters, I am never alone in my studio, there is never a lack of company, and always something interesting to discover. The process is that of a passive observer and a wildly interactive performer. They become both reflective in their roots and projective in their narrative.” -Shannon Richardson

All of our artists’ work will inspire, provoke, engage and mesmerize.

JoAnne Artman Gallery is located at 326 N. Coast Highway in Laguna Beach and is open Wednesdays-Sundays from 11-5, and by appointment. Visit the first Thursday from 6-9 pm of any month to coincide with the Laguna Beach Art Walk. Street parking is available directly in front of the Gallery as well as the Downtown Parking structure located at Glenneyre Street. Take a stroll through the galleries and studios. See art come alive in North Laguna!