Holograms, Paintings, Sculptures

By Rebecca Pikus

The largest, most impressive Museum-quality exhibit ever in greater Palm Springs — representing over 75 national & international artists — has been assembled all under one gallery roof here in Cathedral City!  “Visually Speaking – Color & Light” has been curated by award-winning artist Joe Novak.

Joe pulled together very divergent art and artists — painters, sculptors, creators of holograms — to present a spectacular show.  Joe Novak originally graduated from Harvard Law School and went on to become a leading tax expert in San Juan, Puerto Rico as well as a Partner in a major law firm in the 1960s & 1970s.  In the early 1980s Joe moved to New York City where, at the age of 50, he did a total 360 and became a serious painter.  He later moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico where he continued his creative endeavors.  He now makes his home and studio here in Rancho Mirage, Ca and Palm Springs, Ca.

Emil Bisttram (1895-1976) became a leading figure in the transcendental movement, and was one of the founders of the Transcendental Painting Group.  He gravitated, through his intense spiritualism, to an art known as dynamic symmetry in an attempt to reconcile religion and science.  Bisttram in his lifetime was well-known across the Southwest and West.  In 1933 he was a founding member of Taos Heptagon, regarded as the first art gallery in Taos, New Mexico.  Throughout his life, Bisttram continued to influence the many artists who came after him trying to emulate his philosophical, scientific, and spiritual messages evidenced in his art.

Mario Pikus is an Argentine painter and sculptor who is able to combine abstract expressionism with cubism and even surrealism.  As a young artist in New York City, he met the famous Cubist sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, who became his mentor.  Pikus uses Old Holland paints and stretches his own canvas out of Belgian linen.  His sculptures combine discarded Harley Davidson motorcycle parts, as well as small airplanes parts.  He also lives and works in Rancho Mirage, Ca.

August Muth is a pioneer in the exploration of light through holography.  His early artistic years were spent in Aspen, Colorado, Albuquerque, New Mexico and Austin, Texas.  Muth moved to New York City in 1978 and studied at The Museum of Holography in Soho under Fred Unterseher.  He later relocated to Telluride, Colorado and  in 1985 built his first holographic studio.  Muth now creates holograms in a greater scale in his Santa Fe, New Mexico studio.

Paul Bellardo is a master in the art of ceramic sculptures.  From his first one-man show in 1965 in Provincetown, Massachusetts to New York City’s West Village, to Palm Springs and now Rancho Mirage, Ca, Bellardo continues into his 90’s to create fresh, innovative, and at times whimsical sculptures with an earthy quality.

David Porter retired in 2001 from 50 years of university teaching, first in studio arts, and later lecturing on the iconography of material culture history.  He is a world traveler and the expanse of his art mediums is the result:  oils, acrylics, watercolor, pastels, etching, mono prints, lithography, serigraphy, forged sterling flatware, silver & gold hollowware, ceramics, blown glass, photography, monumental public metal sculpture, mixed media, textiles and tapestries.

All of these very divergent artists’ work as well as 69 other artists art can be seen at REBECCA FINE ART GALLERY, 68895 Perez Rd, #7, Cathedral City, Ca (760) 534-5888 – Fineartvortex.com — “Visually Speaking – Color & Light” runs from March 26 to Memorial Day, May 30.  Gallery open Wed-Sat., 11am-4pm, or by Appt.