A Curated Life

Finding a collection of an artist that we aren’t familiar with is exciting.  Discovering the entire life’s work of a prolific artist whose work has ever seen publicly is a different experience entirely.

This spring we received a call from a colleague of ours in Chicago, Arrin Williams.  He wanted to let us know about the estate of James Bruch (1942-2023), who had been an award-winning advertising executive at Leo Burnett. Bruch’s vocation throughout his life had been painting, but he had refused to ever show his work in public or sell any of his art. Arrin explained that his children wanted to find a gallery to promote their father’s work…but there was a catch…everything had to be out of the house in one week or it would be sold at an estate sale.

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Born in Poseyville, Indiana in 1944, Steve Redman’s artistic journey began with an unwavering certainty that can only be described as destiny. From his early years, his path unfolded seamlessly, leaving him with no recollection of a time that he was separated from the artist. Instead, he found himself reflecting on formative days of local exhibitions and gold keys. Redman's high school years were marked by a range of extracurricular activities, from band and basketball to football and the yearbook club, where he held the position of editor. Earning the reputation of a true renaissance man, Steve fondly recalled being recruited for miscellaneous jobs around school, like the repeated springs spent crafting prom decorations.     

Born in Budapest, Hungary, Martin Friedman (1896-1981) took part in the mass
immigration to Ellis Island, experienced by 12 million people between 1892-1924, at the age of nine years old. His upbringing was modest, with his parents described as lower-middle class, moving to the United States in homes of financial success. In an interview with Dorothy Seckler for the Smithsonian Institution’s Archive of American Art, Friedman recalled being the only “foreign-born” family in the neighborhood and not speaking any English while attending school in Yonkers, New York.     Read more.

Harry Hilson: Master Artist

Sheafer + King Modern recently acquired an extensive collection by late American artist Harry Hilson (1935-2004). Though Hilson has seemingly slipped through the cracks of art history, research has proven that his career was

undoubtedly successful during his lifetime with showings at the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art, among others. Hilson displayed his work at Purdue University during the 1960s and later kept a residence local to Indianapolis for a short period of his life around the year 2000. 

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In my previous blog post, I introduced you to the life and work of artist Juliet Holland. Juliet Holland’s partner, Cortland Jessup, was the owner and operator of Cortland Jessup galleries in Provincetown, Massachusetts and New York City. Since January, Sheafer + King has continued to work with Holland’s son, local photographer Mark Nickerson, to bring attention to and sell works previously held in Jessup’s private collection. One such artist is the prominent American feminist artist and writer Kate Millett (1934-2017). She remains best known, much to her chagrin, for her 1970 feminist written work Sexual Politics. What began as her doctoral dissertation at Columbia University soon effectively initiated the second wave of the women’s liberation movement, more commonly known as second wave feminism.

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Building literally from dust and earth, sand and clay... my work focuses on the process of transformation - from disintegration and decay to a new form of beauty. The surface reveals an archaeological history of the treatment it has received: rain and earthquake, ancient graffiti, hints of fragmented calligraphy like scars on the skin and soul. Erosion and layering evoking passing time and the continuum of change in nature's infinite progression.

An aspect that has always intrigued me is the mystery that lies within and behind---piercing of layers leading to unexpected discoveries beneath. This combination of deterioration and inflicted markings, construction and destruction, becomes a means of stating both the quality and unity of all things. No endings --- the process of becoming.

Juliet Holland,  New York City

Just as the waves carve the seemingly unchanging shore; mixed media artist Juliet Holland was formed by the tides. As a child, tidepools provided an illusion of stillness, a mirrored surface that allowed her to witness the slow, cyclical rhythm of nature. Read more.

An anonymous donor recently donated a fantastic collection of Mid-Century Modern furniture, Modern & Postmodern art, collectibles, and décor to The Cabaret in Indianapolis.

As someone who previously made my living in the performing arts, it's been difficult to see so many close friends who are musicians, actors, or just work at theaters struggle during the pandemic, so I was very enthusiastic when Shannon Forsell, the Artistic Director and CEO asked us to help sell this collection.  We decided that it would fun to do an old school silent auction out of our shop.  For the next two weeks, we've cleared out a third of our showroom to host this silent auction to help reopen The Cabaret.

Click here above to see all the cool stuff available!

“Painting is silent, and as with music must be experienced with inner vision.  Music is to be listened to and heard with the inner ear, however, the heart of the activity is a combination of the two.  With fine art, painting is the result of a refining response to improvisation of the elements.  Color against color, shape to form, line crossing line, color overlapping line, shape to color and so forth.  The artist purifies this process through faith.  We face, in the reality of our personal time, to seek a new age, as ‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.’”

Derrière le Miroir  - “Behind the Mirror” was a French art and literary journal published from 1946 through 1982.  Aimé Maeght was a prominent gallery owner and lithographer in Paris and Barcelona. Following World War II he created the publication as a way to make the work of important modern artists affordable and accessible to a wide audience.  The publication featured artists exhibited by Maeght Gallery including many of the most significant artists of the 20th century: Miro, Calder, Kandinsky, Chagall, Giacometti, Leger, Kelly, etc.

Each issue of Derrière le Miroir included exceptionally high quality loose leaf original lithographs (a few issues also had original etchings or woodblock prints) created by the artists for the publication.  The prints are unsigned and unnumbered because the artist authorized the printing by Maeght Gallery rather than printing the lithographs themselves. These lithographs have become highly collectible.  They are generally less expensive than signed numbered prints by the same artists, and provide a great opportunity for new collectors to own high quality original lithographs that will maintain their value over time.  

This past week it was announced that Everything But the House is going to be liquidated.  I’m not going to get into my thoughts about why this has happened or the ridiculous decisions that were made that led to this moment.  I just want to express my gratitude for what the company allowed us to do and for the fantastic people that we’ve gotten to know.