Mia Bergeron, 1980 | Figurative painter

New York artist Mia Bergeron’s interest in art was cultivated early on, beginning with continuous exposure to visual works through her parents’ graphic design firm in New York City.

As a high school student, Mia pursued the arts both at the curricular and extracurricular levels, and in 1998 she was admitted to the Rhode Island School of Design.

After a year of intensive foundation courses, she decided to leave RISD to pursue a more traditional painting program.

Alex Venezia, 1993 | Figurative painter

Alex Venezia was born Virginia Beach, Virginia; currently lives and works in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Primarily a self taught painter, Alex Venezia, first became aware of the transcendent power of art during a high-school art lesson on chiaroscuro while examining the works of Caravaggio. This class marked a unique turning point for the young student as he began to consider a vocation in the arts.

Searching for new art experiences he frequented the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia where he was able to fill his eyes with the works of the Masters and make copies.

Venezia has sought out and studied classical technique with many of todays top representational painters including: Colleen Barry, Daniel Sprick, Michael Klein and Jeff Hein.

Alda Merini: "Il mio primo trafugamento di madre.."

Il mio primo trafugamento di madre

avvenne in una notte d'estate

quando un pazzo mi prese

mi adagiò sopra l'erba

e mi fece concepire un figlio.

Alex Venezia

Sigmund Freud: Omosessualità? "Nulla di cui vergognarsi!", 1935

Il 9 aprile del 1935, Sigmund Freud (Neurologo, psicoanalista e filosofo Austriaco, 1856-1939) scrisse una lettera di risposta ad una madre che gli aveva chiesto aiuto per il figlio gay.

Cara signora,

deduco dalla sua lettera che suo figlio è omosessuale.

Sono molto colpito dal fatto che non usi mai questo termine nel darmi le informazioni su di lui. Posso chiedere perché lo evita?

L’omosessualità non è certo un vantaggio, ma non c'è nulla di cui vergognarsi, non è un vizio, non è degradante; non può essere classificata come una malattia; riteniamo che sia una variazione della funzione sessuale, prodotta da un arresto dello sviluppo sessuale.

Molti individui altamente rispettabili di tempi antichi e moderni erano omosessuali, tra di loro c’erano grandi uomini. (Platone, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, ecc).

Jean Metzinger | Woman with a Mirror, 1916

Femme au miroir / Woman with a Mirror / Femme à sa toilette or Lady at her Dressing Table, is a painting by the French artist Jean Metzinger.

This distilled synthetic form of Cubism exemplifies Metzinger's continued interest, in 1916, towards less surface activity, with a strong emphasis on larger, flatter, overlapping abstract planes.

The manifest primacy of the underlying geometric configuration, rooted in the abstract, controls nearly every element of the composition.

David Ligare, 1945 | Post-Modern / Neo-Classic painter

American Post-modern fine artist David Ligare paints in a neo-classical mode using narrative and mythology in a historically informed body of work.

Since 1978, he has focused on painting still lifes, landscapes, and figures that are informed by Greco-Roman antiquity.

Chief among his stated influences are the aesthetic and philosophical theories of the Greek sculptor Polykleitos and the mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras, as well as the work of the 18th-century classical painter Nicholas Poussin.

A resident of Salinas, California, his paintings often depict the terrain of the central Californian coast in the background.

Costantino Di Renzo, 1946

Born in Chieti, Italian painter Costantino Di Renzo was predominantly inspired by the 1960s.

Art turned into a vehicle for ideologies and other agendas, with Pop and Minimalism appearing simultaneously as the most defining art movements of the decade.

Pop Art in New York city embraced the culture of mass media and mass consumerism, with Artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Tom Wesselmann getting stimulated by television, comic strips, billboards and other products of the rise of Capitalism for their artworks.

James Hayllar (1829-1920) | Genre painter

From Christie's:

Artistic dynasties were not unusual in Victorian England, but few attained the distinction of the Hayllars, where five members of the family exhibited at the Royal Academy towards the end of the century. In addition to producing a son who was an engraver, James produced four remarkable daughters, each of whom he taught.

James Hayllar was born in Chichester in 1829, and after overcoming family opposition enrolled at Cary's Art School in 1842. Francis Cary was a respected historical painter who later took over Sass's Academy in Bloomsbury. He is now principally remembered as tutor to Rossetti and Millais.

On completing his studies, Hayllar made a tour of the continent, where he encountered Leighton in Rome in in 1851.

His likeness can be seen in Leighton's first great canvas, Cimabue's Madonna carried through the streets of Florence, which was purchased by Queen Victoria, and is now in the Royal Collection, though on loan to the National Gallery.

Anthony Hinchliffe | Figurative painter

"I have always loved the sense of escapism that comes with creating artwork.

I am passionate about exploring my creativity, constantly looking at developing my techniques so I can keep that feeling of energy within my work.

When someone is emotionally moved by looking at my artwork that is a big motivation for me as I have always liked to please people through my painting.

My preferred medium is oil paint, I do sometimes create an acrylic underpainting first as I really like the way the oil paint behaves when applied over acrylic.

I often dilute the oil paint down with turpentine in the initial stages and use it like watercolour".