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Andy Warhol's Shot Sage Blue Marilyn (1964) sold for $195 million at Christie's New York on May 9, setting a record for the most expensive art work by an American artist ever sold at auction.

Norman Lewis hoped to bring about change with his Social Realist works of the 1940s. As fine as they were, they didn't bring about the change he hoped they would. It was Lewis, himself, who brought changes to the art world.

Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat both bridged the gap between graffiti and fine art. They both began as struggling graffiti artists, both worked hard at their art and partied hard. They both became icons in the New York art world. They both died too young, yet each has left a legacy of great art and great hope.

The Fifth Annual Insights V Art Exhibit is currently on display at Surovek Gallery. The exhibit is composed of a selection of works by artists with Bipolar Disorder. The show is sponsored by The Ryan Licht Sang Bipolar Foundation. The Foundation was founded by the parents of Ryan Licht Sang, a bright and talented writer and artist. Ryan struggled with Bipolar Disorder from early childhood. After a manic episode, during which he got no sleep, he self-medicated and died in his sleep at age 24.

For the last two years, the Guggenheim New York has been preparing a retrospective of the works of Alex Katz. The exhibit will open in October 2022 and run through February 2023. Katz will be 95 in July. He recently completed a hand-painted, 35,000 square foot mural at the Town Center in the planned community of Woodlands, Texas, just north of Houston. The mural was commissioned by the Howard Hughes Corporation to enhance the 2.3 acre public gathering site.

Sam Francis was a powerful force in the twentieth century art world. In the early 1950s, Francis moved from Berkley to Paris and was named by Time Magazine as, “the hottest American painter in Paris these days."

Many of our favorite artists have returned to a particular place, time and again, to paint the landscape. The places are not always their primary residence, or even a place they call home, but a place where they somehow find inspiration.

Watercolor painting dates back to prehistoric times. Pigments from plants were mixed with water, applied with fingers, sticks and bones, to create cave paintings. Ancient Egyptians used water-based paints to decorate tombs and temple walls. Paper was invented around 105 A.D., according to historians. A eunuch named Ts'ai Lun, who served in the Chinese imperial court is credited with not only inventing paper, but helping to spread the word about its practical applications.

Fashion designer Stella McCartney has teamed up with Frank Stella to create her autumn-winter fashion line for 2022. (Stella McCartney is the daughter of Sir Paul McCartney). In an interview with Vogue, McCartney said, "I’ve known Frank for quite a long time, and I’ve always wanted to collaborate with him. I love his minimalism and maximalism. It’s such a parallel to our brand: the very simple masculine side with the more explosive side. When you look at Frank’s work, it really tracks that quite well."

Andy Warhol spent much of his time clubbing with celebrities. He documented much of his life with a Polaroid camera. But despite his public presence, much of Warhol's persona remains a mystery. In 1976, Warhol began to telephone his friend, Pat Hackett, every weekday morning, to record his activities of the previous day. Hackett would transcribe his words. The calls continued for eleven years. They ended just five days before his death in 1987.

An exhibit of Milton Avery works has traveled from the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth to the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut. The exhibit's final destination is the Royal Academy of Arts in London, where a comprehensive collection of Avery's works will be on view for the first time outside of the United States.

Scott Kelley gets inspiration during his travels and returns to his studio in Maine to create his masterful watercolors. Many of his works have been inspired by trips he has taken through the Florida Everglades.

Andrew Wyeth 1917-2009 According to Andrew Wyeth's youngest son, Jamie, Wyeth went into a "tailspin" in the 1990s when he saw a photograph of a friend in a coffin at a funeral viewing. Andrew WyethKuerner’s Hill, circa 1991–94 Wyeth made more than a dozen drawings of his imagined funeral. One of the drawings shows family, [...]

Roy Lichtenstein was a shy, quiet man, one of the first Pop artists of the mid-twentieth century. His pioneering paintings made him a lightening rod for harsh criticism of his work and of the Pop art movement itself. Born in New York in 1923, Lichtenstein studied painting at the Parsons School of Design when he was a teenager and went on to study at the Art Students League and then Ohio State University. After a stint in the army he completed his BFA at Ohio State and stayed at the University to teach and complete his graduate studies.

A warm glow from a fireplace and a glass of red wine can ease the cold of a winter night...even better if the wine bottle has a beautiful label. In 1945, to commemorate the Allied victory, French winemaker, Baron Philippe Rothschild, hired a young artist to design a wine label for Mouton Rothschild. The Rothschild vineyard has continued the tradition, with a new label by an established artist every year since. Here's a look at some of the labels done by some of our favorite artists.

We are pleased to announce that Surovek Gallery will be represented at the 31st edition of Art Miami. The exhibit will run from November 30th through December 5th, 2021 at downtown Herald Plaza.

During Jasper Johns' nearly seven-decade career he has produced enough work for a retrospective at two major museums:  Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror at both the Whitney Museum of Art in New York and the Philadelphia Museum of Art has been garnering critical acclaim.

Derrick Adams has built an 'invitation only' retreat in his home town of Baltimore called The Last Resort, hoping to give Black artists a chance to experience rest and relaxation. Leisure is important to Adams, who grew up with a close and loving family and friends who knew how to enjoy themselves. Much of Adams work is based on the pleasurable times that friends and family shared, like How I Spent My Summer, a recent acquisition at Surovek Gallery.

Julio Larraz is preparing for the first museum retrospective of his work in the United States. Larraz is considered one of the most influential figures in Latin American art today. His work has been exhibited widely, internationally, and he has generously mentored young artists.

David Hockney has always been interested in using technology to enhance his work. When he moved from England to Los Angeles in 1964, he used the relatively new acrylic paint to capture the sunlight of L.A. in his pool paintings, photography to capture different perspectives and etching and printmaking to work with and explore the utilization of layers of colors.

One of America's most beloved artists, whose work affected every artistic movement from the 1950s to the present day, the retrospective was planned for last year, to celebrate Johns' 90th birthday. The pandemic came along and the retrospective was postponed. Johns turned 91 on May 15th. His story is a remarkable one. Johns was born in Augusta, Georgia in 1930. After his parents divorced, he lived with his grandparents, then an aunt. He began to draw at a young age, hoped to become an artist, although he wasn't sure what that meant and hadn't been exposed to much art.

Lichtenstein took a lot of heat in the 1960s for his mechanical style, his use of Ben-Day dots and comic book panels...the Pop art that changed the way art is viewed today. He turned "low art" into "high art" and tapped into the consumer culture of America in the '60s. Lichtenstein had the last laugh, with an outstanding career. His 1962, Masterpiece, a tongue-in-cheek painting that reflected  his career, sold in 2017 for $165 million.

Psychologists who have studied how viewers react to art  works, find that the reactions are often manifested physically, with chills running down their spines, the catching of breath, smiles, tears...especially for those people who are open to the experience of exploring a work and who have at least some fundamental knowledge of art. Each individual's reaction to an artwork is different, depending on their history, culture, mood, past experiences and familiarity to the art world. Much of the work we admire makes us feel good, which is why we want to surround ourselves with it. Even works that evoke stronger emotions, provocative work, is thrilling to gaze upon.

Jasper Johns is one of America's most beloved artists. His works focus on, he says, “things the mind already knows.” His use of flags, targets and repeated colors and patterns, done in heavy layers of encaustic medium, give his work a rich, textural quality. Born in Augusta, Georgia in 1930, Johns spent many of his formative years living in the rural south with his mother and other relatives. He had little exposure to art but, somehow, he spent much time drawing and knew that he wanted to be an artist.

Born in Monroe, Washington in 1940, Close developed an interest in art at a young age. He was dyslexic, and was a poor student all the way through high school. Despite his poor performance, Close managed to complete his B.A. at the University of Washington in Seattle and win a scholarship to Yale, from where he received his M.F.A. He then went on to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna on a Fulbright grant.

London's Royal Academy of Arts is holding the first comprehensive exhibit of Milton's Avery's work in Europe. Milton Avery was an artist's artist, revered by young artists like Mark Rothko and Adolph Gottlieb, whom he mentored. He was a modern American colorist, creating intimate portraits and landscapes that were neither Impressionistic nor Abstract Expressionist, the trends in America at the apex of his career.

Andrew Wyeth began painting Betsy Merle James when they met, in the summer of 1939. He had been invited, on his twenty-second birthday, by artist and editor Merle James, to meet James' three daughters. Betsy was 17 at the time, and she took Wyeth to meet her neighbors, siblings Alvaro and Christina Olson. Wyeth began painting the Olsons and their home that summer, as well. Christina was paralyzed from the waist down and refused to use a wheelchair or crutches. It was Betsy who posed for, and titled, Christina's World, Wyeth's most celebrated work.

As collectors of fine American art, it's gratifying to see contemporary artists, like Reggie Burrows Hodges, get the acclaim they deserve. Reggie Burrows Hodges had his first New York solo show at the Karma Gallery at the beginning of this year. The accompanying catalog includes an essay by The New Yorker's theater critic, Hilton Als, who writes that Hodges' figures, “are made sharper, and more haunting, not because we see those things in their eyes, we see it in their bodies, their postures, the endless desire for humans not to be alone, and to connect."

Joan Miró was a renegade; a revolutionary artist who painted what he saw, felt and imagined. His works inspired other artists to find their own, unique voices and they continue to inspire artists today. A testament to the endurance of Joan Miró's art is an exhibit of his work to mark the recent opening of the Museum of Art Pudong in Shanghai, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel.

Luis Montoya opened the first fine art foundry in South Florida and was joined by Leslie Ortiz in 1985. In 1994, the two artists began to collaborate on works that have a unique sensibility. They take objects, beautiful in their own right, and sculpt them into larger-than-life works that make the viewer really see their beauty and remarkable qualities. It's hard to ever look at an olive, sea shell, hazelnut or asparagus spear in the same way again after seeing a bronze rendering of the object by Montoya & Ortiz.

“I never paid attention to what people said,” he told a recent Galerie magazine interviewer. “I knew I would always work out what I wanted to do." My style was ahead of the public and certainly of the institutions. They were never on the same page with me. Curators followed what they read in art history books, which are out of date. Most art history by the time you read it is out of date.”

James Rosenquist's work combines Pop and Surrealist images. His background as a sign painter gave him a set of skills and unique perspective about both the art and consumer culture of the world around him. He studied art at the University of Minnesota and moved to New York in 1955 to study at the Art Students League. To earn a living in New York, Rosenquist joined the International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades. He paint billboards around Times Square and Fifth Avenue. In his 2009 autobiography, Rosenquist wrote, "I painted billboards above every candy store in Brooklyn. I got so I could paint a Schenley whiskey bottle in my sleep."

A new generation of fans has discovered the works of Tom Wesselmann. His images are appearing, with increased frequency, on the shirts, shorts, towels and water bottles of millennial skateboarders and surfers. The Robb Report calls the designs maximum art school chic.

There is much about Orville Bulman's life that is surprising. It's hard to imagine Orville Bulman and Raymond Burr crossing paths, but they did. Burr was not only Perry Mason, he was an avid art collector and gallerist and was a great admirer of the paintings of Orville Bulman.

Stephen Scott Young is one of America's most accomplished watercolor artists. His masterful technique, in watercolor, etching and silverpoint, earned him recognition early in his career. In 1985, Young was given first prize in the American Artist Magazine national art competition. The following year, Young became the youngest living artist to have work sold at Christie’s New York.

Among our recent acquisitions are works by some of the most influential artists in the world. All of them are American, with the exception of Joan Miró. Miró had a significant influence of American artists like Alexander Calder, Robert Motherwell and Jackson Pollock.

Recent acquisitions at Surovek Gallery include the works of  some of the greatest American (and one European) artists who have contributed to the breadth and scope of art in America. Here's a look at just a few of the new works available at Surovek Gallery.

As we write this post, it's a balmy and beautiful 79-degree spring day in Palm Beach and a snowy, 39 degree day in Brattleboro, Vermont, where Kahn spent summers painting the beautiful scenery. Though Kahn loved his time in Vermont, he said that he did his best work in his Manhattan studio. Kahn died in 2020, at age 92, just three months after the death of  Emily Mason, his wife of more than 60 years.

A retrospective of the works of Jasper Johns will be shown simultaneously at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The exhibit, called Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror has been in the works for five years and is schedule to open at both venues on September 29, 2021.

Scott Kelley's paintings of the flora and fauna of south Florida has made him one of our favorite artists. Many of his works, available at Surovek Gallery, are from the sketches he created when he visited the Florida Swamps in 2019. Kelley was born in Binghamton, New York in 1963 and spent family summer vacations in Maine. He seems to always have had the gift of seeing and drawing the fine details that he observes in his subjects and imbuing them with a sense of wonder and awe.

The work of Derrick Adams set a new auction record at Christie's earlier this month. His painting, Figure in the Urban Landscape 31, was auctioned at the Post-War to Present auction.

Christie's recently gave collectors a view of still life paintings that were game changers in the history of art and are to be sold at upcoming auctions. Named as one of the "10 still lifes that moved us" on the Christie's site, is a work by Jonas Wood, one of our favorite contemporary artists.

Roy Lichtenstein was not just inspired by comic books; he was a classically trained artist and college professor who was inspired by Japanese art and the works of Picasso, Braque and Monet.

In 1945, Pablo Picasso began to create prints at the Mourlot Studio in Paris, a print shop that was founded in 1852. Picasso worked in a space that he set up in a corner of the shop, where he spent months at a time creating prints. Between 1945 and 1969, Picasso created over four hundred lithographs at the Mourlot Studio.

The works of Reggie Burrows Hodges are getting rave reviews at his first New York solo exhibit. The New York Times said that his works “are at once visually striking and dense with cultural argument.” Architectural Digest said, "The people-oriented paintings of Reggie Burrows Hodges possess the ability to draw in even the casual bystander. Now, thanks to an exhibition at Karma, Manhattanites will have the opportunity to see this artist’s works up close. For his New York debut, Hodges presents a series of canvases that are as rich in color as they are in substance."

The Norton Museum of Art opened to the public on February 8, 1941 and has been serving West Palm Beach and the surrounding community for eighty years. The Norton underwent a renovation, completed in 2019, that expanded the museum's gallery and teaching space. It now has a state-of-the art, 210-seat auditorium, a new store and restaurant and a Great Hall that serves as the Museum’s “living room.” The expansion also includes a lawn for outdoor programs, and a sculpture garden. The project also included the renovation of six Museum-owned, 1920s-era cottages to house an artist-in-residence program, and the Museum Director’s home.

This has been a harsh winter in many parts of the country. It's a natural human reaction to want to hunker down inside a warm, cozy house and watch the snow fall outside. It's also natural to want to paint a scene on a balmy day, when all looks pastoral and serene, but some painters can not only see the beauty of the snow and the fog, but are able to capture that beauty on canvas.

At age 44, Jonas Wood has become one of the most recognized artists in America, Europe and Asia. His paintings and prints have set auction records. Wood says that he has been influenced by great contemporary artists like David Hockney and Alex Katz. “I’m obviously connected to the histories and traditions of painting – especially modernism and postmodernism – and I reference the painters of those traditions. Luc Tuymans, Peter Doig, David Hockney, Alex Katz, Lucian Freud – those guys are all postmodern painters who love modern painting. That’s the way I think about it. I’m part of the third or fourth generation of people post-Cubism who acknowledge that this is the canon they’re painting into.”

Art lovers know is that looking at a work of art is an emotional experience that can transport us to breathtaking places and stir feelings in us that can make us feel calm and serene. Many of the American artists whose works are in our gallery discovered places that they loved to paint and share with the world.

After World War ll many American artists found themselves in a world of new consumerism and were able to find work as commercial illustrators, designers and even billboard creators. Some of them, like Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol  became notable Pop artists, whose works are still relevant today.

Derrick Adams works in his studio, just a few blocks away from the Nostrand Avenue Long Island Railroad Station, so it made sense for him to be asked to create a mural for newly renovated platform. The mural is made of 85 panels of laminated glass that spans the length of the platforms and extend on to the four new pedestrian bridges.

Being an artist can be a very solitary undertaking. For 93-year-old Alex Katz, it has been working every day, alone in his studio, for decades. During most of the year he lives and works in the SoHo studio that he and his wife and model, Ada, have been living in since 1968. They spend summers in their home and studio in Lincolnville, Maine.

The works of Roy Lichtenstein continue to be some of the most sought after in the art world. Last July, one of his later works, Nude with Joyous Painting, done in 1994, sold at Christie's on-line auction for more than $46 million. Born and raised on Manhattan's Upper West Side, Lichtenstein was a sophisticated, erudite New Yorker who studied drawing and design along with botany, history, and literature at Ohio State University. He also took engineering courses at De Paul University in Chicago during his service in the army during World War ll. Lichtenstein was deployed to Europe where, ironically, he found a book about Japanese brush painting, which had a profound influence on his art.

The first commercially printed Christmas card was sold at Christie’s Valuable Books and Manuscripts sale in London on December 9 for £13,750, or about $18,370. The card was designed by illustrator John Calcott Horsley in 1843 at the request of Sir Henry Cole, a British civil servant who founded the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Only 21 of the 1,000 copies that were printed have survived.

Alex Katz "A lot of people want to paint something timeless, but I paint the immediate present." – Alex Katz Alex Katz has been inspired by what is right in front of him. For the last seven decades he has followed his own sense of style. His works defy categorization. He paints figures, landscapes and flowers, using [...]