At a local art fair

The weekend was unbelievably hot. Amidst the viscid humidity that accompanies the soaring mercury, we managed to sneak a quick visit to a local arts festival in nearby East Brunswick. I did not participate this year (had a good showing last year), but I did manage to catch up with a few local artists showing what they had accomplished over the ensuring time. Needless to say, I was happy to note that painting still flourishes, very nourished and cared for amidst the booths catering to silver jewelery, glass blowing and wood carving. Not that these other crafts are any less good, but one instinctively seeks out what is closest to one's heart. Suburban arts and crafts fairs are usually affairs in real life paintings of cats, dogs, people and like creatures, but this time I noticed that abstraction was making a strong showing at this festival. Most of the pictures I managed to take were of paintings, but one particular artist - a sculptor working in cast-off metal which was then whimsically welded caught my eye.


Paintings by Smadar A. Livne. Colorful abstractions featuring Jewish and Kabbalah themes using mixed media on canvas.

Sculptures by Michael Andrew Taylor. Fanciful sculptures using cast-off metal parts welded together. He even added painted spoons and forks for effect in some of the pieces. Part grungy, part outsider, part Chamberlain.

Paintings by Nicholas Skally. Mixed media abstractions by a collegue of mine. Has a lot of shows going on in the NJ, PA area. I hope he breaks it into the NY scene. As usual, his charming wife accompanied him while they patiently waited on curious visitors.

Paintings by Marina Ahunhahaeva. She seems to have so much potential in some of her works, but seems to spend a lot of it on simpler themes as is evident from her website. Well, we all need to make a living here, right. The batik style painting at the end was one of my favorites.