But
let me tell you about the piece that took my breath away.
"Pippy
Takes a Ride" is a magnificent oil portrait by Edward J. Reed,
who goes by Ted, and who teaches portrait painting at the Art League
in Alexandria.
In
this work, Reed captures that immensely difficult wisp of essence that
makes a portrait change from a painting of a person to a portrait of
a person.
He
has not only captured the pretty-girl quality of the model (who is one
of the most popular and talented Art League models around), but also
managed to catch her presence and spirit. This is just not a painting
of a deeply sensual woman dressed in tough biker gear; this is a work
of art that steals a little bit of the soul and presence of the model
and embeds it in the oil and medium and visual weight of the work.
WOW!
I
was absolutely hypnotized by the work, and on a second and third view
of the work, I noticed a clever hanging of the works around it. Right
below the painting was a very sexy black and white photograph of a woman’s
curled toes. The photograph is lined up directly below where Pippy’s
legs end.
"Did
you know?" I asked the gallerist at the Art League, "that
those toes are the toes of the same model who posed for Pippy?"
The
gallerist glowed. "Yes!" she smiled, "that’s why
I put them there."
Mr.
Campello is an art critic who regularly writes for the Washington
Post, the Old Town Crier, Visions Magazine for the Arts, Dimensions Magazine,
Pitch Magazine, The City Beat, The KOAN Art Newsletter, Art Calendar,
DC One Magazine, and other publications.
Here
is Sonia's photo of her own toes, titled Piggies, that The Art
League displayed beneath Louder in its March 2006 All Media Juried
Exhibit:
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