Seeing Through Spaces: Tony Breuer's Universe of Paintings

Head's up, fans of the physical universe--from space-time, quantum physics, and relativity to the way our human brains work; from the physical properties and materials of making art to the world of human imagination that ties it all together. Dr. Anthony Breuer, aka Tony Breuer, has set out to break into the codes of the multi-dimensional universe by making two-dimensional canvases that show us there is more than meets the eye in the physical universe of our everyday lives.

Crack in the Earth, New Openings, mixed media, 48 x 72 inches

Breuer's paintings are made to engage viewers in Seeing Through Spaces in a practical manner--using artistic materials and practices and ordinary images such as horses, planes, magnolias as metaphors. His paintings offer new insight into connecting the world of art into some of the primary scientific discoveries of the 21st century. There is a lot to see and a lot to know in Breuer's paintings. The process of making the paintings is itself laborious and painstaking. These are physical canvases, filled with action and color and lots of swirls and dimensions. Yet, there is considerable lightness of being implied in the resulting paintings. The things of our world seem to stand still while the universe is in constant motion.

But that's just about the paintings. Before Tony ever touched a canvas, he had a life as a distinguished practicing physician. His specialty, neurology with an emphasis on research, led him to related scientific exploration, specifically into the seen and unseen laws of the universe. In the last one hundred years, our knowledge of the physical laws of the universe has grown exponentially. Current research in relativity and quantum physics tells us that the world is even more multi-faceted than ever before imagined.

Space Magnolia #6, oil on canvas, 24 x 30 inches

Remember that the word "imagination" is a word shared by scientists such as Einstein, Feynman, and Hawking, and artists such as Picasso, Dali, and new-to-the-scene Tony Breuer. As he pursued the study of the laws of nature through the prism of how the human brain works, adding the making of art was a natural evolution in his world.

Breuer's study of medicine began at Princeton, followed by research at Oxford, and he received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. Some years later, he began to study art while maintaining a full schedule as a physician, completing his MFA in art in 2004. In recent years, he has begun a balancing act of reducing his medical schedule and increasing his artistic schedule in the studio. The exhibit, Seeing Through Spaces, is a showcase for his new series of paintings, intended to present the awe and beauty of the infinite physical laws of nature that exist among us in our lives, though unseen.

Virginia Falls, mixed media, 30 x 40 inches

Tony Breuer is a bona fide 21st-century emerging artist. The brain, the laws of nature, and the making of art--that's the world of Tony Breuer.

If you would like to meet Tony personally and get a preview tour of his work, join us at The Arts Company on Saturday, October 2, 4:30-6:00, in advance of the always-jubilant First Saturday Art Crawl Downtown, which follows 6-9 pm.

The Journey to "Inspired"

Commentary by Brian Downey, Associate Director of The Arts Comany and curator of the "Inspired" exhibit:

There is nothing I love more than curating shows. Researching talented artists, seeing the artwork as it's created, planning the layout of the show in the gallery, and watching it all come together for the opening reception is one of the most exciting things I have ever had the pleasure to do in my professional career. I have curated several shows, have worked with some amazing artists, and have had a blast the entire time. "Inspired," however, will always stand out to me and be one the shows I am most proud of.

It all started back in March of 2010 when I was visiting New York City with a friend of mine. We were walking down 5th Avenue in the heart of the city, admiring the stores, wishing I could afford to purchase the beautiful things I was seeing, and staring at all the gorgeous window displays. I was passing Bergdorf Goodman when I looked up and was instantly stopped in my tracks by their window display, not by the clothes, but by the large-scale woodblock prints that provided the backdrop for the fashion. I had no idea who the artist was, but it wasn't something I was not going to forget. When I was finally returned home to Nashville I immediately started researching to find out who this artist was. I learned that his name was John Welles Bartlett and he was living in Brooklyn. I found his website and sent him an email to introduce myself. After a few back and forths, I asked him if he would be part of a show I was curating in late summer. I expected an immediate "No thanks." I assumed that someone, who was getting this kind of exposure and attention in New York, would already be booked solid with other shows. To my surprise, he said "Yes!" Now I actually had a show to start planning!

"TV Donkey with Ant" by John Welles Bartlett

I wanted this exhibit to be a two-person show, and I already had an idea floating in the back of my mind about how to make this more than just an average exhibit of two artist's work. The trouble was finding that other artist who was just the right fit with John. I found a couple artists who I was very interested in, but unfortunately (or fortunately...as it turned out) they were either already booked for shows, or just didn't return my emails. Then I ran across Julianna Swaney, and I was so happy those other artists didn't work out. I found her work on My Love For You and was instantly a fan. I knew her small, intimate works would be a nice contrast, and yet completely complement John's large-scale woodblock prints. I emailed her, and her quick reply couldn't have been nicer. Even though she was already booked for three other shows in September, she still agreed to be a part of mine. I don't know how she found the time to create all the work for these four shows, but she did...and personally, I think I got the best ones!

"Hidden Birds" by Julianna Swaney

Once each artist was confirmed for the show, I ran my idea past them. I wanted to engage each artist and have them create something that would be special for this exhibit and very interesting to all the folks who would make it to the show. I asked each artist (who were total strangers at the time) how they would feel about studying the body of work of the other artist and creating one piece for the show that was inspired by the other. I didn't know what kind of reaction this would get, but I was hopeful. As it turned out, both artists loved the other's work and were very excited to take on this challenge. Personally, I think they were even more excited to see what the other artist would create knowing that they were the inspiration behind it. As the months went on, I would receive images from the artists of all the new pieces they were working on...but I still hadn't seen the inspired piece. I was starting to get worried. I had already sent out the press release, hyped the theme of the show, given interviews to some local publications--all based on the idea that each artist was creating this inspired piece, and the show was even called, "Inspired." What in the world would I do if one or both artists decided they just couldn't manage to do an inspired piece? I was nervous. Luckily, each artist was just saving the best for last and when I finally saw the inspired pieces I knew that the show was going to be amazing!

John's work

Julianna's work

The opening reception was this past Saturday. John was able to fly to Nashville for the show, but Julianna had a show opening in Portland, OR, where she currently lives and wasn't able to make it. Even though she couldn't be here, the evening was a huge success. After some great press, including a very nice spotlight in Nashville Arts Magazine, and a wonderful post by The Jealous Curator, hundreds came through the gallery that night. Some were there for the free wine, but the majority were actually there to see this special exhibit. I talked to so many people, answered so many questions, and loved every minute of it. By the end of the night we had sold a lot of artwork (according to Julianna, the most she has ever sold at an opening reception...EVER), and introduced two fantastic new artists to the gallery and to Nashville. I'll never forget the evening. I want to thank both of these great artists who I now consider great friends, the amazing people I work with at The Arts Company (Anne, Robin, and the whole gang), and my incredibly supportive friends and family who made the night memorable and special.

The show continues through September 25 at The Arts Company. Please stop by and take a look if you can, or see the pieces in the show on the gallery's website.

John, me, and the editorial staff of Nashville Arts Magazine

With two of my best friends, Candace and Beth

Our front window display...just as impressive as Bergdorf Goodman, in my opinion :)

The "Inspired" Pieces are Revealed!

Our current show, "Inspired" features the work of artists John Welles Bartlett (printmaker) and Julianna Swaney (illustrator). Each artist was asked to create one piece for the show that was inspired by the other. Having never met, and living on opposite sides of the United States, it was a fun and unique challenge for each artist to study the body of work of the other and create something, in their own style, inspired by them. Both inspired pieces were wrapped in black paper and were finally unveiled at the opening reception on Saturday, September 4. These pieces were a secret...until now.

Below are John and Julianna's inspired pieces and a brief description, in their own words, on how they were truly inspired by each other:

John's inspired piece, "TV Maiden with Birdhouse"

“When I began looking at Julianna’s work, I felt drawn into a time and place where life is entwined with folklore and spirits, and the secrets of nature. These are themes close to my heart and it was not hard to be inspired by her work. My piece “TV Maiden with Birdhouse” is related to the young girls who appear in a many of Julianna’s works, gingerly interacting with nature and the spirit world.” - John Welles Bartlett

Julianna's inspired piece, "Reception"

“What I initially found interesting in John’s work was the recurring image of the TV set. Especially the pieces where it is strapped to the back of a girl and a donkey, I often draw people or animals with things strapped to their back so I felt like that was a good place for me to start looking for inspiration. I have no idea what his intention for that symbol is but I interpret the TV image as a distraction that is always intruding, always constant, sort of in the background, though...so that you almost don't even realize you are being distracted. That is a familiar feeling I think to anyone around today who has the diversion of phone/email/texting/information with them constantly, you often don't even realize you are not paying attention to what is happening around you because your mind is constantly half on a screen. I incorporated the image of the TV on the back of a wolf, followed by a girl absorbed with it as she walks though the forest to symbolize that sort of distraction.” - Julianna Swaney

Fearless in Nashville

"Reflections of Nashville" photo by Joe Fizer

Everything is off the charts in the world today. The heat is up. The economy is down. The floods keep coming. People are in desperate straits worldwide. Everyone is digging in.

At The Arts Company in Nashville, we remain drawn to the arts as a constant source to help make sense of good times and bad times. We remain dedicated to the idea that the business of art in the marketplace matters, perhaps even more in grim times than in good times.

Nashville's unspoken civic and business credo is to aspire to a life of creative enterprise. At The Arts Company, our self-imposed mandate is to do our part. Our unwavering commitment is to bring compelling and unexpected artwork to the center of the marketplace of goods, services, and ideas--artwork that communicates part of what the Nashville experience is all about--creativity, new ways of doing business, fresh perspectives.

"Spirit of Nashville" Bluebird Cafe Poster by Joel Anderson

Partly, it's the "Nashville effect" that makes us tend toward hopeful rather than fearful. Nashville at this point in history is an uncanny and unlikely melting pot of creativity and invention, pairing bankers with musicians, attracting poets, artists, and health care entrepreneurs. No matter how bad times are, there are songwriters by the dozens who can help make sense of it. Venture capitalists and entrepreneurs define Nashville's business successes. The arts are equally enterprising and savvy, mirroring the innovative civic and business style that prevails. In Nashville, we speak openly and shamelessly of commerce and business enterprise in partnership with art and artistic enterprise.

However, like all businesses worldwide, our gallery business is facing the new realities of the marketplace. It's not an option to pursue business as usual. Turns out that's a relief. We will now be able to change the dull habits of our business and redefine ourselves as an art business of now--not what we did last year or the year before, but what we plan to do now. We are committed to presenting art as part of everyday necessity. We want to continue to be an active part of keeping ourselves and our city fresh, original, contemporary, inventive, and fearless.

Our goal is modest: to make each new piece of art we bring to the marketplace as exciting as the latest shoe fashion, as necessary as the next carton of milk, and as rewarding as winning the lottery. Well, that may be stretching it, but you get the idea.

Our real job is to ferret out neat and interesting artwork; to find interesting ways to present it; and to engage customers with it. Our approach is to create for our customers a comfortable and welcoming distinctly Nashville experience with art, one on one.

One Answer for All Your Important Questions

Roy Pace, Artists at Work

Setting up for for our annual avant-garage sale at The Arts Company is a daunting task, with a particular challenge: how to make sense of such a large variety of art, books, decor, furniture, and just plain off-the-charts crazy. It always turns out to be fun. We figure it out as we go along. There is no installation plan upfront, just how to make the mixed variety interesting and appealing.

Vintage cameras of various sizes

More important, how to make everything shockingly affordable. As it shakes down, it always turns out to be a good time for us and for our guests.

Come have fun with us on Saturday, August 7, 6-9 pm during our First Saturday opening. The avant-garage sale will continue upstairs through August 27, if supplies last that long.

And now for the answer:
At The Arts Company's 14th Annual Avant-Garage Sale

Here are the questions: Where can I find the neatest Beethoven socks in town?
Are there any remaining Obama Hot Flop beach shoes still available?
Do you have any Teenie Harris photographs?
How about lots of miscellaneous neat paintings -- all sizes, different artists, from various collections?

Billyo O'Donnoll, Last Light of the Shermerhorn Construction, 16 x 20''

Where could I find a fabulous old wooden ironing board that would make a great bar?
Where could I find a few pieces of artwork by two legendary Nashville area artists -- Roy Pace and Vannoy Streeter?
How about vintage books, art books, and lamps to read by?
Where can I find great buys on vintage and collectors' posters?
How about a couple of antique tables and a vintage drafting table (also doubles as a bar)?
Where can I find some oriental rugs? A Gee's Bend rug? A rug made of cigarette package wrappers?
Where can I find some vintage tins and jars and boxes to use with my ironing board bar?

Do you have a lot of miscellaneous neat art-related stuff that is shockingly affordable?

YES. At this year's 14th Annual Avant-Garage Sale Saturday, August 7, 6-9 pm
Preview some of the pieces on OUR WEBSITE.

Marek Bohemus, Four, 16 x 20''

And while you're here, don't miss all of the Summer Fresh Art that will surround you upstairs and down at 215 Fith Avenue of the Arts, featuring Marek Bohemus' dramatic photographs of "The Majesty of the Horse." Preview his work HERE.

The Necessity of Summer Fresh Art: Commentary by Anne Brown

And now we come to the middle of a long hot summer. After a week in Texas in 100 degree heat, Tennessee feels like Alaska. Though I grew up in Texas, I had forgotten that Texas heat is very hot heat. Nevertheless, I dragged my mother, now approaching her 97th year, out in it every day, taking her for lunch, supper, and shopping. She is frail, of course, but still ready to go when the going is good. It was sheer pleasure just to walk beside her, knowing that she is well cared for and still has spunk.

Judy Nebhut, Raspberries in Silver, archival photograph

At best, I have a hard time with summertime. It's not my favorite time of year. The heat is unforgiving. I'm always looking for something fresh to divert my attention, some kind of adventure that can take my mind off how hot it is. That's how the July show of SUMMER FRESH ART came to be.

We could call the artists the Summer Four, a group showing of artists who have never met each other and apparently don't have a lot in common, except...their emerging passion for making art.

Chris Beck, Kellie, painted metal

The artists and their artwork being presented are all over the map in variety of mediums, materials, and subjects - from outside materials and self-taught aesthetic to mosaics in glass; from photography in the tradition of modern still life paintings to paintings that explore the space/time continuum through ordinary objects and images.

Altogether, this is a group of artists that offer different flavors of art, each distinctive and passionately pursued. There is laughter and great pleasure for guests who see this exhibit. Check out the front and backside of Chris Beck's sculptural clothes hanging on the wall. Check out the elegance of Judy Nebhut's photography. You don't often get to see such elegant and calming work. Don't miss Deborah Wait's glass mosaic concoctions that continue to grow more ambitious in the sense of movement and shapes she creates. Tony Breuer is in the midst of making a transition from a long and successful career as a neurologist into life now as a trained and skilled artist taking on the ambitious challenge of making time and space stand still so we can contemplate them through regular objects.

Deborah Wait, mosaic

This exhibit calls for chilled wine or ice cold lemonade and a cool state of mind. The work of the Summer Four will make a believer out of you - that life can have freshness and that artistic enterprise offers relief from the harsh heat of summer. Artists have a way of turning the harshness and static nature of materials and the ordinariness of life into refreshing insights, into new ways of seeing and thinking. It's all about well-made work delivered personally by people who truly love to make the art they make and are eager to have others see their work.

Tony Breuer, Space Magnolias #6, oil on canvas

Artists often begin their work in a maze of sorts. Sometimes working on an idea or a technique without a clue in advance as to why and where it might lead them. In the early part of an artist's career, an artist is often simply driven to test certain materials and ideas that attract them. Typically, they have a hard time verbalizing what or why. Without exception, the four artists in this exhibit are driven by an almost blind passion for the materials and subjects of their work. Upfront, they kind of know where they want to go. They have a direction, but also lots of questions and no answers. That's part of what makes this exhibit presentation summertime fresh. There is a sense of discovery in the work of each of the artists, and they hook the viewer into their journey. We get to see where they started and sense of where they are going. And there is a lot of joy in the going. Joy is not exactly an art word, but it fits. Artistic discovery is a joyful thing. When you engage in the new worlds these artists have created for you, some of it inevitably rubs off on you. That's a lot of what this exhibit is about - encountering new work you haven't seen before and wondering how and why it all came about, and what makes it appealing.

So, psych yourself up to come to this particular exhibit prepared to see four worldviews that you haven't seen before. If you come prepared to have an adventure, you will have one cool summer evening.

We ART Nashville Wristbands

At The Arts Company, we will continue to provide a commemorative wristband to every person contributing $10 to the Community Foundation Flood Relief. As a thank you, we will offer each person wearing the wristband a 10% discount on any purchase in the gallery through the month of July. All of us have many friends whose lives have been impacted seriously by the recent flood. We ae proud to have sent several thousand dollars from our gallery alone to date to the Community Foundation. With your help, we can do more. Our gallery discount is our way of saying thanks back to our customers for their help.

The Art of Brother Mel Continues...

The Art of Brother Mel exhibit continues though July, with lots of new work by this popular gallery artist whose work ethic and new ideas never waver and never cease. We have already set to work on a documentary on Brother Mel's life and thoughts as an artist, one who lives and works in a community of religious brothers, but whose work is totally modern. He is truly one of a kind. His views about the art world and his work merit documentation, and The Arts Company Press has set out on this new journey.

Spirit of Nashville and Art & Soul of America

The Arts Company introduces Joel Anderson's signature poster collections, Spirit of Nashville and the newest one, Art & Soul of America. The gallery will be the only venue featuring limited-edition signed prints of images from both of these collections. The Spirit of Nashville series are well-known to Nashvillians, but now the Art & Soul of America is giving a new iconic personality to major American cities and national parks, all places familiar to travelers.

So don't forget your wristband - which is to say, don't forget our many friends who are still working their way out of the Nashville flood - and come on down to The Arts Company on Fifth Avenue of the Arts for First Art Saturday, July 3, 6-9 pm.

www.theartscompany.com
Facebook
Twitter

Brother Mel: A Niche All His Own - A Commentary by Anne Brown

It's that happy time of year at The Arts Company, when Brother Mel comes to Nashville to celebrate his birthday, bringing with him new artwork and signature pieces to keep us updated on what his interests are at the moment.

This year his visit is both literary and artistic--the literary part is a book-signing at Davis-Kidd Booksellers on Friday, June 4, 7:00 pm to talk with me about how his life and art came together in a book-length presentation of the variety and depth of his work. This occasion offers an unusual opportunity for collectors and friends of Brother Mel to have time to ask questions and talk to him in depth. We have created a commemorative bookmark to mark this special occasion.

The next day, June 5, we will celebrate his actual birthday and the art part of his trip--his latest exhibit at The Arts Company opening during First Art Saturday, 6-9 pm. Our gallery will be chock full of Brother Mel artwork--literally from floor to ceiling in a particularly dramatic and theatrical presentation. Some of the larger sculptures featured in the book about his work, Brother Mel: A Lifetime of Making Art, made it to Nashville for his exhibit at The Arts Company this year, including Art 101 and a fresh new version of Don Quixote, complemented by new oversized watercolor abstracts; bicycles and guitars in his new style, new approaches to his signature series of icons, and new pieces mixing dalle de verre with steel sculpture.


As Brother Mel and I were nearing the end of putting the book together last fall, he noted that it was hard for him to tell when the book would reach its final end. His lifetime of energetic art-making drives him always to think that "the best is yet to come." The book might end, but his best work might still be coming. The book has now been out just five months or so, and he continues to do what he does best--make art 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year, "bringing beauty to space to lift up spirits."


This year is Brother Mel's 82nd birthday--over 60 years as a Catholic brother in the Marianist order and over 50 years as a working artist. Preview the book about Brother Mel HERE. Better yet, put Brother Mel's visit in your schedule this week. Artists like Brother Mel don't pass our way often. He is a rare phenomenon, an art saint, if ever there should be one. He would seriously scoff at that, but it is an observation with merit. Come see for yourself. He occupies a niche all his own.