This Old Palette: Gold Medal Show 2014

Jose Antonio Bedolla

(WINNER- SECOND PLACE)

This large piece just leaps off the wall for me - so it's my pick for this year's Gold Medal.

This would qualify as a poster in a travel agency except for the bored "when do we get to go home?" face.

But that's why I love it ! It's such a quirky contrast to the festive costume she's wearing.

And what's up with the garlic bulb that she's holding ? She must be the Queen of the Gilroy Garlic Festival

Clayton Beck

I never get tired of Clayton's small nudes - and their symphonic backgrounds.

Some very sharp drawing over that hip.

Andrew Conklin

(WINNER- THIRD PLACE)

A nice update on Vermeer -- though the painting is far more enticing than the room it depicts.

The place -- but not the painting -- is quite boring.

I love the glare off the glass of the painting-within the-painting. Is the depicted face screaming "let me outta here!" ?

I like the contrast of the 21st C. electronics with the 17th C. chair.

Darius Lipinski

The cute cheeks of one of our best male models.

This feels like a trip back to a 19th C. French atelier

Debra Balchen "SeaMist"

I've never before seen a sculpture look more like a watercolor.

Ali Hasmut

Another image of sadness in celebration

Helen Oh

Unfortunately, there are too many pieces in this show to hang every piece well -- and this one suffers from being waist level and impacted by a shadow thrown by the mantle to its left.

Lenore Murphy

Lenore has been showing copies of old masters in recent shows - and that exercise seems to have made her painting much more enticing.

Mary Beth Bellon, "So long, thanks for the fish"

I love this strange portrait -- reminds me a lot of Mary Klug, our other dramaturge of daily life.

Stephanie Weidner

Stephanie's companion, Errol, has been getting a lot of well deserved attention lately for his cityscapes.

But Stephanie is quite a painter as well -- and I happen to love peeling paint. (my arm itches to scrape it off)

I hope this one gets some votes for the gold medal - or at least some other award.

Walter Monastyrelsky

Here's another painting that deserves an award. I love it's dank, musty atmosphere.

These are eyes that have looked a bit too deeply into human souls, including his own.

William Schneider, "But at What Cost ?"

I guess you could call this a comedy of manners.

I can't remember any other P&C painter portraying a famous English writer (though we have had some Russian writers depicted).

From what I've read by this evangelical fantasist, this portrait hits the mark.

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And here's the medal winners that I missed:

Errol Jacobson

( GOLD MEDAL WINNER)

The last 12 months have been what might be called a break-out year for Errol Jacobson. He sold more than $20,000 out of his his solo show last December. He got reviewed by Chicago's most astute art critic,
and next Saturday his one-person show opens at Zygman Voss Gallery